OTA playback suddenly pixelated / choppy?

Channels DVR Server
#1

I have a Mohu flat antenna connected to an HDHomeRun dual tuner connected to my Channels instance on Synology DS1019+ connected to my Android TV (Family Room TV) all via gigabit Ethernet. This setup has worked flawlessly for years. Just now however all my live OTA stations (coming from two different broadcast towers) are pixelated and choppy. I check with the HDHomeRun Config tool and they are rock solid (see below for example). HDHomeRun app in windows also plays back flawlessly. No issues with TVE or ADBTuner session. Channels version 2026.08.07.0346. My AndroidTV set to home (original) playback. CPU/RAM on server are at 2%/32% while this is happening.

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I don't see any log entries for OTA while experiencing this, even after power cycling my Android TV. I only see the TVE and ADBTuner info.

2026/09/30 18:38:16.107435 [TNR] Closed connection to TVE-Comcast_SSO for ch6035 TNT
2026/09/30 18:38:19.834197 [TNR] Opened connection to M3U-ADBtuner for ch9702 ESPN
2026/09/30 18:39:20.354968 [SNR] Buffer statistics for 192.168.1.249 (Family Room TV) for ch9702 ESPN: buf=0% drop=0%
2026/09/30 18:39:20.355226 [TNR] Closed connection to M3U-ADBtuner for ch9702 ESPN

Any ideas? Thanks.

#2

That's because your client AndroidTV has tuner sharing disabled, so is getting the stream direct from the HDHR tuner.

Have you tried a different Channels client device?

#3

Oh interesting! I didn't realize live TV was handled differently. I just recorded one of the channels and the recording is perfect. I rarely watch live (I think last time was the rocket launch) but I've never seen this symptom before. All OTA channels are spotty on live TV but seem to record fine.

I just tested with the ONN Android TV device I use with ADBTuner, and it has the same issue with live TV. As I said I don't usually watch for long, but I would have noticed this before at some point.

My HDHomeRun is quite old and doesn't seem to want to update through the Setup utility. Could that be a problem?
Model: HDHR3-US
Device ID: 103BEAC8
Firmware: 20230505

#4

When watching live tv from a client with tuner sharing disabled, the stream comes direct from the HDHR tuner to the client (different network path).

When recording, the stream comes from the HDHR tuner to the DVR (different network path).

Could be a network problem.

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#5

Thank you for putting me on the right track. Turning on tuner sharing largely resolves the issue.
As for the network, my main TV is GigE connected to the server (HDHomeRun is 100mb) and Channels reports these times:
Download: 360mbps
Latency: 1.47ms
Jitter: .58ms

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#6

Not knowing your network topology (what devices, switches, routers, etc. and how wired) we can only guess.
Trace the path from your HDHoneRun tuner to each of your client devices and to your DVR server.

Is that a speed test from one of your Channels clients to the Channels DVR server?
That will be a different network path than from the client to the HDHR tuner.

#7

Do you have tuner sharing enabled or disabled in the Channels apps on your channels clients?
Settings > Playback > Advanced > Tuner Sharing

If enabled, the stream goes
Original Quality Delivery > Direct = HDHR tuner > Channels DVR Server > channels client
Original Quality Delivery > Stream = HDHR tuner > Channels DVR Server > channels client

If disabled, the stream goes
Original Quality Delivery > Direct = HDHR tuner > channels client
Original Quality Delivery > Stream = HDHR tuner > Channels DVR Server > channels client

#8

Yes that is the main TV channels client speed test to server. They are all on the same switch. The fact that tuner sharing on works fine I think suggests no network bottleneck, but I can investigate further.

I enabled tuner sharing on both clients I was testing and they both work now for Live TV.

Thanks again.

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