# Google Live Channels on Tivo Stream 4K



## spiderpumpkin

The new Stream 4K comes with Google Live Channels app installed so I checked it out. It automatically found my HD Homerun Quatro on the network and added the OTA channels. It also found the Pluto TV app and added those channels.

I noticed Live Channels has a built in DVR that can record OTA channels locally on storage connected to the Stream 4K. So I took a USB-C to USB adapter and hooked up an old powered USB 1.5TB external hard drive I had and now my Stream 4K can record OTA. 

One nice thing is you can uncheck channels you don't want in the guide including Pluto TV and the makes this a better app for PlutoTV because you can narrow the selection down. I wish it could record PlutoTv because that would be awesome.


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## spiderpumpkin




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## siratfus

spiderpumpkin said:


> The new Stream 4K comes with Google Live Channels app installed so I checked it out. It automatically found my HD Homerun Quatro on the network and added the OTA channels. It also found the Pluto TV app and added those channels.
> 
> I noticed Live Channels has a built in DVR that can record OTA channels locally on storage connected to the Stream 4K. So I took a USB-C to USB adapter and hooked up an old powered USB 1.5TB external hard drive I had and now my Stream 4K can record OTA.
> 
> One nice thing is you can uncheck channels you don't want in the guide including Pluto TV and the makes this a better app for PlutoTV because you can narrow the selection down. I wish it could record PlutoTv because that would be awesome.


Is it only for live streaming services? I played around with it, and it doesn't list netflix, prime or anything like that. Clicking on DOWNLOAD more sources only gets you to a TRY AGAIN/RETRY error.


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## spiderpumpkin

siratfus said:


> Is it only for live streaming services? I played around with it, and it doesn't list netflix, prime or anything like that. Clicking on DOWNLOAD more sources only gets you to a TRY AGAIN/RETRY error.


Yeah, it only works with things like Hd Homerun Quatro OTA and HD Homerun Prime cablecard.


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## siratfus

spiderpumpkin said:


> Yeah, it only works with things like Hd Homerun Quatro OTA and HD Homerun Prime cablecard.


Hmm, so if you had a cablecard in a HD Homerun Prime, you can access your DVR recordings? Something we've been begging Tivo to do with the Tivo Stream app?


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## spiderpumpkin

siratfus said:


> Hmm, so if you had a cablecard in a HD Homerun Prime, you can access your DVR recordings? Something we've been begging Tivo to do with the Tivo Stream app?


The HDHR Prime is a cablecard tuner. You'd need to run Google's Live Channels DVR to record shows on your own hard drive connected to the Stream 4K.


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## stuart628

spiderpumpkin said:


> The HDHR Prime is a cablecard tuner. You'd need to run Google's Live Channels DVR to record shows on your own hard drive connected to the Stream 4K.


Do you have more then one stream? If yes do those recordings show up on the other streams or are they limited to the local attatched hard drive


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## spiderpumpkin

stuart628 said:


> Do you have more then one stream? If yes do those recordings show up on the other streams or are they limited to the local attatched hard drive


I only have one Android TV and it's the TiVo Stream 4K.

I don't know if Google Live Channels recordings are viewable on other Android TVs locally or remotely. If I had to guess it's just for local viewing on the Android TV box the hard drive is connected to. I suppose a quick Google search may give an answer?

I have the getchannels.com Channels DVR running on an old MacMini and that is main use for my HDHR OTA and Primes. I was just testing out Google's Live Channels app to see how it works.

I mainly use Google Live Channels app to watch PlutoTV because you can hide the channels you don't watch. So instead of 100 PlutoTV channels in the guide there are only about 20 that I watch.

Our main TV has a TE3 TiVo Bolt Vox. Another room has a TE3 TiVo Bolt Vox and a TiVo Stream 4K that is mainly a getchannels.com Channels DVR client. We have two TiVo Bolt Vox boxes because that way recordings are separated but still viewable on each TV. The Channels DVR server is for recording higher quality OTA channels mainly and series passes that I'm saving up since it can have a huge hard drive.


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## ke3ju

spiderpumpkin said:


> The new Stream 4K comes with Google Live Channels app installed so I checked it out. It automatically found my HD Homerun Quatro on the network and added the OTA channels. It also found the Pluto TV app and added those channels.
> 
> I noticed Live Channels has a built in DVR that can record OTA channels locally on storage connected to the Stream 4K. So I took a USB-C to USB adapter and hooked up an old powered USB 1.5TB external hard drive I had and now my Stream 4K can record OTA.
> 
> One nice thing is you can uncheck channels you don't want in the guide including Pluto TV and the makes this a better app for PlutoTV because you can narrow the selection down. I wish it could record PlutoTv because that would be awesome.


I've been messing around with this too. It'll let me pause live TV, but tells me to insert a drive bigger than 50GB to record. My drive is 128GB so I don't know why that's not enough. I think it has to do with the forced encryption.


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## mdavej

ke3ju said:


> I've been messing around with this too. It'll let me pause live TV, but tells me to insert a drive bigger than 50GB to record. My drive is 128GB so I don't know why that's not enough. I think it has to do with the forced encryption.


It must not be using your drive at all. You have to do some setup to point it to your drive and let the box format it. I used Google Live Channels for a couple of years on a different Android TV box, and it was great. Unfortunately, I no longer own any Android TV devices, so I can't give you detailed steps.


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## runbadgerrun

Another intriguing option that again takes you out of the Tivo ecosystem. I have a feeling that my Bolt may soon become irrelevant and I will go with a network tuner. Which is unfortunate because I like the Tivo UI. But it is becoming more and more important to the newer versions of apps like Netflix and Hulu which are clearly never coming to the Bolt. Let alone Disney+ or anything else new that may come along.


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## spiderpumpkin

ke3ju said:


> I've been messing around with this too. It'll let me pause live TV, but tells me to insert a drive bigger than 50GB to record. My drive is 128GB so I don't know why that's not enough. I think it has to do with the forced encryption.


You need to let the box format it as internal storage.


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## BillyClyde

TiVo should utilize this as a way to integrate live OTA or cable channels into their TiVo Stream ecosystem, that is if they don’t integrate their own DVRs for God knows why.


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## vurbano

spiderpumpkin said:


> The new Stream 4K comes with Google Live Channels app installed so I checked it out. It automatically found my HD Homerun Quatro on the network and added the OTA channels. It also found the Pluto TV app and added those channels.
> 
> I noticed Live Channels has a built in DVR that can record OTA channels locally on storage connected to the Stream 4K. So I took a USB-C to USB adapter and hooked up an old powered USB 1.5TB external hard drive I had and now my Stream 4K can record OTA.
> 
> One nice thing is you can uncheck channels you don't want in the guide including Pluto TV and the makes this a better app for PlutoTV because you can narrow the selection down. I wish it could record PlutoTv because that would be awesome.


i thought it constantly accessed the usb drive so hard drives would wear out quick?


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## Intention

spiderpumpkin said:


> You need to let the box format it as internal storage.


Is this a USA only feature?

I have a USB drive plugged in, formatted as internal storage (i can move apps to it etc) However, any programme I click on in the guide gives the message "The programme cannot be recorded"

Any ideas?


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## ke3ju

mdavej said:


> It must not be using your drive at all. You have to do some setup to point it to your drive and let the box format it. I used Google Live Channels for a couple of years on a different Android TV box, and it was great. Unfortunately, I no longer own any Android TV devices, so I can't give you detailed steps.


Did all that, let's me pause live TV, but no way to record, even tho in the guide, it says recordable. Seems like an experimental item that may never work right unless enough people embrace using it.


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## ke3ju

spiderpumpkin said:


> You need to let the box format it as internal storage.


Did that, several times.


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## Rickjb

spiderpumpkin said:


> The new Stream 4K comes with Google Live Channels app installed so I checked it out. It automatically found my HD Homerun Quatro on the network and added the OTA channels. It also found the Pluto TV app and added those channels.
> 
> I noticed Live Channels has a built in DVR that can record OTA channels locally on storage connected to the Stream 4K. So I took a USB-C to USB adapter and hooked up an old powered USB 1.5TB external hard drive I had and now my Stream 4K can record OTA.
> 
> One nice thing is you can uncheck channels you don't want in the guide including Pluto TV and the makes this a better app for PlutoTV because you can narrow the selection down. I wish it could record PlutoTv because that would be awesome.


I also set up Live Channels with a 1TB externally powered drive. I recorded several shows from my hdhomerun. I had random but frequent flickering while watching the Hdhomerun through the Live Channels app that I did not have watching through the HDhomerin app. I finally gave up and ended up returning the device. Is anyone else getting the flickering?


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## ke3ju

Rickjb said:


> I also set up Live Channels with a 1TB externally powered drive. I recorded several shows from my hdhomerun. I had random but frequent flickering while watching the Hdhomerun through the Live Channels app that I did not have watching through the HDhomerin app. I finally gave up and ended up returning the device. Is anyone else getting the flickering?


No flickering here, I'm wired gigabit Ethernet on every device.


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## spiderpumpkin

Rickjb said:


> I also set up Live Channels with a 1TB externally powered drive. I recorded several shows from my hdhomerun. I had random but frequent flickering while watching the Hdhomerun through the Live Channels app that I did not have watching through the HDhomerin app. I finally gave up and ended up returning the device. Is anyone else getting the flickering?


Probably network related. Are you using wifi?


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## Rickjb

spiderpumpkin said:


> Probably network related. Are you using wifi?


No, wired ethernet on a 200m service. The HDhomrun app works perfectly with the HDhomerun tuner. The flicking only occurs when using the tuner through the Live Channels app.


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## Rickjb

ke3ju said:


> No flickering here, I'm wired gigabit Ethernet on every device.


I'm also internet but, a 200m connection... wayyyyy more than enough. Are you running an hdhomerun network tuner?


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## ke3ju

Rickjb said:


> I'm also internet but, a 200m connection... wayyyyy more than enough. Are you running an hdhomerun network tuner?


I am indeed...a Duo...I'd like to add a Quattro to it as well.


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## GreggMendel

Can you use the number keys on the TS4K remote to select channels in Live Channels app? How can you generate a dot or dash to address a sub-channel?


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