Optimal DVR Setup?

[sundevil67 21]

I'm considering switching my IPTV provider, which is inexpensive but often not very reliable, primarily because I'm frustrated with not being able to rely on the DVR to complete recordings when I schedule them. My question is, if I were to pick up a HomeRun tuner and sign up with a more established provider, will my situation really improve? I see a lot of posts about folks struggling with guide data and still struggling to get it working correctly in spite of what seems like a lot of time & energy trying to sort it all out. I know you generally won't see success stories in forums like these, but can anyone list a setup that is working 100% without needing to spend a bunch of time messing with it? I'd rather buy a Tivo & a regular old cable plan than spend hours mapping channels & scheduling databases.

[Luke 37258]

Hi, yes a more established provider I'm sure will result in a better overall experience.

[mark-in-dallas 86]

9 hours ago, sundevil67 said:

I'm considering switching my IPTV provider, which is inexpensive but often not very reliable, primarily because I'm frustrated with not being able to rely on the DVR to complete recordings when I schedule them. My question is, if I were to pick up a HomeRun tuner and sign up with a more established provider, will my situation really improve? I see a lot of posts about folks struggling with guide data and still struggling to get it working correctly in spite of what seems like a lot of time & energy trying to sort it all out. I know you generally won't see success stories in forums like these, but can anyone list a setup that is working 100% without needing to spend a bunch of time messing with it? I'd rather buy a Tivo & a regular old cable plan than spend hours mapping channels & scheduling databases.

Having the right IPTV provider, or at least a good one makes all of the difference in the world!  I've been through several in just the last year.  

[Carlo 4331]

I've got hardware tuners for cable (Prime) and OTA (quatro) as well as m3u tuners.

In the last 3 years I''ve tried at least a dozen different m3u providers before I found one that works well (all the time) in IPTV players and Emby.

PM me if you are interested as I won't post this type of thing in the forums.

[mark-in-dallas 86]

On 11/24/2020 at 1:02 PM, sundevil67 said:

I'd rather buy a Tivo & a regular old cable plan than spend hours mapping channels & scheduling databases.

I had Tivo service for my local channels for1 1/2 years but finally got so irritated with them that I cancelled my service, when for the second time they started placing their own Pre Roll commercials at the beginnings of my recordings, and requiring customers to call in to request the commercials be removed.  Beyond that they made some sort of change to their guide data and many repeat programs were being listed as new and duplicate recordings were being made.  I showed them several examples of such in their guide, yet they did nothing about it, but wanted me to jump through hoops detailing the issue over and over, in writing.

Luckily, I am in an area where I can get my local channels through Locast, and setting it up was pretty easy and took less time than setting up a new Tivo box.

[sundevil67 21]

12 hours ago, cayars said:

I've got hardware tuners for cable (Prime) and OTA (quatro) as well as m3u tuners.

In the last 3 years I''ve tried at least a dozen different m3u providers before I found one that works well (all the time) in IPTV players and Emby.

PM me if you are interested as I won't post this type of thing in the forums.

Thanks - I sent a PM. I think going back to the whole TIVO setup would be too pricey AND I'd be concerned about issues similar to what @mark-in-dallasmentioned. My old man has been wrestling with similar problems. The cable co's aren't bending over backwards to support Tivo hardware these days...shame too, because I still don't think there's a better UI out there for a DVR.

[Carlo 4331]

Got your PM and responded. 

[sundevil67 21]

All else being equal, is there any setting in Emby that could potentially account for a difference in streaming quality between Emby & VLC? I'm testing a couple of new IPTV providers, and in each case the video hums along without buffering or skipping in VLC, while the same provider/channel  will pause/stutter and take a much longer time to launch when watched through Emby. I should add that I am running the server app on a 2011 Mac Mini (this test was on the same LAN as the server, but from my Macbook Pro). If I were running the server app on the newer machine, could that have an impact on these results?

[Carlo 4331]

Emby is doing a lot more than just displaying what's coming in so it does need better IO for this.  Depending on the client being used Emby may have to transcode which would require CPU/GPU for optimal use.  However this is all a guess.

Can you go over a specific example of the channel and what client you were using on the Macbook Pro.  When viewing back and you bring up stats for nerds in the client does it say Direct Playing, Direct Streaming or Transcoding?  You can also see this on the Web Console as well.

[sundevil67 21]

Thanks for all of the tips! A more reliable provider has improved things dramatically. I think any remaining sluggishness is most likely due to my ISP throttling my bandwidth & giving me 1/2 the speed I'm paying for, running Emby server on the old computer AND the bulk of my library stored on an external HD.