Development philosophy
- the Channels and Channels DVR Server software is built using continuous deployment methodology
- every change to the codebase is automatically deployed, and made available as a prerelease build to subscribers
- on days of heavy development, several beta and prerelease builds may be published
Channels apps
Apple devices
Beta versions are distributed via Apple's TestFlight app. Click this TestFlight invite link from an iPhone or iPad to join the beta program.
Android devices
Beta releases of the android APK are published to the Play Store, and also available for side-loading.
Automatic Sideload (recommend)
To install the Channels beta as a separate app on your device, simply go into the stable Channels app and select Settings > Support > Beta Testing > Install Beta App
Play Store
You can opt-in or opt-out of the beta process directly on the Play Store
Manual Sideload
You may also download the apk and sideload it manually. This can be helpful when using Android emulators like BlueStacks or the new Android Subsystem in Windows 11
The simplest way to sideload the beta APK is via the Downloader app:
- Install Downloader by AFTVnews from the Play Store or Amazon Store
- Enter 697374 or aftv.news/697374
Sideloading can also done via the adb
developer tool:
- enable developer mode on your android device
- use
adb connect <ip>
from your computer to connect to the android device - use
adb install channels-dvr-xxx.apk
to install the APK
On Windows 11, you can also find GUI helpers for Android subsystem on the Windows Store which will let you drag-and-drop the APK to install it.
Kodi
The kodi add-on is an experimental client, currently only available in beta. It integrates with Kodi Matrix/Nexus as a PVR plugin.
Setup
To install the add-on, follow these steps:
-
Setup repository
- click Settings > File manager > Add source
- click
<None>
and enterhttps://kodi.getchannels.com
- enter
channels-kodi
for name, then hit OK to save
-
Install repository
- click Settings > Add-ons > Install from zip file
- click on
channels-kodi
then selectrepository.fancybits.zip
-
Install addon
- click Settings > Add-ons > Install from repository > Channels Add-on Repository
- click PVR clients > Channels DVR Client > Install
Channels DVR server
The DVR server software has a built-in auto-update mechanism that works the same way across all operating system and environments, including NAS apps and containers like Docker.
Updating to prerelease
On the DVR web UI, select Status > Version > Check For Update > Check for Pre-Release
RPI Image
Our Raspberry Pi Disk Image also supports built-in auto-update. Beta versions can be installed via the web UI, under Operating System > Version