Currently using Channels DVR with my unRAID NAS. Channels DVR was installed using the latest Plugin repository (https://channels-dvr.s3.amazonaws.com/unraid/channels-dvr.plg). Unfortunately Channels DVR is removed from unRAID after reboot the system after a 2nd reboot. When this happens I need to reinstall.
So far Channels DVR has been great when it’s running but this issue is quite inconvenient. Any suggestions?
Thanks.
Can you check the unraid log and see if it shows any errors?
I was able to install unRAID and try the plugin out, and confirmed its not working correctly after rebooting.
Okay… turns out the plugin was a mess because I wrote it blind without being able to test it on a real system myself.
I’ve abandoned the plugin approach, and switched to a docker application instead.
First, clean up the existing plugin:
Uninstall the plugin if it shows up
Login to your unRAID box using ssh [email protected] and run:
rm -f /boot/packages/channels-dvr-1.0.5-x86_64-1.tgz
rm -rf /channels-dvr
rm -rf /mnt/user/channels-dvr
Then, install the new docker app:
Go to the Docker tab
Under Docker Repositories, add this to the list of templates and click Save
https://github.com/fancybits/unraid
Click Add Container, select ChannelsDVR from the dropdown and click Apply
Enable the Auto-Start toggle to the right of the Channels DVR app.
Click on the Channels DVR icon, and select Web UI from the menu. (If you get a browser loading error, wait a couple minutes for the DVR to finish installing and refresh the page).
Finally, restore your old recordings/passes/settings:
Log In to your DVR
Click “shares” on the left of the directory picker
Pick your DVR recordings share on the right
Click the “restore old settings” link that shows up in the blue box
Pick the most recent backup
Enable the DVR checkbox
So the issue with docker --network=host is fixed? @tmm1
Can we also get on the docker a separate folder for config files and the recordings itself?
Looks like they’re all together in one folder. I would like for the config files to remain on the cache and not move to the array with the recordings.
--network=host is required for Docker, there is no way to use Channels DVR without it. That’s what the unRAID app uses.
I’m not sure which docker container you’re using, but I’m about to publish one which has two separate volumes.
I’m not using any container currently, still using the plugin. I was going to switch but noticed the official docker uses a folder for both config and dvr files @tmm1
I’m confused, where are you seeing this? If you use the instructions above, there are two folder mappings on the docker container.
Correct. I see one for /shares and one for /channels-dvr. It’s confusing as to what each one does. Can you explain?
Do you mean /config and /dvr ? All unraid dockers have a appdata config path in which on yours it’s missing hence why its confusing.
/shares exposes all of /mnt/user, so you can access your recordings share from the DVR. If you want you can change the default to point to a single share instead of all of them.
/channels-dvr exposes the app data folder, /mnt/user/appdata/ChannelsDVR. This is where the application data and configuration is stored.
Yeah I figured it out and edited. I’m not sure if we all want to expose all the shares to the docker though.It’s usually just one folder not all the shares. That’s why I was saying that host path 2 should be /config instead of /channels-dvr and /shares should be /dvr which we would then assign it to a specifc dvr folder instead of the complete array shares. It would be less confusing IMO
No biggie. I have edited to my liking. Thanks!
Okay, I understand the confusion now.
The docker container I made is for general purpose, not just unRAID, so it doesn’t follow the unRAID conventions. Still, I made it so most people can just not care about the settings and hit Apply and it will work for them.
Yeah, I understand. It’s just that unraid users are used to that one template since all unraid dockers use it lol
I have updated the installation instructions on https://community.getchannels.com/dvr#install-unraid as well.
Thanks so much! I think that did it 
Rebooted twice so far and so far all is well.
OK looks like there’s something not working right. Recordings are being recorded in the Docker itself quickly utilizing space in the Docker. I have the mappings correct and still doesn’t seem to record in the share (the storage array).
Currently here are the mappings (which worked previously until switching to a Docker install).
/shares <-> /mnt/user/DVR
/channels-dvr <-> /mnt/user/appdata/ChannelsDVR
Created a new topic as this is a slightly different issue: