When I start playback on the app it takes a long time - typically 3-10 seconds - for playback to start. And occasionally it fails to start at all.
Worse, skipping forward 30 seconds often takes as long.
The server has plenty of horsepower, and WiFi bandwidth is also not an issue.
I haven't really been using the app, so... is this normal? And if so, can it somehow be tweaked down to reliably be less than a 1 seconds?
Thanks!!
This is usually due to bandwidth. What does the dvr speed test button in the app show?
What device is this on?
Took a little poking around finding it, but numbers doesn't look bad. But, worryingly they are somewhat inconsistent:
On five tests, done sequentially within a 4-5 minute window:
Download: 30.66 / 5.78 / 3.51 / 4.29 / 3.87 Mbit/s
Latency: 6.20 / 8.85 / 5.14 / 12.13 / 16.21 mS
Jitter: 3.54 / 10.28 / 9.79 / 69.44 / 121.26 mS
Making the phone rest for 5 minutes, then re-testing consistently gives results like the very first test (over 30 Mbit/s). So I'm not sure what to think...
Samsung S9, Android 9, patch level Nov. 1, 2019.
I'm using my phone for evaluating if Channels is the right solution to replace my MCE7 now Microsoft is, very unfortunately, ending support by the end of the year.
The server seem to work great, both OTA and TVE. But I'm still on the fence with the client, both given the performance issues I'm seeing here, but also no Windows client or Chromecast support, and the much too spartan guide provided by HD Homerun.
But I'm taking one thing at time, so making it work smooth on my Android device would be a very good first step. 
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply!
Seems like your Wi-Fi is really struggling. You should be seeing speeds of 250mbps or more inside your home network
EDIT: is your dvr pc also on wire or hard wired?
Update: Reducing the streaming quality to 720p / 3Mbit/s does seem to make it significantly smoother. Still slightly laggy but definitely much better.
In a permanent setup I'd want to use a wired Gbit connection to the client (or run the client directly on the server, if I can find one that supports the MCE remote control), which would probably bring the performance over the finish line.
Can you suggest something?
Wow, you're fast!!!
The DVR is on a Gbit wired connection to the access point.
The WiFi speed is a little surprising, I'll admit. Not sure what's going on there; I'll investigate. Access points are Linksys EA6400 and while old, they should still perform better than that if there's no bottleneck in the client.
Problem found. It appears my phone repeatedly jumped to the 2.4GHz Wifi instead of the 5GHz. Now fixed, and performance is MUCH better.
Thank you!!! 
Now, on to next test items (your input still much appreciated)