Top Shelf not available

Channels Apple TV
#21

Hi -

So this issue with the Top Shelf not being available is happening for me now too, ever since I updated my Apple TV to tvOS 17.

That said, it is probably something I am doing wrong, since I haven't seen a post from anyone else lately on this...

Anyway, I was on the official versions of Channels when this occurred and updated to the v2023.10.13.0514 Beta in the hopes that there might be something there that would fix it, but it didn't.

I can send logs if necessary, but anyone have/know of any basic fixes that work? Or was Top Shelf functionality taken away recently and I missed the notes on that?

Thanks :slight_smile:

#22

Did you try moving the app off the home row and back?

#23

I did; that didn’t work (made sense though)

#24

Hi all again,

Anyone have any other ideas as to what I might do to troubleshoot this?

I tried a few times to move the Channels app off the home row and put it back and that didn't do anything.

I know it isn't a big deal; it has no impact on the service (which has been great, as always); Just wondering what might be causing it is all... and what I might do to bring it back to how it was before

#25

How many favorite channels do you have?

#26

I turned off the built-in Favorites section and made a "Favorites" Channels Collection so I don't know if that matters or not.

Anyway, in this "Favorites" Channels Collection, maybe 60 or so channels, from my antenna, TVE, and some m3u playlists I found in the forums? I am not at home right now to count specifically.

I had the same basic setup before the upgrade to tvOS17, though, and Top Shelf worked fine then. I have added some more channels from additional m3u playlists lately, but I did that, I believe, after I noticed Top Shelf wasn't working; so I don't think it's that?

#27

It does. Top Shelf will use a Channels Collection named Favorites for this.

That doesn't seem like toooo many. But to test it:

  1. Remove the Favorites collection from the client in Server Side Settings
  2. Start the Channels app
  3. Confirm the collection is gone
  4. Exit the Channels app
  5. Move the app from the top row and back to try to restart the Top Shelf (it, itself, is it's own app)
1 Like
#28

Will do when I get the chance this evening; thanks :slight_smile:

#29

Hi all,

I wanted to give a long overdue update.

I think it might be more of a network issue that I am having (i.e., I must have put in some sort of traffic control or firewall command that affected things (though I am not really sure what I might have done to be honest).

Anyway, weirdly enough, I was doing something completely unrelated - turning off the internet to my Apple TV to keep my 5 yr old off the TV for a few hours - and, in doing that, the top shelf came back.

This -- combined with the fact that, sometimes, my On Now & Guide pages will initially revert/default to the original categories that came with the Channels server (i.e., All/HD/Kids/Favorites, etc.) and then go back to the categories that I subsequently set it to, and that it also takes a good 10-15 seconds for the Guide and On-Now to populate -- leads me to the conclusion that maybe I have tinkered with my network too much and it's causing little blips in the system.

Any opinions? Anyone know, based on what I have said, what I might want to do to correct things? Or would it be advisable, instead, to do a more nuclear option: erase my Channels server from Synology and build it back up again?

Hope I am making sense here; sorry if not...

#30

It certainly sounds like your home network is having issues. I’d work on getting that fixed up.

Channels is only as reliable as the network it’s on.

#31

Thanks for the confirmation; I need to just go through things and figure out what I did to mess things up :slight_smile:

#32

Final (I think) update: After erasing the M3U custom channels I had as sources, top shelf came back.

Not entirely sure why (and am open to hearing possible reasons), but it works now :slight_smile:

#33

This is what I asked you to do previously, to lower the amount of channels. It should only be showing channels set to favorites, so you might have had a lot in there.

There's currently an issue where we run into a memory wall. The Top Shelf is only allowed 10MB of memory, anything past that and it will crash or not render.

We've done extensive work to try to ensure we do not hit this wall, but it seems you've found a way to do it.