Channels DVR Server in Docker on Synology

In my quest to make our over-the-air TV experience, almost purely to watch Jeopardy!, I came across Channels. I’ve heard of it before, but never really looked into it. It’s generally considered to be better than Plex, which I’m using now, at live TV and DVR functionality, while Plex still wins for one’s own content. In order to make it work well with my Synology and HDHomeRun (see earlier posts in this series for more info on my setup, if you’re interested), I needed to install their server component, called Channels DVR Server. While there’s a Synology-native package, I’ve also seen recommendations to run it under Docker, rather than using the package. However, I had to comb quite a few sources to put that together, so I thought I’d pull it together here for anyone with this particular combo.

Prerequisites

  • Synology DSM 7 with Container Manager (Docker)
  • HDHomeRun already working on the network
  • Storage location ready (e.g. /volume1/docker)

Create folders for Channels on Synology

In Synology’s File Station, create the following folders (customize if needed):

/volume1/docker/channels-dvr/config
/volume1/docker/channels-dvr/recordings

These will end up mapping to config and recordings in Channels.

Deploy Channels DVR

  1. On the Synology, open Container Manager and open Registry.
  2. Find the fancybits/channels-dvr Docker container.
  3. Download the latest tag version.
  4. Create the container with the name channels-dvr.
  5. When you see the Network options, make sure to select Use Host Network. This is required to be able to see the HDHomeRun.
  6. When you see an option for “restart policy”, select on-failure.
  7. On the setup page, map the volumes: /volume1/docker/channels-dvr/config to /channels-dvr and /volume1/docker/channels-dvr/recordings to /shares/DVR. That latter one requires special attention. At least when I went through the process, it defaulted to /channels-dvr, but I needed to navigate to /shares/DVR.
  8. Select your sources. In my case, HDHomeRun. If your Synology can’t see your HDHomeRun on your network, make sure you have it configured to use the host network from Step 5.

Install Client Apps

For me, this is mostly Apple TV apps. The clients will search for your Channels server automatically when you sign in.

Is all of this worth it? I don’t know yet! I’ve moved my DVR recording settings over to the new setup, and will follow up after using it. Anyway, I hope these instructions help someone.