Thoroughly impressed (and needed to share it!)

#1

I’ve been using Channels (iOS apps, Apple TV app, DVR) for about three weeks now, and I wanted to post to say how thoroughly impressed I am by the whole package.

Some back story: I had an (ancient) TiVo HD and its aging UI, in addition to their latest monthly price increase, finally forced me to look for alternatives. I picked up a HDHomerun Prime and was initially using it with Plex, but while I think Plex is an excellent product, I found the Live TV/DVR experience lacking. My search for something else led me to Channels.

Using Channels apps and Channels DVR has been a pleasure. It was easy to set up, and the Live TV experience is fast and high quality, both at home and remote. There are a handful of small things I hope to see added to the DVR functionality some day, but these are minor quibbles. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the great support on this forum from the developers.

I know I am ‘preaching to the choir’ posting this on this forum, but since posts are often about issues, in the holiday spirit I figured I’d post this :slight_smile:️

11 Likes
#2

I feel the same way. I used Windows Media Center for years but with Microsoft abandoning it I needed a different solution. I tried numerous things, and nothing worked very well. Until I found Channels. It has worked great and I encourage everybody that is happy to tell your friends! The more support Channels can get, the better it will be for everyone!

3 Likes
#3

Couldn’t agree more. Been a very happy user for a couple of years now. And there is nothing to touch it in my book. Especially with the apple tv

1 Like
#4

+1

I'm constantly suggesting improvements and finding minor annoyances but overall the experience is amazing. Hope the devs know that any features/changes I suggest are purely in hopes to improve upon a product that is already far and away the best dvr experience I've found.

#5

Same here. Traveled across the country for the Holidays. Installed the app on my son's apple TV and we watched west coast sports spitting out of my WD NAS at home.. The BEST THING of all, was that my home ISP was having issues, so upload speed was lame at my house. I got into the interface, and dumbed it down to 480p and it was solid as a rock. Couldn't do that (easily) on Plex. So channels is amazing and everyone needs to know it. And the support network is amazing. If we solve the DRM headaches, well....it will be the video singularity!

1 Like
#6

I love using Channels, but to be fair, streaming quality in Plex can be easily adjusted in the the app via Settings -> Quality

#7

In my experience Plex wants to transcode everything, which tends to harm quality and requires lots of horsepower on the server. It’s not nearly as good of an experience of the native mpeg2 player Channels provides.

1 Like
#8

That depends on the device you are using, Plex usually relies on the native player. This is changing with iOS and tvOS since they are moving to mpv as the "enhanced" player option, with it almost any format can be direct played.

#9

When I tried it just a few months ago when trying to stream to iOS devices plex transcoded every single time. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

#10

It is a new feature, Plex pass users have only had it for about a month, it will be free for everyone soon.

#11

Ahh ok that makes sense. Good change then. Oh well, I’m totally sold on Channels now. :blush:

#12

Instead of lurking, as I usually do, I went to the trouble to login just to post and say that I agree that Channels is great! I've been using it for about 10 months now, and I've paid for the next year's subscription. It is a great product! I really like it. It's very intuitive and easy to use. Keep up the great work!

2 Likes