NEW: Channels DVR backend for Nvidia SHIELD

FYI, I have seen several reports online that “ES File Explorer” made the SHIELD flaky and that uninstalling it fixed various issues.

ES File Explorer turned to crap a little over a year ago and no one should ever use it. It’s not what was causing my problems though, and I couldn’t figure out why the Shield stops and starts Channels when I’m using the Shield for other things (like Plex to watch my BluRay movies) so I’m back on my Synology w/o transcoding.

I deleted ES File Explorer from Shield in late 2016, however, I also had same disconnect problems with running both Channels and Plex Server on the Shield.

After Shield update (only loaded earlier this month) and a reset, I also disabled the Shield Plex server.

Over the past several weeks I have been able to run Channels DVR on the Shield and utilize Plex client on Shield (Plex Server now on Qnap), without seeing any further Channels disconnects/problems.

My major problem with this setup is that although the powered USB 3 drive on Shield (for Channels recordings) doesn’t dismount from the Qnap…at least 1-2x per day I have to bring up the Qnap File Station and just run a directory listing on that drive. Otherwise, Plex Media Server (Qnap) isn’t able to see the files.

Tim: Did you ever try running only Plex client and Channels DVR on Shield?

No, I would rather have the Plex Server on my Shield pointed to the Channels DVR directory on my NAS and use that to still be able to transcode my shows and movies while I’m out of the house. If I just had Channels then I couldn’t watch my huge movie collection.

Your method was my original setup, however I really like Channels DVR on the Shield versus “my” NAS (much better Channels remote performance).

I may have to revert though. Two major obstacles: 1. Above file reading problem and 2. Limited storage space for Channels recordings.

My Channels recordings exceed 8tb and will likely exceed 10tb (near future). As USB3 drives normally max out at 8tb (or now 10tb with a new Seagate), being limited to recording on a single drive is not workable for me for long term usage. Currently having to to use PMS>MrMC, but would rather use Channels as intended.

At least with the Qnap I have an option to reformat 2 separate drives into 1. Of course, I will lose the inherent backup…but I could still backup manually.

Too many choices and compromises :disappointed_relieved:
(First World problem!)

1 Like

Not only is ES File Explorer flaky, I’ve read that it’s super shady too. It’s suggested to avoid that app with all cost.

I’ve reached out to Nvidia about this issue. Hopefully it’s something they can address in future versions of the SHIELD OS, since having an always-on DVR service randomly get killed at any time is far less than ideal.

1 Like

Have you asked them about writing to a NAS? They only allow certain apps that ability, so would be nice to have the option to save to a NAS instead of the local drive/external USB drive, or at least make a backup to a NAS.

I just uploaded a new DVR build to the Play Store which adds the permission required for writing to remote mounts. I haven’t been able to test this myself, so I’m not sure if anything else is required other than the permission entry.

Also the directory picker won’t show any folders other than /storage/emulated/0 and the external USB storage options, but if you know the path to the remote mount you can enter it manually. Let me know what those look like and I will teach the directory picker about them as well.

2 Likes

Thanks I’ll test it out later.

I can’t seem to get Recording to my NAS to work, when I try to add the path in the web interface I get an access denied error.

I am copying and pasting the paths from the browser in Plex, which I assume would be the correct path?

Cheers

Gareth

What is the path you are using?

Can you also paste any errors showing up in the Log tab?

The path I’m using is /storage/JEANNENAS/RecordedTV which is logged into as a user with read/write permissions.

There is nothing logged at all, the only thing I see if the following message when trying to re-enable the DVR functionality:

Error: no write permissions on dvr directory

Cheers

Gareth

If you enter DVR location as: /storage/ , the picker will then list all of the storage locations...local USB (2) and mounted remote NAS (3)

My current problem is a permissions issue on trying to define to a mounted remote drive: Error: no write permissions on dvr directory

However, the NAS share I am trying to use has Public access.

.

No permissions problem when saving to a local drive.

Sounds like the permission I added wasn’t enough… I will follow up with NVidia to see if they can whitelist us like they did with Plex.

1 Like

Thanks,

Also still having problems with adding 2nd storage location on Shield. Could this be related. I get a “true” at command entry, however the settings file isn’t updated with extra path.

Didn’t have any problems setting up a test on mac. Works great…however, I’m trying to utilize the Shield for the DVR.

Did you update the SHIELD to test build?

Yes

Found my problem: "ExtraPaths”

Computer screens: Insidious for older eyes & I still don’t know how I did that.:rage::scream:

Thanks… now just looking forward to whitelisting

Any update?