To be very, very clear, this is not a "failure". The initialization process is attempting to find the Channels DVR folder, but it is not a requirement. This is just a warning. As covered in the installation directions on the Github repo:
Docker seems particularly problematic at the search and gives up almost immediately. This is not the situation in any of the other builds. I've made some additional clarifications on the repo since I took that screenshot.
This is also exactly what the logs said it would do:
... defaulting to current directory. Please set your Channels DVR folder in 'Settings'.
And also what is written in the installation instructions:
The same thing applies to directories. You are looking at the Docker Container's internals, not your host machine's. As it shows in the Stack:
The Environmental Variable for CHANNELS_FOLDER is your host machine (left of colon), the /app/channels_folder directory is what that is within the Docker Container (right of colon).
Not exactly, but I found a way. If you update to the newest release (v2024.09.13.0834) and create a net new Container, you may see this:
I had both the issues you just addressed yesterday but was able to work through them. But do agree that for Docker, it is a bit confusing when you think your Channels folder is one thing based on your OS file system, but Docker has its own internal system. Thanks for the fixes.
Just a note to other users regarding Service priorities, they make a difference. I pretty much set mine up alphabetically. I added Real Housewives for my wife and showed her how to use it on the ATV and it took us to Amazon Prime Video to purchase for $3 rather than Peacock where it's free. So, test out your shows/movies to make sure it takes you where you want it to.
So during the first time setup, when it is "Searching for Channels DVR folder..." does it look at the value that is defined in the environment variable CHANNELS_FOLDER and map it to /app/channels_folder?
It seems everything is good on my side. I will proceed with configuring my streaming services and will start adding programs. Cool stuff.
Not to get too technical, but it's looking for a folder named Imports, getting its parent directory, and checking to see if that parent directory is valid based on some predetermined factors.
Which is why I just realized that the .../channels_folder was not set as one of those valid factors! Therefore, if you now upgrade to v2024.09.13.1050 it can find the folder during a new Docker install...
Is there a trick to getting this to show up in OliveTin? I stop the stack in Portainer, and then redeploy. I have UPDATE_SCRIPTS and update_YAMLS set to true, but when OliveTin restarts, I don’t see Stream Link Manager in Project One-Click. I also added an environment variable “tag” set to “latest”, having seen that mentioned elsewhere but not sure if that’s what I’m supposed to be doing.
Thanks. User error. I checked Project One-Click, it wasn’t there, and then updated and redeployed properly, but when I checked again I was in the regular Olive Tin window, and forgot to hope over to Project One-Click. I’m seeing it now. Fingers crossed I can it working.
[UPDATE: Disregard the below post. It was my Channels URL that was wrong, not the directory. One suggestion: when you use the “test” feature to test the URL for Channels, it gives a success message, but doesn’t retain the URL you input to test, so you need to reenter it, and might miss it. But that is a very small issue in what looks to be a great program! I input my first show now, and it worked flawlessly. Thank you so much for this!]
When the instructions refer to “ your Channels DVR folder”, is that referring to the folder we set to store our recordings? For example, in my settings for Channels DVR, in Settings > General, under ‘Library Databse”, I have this: “/Volumes/MediaDskSSD/Channels recordings”. Or is it referring to the folder where Channels DVR was installed?
I used the above directory during setup (I’m on macOS), but Stream Link Manager didn’t save my streaming services when I tried to set them, and it didn’t create any directories when I tried to set up my first show.
Hopefully I’m not asking a question that’s already been answered. I did do a search through this post, and looked through the instructions, but I could have missed it.
Do you plan on making installation easier, I installed Docker, Linux, Portainer after that seems bit confusing, too many scenarios, maybe a step by step installation.
The GitHub repo is literally a detailed step-by-step set of directions with screenshots explaining every single thing you need to do along the way. If that is not enough, there is video where I do the installation in Portainer and you can follow along and do all the same exact actions. If Docker is not right for you, then if you are using Windows or Linux, you can just download one file and type in a couple of commands exactly as written.
Just to be clear, you only have to follow one path:
This is probably my favorite new feature, helping with discovery of what is even available on your Streaming Services. It also gives you a reason to check in every day to see what's new!
- MODIFIED: When doing a search or manual addition in 'Add Programs`, the entered term remains until finished or cancelled / cleared
- ADDED: When searching for a program in 'Add Programs', can resort the results alphabetically
I found when a program does not come in the top search, it can be trying to figure out if it exists somewhere. These tools give you the ability to search and search again with the same term, maybe changing the number of results you get, and even alphabetizing them to make the giant lists easier to look through.
- NEW: During first-time Initialization, program attempts to search for the Channels URL in the entire network instead of defaulting to current machine name
- MODIFIED: Minor updates to Initialization process for consistency of logs and messages
There are also now warnings inside the URL if it is unsuccessful, so hopefully less for new users to think about during setup. My Docker test actually set all Setting perfectly, as did Windows, even on another machine, so it is looking good from that perspective. It is still recommended to confirm, though!
Thanks to @mjitkop for helping me test out some prototypes for this feature!
- MODIFIED: Settings page now 'anchors' to the item you are working on instead of scrolling back to the top
- MODIFIED: Channels URL test now retains the URL that was input; minor changes to layout to accommodate
- ADDED: Ability to manually scan for the Channels URL in the 'Settings' area
- MODIFIED: Various bug fixes and minor updates for 'Settings' area
The Settings area had some annoyances where it would reload to the top after all actions, so now that is fixed where it stays on the item you were working on. It has a greater memory all around for everything that is input by users. You can also re-run the Channels URL scan from above, if desired.
So, a pretty big update today with a lot of good stuff. The GitHub repo has also been updated with the relevant details. Please follow the directions for Upgrade to take advantage of these features!
As such, there are a few other items I could add to search results. Given the real estate and to keep things uncluttered, I believe only one additional data point should be added, so which would you like to see?
SLM Search Addition
Nothing, looks good as is
IMDB Score
TMDB Score
Rotten Tomatoes Meter
Come on, you could make room for all of those!
Something else that would by much more difficult but would totally be worth it, I swear! (Please specify)
Since Channels DVR's lookup references Rotten Tomatoes (specifically the Popcornmeter score and not Tomatometer) then that gets my vote! If only for consistency's sake
Please elaborate on what you mean by "source"? All of the data that SLM uses comes from JustWatch, which in turn gets their data from IMDB, TMDB, and their own analysis of country availability with links.
For example, the show Evil is on Netflix and Paramount+. I had been watching on P+ so I'd want links to come from that to continue what I'm watching, but if my sources were in a different order, I'd see that SLM is trying to pull the stream link from Netflix. This would let me know that I need to adjust something. I can do that after it imports into Channels, but if I could see which source SLM will be creating the stream link from, that'd be helpful. If it can't be done, that's fine, it's just a suggestion.
Ah, bummer. Yes, in that case, it does change my vote, over to IMDB. The delta between RT’s Tomatometer and Popcornmeter scores can be wildly inconsistent.
