Let’s face it, TVE is going away so I wonder if Channels might consider charging for just the stand alone where you can create your own channels. I am testing CHANNELSURF, COAX. BUNNYEARSTV, etc. $80 annually is too much but the company may want to look into that.
Um, TVE isn't the only solution?
There are so many ways of getting content into channels besides TVE that are like a million times more reliable.
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Absolutely, through for many it means getting past the challenges of learning new technologies. For somone that just barely managed to get Channels DVR working it's probably past there capability.
I feel the Channels Developers should purchase some of he add-ons and fully integrate them to help these people.
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In my opinion, most CHDVR users subscribed and paid to have access to the DVR function using TVE. For the years I've been using CHDVR and it worked exactly as I had hoped, until all the DRM nonsense came into play and I began to loose access to so many of the channels I watch. I pay Spectrum nearly $200 per month, which includes almost $50 per month for my local channels which I get OTA via HD Homerun for free. We rarely watch anything on these OTA channels, other than occasional sports. I have subscribed to Satellite or Cable TV ever since it became available back in the 80's and still have all the old VHS Video tapes (old school DVR) with programs we recorded for years. I am willing to pay for the privilege of watching TV, but I don't agree that Spectrum, as others (Direct TV, Fubo, Hulu), should now force me to use their apps, which are not that good to begin with.
If all that I needed was a means to stream my personal media to my devices I would use Plex or Jellyfin for free, yet it seems that, for the past couple of years, most of the development of CHDVR has been around getting it to function more like Plex and less like the wonderful DVR it had been.
I've been a big fan and supporter of CHDVR and the developers. And I also am a fan and supporter of all those in the community who have invested so much of their time to produce work arounds for DRM. But, as some have pointed out, many of us are not programmers or coders and lack the technical skills to get all the workarounds functioning. We are tinkerers at best. My wife will never be willing to invest the time or effort I do just to keep CHDVR working. She is much more comfortable using our old Spectrum cable box that has a built in DVR. This box has always worked well, but it is more than 10 years old and when it dies, I want to have something she can use in it's place because when the box dies, Spectrum will force us to use streaming and their cloud DVR.
If DRM is going to remove the DVR functions I want to use that I've enjoyed with Channels, while not my choice, I might as well consider going back to using Plex.
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Cloud DVR functionally is basically the same as a traditional DVR. The only functional difference is that you can't keep your library for ever. In reality, you probably were never backing up the recordings on your DVR so when the hard drive dies and they always do in time you louse everything, not just old recordings. You should try it and get over your fears.
I've tested those too, and at this point I'd say they have less than a quarter of the functionality and overall usability of Channels DVR, so if you're talking about price point, it's not exactly a fair comparison.
For a while, I had Hulu Live TV and was using their app. Not a big fan. It was very confusing to find your recordings when they were mixed with on-demand versions. You had to go through many "clicks" to get to play what you wanted.
Now, I have DirecTV Stream and the app is so much better, in my opinion. I like it because it's clean and simple to use. Very simple menus and it's quick to get to what you're looking for.
The cloud DVR has pros and cons, just like any other solution.
As summarized by Google Gemini:
Recommendation
Choose DirecTV Stream Cloud DVR if:
You want a plug-and-play setup with zero hardware maintenance, need access to regional sports networks, and don't care about keeping recordings permanently.Choose Channels DVR if:
You are a tech-savvy user who wants to keep an archive of recordings forever, utilize OTA antenna feeds, automatically skip commercials, and maintain full control over your media storage.
One big drawback with cloud recording with all providers: no flexibility to add padding or set up automatic recordings based on key words.
If only cloud DVR services used Channels DVR's software. 
Sometimes I dream that Channels DVR somehow gets into an agreement with a TV streaming service so that you can use Channels to control your cloud recordings. Including the option to download to your server even though they would be encrypted and only playable with Channels DVR clients. I would go along with that. Recordings never interrupted, even in case of bad weather or power outages. 
I mean, ADB tuner is pretty seamless to set up. Project OneClick makes everything very, very, very easy. And you just basically need a linkpi encoder and you're done. Get a couple of Android boxes or fire sticks, and that's it.
For the non-tech savvy, Docker is a whole nother world. And since most projects here use that it can be a large barrier.
May be easy for people who want to spend hours maybe days learning about these things, trying to determine exactly which project is best for them. Then maybe they need to buy more hardware and setup a Linux server. There will be extra maintenance and troubleshooting when things go wrong. This is great for technical people and those who want a hobby.
Personally, I don't have the desire for this, when I can just use the Directv app. It has profiles so my wife and I can each have our own experience. I can start watching a live show and select start at beginning or record the whole thing. I have unlimited recording space and can record every show on every channel if I want. I have to manually skip commercials, but it is easy for me.
I have Channels DVR for my HDHomerun tuners and that works great. But if ATSC 3.0 DRM takes over then I won't need Channels DVR.
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I miss the early days when my cable subscription TVE's were almost 100% brought into CHDVR.
I use the Directv Stream app and also the Streaming box.
They work almost the same.
I find them both tedious, CHDVR is so much better.
Main things missing:
When you channel surf with Ch UP/DOWN it is always on the ENTIRE channel list, Not Favorites.
You cannot rearrange your list, Favorites or otherwise, its Numeric or Channel name only.
And it seems DTV has little interest in upgrading the app.
Really, I mean, with artificial intelligence these days and a chatbot, it doesn't take hours. Agentic computing has really accelerated everything.
These applications don't really need powerful hardware. The HDMI encoder is probably the worst thing, but can be purchased on Amazon, and again, ChatGPT or Claude can guide most people through configuring these. There's also a forum here full of helpful, dedicated users that are willing to help those who need it. I think if anyone decided to get involved with ADB Tuner, ah4c, Prismcast, anything like that, I think there would be quite a few people willing to help out with setup on the forums here.
With something like a Synology or really anything running Linux like a cheap Celeron mini PC, Docker is fairly straightforward, pretty much point and click. I don't mean this to be condescending, I mean it to dispel a misconception. It really does get to be point and click, especially with the tools offered in the community here (Project OneClick and E-Z Start meant just for this) and the various Portainer integrations. Again, there's a wealth of knowledge on the forums besides AI chatbots, and there are dozens of people that are willing to help anyone out, I think, here. I just don't think there's any need to give up. There are plenty of options to get up and running smoothly and to learn in the process. And I feel like learning is a good thing, even when it's hard. I know some of these concepts aren't easy for people, but they're less scary than they sound. 
The best part of Channels is really the excellent community surrounding it!
Prismcast will not run well on low end hardware, and is not the best choice for reliable viewing for anyone that doesn't know tech.
Well, no, Prismcast, in my opinion, really only runs well on a Mac. I haven't found it to run particularly well in any other operating system personally. I had a really hard time with Docker getting a stable stream and ended up kind of just giving up. I personally use HDMI encoders. Right now, I'm using the latest ADBTuner development build, which is excellent, but I've previously contributed a lot of scripts to ah4c and some code.
Prism runs fine on a relatively recent mid-level CPU on Windows 11, but I run it native. You're not running it on some low end Intel N95 or N100 junk which are in a lot of cheap mini PCs.
But again, just to get it to run native requires tech know how. And then you have to constantly make sure your authentication is working on the channels etc. Channels handled this natively with TVE.
I know you mean well but I've seen plenty of posts in this forum from folks that will abandon Channels because TVE is dying and they don't have the skills or patience to mess with Docker etc. And I understand.
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Yeah, I mean, that's totally their call. I'm just trying to help and indicate that it's not 100% necessary. There is a dedicated community here willing to help folks learn how to use new technology.