Home IPTV DVR — Record Live TV to Your Own Storage

Cloud DVR services rent you storage and hold your recordings hostage behind subscriptions. GridStreamr Home DVR flips that model: install a small service on your Mac, Windows PC, Linux box or NAS, pair it with the GridStreamr app, and schedule live TV and VOD titles from Smart Collections into folders you control.

Why self-hosted DVR for IPTV

IPTV users record for familiar reasons — time-shift busy schedules, archive sports, keep kids' shows, build a local library next to Jellyfin. Self-hosted DVR adds:

• No cloud storage fees beyond your disk
• Direct file access — copy, transcode or import elsewhere
• Privacy — recordings stay on your LAN unless you choose to expose them
• Integration with GridStreamr curation — record from cleaned Smart Collections, not raw 3,000-channel trees

GridStreamr DVR bundles the service, browser dashboard and a pinned FFmpeg. Desktop installers register auto-start background services; Docker fits NAS and homelab setups.

Download installers and Docker images: /download/dvr

What you can record

From the GridStreamr mobile app, against paired Smart Collections:

• Live TV channels you added from Xtream or M3U sources
• Movies and series titles exposed through those collections
• Guide-based or custom windows from the in-app schedule sheet (including record-now)
• Optional manual jobs from the LAN dashboard when you need them

Recordings land as files under your configured recordings path with job metadata in a local SQLite database (default /data/dvr.db in Docker).

GridStreamr does not re-encode unless job settings require it — consult dashboard options for quality and container defaults.

Install options overview

Releases: github.com/djpirra/gridstreamr-dvr-releases

Desktop setup (macOS and Windows)

Three steps match the DVR download page:

1. Install

Run the .pkg or .exe. The installer registers an auto-start background service and opens inbound access on port 8787 for devices on your LAN. On Windows, enable the firewall checkbox during setup. On macOS, approve the incoming connections prompt the first time.

2. Open the dashboard

Launch GridStreamr DVR from Applications (macOS) or Start Menu (Windows), or browse to http://127.0.0.1:8787. Closing the browser does not stop recordings — the service keeps running.

3. Pair from the app

On Premium GridStreamr: Settings → DVR → LAN → Find on Wi‑Fi, or enter http://YOUR-LAN-IP:8787. Enter the one-time pairing code from the dashboard. After pairing, you create schedules from the mobile app — Smart Collections, the live player, or the DVR channel picker — not by living in the browser dashboard.

Full steps: Documentation → Home DVR

Docker on Linux and NAS

Docker is the preferred path for Synology, Unraid, Proxmox and headless Linux.

Sample compose (amd64):

services:
  gridstreamr-dvr:
    image: gridstreamr/gridstreamr-dvr-amd64:latest
    container_name: gridstreamr-dvr
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      GRIDSTREAMR_BIND_ADDRESS: "0.0.0.0:8787"
      GRIDSTREAMR_DATABASE_PATH: "/data/dvr.db"
      GRIDSTREAMR_RECORDINGS_PATH: "/recordings"
      TZ: "America/New_York"
    ports:
      - "8787:8787"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data
      - ./recordings:/recordings

ARM64 NAS and Pi users: swap image to gridstreamr/gridstreamr-dvr-arm64:latest. Check architecture with uname -m (x86_64 → amd64, aarch64 → arm64).

Detailed NAS walkthrough: Record IPTV with Docker on Synology

Pairing, LAN and Cloud Relay

Find on Wi‑Fi discovers DVR hosts on the same network — fastest for living-room scheduling from your phone.

Manual LAN URL — http://192.168.x.x:8787 when discovery fails. Docker bridge networking often does not pass mDNS; use the host LAN IP explicitly.

Cloud Relay (dashboard → Settings → DVR → Cloud in app) is the security win for remote DVR: your host stays fully private on the LAN — no inbound ports, no public exposure — while an outbound secure tunnel lets the app schedule, monitor, cancel and check jobs from anywhere. Playing or downloading recordings is intentionally excluded; for that you still use LAN, VPN home, or a URL you secure yourself. Relay is control, not a streaming CDN.

Scheduling from the mobile app

Day-to-day recording is driven from your phone after Premium pairing:

1. Curate channels in a Smart Collection — sports, news, kids
2. Pair DVR under Settings → DVR
3. Open a channel in the collection (or tap record while watching in the player)
4. Pick a guide programme when EPG is mapped, or set a custom start/end — then confirm
5. Monitor jobs in the app (or open the LAN dashboard for logs/storage); files land under your recordings path

The browser dashboard is for host status, storage, and optional manual jobs. You do not need it open to schedule from the app. Away from home, Cloud Relay keeps remote job control working while the DVR itself stays off the public internet.

Recording uses the same streams your player would — provider uptime and geo rules still apply. GridStreamr does not guarantee provider stream availability.

Storage planning

Rough planning variables:

• Bitrate — HD sports can be 5–8 Mbps; SD much less
• Duration — 2-hour movie vs 24/7 news buffer
• Retention — rotate old folders or expand NAS volume

Map Docker volumes to large disks:

volumes:
  - /volume1/video/dvr-data:/data
  - /volume1/video/dvr-recordings:/recordings

Synology users: create shared folders first, grant container user read/write.

DVR vs TimeShift

Many households use TimeShift for casual catch-up and DVR for keepsakes and series archiving.

Blog: How to use TimeShift

Watching recordings back

After a job completes, files sit on disk in your recordings folder — typically MP4 or MKV depending on job settings in the dashboard. Playback paths:

• GridStreamr app on LAN — browse completed jobs when paired; behavior varies by version — check the changelog
• Jellyfin or Plex — point a library folder at the recordings volume for whole-house browsing
• Direct copy — SMB share from Synology or Windows to edit clips externally

GridStreamr DVR is a recorder, not a cloud streaming service. Plan file access the same way you would for any NAS media folder.

Concurrent recordings

Each active job invokes FFmpeg inside the container or service. A Synology with spare CPU can often handle two HD linear streams; 4K or transcode-heavy sources may limit you to one. Monitor Container Manager CPU graphs during a test weekend sports block before stacking Sunday jobs.

If jobs fail silently, open dashboard logs first — upstream provider drops are the most common cause, not local disk full (though check free space routinely).

Security notes

• DVR dashboard on LAN is powerful — keep port 8787 on trusted networks
• Do not expose dashboard to the public internet without hardening you understand
• Pairing codes are one-time — treat the dashboard like admin UI
• Recordings may include copyrighted broadcasts — comply with provider terms and local law

Free vs Premium

Downloading installers is free. Pairing, scheduling and job management require Premium. Start a 7-day trial to evaluate end-to-end.

Related reading

• DVR download page
• Docker / Synology guide
• Smart Collections
• IPTV player
• Documentation → DVR setup
• Pricing