m3u, m3u8 support like vlc, simple iptv plugin

Raymond Kibsgaard

why can`t i import m3u files directly like in vlc, simple iptv plugin for kodi.

i have an m3u playlist file with over 3000 channels. it will take years to manual set one by one channel.

can someone help me with this problem, when i tread about this topic on the web. i feel dumber than i was before,

non of the explanations work not even a bit

tanks in advance

Robert Cameron

Current development versions already have this ability. Update your TVH installation.

Nannus Coripot

I have the same problem but i don't know how to update my TVH installation. I use libreelec 7.0.2 with kodi, rpi3.

Robert Cameron

If you're going to be upgrading software on your own, you should switch to a real operating system/distribution. OpenELEC/LibreELEC are basically just 'appliance' systems with what you see is what you get; if you want to modify your software, update it, or install different software, use a real OS.

K Shea

Robert Cameron: Not everyone is, or wants to be, a Linux guru. It would be nice if the long awaited release of version 4.2 would happen sometime in the coming year, but until that happens the "appliance" version is about at the limit of many people's capabilities. Therefore, your comment is not at all helpful.

To the OP - I don't know if ffmpeg is, or can be installed on your system, but check out this thread, it may or may not contain a solution for you:

https://tvheadend.org/d/4444-iptv-not-working-in-4-0-8-solved?r=23925

Nannus Coripot

Thanks for the reply. Looking around i found HTS Tvheadend 4.1-2369, that should solve the problem, at the same time i installed the last ubuntu on my vm and then TVH 4.1-2399, i have the same problem so i'm going to suppose that those channels have something on the url that don't work... simple iptv and vlc make those links visible... still investigating. I'm noob here but i try to do my best.

Robert Cameron

K Shea wrote:
> Robert Cameron: Not everyone is, or wants to be, a Linux guru. It would be nice if the long awaited release of version 4.2 would happen sometime in the coming year, but until that happens the "appliance" version is about at the limit of many people's capabilities. Therefore, your comment is not at all helpful.
>
> To the OP - I don't know if ffmpeg is, or can be installed on your system, but check out this thread, it may or may not contain a solution for you:
>

> https://tvheadend.org/d/4444-iptv-not-working-in-4-0-8-solved?r=23925

I am not claiming to be a Linux guru, or saying that users need to be.

The comment about "appliance" OSes was directed at the commenter saying they were running LibreELEC. OpenELEC—and by extension, LibreELEC—are self-described "JeOS" systems: "Just enough OS". This essentially means they only include the bare essentials of an operating system to run their provided software.

From LibreELEC's own wiki: "The base system has been designed and built from the ground up to be as efficient as possible – consuming only tiny disk and memory footprints, and providing cutting edge hardware support to deliver a set-top box experience."

This means that OE/LE are not meant to be used as proper operating systems, but rather as an appliance or set-top box type of installation: You turn it on, it does its thing, and nothing more.

Tvheadend provides already has the features that both the OP and the additional commenter have said they are seeking. The OP has not responded (nor provided any details about their hardware, software or anything), so any additional aid that can be given will be quite limited.

As to the other commenter, they have stated that they are used LE 7.0.2. According to LE's site, their supported addon for Tvheadend is for version 4.0. Their support forum is their primary means of support; and after looking at one post in their PVR support subforum I was able to find a link to nightly and development builds of Tvheadend for LE7.

Tvheadend is the software that many packagers ship as the PVR backend, but it is not up to Tvheadend to support those OSes/distributions, but rather the packager/distributor to support them.

Nannus Coripot

It's a cool software and I know that I'm noob and for sure I'm doing stupid questions but I really want to learn how to use it, for my home and my family. Said this, I got an update:
Update 1
if i correct the extension of the mux url from ".mp4" or ".mkv" to ".ts" and setting again in mux configuration "scan status" in "PEND", the mux "scan result" go OK. Anyone got any idea? Can't correct manually 100 mux every update. Thanks in advance for the help. I tested on my ubuntu in my VM got same result(TVH 4.1-2399). And another noob question, TVH 4.1-2399 in my ubuntu it's the last dev. version? Or i'm wrong?

Robert Cameron

IIRC, the IPTV network type is a subclass of the MPEGTS. The reason this matters is that it means that IPTV muxes must be MPEG transport streams. There's the workaround about feeding your streams to ffmpeg so it can repackage them into a proper MPEG-TS type, but otherwise your streams of mp4s and MKVs won't work for this reason. (Similarly, this is also why M3U8/HLS streams won't work, because those are just segmented mp4s, not MPEG transport streams.)

Nannus Coripot

Thanks very much for the help, I'm going to search the "workaround" :) . I investigated more and i found other mux with ".mkv" as url that, with no reason, got the "scan result"=OK. And now i'm a bit confused ... a bit more than before :) .

