{"id":27366,"date":"2022-12-07T13:44:31","date_gmt":"2022-12-07T21:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/?p=27366"},"modified":"2022-12-18T17:49:54","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T01:49:54","slug":"cord-cutting-part-2-channels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/2022\/12\/cord-cutting-part-2-channels\/","title":{"rendered":"Cord Cutting Part 2 \u2014 Channels DVR"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week I told you that Steve and I finally cut the cord<\/a>, replacing Frontier\u2019s TV service with YouTube TV, and how we will be saving $1217\/year going forward. After I posted the article about our experience, I got two nearly identical messages explaining one more thing we needed to try. Both Dave Hamilton and Ed Tobias suggest we try out a service called Channels.<\/p>\n

Channels doesn\u2019t replace YouTube TV, but rather augments whatever streaming TV service you decide to use. Channels isn’t free, and as Dave pointed out, it would chew into our savings to the tune of $80\/year. Well, if Dave and<\/em> Ed both think it\u2019s cool, I had to give it a try.<\/p>\n

Problems to be Solved<\/h3>\n

When I told you about our cord-cutting experience, I described a few minor inconveniences with YouTube TV, and Channels fixes all of them.<\/p>\n

I mentioned that scrubbing through commercials is a real bear on the Apple TV remote with YouTube TV. On fully recorded shows, when you come up on a commercial, Channels gives you a prominent button to skip it. Scrubbing in general is much less janky on Channels using the Apple TV remote.<\/p>\n

In my review, I explained that the YouTube TV interface was different \u2014 not bad different, just different. For TiVo lovers, the Channels interface is like coming home again \u2026 except your home got repainted and the kitchen got remodeled while keeping all of the silverware and appliances right where they were.<\/p>\n

Channels provides an interface that uses your live\/linear TV service. In my case, I’m feeding Channels through YouTube TV, but Ed and Dave both use Channels with FuboTV. You could use Channels with Sling, Verizon FiOS, Dish, DirecTV, Xfinity, and more. I\u2019ll be explaining Channels from the perspective of a YouTube TV user but you can just substitute in the name of how you get your live\/linear TV.<\/p>\n

Channels DVR<\/h3>\n

Fundamentally, it\u2019s important to understand that Channels records your TV shows to a local device on your network. This device will be your Channels DVR. I installed Channels DVR software on my Synology, but you can create a Channels DVR server on a Mac, Windows, Linux, Raspberry Pi, freeBSD, freeNAS, QNAP, Netgear ReadyNAS, SeagateNAS, WesternDigital MyCloud, Unpaid, Asustor, NVIdea Shield, Drobo, or in a Docker container.<\/p>\n

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Channels DVR Installs on All These Devices<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you\u2019re a NosillaCastaway, it seems a pretty good bet you have at least one<\/em> of these devices on your network. You don\u2019t even need a fancy, new, fast computer. The minimum requirements are a 1GHz CPU and 1GB of RAM! They say to take an old computer and connect a big hard drive to store your shows and you\u2019ll be in business.<\/p>\n

The Channels DVR server software is a free download from Channels \u2014 Channels DVR Server<\/a>. Channels DVR software is controlled through a web interface to the server you designated.<\/p>\n

Defining the Source<\/h3>\n

The first step in configuring Channels is to tell it the source to use to record your shows. You would think that choosing a source means choosing between live\/linear TV services like YouTubeTV, FuboTV, etc, but unfortunately there\u2019s one more abstraction layer to this. The four choices in the web interface for a Channels source are:<\/p>\n