ChannelWatch handbook

Real-time alerts for your Channels DVR. Monitor multiple servers, route notifications to any configured provider, and check disk space from the dashboard.

Install ChannelWatch First-run configuration What's new in v1.6.5

Choose a task

Install

Start with Docker Compose, then connect your first DVR. Install and complete first-run setup.

Use the app

Read the dashboard, find retained activity and export history. Explore the dashboard or search Watch History.

Set up alerts

Choose when to notify and where messages go. Choose a preset and configure a provider.

Multi-DVR

Keep multiple Channels DVR servers in one dashboard and route alerts per server. Open the Multi-DVR guide

Update or recover

Check compatibility, back up your configuration and follow the right update path. Update ChannelWatch or manage backups.

Troubleshoot

Start with common issues, diagnostics, or the doctor command. Open troubleshooting

Start with your situation

An alert did not arrive: check the Notification Log, your DVR routing and the relevant provider guide.
A DVR is offline: check per-DVR health and connection settings.
Planning downtime: review potential maintenance windows and confirm the DVR is safe to interrupt.

What it monitors

ChannelWatch watches your Channels DVR server and sends a notification when it detects a matching event or disk condition:

Channel watching - who is watching what, and on which tuner
VOD watching - on-demand playback events
Recording events - scheduled recordings starting, completing, or failing
Disk space - threshold alerts before your drive fills up
DVR health - connection failures and recovery, with configurable alert timing

All alert types are configurable. You can enable only the ones you care about.

One view for every DVR

ChannelWatch v1.6.5 supports multiple Channels DVR servers from a single container. Add servers through the web UI or CHANNELS_DVR_SERVERS, and route each server's notifications to a different provider type if you want. See the Multi-DVR overview for details.

Need help?

Check Common Issues, run channelwatch doctor, or use the support report when you need to send diagnostics.