Robert Cameron

Nannus Coripot wrote:

> Thanks very much for the help, I'm going to search the "workaround" :) . I investigated more and i found other mux with ".mkv" as url that, with no reason, got the "scan result"=OK. And now i'm a bit confused ... a bit more than before :) .

Well, I would recommend checking the codecs used. MPEG-TS, MP4 and MKV are container formats. They can hold myriad codecs. It could be a mismatch between what TVH is expecting and what is being sent.

Honestly, without details or specifics, any ideas offered are just guesses.

Nannus Coripot

Robert Cameron wrote:
> Nannus Coripot wrote:
> > Thanks very much for the help, I'm going to search the "workaround" :) . I investigated more and i found other mux with ".mkv" as url that, with no reason, got the "scan result"=OK. And now i'm a bit confused ... a bit more than before :) .
>
> Well, I would recommend checking the codecs used. MPEG-TS, MP4 and MKV are container formats. They can hold myriad codecs. It could be a mismatch between what TVH is expecting and what is being sent.
>

> Honestly, without details or specifics, any ideas offered are just guesses.

i will work on it ty.

K Shea

Nannus Coripot wrote:

I think this thread may help you with the "workaround":

https://tvheadend.org/d/4444-iptv-not-working-in-4-0-8-solved?r=23925

Nannus Coripot

Ty, I'm back from christmas holidays, going in again :) .

Chris Nicholaidis

I use an ffmpeg pipe to bring in m3u8 files- here's one for NASA as an example:

pipe:///usr/bin/ffmpeg -i http://nasatv-lh.akamaihd.net/i/NASA_101@319270/master.m3u8 -vcodec copy -acodec copy -f mpegts pipe:1

I've noticed some ts streams need to be ran via a pipe to basically error check the stream first or you can end up with an overflow of errors so something like this:

pipe:///usr/bin/ffmpeg -i http://yourstream -vcodec copy -acodec copy -f mpegts pipe:1

Both work perfectly for me and everything in our TVH is IPTV based, no physical tuners

PS Where it has the pipe bit and path, this needs to be the path to your install of ffmpeg, that's kind of default and we're on Ubuntu 14.04

Robert Cameron

I recommend using the

-flags +global_header

; in my experience it seems to alleviate many problems with the generated streams.

Also, as a shortcut,

-c copy

will set the codec to copy forall streams.

K Shea

Robert Cameron: Good call on the -c copy, I did not know you could do that. I edited my post in the other thread to do it that way.

Just out of curiosity, do you know if it is possible to do -c copy but then have an exception for one type of stream? For example, to copy all streams EXCEPT audio, which you want to modify the format of in some way? If there were, that would be a big help in a couple of situations.

Robert Cameron

K Shea wrote:
> Robert Cameron: Good call on the -c copy, I did not know you could do that. I edited my post in the other thread to do it that way.
>

> Just out of curiosity, do you know if it is possible to do -c copy but then have an exception for one type of stream? For example, to copy all streams EXCEPT audio, which you want to modify the format of in some way? If there were, that would be a big help in a couple of situations.

Yes, you can copy codecs and then specify an override, such as:

ffmpeg -i file.mkv -c copy -c:a aac file.mp4

That will take an MKV and copy all of the codecs in place except for audio, which it will re-encode into AAC. (I figured that was a decent example, since if you are using MKV you might likely have AC3 audio, which you cannot use with MP4 containers.)

K Shea

Robert Cameron wrote:

> Yes, you can copy codecs and then specify an override, such as:
>
>

ffmpeg -i file.mkv -c copy -c:a aac file.mp4

> That will take an MKV and copy all of the codecs in place except for audio, which it will re-encode into AAC. (I figured that was a decent example, since if you are using MKV you might likely have AC3 audio, which you cannot use with MP4 containers.)

Great, that's exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks!

Nannus Coripot

Chris Nicholaidis wrote:
> I use an ffmpeg pipe to bring in m3u8 files- here's one for NASA as an example:
>
> pipe:///usr/bin/ffmpeg -i http://nasatv-lh.akamaihd.net/i/NASA_101@319270/master.m3u8 -vcodec copy -acodec copy -f mpegts pipe:1
>
> I've noticed some ts streams need to be ran via a pipe to basically error check the stream first or you can end up with an overflow of errors so something like this:
>
> pipe:///usr/bin/ffmpeg -i http://yourstream -vcodec copy -acodec copy -f mpegts pipe:1
>
> Both work perfectly for me and everything in our TVH is IPTV based, no physical tuners
>

> PS Where it has the pipe bit and path, this needs to be the path to your install of ffmpeg, that's kind of default and we're on Ubuntu 14.04

Following this I got new error in TVH with a 120 row log but it's really too much specific for me, can I show it here?