Looks like I'll be spending the day setting up Windows Media Center on a spare laptop today.
Channels DVR was initially looking good, but after my first run with it on my Thecus W5810 NAS Thecus W5810 and seeing that something was not up to the task of simply recording TV shows so I could watch them later. (I say "something", because there are many 'moving parts' to making this work... was in my HDHR Primes?, was it my 1 GB home network?, was it because I run a Domain at home? Was it because the Thecus W5810 did not have the horsepower to record 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and or 6 shows at once, yet alone watch one? Was it my Nvidia Shield being used only as the front end Streaming device? Was it Solar Flares?... perhaps it was the Earths Magnetic Flux and the planets aligning and a full moon?...
So, to rule most of that out, I installed the Channels DVR Server on the Nvidia Shield and purchased a 6TB WD Mybook and connected it to the Nvidia Shield. I exported my settings from the Thecus W5810 / Windows Server 2012 R2 Storage Server system that was running the Channels DVR server, and imported it to the newly installed (after a factor reset of the Nvidia Shield) Channels DVR server on the Shield. (After the hiccup of Channels decided to set it's recording path to the folder I just imported settings from.... without telling me it was going so...., I set six recordings for a certain time.. and went to bed... only to wake up and see the test failed... because... trying to shove six recordings onto the internal 16 GB storage of the Shield.... just didn't work so well....(Imagine that)... so, after sending my logs to [email protected] i was told I was probably recording to the internal storage... Yep... I ...er Channels opted to change the path I had set on other than the internal 16 GB path that I had copied the settings to from my windows system to import to the Shield based Channels Server
So...I had a File Manager installed already (thank goodness, or I don't know how I would of been able to manage files on that 0 KB free 16 GB internal storage), and started deleting the empty folders that Shield attempted to record to and hit a brick wall of not having any space to record to. And then deleted the folders and small mpg files that made a valiant effort to stuff those 1's and 0's into the unavailable real estate... then I moved the shows that did record over to the 5 TB drive.. and my Shield appeared to be somewhat functional again.
So... test time.... set six recordings all starting at 11pm last night, went to bed... woke up this morning...and well..."The Disappointment continues"....
"A picture is worth a 1000 words":
I'm at a loss for what to do here....
Perhaps the Western Digital myBook is my issue? WD MyBook 6TB Drive
Anyways... I'm tired of being a beta tester for a product I'm paying for... so, I guess it's back to Windows Media Center or renting a working DVR solution from my TV Provider... or perhaps heading over to a paid streaming service such as Hulu and/or the streaming services from Direct TV or Dish TV, etc...
Sigh.. I just want it to work without investing way too much time and effort at trying to overcome all of the issues I'm seeing (and this isn't just with Channels DVR... it is with Plex Live TV & DVR, as well as the HD Homerun DVR offering....
If someone from Channels wants my logs... I'll send them... but at this point... to steal what someone else posted... "I'm giving up on Channels DVR as my WAF approved DVR solution in the house.. it just can't meet that seal of approval"
Thanks for the ride... i'll be cancelling my subscription.
Stephen