Pluto for Channels

Yeah I don't know what happened but its back without me doing anything last time I checked.

@cptben94 You are my HERO!! Worked like a charm!!

Thank you very much.

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I'm a newbie with Channels DVR. I read that I can add Pluto TV as a custom channel source for my new Raspberry Pi 4 Channels DVR. I'm a techie and not afraid to deal with installing files on computers but I'm not a programmer and just don't know the language I've encountered.

Does anyone know of a step-by-step method to do this on a Raspberry Pi (or any other server for that matter)? I see references to installing a "Docker image" on my server, etc., but just don't know how to do this. @maddox has a GitHub page on Pluto for Channels, but under SET UP he says "Running the container is easy. Fire up the container as usual. You can set which port it runs on."

I'm lost already!

A quick search of the internet using "install docker raspberry pi" will give you lots of hits.

Apparently, I need to turn on SSH on my Pi (it's off by default) in order to gain access without a monitor and keyboard installed (headless access). I need to install a file named SSH in the root directory of the OS (which in my case is the custom one published by Channels DVR on the HDD).

How do I do this without SSH access? Or do I need to buy a micro HDMI monitor adapter to accomplish this?

Thanks

https://getchannels.com/docs/channels-dvr-server/installation/raspberry-pi/#ssh-access

And apparently docker is installed already on the pi image

You may also want to do what I did when I thought Docker was a brand of pants.
Find an overview of what docker is and a tutorial on how to use it.

@magrun - I installed Docker on my Raspberry PI 3 this past weekend with no problems.
Go to any browser on your PI and follow instructions at this address:
How to Install Docker on Raspberry Pi
The script provided does everything for you.

Stan

@chDVRuser

To automatically start Docker each time you reboot, just add the Docker command to the .profile of the user that boots up automatically on your RPi. In my case the system boots up to the user "pi" so I edited the .profile in the home directory of that user.

Stan

I was replying to @magrun who wants to install the Pluto docker container on his Custom Channels RPi image. I posted the link on how to enable SSH access and referenced a post that shows the Custom Channels pi image already has docker installed on it, so he doesn't need to install docker, just pull and run the Pluto docker image.

@chDVRuser
My bad. I misread who said what.

Stan

OK, bought a micro DVR adapter so I could run the command on my Pi 4 DVR server. It did say Docker was running. After entering the command and hitting enter, I waited a bit and rebooted the server. It says "Started Docker Application Container Engine" so I think it is running as intended. Now I entered the custom channel info on the settings page as I THINK I should have. No channels found.

Attaching a screen shot of the setup.
Please let me know what I've done wrong.
(the IP address is the same as the DVR Settings page).

... and FYI I tried "localhost" and "dvr-server" in place of the IP address with the same result.

Thanks

Using any computer on your network, can you view the Pluto for Channels web page?

From your screen shot that would be http://192.168.29.108:8080

I just tried on my tablet which is on the same network, No, I'm not able to get to the page.

I don't know Linux, to run the Docker set up command I just typed it and hit enter. Is that correct?

How do you know 192.168.29.108 is the correct IP. Are you sure port 8080 is available on the computer?

I'm not a programmer so I'm just trying ro follow the "simple directions" I've found scattered around these posts. It would be nice ro have one comprehensively set of instructions on how to set this up.

I do thank you for answering this post!

In answer to tour question, the IP address is the IP of the server settings page. I have no idea if port 8080 is available. It was the one listed in the Maddox/Docker instructions. Can you tell me how to check and what to do if yes or no? Again thanks for your time and expertise.

BTW I do have access to my router settings if thats what i have to check. However, I don't know what I'm looking for.

There's the problem. The instructions provided by Maddox are comprehensive. They tell you exactly what to do. The issue you are having is that you have to setup Docker for your specific environment. That's way, way, way outside of the scope of this forum. There are hundreds of other forums on the Internet that address Docker and the variations based on your network.

Also, you don't have to be a programmer to get Docker running. The programming has already been done for you. Your job is to configure everything so that it works in your environment.

My best advice I can give you is to stop looking at Pluto as your goal. Your first goal is to understand Docker and get that properly running (correct IP address, correct ports for you setup, etc). Once you learn that, I promise, following the instructions from Maddox will work.

I had to use the IP of my PC not the IP provided by docker. Once I used the PC IP everything linked up.
So I would suggest you try the PI's IP address and see if that works for you and that is not the DVR server IP either. My set up is DVR on NAS and Docker on Win10 PC.

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Yes the directions are pretty good but you can’t expect for said directions to include use this to setup and then not get questions about it. And if you are gonna bitch about it, at least offer something constructive like look here or link to something helpful :roll_eyes:

For that matter, a thread sticky with some suggested resources or reading would likely help and cut down on some of the questions.

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