Channels started as an Apple TV Live TV player only solution, but it has expanded support now to have players available on Apple TV, iOS, Fire TV and Android:
I had to finally retire WMC and about that same time my trusty caveman single tuner card had to be replaced as well, so I got an HDHR network tuner(s) and purchased their DVR package as well. BIG MISTAKE!
Silicon Dust makes adequate tuners. Their software absolutely, positively has no peer in the field of SUCK. The World’s Worst. Virtually Unusable. Silicon Dust, however, is convinced they’re on to a replacement for how the world records Television. They are delusional.
After it became apparent they had no intention of letting users stand in the way of their vision (about 10 days) I cancelled and abandoned ship on HDHR’s DVR Nightmare (with an entire year left on the subscription) in favor of Channels DVR. Instant gratification.
If all you need is a tuner and some bare-bones software - using Plex-DVR - I guess there’s no real reason to look for something that works well on it’s own and will remain outside Plex, but if that’s what you’re looking for Channels is pretty awesome - EXCEPT for their file naming… they REFUSE to use even one set of [brackets]. MCEBuddy can get most of it matched, but when Movies show up with two “Casablanca (1942) (2019).xxx” year fields… yea… it’s bad…
I guess where ever you go you run up against some developer’s idea of perfection. of the solutions I’ve tried Channels works the best as far as the DVR and it’s operation. It’s 8 bucks a month, due to the cost of the EPG provider they create a real ‘Grid View’ with - Silicon Dust refuses to employ in favor of their ‘Gridless Vision’ (that ALWAYS makes me laugh).
@JuiceWSA Just curious why this might be an issue. I use Channels for the the reasons mpmchugh mentioned (non-destructive comm skip, TV Everywhere, better playback experience), but I still use Plex to stream to my Roku devices (since Channels doesn’t play well with Roku). I believe I have it monitoring the folders where Channels records to.
@JuiceWSA, a question for you about this. I have no problems using MCEBuddy to mark the commercials in recording for a non-destructive method. However, when you playback a recording through Plex with these marked, is there any “Auto Skip” abilities for the commercials? In other words, if I use MCEBuddy to process the recordings and mark the commercials, will Plex skip over those commercials automatically without me needing to press anything?
No. You’ll have to play from a Channels App for that to happen - I assume… never did it myself.
Regarding a ‘dynamic’ Plex Library - like your Channels Dump Location that contains files that are being created. Since the beginning of time (Plex Time) Library folders are designed to contain full and completed items. If Plex tries to pick up files in an incomplete state - anything can happen. All of it bad.
MCEBuddy can monitor those locations, process files in any way you want, then Move or Copy those files to a Proper Plex Library Structure in their completed state removing all possibilities for a blow-up.
You ‘could’… leave marked and full items in their original location for playback on a Channels App - while copying/processing/cutting ads for placement in a Plex Library… were you so inclined.
If you have a need for MCEBuddy to do something - it can probably do it.
Thank you for the answers. I hope Plex considers adding a Auto Skip feature at some point as I find it a much more enjoyable viewing experience never having to pickup the remote. Channels Com Skip is by far the most enjoyable experience I’ve used.
In regards to having Plex monitor the Channels folders, I haven’t run into any issues with it yet. I do run the Plex Media Scanner on the files periodically (mainly so it generates the media index files/thumbnail previews correctly), so I am not sure if that helps. Then again, I don’t use Plex for viewing too often, so maybe I’ve only started watching once the files were done. Thank you for the heads-up, I will have to keep an eye on it.
I suppose I can use MCEBuddy if it becomes an issue. I guess time will tell.
That doesn’t make any difference.
If Plex starts indexing files while they’re being recorded - 3…2…1… boom.
(I am only repeating what I’ve heard from Ninjas and Staff - I tend to believe Ninjas, at least)
Interesting. I’ve been doing this for about a week and have seen no ill effects (yet). What is the ‘boom’ in this scenario. A complete server crash, lost recordings, etc.? Maybe I’ve just been lucky up until this point.
There are (at least) two potential issues with downloading files directly to a Plex library folder:
If you’ve configured Plex to monitor library folders for changes and perform an automatic scan when detected, the continual changing of the file size/modified time can result in continual scans.
Not all clients use the final file name while the download is in progress, some use a temporary one instead so that the system can track download progress. Just as an example, Safari on macOS appends “.download” to the name of in-progress downloads. Other clients do similar things.
If neither of these apply to you, you may have no problems.
Those, certainly, and the possibility to create a bogus bundle - and as I try to recall the 10 billion times I had to Plex Dance something to fix a bogus bundle - we just don’t need to do any more of those we don’t have to…
I definitely have it monitoring the Channels folders for new activity (they show up in Plex as soon as they start recording. I haven’t seen any continual scan issues yet (knock on wood). I suppose I could turn that off and just use Plex Media Scanner.exe to look for new episodes instead.
Honestly, with all the issues you both mentioned, I surprised I haven’t had any issues yet.
