Not good

Was recommending channels on Reddit for the poor Hulu DVR at got this

/r/cordcutters hates us for some reason. It’s quite absurd. But they seem overly uptight about many things.

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It's confirmed. The internet is out to destroy us. My conspiracy theories are confirmed. It's the Illuminatti!

Channels is one of the few streaming players that goes out of its way to avoid illegal content/discussion. Most of us here are cable card, antenna and TVE (legal content). I bet if you recommend a iptv player with a illegal m3u8 link you would of got 50 upvotes.

On side note. Channels needs more recent YouTube reviews. All the ones are years old on YouTube. So many more features have been added.

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Why, oh why, didn't I take the blue pill?

As that's an "automod" it appears they have a filter in place for any mention of "r/getchannels." If that were me, I'd contact a moderator and tell them the automatic removal is, in fact, in error. That's a bad bot.

But yeah, they are weird over there. I simply shared this ON TOPIC article while gushing about Channels DVR, and they removed my post for the same reason. WTF?

Message the mods. There’s a link in the sidebar.

Probably won't do you any good.

Silicon dust also bans talk of Channels, I always assumed it was cause it was cause they were a competitor product.

Not sure why many places thinks Channels DVR is "piracy"...where as, people all over the gaff talk up Kodi and how to use it to access streams and things that are pirate and illegal. Link to pre-made pirate boxes running Kodi on ebay etc.

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*Plex = Place to organize movies from bit torrent (aquired illegally)
*Kodi = Plex but more complicated. Place to watch your illegal content
*IPTV = Pirated live linear tv and pirated vod. Basically illegal Netflix
Channels DVR = Paid LEGAL services to stream linear TV. And allows me to record LEGAL streams to my own hard drive.

Also silicon dust disliking channels is moronic. I had Tablo and was happy. Only reason I purchased a hdhr is because of channels. So you got them a customer. I've since purchased 2 more hdhr (my inlaws [I hate my inlaws] and for my aunt)

I'll join cord cutters thread this weekend and complain. maniacle laugh
I will swiftly be kicked.

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I already sent them a message. I am going to point people towards r/cordcutting

Hope they never Google your name :grinning:

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Not to be a contrarian, but do not both Kodi and Plex also stream linear TV? At least OTA? And allow recording of those? I would agree with you Channels does it better, and has the TVE option which is a godsend. Also Channels does allow one to import one's own library, with probably no guarantee of legality, and, at least in documentation, they claim it will be possible to support random videos and home movies.

The point was channels has always been focused on legal content. M3U support came only recently. And even that is handicapped.

Plex and kodi now do live TV. But that's not what they where originally intended for. Plex live TV sucks donkey balls. Their original focus was organizing media (tv/movies) for people who had huge collections. How did people get huge media collection. Torrent, usenet etc. That's not to say everyone. But in early days of Plex 90% of people had most of their tv/movie from illegal sources. I know I sure did.

Though plex has been trying hard to shake the image of illegal content. But I remember their forums where rampant with howtos on getting illegal media.

Kodi still seams to encourage "anything goes".

Channels TVE integration isn't technically illegal, but it is against the terms of service for TVEverywhere content.

I work in the streaming industry, and deal with TVE contracts all the time for a dozen or so broadcast and cable nets. They all have stipulations in the terms about displaying the streams "outside of the native context" (i.e. outside of the apps/websites intended to house the video player).

I personally disagree with this, and LOVE Channels implementation of TVE in an EPG grid. I keep quiet about Channels at work because I don't want some overzealous intern to start blocking it to impress the bosses.

Keep up the good work.

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That's right. Stay quiet. Shhhhhhh........

As far as legal goes. I think on a criminal level channels is legal. Civil matter. Im not so sure. Im sure we violate all kinds of TOS & contrcts.

I would love to challenge these TOS in court. Stuff like Netflix have similar terms about doing anything outside of their native players, too, so even redirecting a stream to, let's say, VLC on your own computer would be a violation. Based on the court rulings on VCR's in the 1970's and 80's and the TiVO cases of the 1990's and 2000's, I believe all of these terms are completely unenforceable and that consumers already have the right to direct programming to any device/method they want and to record and time shift it to their personal pleasure... so long as they do not share for personal gain (courts already ruled that you can gift or let some borrow for free).

But I would also hate for Channels to be at the forefront of that fight. The costs and resources necessary would be well beyond the means of this tiny company and that alone could be death knell. If some activist shop or lawfirm wants to bankroll that fight, though, that is a different story!

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I'm less worried about legal challenges (I agree there's not much to stand on there) and more worried about technical hurdles. It's pretty trivial to block a stream from playing outside it's intended container.