Evening everyone. First off want to say that I absolutely love Channels; gamechanging product. I'm running 2 HDHomerun primes with about 9 TVs at last count running on 4K Firesticks, and DVR on a dedicated Win10 box. Everything works great with one annoyance that I haven't been able to pinpoint the cause of. When watching live TV (doesn't seem to matter which TV so I don't think it's specific to a particular Firestick), the screen will freeze/hiccup for a couple seconds, resume again for a second, then freeze/hiccup again for a couple seconds, resume again for a second, and then the whole screen will degrade into big pixels for a few seconds, and finally back to normal until it does the same thing again 5-10 minutes later. The Win10 box doesn't seem to be near any limits on CPU, memory, or network. I am 90% sure it happens on recorded shows as well but for some reason I don't think it happens as frequently. Any ideas what I can do to troubleshoot? It's super annoying. Thanks in advance!
Sounds like it could be a network issue. Have you checked the speed from the Firesticks to the DVR? If I am not mistaken there is a option in the channels app to check the connection.
Hmm, I'm not sure I knew there was a way to check the connection but I'll try that next time. I've got gig FiOS so speed shouldn't be an issue and most of the Firesticks have ethernet adapters, but I guess I shouldn't assume it's not a network issue. The repetitive nature of the glitch is what makes me think it's related to the app somehow but I'll try anything at this point. Thanks for the thought!
If they are all hardwired, I would guess that you are probably correct. This issue seems to be related more to wireless connections. The speed of your fios internet connect should have nothing to do with it (unless you are view remotely).
You should also check to make sure you have the playback set to 'Original' quality. That way you can rule out a transcoding issue.
Just confirmed with the TV that gets the most use that it's on a wired connection and playback is set to 'Original'. I did notice that the transcoder was set to 'software' so I flipped it to 'hardware' to see if that makes any difference. Does it matter what setting the Deinterlacer and Adaptive Streaming are set to? Clicking on the Support link in the web interface comes up with all green arrows. To your point about remote viewing, I don't know that I've ever experienced this issue on an iOS device.
Try the speed test back to the channels server from one of the clients. It's under setting / support in the channels client app.
100Mbps download speed. I tried downloading the beta on one of the Firesticks to see if that helps.
Was a solution ever identified? I am having the same issue on my ATV 4K box. Hard wired and getting gig speeds. I am running the latest beta. Thanks!
I'm having the same issue today as well. I am running Channels DVR on my Synology. Trying to watch from my iPad (or Mac), both cannot stream successfully. It simply jumps from from frame to frame (if I fast skip), or it is just stuck.
Very frustrating!!
One thing you could do to rule out Channels is watch tv through the HDHomeRun app. If you experience issues then at least you can be sure there's an issue somewhere on your network. It's not the most scientific method but without opening the Wireshark can o' worms it's an easy way to spot issues.
But FYI if you have multiple switches this is common. I got lazy and cheap with the family room, didn't run all the lines I needed, and added a desktop switch. Drove me nuts until I finally ordered more wire and went direct to the big switch in the basement.
I used your suggestion. I used the HDHomeRun app. Everything is perfect with the picture. Yet, the Channels DVR and Playback cannot playback properly at all.
Not sure if something has changed recently.
OK, I updated to the latest “Beta” version. 2021.01.01.0032.
Restarted the DVR, now everything is working properly again.
I updated the DVR to the latest beta a couple days ago but still have the same stuttering. However, the post about switches in series does ring true for my network. Not sure what I can do to correct that without major Sheetrock surgery so maybe I can upgrade a switch or two. Anyone know how I can confirm that it’s a network issue causing this hiccup?
Are you having issues with OTA, TVE or CableCARD channels? Or all of them?
My issues appeared to be with my Cablecard channels (HDHR Prime). I did perform a windows update on my server pc that included a restart. All appears to be working properly at the moment without stuttering. In regard to the switches, I've always had my PC connect via a gig switch this issue happens periodically but usually occurs when I do an update to Channels DVR. I'll keep an eye on it as I run the beta version, maybe a fresh reboot of the PC is what was needed.
My problems are back again today. HDHomeRun works fine. Channels DVR running on Synology (running the latest beta build) only shows a frame. It won’t play continuous video.
Please click Support > Submit Diagnostics from the app immediately after experiencing the issue then email [email protected]
If you go to the settings page for Channels, at the top in the middle is your system info. What numbers are there for "load averages" and what percentage of ram is free?
OK, I don’t think it is only Channels. After doing some testing..... If I have my AirPods active, Channels work just fine. If I don’t use them (e.g. use the speakers on the iPad), it won’t work.
I also noticed that I have an update available for iPadOS 14.3. Let’s hope this is a bug in iPadOS 14.2 and it will be resolved in an update. Stay tuned!
We watch Cablecard channels 99% of the time. Does not seem to be specific to any channel.