Just wanted to share something cool. I’m using QuadStream to view 4 Channels on Apple TV at the same time and it looks great. Now we need this feature natively in Channels.
Just setup your QuadStream and point it to your local DVR url:
http://192.168.7.82:8089/devices/ANY/channels/1205/hls/master.m3u8?
HDHomeRun video streams are high bitrate MPEG2 and gets decoded on the CPU since they don’t support MPEG2 decoding on their GPU. Unfortunately, there wouldn’t be enough CPU to decode 2 streams, much less 4.
The only way we could do this is with transcoded streams. But I’m not sure many NAS devices could handle 4 transcodes at once. And most users use a NAS for Channels DVR.
What hardware are you running Channels DVR on? This is impressive.
I'm running Channels DVR latest pre-release on Mac mini (late 2012) Quad-Core 2.6GHz Intel Core i7 with 16gb of memory, 128GB SSD drive for streaming only and with turner sharing ON. I'm streaming to 4 ATV with Quad view concurrently and the fan is spinning crazy though.
I’m assuming you have Channels app on Apple TV + Channels DVR running on a Mac mini or similar hardware. I’m running the latest pre-release of Channels DVR. I have HDR Prime and HDR Connect Quadtro on my network.
The stream will start automatically when you open QuadStream app on Apple TV. You can use the remote to switch from stream to stream or go full screen.
Awesome!!
Thank you for the walk through!
Please consider creating a configurable channel(s) with 4 TVE streams!
Just tried this. Works great!!!
Rob
Was not able to get this to work. Looks like it wants me to login. If I cut and paste link in my browser it wants me to login. But the is no web browser for QuadStream.
How do I find the channel url’s in a Windows server? A player is opening and the url doesn’t look anything like what you wrote.
New to Channels. Selling my Tablo - don’t need a 30 day trial to figure out - it’s pretty obvious this is the better option.
Thanks in advance.
Here's the link. Just replace the x.x.x.x with the local IP for your DVR.
http://x.x.x.x:8089/devices/ANY/channels/8.1/hls/master.m3u8
Notice the 8.1, that is the channel I want to view. It can be an OTA number like 8.1 to a TVE number like 6000.
One you set up favorites it is easy.
Rob
Got it working. Was using HTTPS instead of HTTP. Game changer for sports Sunday!
That’s easy to follow. Still not working for me but I suspect it may be my hdhr. It’s an old hdhr3 Dual. I have a new quatro on order. Thanks again.
Does the QuadStream app on an ATV stream four different live TV channels from the Channels DVR with tuner sharing on at Original quality, or does the Channels DVR have to transcode each stream?
Also, I thought tuner sharing was a setting in the Channels app on tvOS. How does QuadStream interact with the Channels app on the ATV?
Below is what is on my settings screen and my log when I run 4 streams.
Rob
Watching ch11.1 from 192.168.1.64 (Running: 1m11s @ 1.02x (30.00fps)).
Watching ch4.1 from 192.168.1.64 (Running: 1m14s @ 1.01x (59.97fps)).
Watching ch6140 from 192.168.1.64 (Running: 1m17s @ 1.14x (49.99fps)).
Watching ch6193 from 192.168.1.64 (Running: 1m18s @ 1.19x (35.78fps)).
019/12/01 20:50:56 [TNR] Opened connection to 1073752C/0 for ch4.1 KDFW-DT
2019/12/01 20:50:56 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 4.1 from 192.168.1.64 (encoder=h264_mf, resolution=1080, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=10000)
2019/12/01 20:50:56 [TNR] Opened connection to TVE-YouTubeTV for ch6193 MLBTV
2019/12/01 20:50:57 [HLS] Probed live stream in 478.4957ms: h264 960x720 progressive 3323889bps
2019/12/01 20:50:57 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 6193 from 192.168.1.64 (encoder=remux, resolution=1080, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=10000)
[h264_mf @ 0000000002a02700] stream format change
2019/12/01 20:50:58 [TNR] Opened connection to TVE-YouTubeTV for ch6140 ESPN1
2019/12/01 20:50:58 [HLS] Probed live stream in 475.7272ms: h264 1280x720 progressive 2503111bps
2019/12/01 20:50:58 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 6140 from 192.168.1.64 (encoder=remux, resolution=1080, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=10000)
2019/12/01 20:50:59 [TNR] Opened connection to 1073752C/2 for ch11.1 KTVT-DT
2019/12/01 20:50:59 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 11.1 from 192.168.1.64 (encoder=h264_mf, resolution=1080, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=10000)
[h264_mf @ 000000000061ec40] stream format change
This sounds like exactly what I’m looking for with PS Vue going away along with their Quad View of up to four channels on an AppleTV.
My question and possible issue is, will this work if your server is remote?
I just wanted to call out something subtle from this example:
It just so happens that two of those channels are coming from TVE (which is H.264 and requires no transcoding) and two are coming from OTA (which requires transcoding from MPEG2 to H.264).
Depending on the hardware that is used and the combination of channels that are watched, you may or may not run into limits of how fast your DVR can transcode what you are trying to watch.
I tried 4 transcoding channels and at least with my setup all went well.
ATV 4K (latest version)
Windows 10 DVR - i7-5500U/16GB, dedicated to Channels and EMBY servers.
I am looking for an app for the ATV that can show me the processes/CPU etc. I am not an Apple expert so I am still figuring the TVOS out.
Rob
Any way to control the bitrate for the remuxes and transcodes in this setup?
Sounds like it's not using the Channels tvOS app, so how could it be set with QuadStream as the hls client app?
The settings come from the DVR web UI.
If you wanted to override, you could add them to the URL. Change master.m3u8 to something like stream.m3u8?bitrate=4000&resolution=720