By simply pointing at your folders containing existing movies and TV shows, you can add these to your Channels library. Imported local content is not copied into Channels and is instead referenced and stays in its original folders.

This is a great way to add recordings from your previous DVR system to Channels.

Channels supports indexable movies and TV shows that can be matched with guide data. It does not support random videos or home movies. There are plans to add this in the future.

Importing Local Content

Start importing your local content by pointing Channels at your folders. Movies and TV shows are imported separately so they should be kept in separate folders.

In the Settings tab, use the Local Content section to add your folder for the appropriate content. Once you add a folder, it will be indexed and added to your library.

You can add as many folders to be indexed as you want. If you have movies and TV shows across multiple locations, Channels will handle it fine.

Filenames and Folder Structure

Channels expects your local content to be named, stored, and organized in a structured way. Movie filenames should be a certain format and TV shows should have a specific folder structure.

You should have a folder for movies and a folder for TV shows. These folders can not be in your DVR folder where Channels saves its recordings.

You can not import movies or TV shows by putting them in the movies or tv folder in your DVR data folder.

Movies

Name your movie files with the title of the movie along with the year in parenthesis for the best results.

Jurassic Park (1993).mkv

Movies can be in folders. The indexer will read through your folders recursively. Below are some examples of folder structures that work.

/movies/Jurassic Park (1993).mkv /movies/Adventure/Jurassic Park (1993).mkv

TV Shows

Your TV shows should be nested in folders with the following structure and filenames:

/tv/The Office/Season 2/2x4.mkv

Some alternate episode filenames are supported, but this is the suggested format. The important part is the 2x4 so that Channels will be informed of the season and episode numbers. Another popular format is S02E04.

Specials

Specials are supported and should be placed in the traditional Specials folder. You should use the number 0 for the season number.

/tv/The Office/Specials/0x1.mkv

Removing Imported Folders

You can remove an imported folders by using the Local Content section of Settings. By removing a folder, the content that was indexed from it will be removed from your library. The actual files will not be deleted.

Maintenance

You can force a new scan of your local content by using the Scan Sources option in the Local Content section of Settings.

You can force content that you may have deleted outside of Channels to be removed from your Channels library by using the Prune Deleted option in the Local Content section of Settings.

Fix Incorrect Match

There may be times that the Channels indexer will match your movie or TV show incorrectly. To fix it, find the content in your library in Channels DVR Server and choose the option Fix Incorrect Match. It will prompt you with alternate choices for your movie or TV show.

Find the match and click it to set your content.

In the case where the options aren’t correct, you can use the search bar to enter another title to help get better options.