Raspberry Pi
The Raspberry Pi 4 makes for a good
Channels DVR Server for limited use. We have built a custom image that lets you flash it directly onto your USB 3.0
hard drive and get set up with Channels DVR server in minutes.
Learn More about our custom Raspberry Pi image and how it works.
Download
Pi Image
More Info
Setup Documentation
Note: If you would like to install Channels DVR Server directly on your existing Pi, you can do so by
following the
standard Linux instructions.
macOS
Channels DVR Server is officially supported on macOS 10.15 Catalina and up.
Download
-
Supports both Intel and Apple Silicon.
-
The service runs on port 8089, and has a web interface available at http://localhost:8089 for configuration.
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Change your Energy Saver preference to "Prevent computer from sleeping" to ensure the DVR does not miss any recordings.
-
Run the installer again if you need to stop or uninstall Channels DVR Server.
-
If you would like to run the DVR as a background service, open Terminal.app and paste:
~/Library/Application\ Support/ChannelsDVR/uninstall.sh && ~/Library/Application\ Support/ChannelsDVR/install.sh --system
. Note that the hardware transcoder is not available when running as a service.
Windows
Channels DVR Server is officially supported on Windows 10 and up.
Download Intel
Download ARM64
-
Channels DVR Server does not require administrator privileges, and installs into
c:\ProgramData\ChannelsDVR
.
-
The first time it runs, the Windows Firewall may ask for Administrator privileges to allow private network access.
-
The service runs on port 8089, and has a web interface available at http://localhost:8089 for configuration.
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The service starts up automatically on login. Run
netplwiz.exe
to enable auto login and ensure the service is always running after a reboot.
-
Computers with modern NVidia or Intel HD Graphics cards can automatically utilize hardware accelerated transcoding. Use the Intel Driver Update Utility to make sure your drivers are up to date.
Linux
Channels DVR Server can be installed on Linux or FreeBSD by running a simple script.
SSH into your linux machine and use the following command to install Channels DVR Server:
curl -f -s https://getchannels.com/dvr/setup.sh | sh
-
The setup script will create a
channels-dvr
directory in the current directory and download Channels DVR Server there.
It will then detect if your linux distribution uses systemd, upstart or init.d, and will install the appropriate startup script. The script may ask for sudo
access during this process.
-
We recommend that you run the setup script in your home directory as your own user so Channels DVR Server is installed into
~/channels-dvr
.
-
If you prefer instead to install into
/usr/local
, run this before the setup script:
cd /usr/local && sudo mkdir -p channels-dvr && \
sudo chown $(id -u -n) channels-dvr
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If you have an Intel processor, make sure you add your user to the
video
and render
groups so the Channels DVR Server transcoder can use /dev/dri
for hardware acceleration: sudo adduser $(id -u -n) video && sudo adduser $(id -u -n) render
.
-
If your
/
and /home
mounts have limited space or i/o-throughput (for example, when using an SD card with the Raspberry Pi), install Channels DVR Server on an externally mounted USB HDD instead.
-
If you plan to use TV Everywhere, install your linux distrubution's chrome or chromium package. For example,
apt-get install chromium-browser xvfb
.
-
The service runs on port 8089, and has a web interface available at http://localhost:8089 for configuration.
-
Bonjour (aka zeroconf) is used by the Channels apps to automatically discover your DVR on your network. If you have a firewall, ensure that port 5353 is whitelisted for TCP/UDP access.
Synology
Channels DVR Server can be installed by uploading our software into the Synology DSM Package Center.
DSM 7
Download
QNAP
Channels DVR Server can be installed by uploading our software into the QNAP App Center.
Download
For more information, see the QNAP App Center documentation.
-
QTS 4.3.5 or higher is required.
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To make sure your DVR recordings start on time, go to
Control Panel > General Settings > Time
and change Time interval
to every 6 hours
.
-
The service runs on port 8089. QNAP's Virtualization Station also uses port 8089 and will cause the installation of Channels DVR Server to fail. Please disable Virtualization Station if you have installed it, or change its settings to use a different port than 8089.
Netgear ReadyNAS
Channels DVR Server can be installed by uploading our software into the ReadyNAS Apps interface.
Download
ReadyNAS OS 6.2 is required. For more information, see this tutorial.
Navigate to the upload page
Upload
Unraid
Channels DVR Server can be installed on the Docker tab using a template repository.
View Template Repository
unRAID v6 is required. For more information, see the unRAID documentation.
Add the URL of the template repository
Create container
Channels DVR Server running
For hardware transcoding support, edit /boot/config/go
to add the line modprobe i915
, and configure your container to pass-through the /dev/dri
device:
TrueNAS CORE
Channels DVR Server can be installed on TrueNAS CORE via our iocage plugin.
Run the following command to install Channels DVR Server iocage plug-in:
iocage fetch -P --name "channels-dvr" \
vnet=on dhcp=on bpf=yes devfs_ruleset=4 interfaces=vnet0:bridge0
Asustor
Channels DVR Server can be installed by uploading our software into Asustor App Central.
Download
NVidia SHIELD
Channels DVR Server for Nvidia SHIELD is no longer supported.
Please utilize the many other supported platforms for hosting your Channels DVR Server.
Your Channels DVR Server install can easily be migrated to another computer.
Read here to learn how to migrate to another
computer.
Docker
Channels DVR Server can be run as a Docker container.
Start up Channels DVR Server via Docker:
docker run \
--detach \
--name=channels-dvr \
--net=host \
--restart=on-failure:10 \
--device /dev/dri:/dev/dri \
--volume /mnt/disk/dvr/config:/channels-dvr \
--volume /mnt/disk/dvr/recordings:/shares/DVR \
fancybits/channels-dvr:latest
Or add this to your docker-compose.yml
:
channels-dvr:
image: fancybits/channels-dvr:latest
container_name: channels-dvr
network_mode: host
ports:
- "8089:8089"
restart: on-failure:10
devices:
- /dev/dri:/dev/dri
volumes:
- /mnt/disk/dvr/config:/channels-dvr
- /mnt/disk/dvr/recordings:/shares/DVR
-
Use the
fancybits/channels-dvr:tve
image if you need TV Everywhere support
-
The
--net=host
option is required for the Channels apps to discovery your DVR via Bonjour.
-
Neither Docker for Mac nor Docker for Windows support
--net=host
. When running on these platforms, you'll have to connect to Channels DVR Server by IP address from Channels. You can do this in the Settings tab of the Channels Apps.