Newbie New Feature Request and Questions

Channels DVR Server Feature Requests
#1

New Feature Request & Questions:

Hello! I am a new Channels DVR subscriber in my free trial but will absolutely continue past that.

Experience-wise, I have used a Tivo and Comcast's DVRs, as well as built my own MythTV server many years ago but am replacing now with a Raspberry Pi with a 4 TB hard disk (sectored into two 2 TB sections)--one for video, one for music. I have both cable HD Homerun Primes as well as HD Homerun OTA tuners + TVE,

At any rate, I really like the Channels DVR application and have a few requests to make it better. I searched the site to figure out the best way to submit it, and wasn't really sure where or how other than the community.getchannels.com site here, so here goes. If some of these are covered in better discussion elsewhere, feel free to reference each number (#1, #2, etc.) with a link.

New Feature Request:

  1. Guide: Color code or put an icon next to "season pass" shows that will be recorded. (In mine [Channels DVR 3.0.3] the shows for 1-time recording turn brown, but nothing happens for the "season pass" ones.)

  2. Guide: Similar to #1, perhaps provide an icon for 1st run (new) items vs. no icon for the repeats.

  3. Guide: Could we mark previously recorded episodes/movies in a different color or put an icon by them? It would help when thinking you should record a movie but then realizing you already have recorded it.

  4. Guide: Could we make it possible so if you tap/click the channel name itself you get a list of shows for that specific channel? (Sometimes you know a new show is on CBS but you can't remember the name so if you can go JUST to CBS you can narrow it down, find the name of the show, and click from there to record it).

  5. To Do List (Server & Mobile App): Can we add to the "Scheduled Recordings" list the recording type (High 1080, Medium 480, Low, etc.) and priority? Some shows I would like to record in lower priority to reduce file size and time to transcode. I also like to make sure that the shows I really want to schedule remotely with the mobile app can be moved up in priority and I don't see a way to do that right now.

  6. Picture in Picture: It would be really cool to have the ability to watch a show in a smaller window WHILE looking at the guide to find something better to watch. We probably would want to make it able to be turned off for those that don't like that feature.

  7. Dual Homed Network Connections (Local/Internet): I have 2 connections, wired for local to my HD Homeruns and Wireless to the Internet. It would be really cool if I had a way to select which functions can use either/or/both "TVE/Internet" and "Local". For example, maybe I want ONE of the connections ONLY to use the internet for TVE (or need to change it at some point of the month...so I don't get charged more or since data caps are being introduced). In addition, I would want a way to say "My HD Homeruns are ONLY on the wired connection". Is this possible?

QUESTIONS:
8. Guide/Recording Question: When scheduling recording for a show or movie that doesn't have new releases anymore, does the "Record: New Episodes" just mean record it the first time it sees it? Or does it really only mean "Record: If it is newly broadcast, actually new as in 2021"?

  1. Raspbian (for Raspberry Pi) Install directly to Hard Drive Beta: I just found this after I had built up my new Pi. My current Pi uses a USB 3 low profile thumb drive as the OS, and recordings go to a different USB 3.0 4 TB Hard disk. Will I gain much by switching? Or is my current setup ok--including the USB 3.0 thumb drive for the OS?

[I kind of like keeping them separate so if the OS dies I can go to a backup (which I will manually do) and replace the USB 3.0 thumb drive. But if I'm limiiting myself and performance I'd like to know. Thanks!]

  1. Price Structure: $80 a year is reasonable. Was hoping for a Lifetime option. Is that in the works/possible?

  2. Add-on Sub Servers: MythTv had this neat feature that I had a main server for the OS, guide database etc, but I also could use additional local devices to record and the main server would update its database. Is this something that we could add?

Lastly I want to say Kudos to the developers. Great job all!

#2

This is present. Scheduled recordings are yellow/gold, in-progress recordings are red.

Not in the client app, but the web UI this is done. (Blue left border for the program's cell in the guide.)

Again, not in the client. But the web UI does show icons for already recorded and scheduled to record items.

On Android, this is supported using the system's native PIP windowing. On Apple clients this is present in the betas.

This is a system/network–wide thing, and something that is best handled in your router/gateway. You can achieve this with routing tables/domains and/or packet filters.

"New" means that the guide data shows that it is a new (as in "never before broadcast") showing. However, sometimes this can mean first time on that channel even if it has already been aired on a different network. But it is "New" as defined by the guide, not the software.

It has previously been stated that there are no intentions to offer a "lifetime" option.