UK - Moving from Sky to Channels functionality questions

#1

Hi

I have heard great things about Channels and just want to be clear on what it can and can't do please ,before investing in a HD Homerun and giving it a go. I had a look through the quick guide and forums and it seems to cover everything and more, just want to double check I haven't misunderstood anything.

This is my current setup followed by proposed setup, based in the United Kingdom,

Current situation is
Lounge TV - 4K TV connected to SKYQ - Basic entertainment package (we only watch free to air channels) and HD package
Playroom TV - 1080p TV with FireCube attached
Bedroom TV - HD Ready TV - aerial attached for free to air channels (freeview) + firestick 4K
Kitchen TV - HD Ready TV -aerial attached for free to air channels (freeview)
Old Home PC, 8GB Ram, 1050Ti, 4670K CPU - would be the server, or could consider investing in shield or PI if savings on electricity costs as would be on 24/7
Subscriptions: Disney+, Amazon Prime, Netflix (these are accessed by firesticks/firecube and smart TV in lounge remote)

Our SKY Q contract comes to and end this month, and we are basically paying ÂŁ30 a month for the sky box to record and pause live free to air TV in the lounge. My wife loves the SKY Q EPG
and record function. Tried to build a pc using mediaportal many years ago and hook that up to TV previously, but found lots of issues that prevented it from passing the wife test...

Proposed situation

  • Find a way to offer similar service to Sky EPG + DVR service - Homerun + Channels DVR..

  • Combine everything into a single platform - so Live TV, Netflix, Disney, Prime, On Demand(iplayer etc) all accessible from same APP

  • Add local content/other streaming content to that single platform, favourite bluray movies to copy to PC.

  • Search all the content local and streaming services by Movie title/actor etc

  • Have this accesible in multiple rooms (fireTV/Cube) seems best option as would be same app

  • Kids section (if could pull latest shows from streaming services in here would be awesome)

I could just use our smart TV in the living room and a USB stick in the back for PVR, but some of the areas such as epg and timeshifting I can see my wife complaining about compared to what we have now.

Any feedback would be really appreciated, and if there is a forum guide to people who want to show off their setup's please let me know I did check but didn't see anything.

Thanks

James

#2

Channels doesn’t really do this. Beyond live tv the apps will not “combine”. You can create stream links that will combine with channels that will open the show from channels when clicked but the actual Disney/Netflix ect app will launch and play the content.

Again this won’t happen as the separate streaming services won’t combine.

This scenario is great for stream links as kids watch the same shows over and over.

The rest is doable with channels.

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#3

Thanks for your feedback, really appreciated

#4

JustWatch and Reelgood aggregate the streaming apps so you can search and look at on demand content across the services. Its easy enough. I prefer JustWatch as it gives you decent recommendations rather than scrolling endlessly through genres.

I’m UK based and would recommend Channels combined with one of the above.

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#5

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