Question about Channels DVR use in Europe/Italy

Channels DVR Server
#1

Hi - I'm trying to understand if/how anyone is using Channels DVR in Europe, generally, and Italy, specifically.

Here's my situation:

  1. I have a house in Italy and when I get back I'll be able to add fiber to it. I'll watch Italian TV (RAI) via the internet.

  2. When I'm back in the States, I'd like to be able to stream Italian TV from my house to my home in the US. Ideally, a Channels DVR server in Italy will be able to serve my Italian TV to me in the States.

My question:

  1. Is anyone using Channels DVR in Italy/Europe?
  2. How is it setup?

Thanks in advance

#2

In order to use Channels DVR in Italy you will need either an aerial connected to a HDHomeRun network tuner or a satellite dish connected to a SAT>IP receiver. This is assuming the Italian channels you wish to watch are transmitted via an unencrypted terrestrial or satellite broadcast. It is unlikely you'll be able to (legally) add RAI internet streams (if they exist) to Channels DVR, as there is no equivalent to "TV Everywhere" anywhere in Europe that I'm aware of.

Assuming you have an aerial or satellite along with the appropriate tuner, then you should have no issue accessing your Channels DVR setup in Italy while you're in the US. If you have a fibre connection in Italy, that will likely have an upload speed fast enough to access the streams.

1 Like
#3

Thanks for your input. Indeed RAI streams do exist. Many Italians access RAI feeds via Android TV. When RAI launched Raiplay in 2016, the press release referenced TV everywhere:
https://www.telecompaper.com/news/italys-rai-launches-new-tv-everywhere-service-rai-play--1163191

I am trying to find someone who actually watches Italian TV (in Italy) in any fashion and, hopefully, with Channels DVR. So, I am posting to see if anyone has experience with those services in Italy/Europe.

In fact, I can stream some content while in the US. For example, RAINews streams fine (it's actually in my Channels DVR guide via an M3U stream) as RAI does not restrict international access on it. I am also able to stream select programs, on demand, from RAI 3 when there are no international IP restrictions.

Relative to OTA HDHomerun or satellite dish, I'm well aware of those options. I have an HDHomeRun (cable) in the US. Radio reception isn't good enough at my Italian house for the OTA solution and the Sat options doesn't make sense. Ultimately, I could always VPN my homes together and solve the problem that way but Channels DVR would be a more elegant solution and also solve the time-shifting problem as well.

#4

Here in the UK we have something similar with the BBC iPlayer, but the difficulty is getting those streams into Channels DVR in an automated way. You could attempt to extract the stream URLs from the RAI Play app, but I expect they would change frequently and/or require some kind of authentication.

The difference between "TV Everywhere" in the US (which works with Channels DVR) vs the more generic term "TV Everywhere" is that many US channels can be streamed using a single set of credentials from your pay TV provider. That means you can access the video streams across many different apps and services instead of needing to use the channel's own app or website.

As far as I know there is no system like that anywhere in Europe, which is a shame. Here in the UK, Sky and Virgin have "TV Everywhere" type services, but you must access them through their own apps and websites. There is no way to sign in and get those services into Channels DVR.

#5

For what it's worth, PlayOn Cloud does also support BBC iPlayer and integrates nicely with Channels DVR. It's obviously different from TVE, doesn't have a typical linear live stream, but for on demand recording and binging, it works great. https://getchannels.com/docs/channels-dvr-server/how-to/playon-cloud/

#6

Thanks all. I own Playon Desktop but looks like one would need cloud and it's not clear that Playon cloud can record RAI channels.

I did find Audials (https://audials.com/en/television) which claims to be able to access RAI. Anyone have any experiece with it? If it works, that might work for my purposes.