Unable to play livetv from iptv network

Scuba Sound

Newbie here:
I’m trying to setup an iptv m3u through tvheadend, it just gives an error when I play it with Vlc.

"VLC is unable to open the MRL ..."

1- I set up an simple m3u list with two streams and I can successfully view it with VLC
2- I installed tvheadend on FreeBSD (using the pkg install)
3- configured with the wizard a simple user "*" and IPTV Automatic Network
Added the URL to my sample .m3u file
Note: I made sure I can play the URL with VLC
4- the wizard scans and finds the two muxes and the two services

5- In the tab: channel/EPG i added the two channels manually

- When I press the "watch TV" and select a channel I get a small Firefox window and error message "An unknown error occurred"
- when I press play button to each mux, Firefox starts VLC, after a few seconds I get error VLC Unable to open MRL...

If I check the status tab, I see that the stream is appearing and disappearing rapidly on the screen.

6- I am able to record a channel and play it later with VLC. I just can’t get tvheadend to play a live TV iptv channel.

I’m sure this should be obvious but I just can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong.

Logs of tvheadend and VLC in here:

https://pastebin.com/XaR6wGsP

Scuba Sound

Here is another attempt to simplify my setup:

I am using the following stream:


http://abclive.abcnews.com/i/abc_live4@136330/index_1200_av-b.m3u8?sd=10&b=1200&rebase=on

I can confirm that I can watch it with:


ffmpeg -i ‘http://abclive.abcnews.com/i/abc_live4@136330/index_1200_av-b.m3u8?sd=10&b=1200&rebase=on' test.mp4

I’ve created a DVB-Input
Networks: IPTV Network
added the URL in an item of Muxes

created a Service and an Item in Channel/EPG

I try: (also tried without the “/play/“)

ffmpeg -i 'http://localhost:9981/play/stream/channel/60a2813c8c7379cfb4aaaf3086dfe48b?title=500%20%3A%20abc-news-channel' test.mp4

result:

[...] [http @ 0x80c865000] Stream ends prematurely at 0, should be 18446744073709551615 http://localhost:9981/play/stream/channel/60a2813c8c7379cfb4aaaf3086dfe48b?title=500%20%3A%20abc-news-channel: Input/output error

tvheadend.log:


2018-01-01 11:18:21.234 [  DEBUG]:service: 1: abc-news-channel si 0x805042540 <unknown> weight 0 prio 11 error 0
2018-01-01 11:18:21.234 [   INFO]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - tuning on IPTV
2018-01-01 11:18:21.251 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - started
2018-01-01 11:18:21.251 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - open PID 0012 (18) [20/0x80505c800]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.251 [  DEBUG]:tbl-eit: eit: installed table handlers
2018-01-01 11:18:21.251 [  DEBUG]:tbl-eit: eit: grab started
2018-01-01 11:18:21.251 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - open PID 1FFB (8187) [20/0x80505b000]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.251 [  DEBUG]:tbl-eit: mgt: installed table handlers
2018-01-01 11:18:21.251 [  DEBUG]:psip: psip: grab started
2018-01-01 11:18:21.251 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - open PID 0FFF (4095) [8/0x805c29000]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.251 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - open PID 0100 (256) [8/0x805c29000]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.251 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - open PID 0101 (257) [8/0x805c29000]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.251 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - open PID 0FFF (4095) [16/0x80506d000]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.251 [   INFO]:subscription: 0127: "HTTP" subscribing on channel "abc-news-channel", weight: 100, adapter: "IPTV", network: "ABCdirect", mux: "abc-news", service: "abc-news", profile="pass", hostname="127.0.0.1", client="Lavf/57.83.100"
2018-01-01 11:18:21.315 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - open PID 0000 (0) [20/0x805369800]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.315 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - open PID 0001 (1) [16/0x805368000]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.315 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - open PID 0010 (16) [16/0x805287000]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.315 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - open PID 0011 (17) [20/0x805288800]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.315 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - open PID 0011 (17) [16/0x8053ca000]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.316 [  DEBUG]:service: ABCdirect/abc-news/{PMT:4095}: Status changed to [Hardware input] 
2018-01-01 11:18:21.316 [  DEBUG]:service: ABCdirect/abc-news/{PMT:4095}: Status changed to [Hardware input] [Input on service] 
2018-01-01 11:18:21.316 [  DEBUG]:service: ABCdirect/abc-news/{PMT:4095}: Status changed to [Hardware input] [Input on service] [Demuxed packets] 
2018-01-01 11:18:21.316 [  DEBUG]:service: ABCdirect/abc-news/{PMT:4095}: Status changed to [Hardware input] [Input on service] [Demuxed packets] [Reassembled packets] 
2018-01-01 11:18:21.316 [  DEBUG]:webui: Start streaming /stream/channel/60a2813c8c7379cfb4aaaf3086dfe48b?title=500%20%3A%20abc-news-channel
2018-01-01 11:18:21.316 [  DEBUG]:webui: Stop streaming /stream/channel/60a2813c8c7379cfb4aaaf3086dfe48b?title=500%20%3A%20abc-news-channel, client hung up
2018-01-01 11:18:21.316 [   INFO]:subscription: 0127: "HTTP" unsubscribing from "abc-news-channel", hostname="127.0.0.1", client="Lavf/57.83.100"
2018-01-01 11:18:21.316 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - close PID 0FFF (4095) [16/0x80506d000]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.317 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - close PID 0FFF (4095) [8/0x805c29000]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.317 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - close PID 0100 (256) [8/0x805c29000]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.317 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - close PID 0101 (257) [8/0x805c29000]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.317 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - stopping mux
2018-01-01 11:18:21.317 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - close PID 0000 (0) [20/0x805369800]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.317 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - close PID 0001 (1) [16/0x805368000]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.317 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - close PID 0010 (16) [16/0x805287000]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.317 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - close PID 0011 (17) [16/0x8053ca000]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.317 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - close PID 0011 (17) [20/0x805288800]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.317 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - close PID 0012 (18) [20/0x80505c800]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.317 [  DEBUG]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - close PID 1FFB (8187) [20/0x80505b000]
2018-01-01 11:18:21.317 [  DEBUG]:epggrab: grab done for abc-news in ABCdirect (stolen)

I am trying to setup tvheadend to relay or proxy the IPTV network stream but I don't know how to configure it.

Saen Acro

Not sure what are you experimenting,
but work perfect without externals tools in tvh

https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/H0W5NA1.png

https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/H0W6TXN.png

Scuba Sound

Hi Sean,

I can't see any tv, I'm suspecting something wrong with my instalation.
I have a plain vanilla "pkg install tvheadend" on freebsd.

I even tried recompiling but still same black screen.

I can't find anything wrong with the logs.
Where can I look to troubleshoot this?

Saen Acro

Compile from GIT and satisfy all dependency

Or just install simple Ubuntu
(with is media friendly distro)
and forget for such problems.

Scuba Sound

I agree thats one way to troubleshoot and I think I will do it because i love the tvheadend project and i want to help figure out if there is a compatibility issue with FreeBSD.

Do you know if there is a prebuilt VM image with Linux that I can install so that I compare the logs of a working tvheadend.

This being said I still think that I'm just misconfiguring the iptv part.
I wonder if I can PM you access to my tvheadend so that you take a minute to review my setup.

Scuba Sound

Hi @MarkClarkstone,

Thanks for taking the time to look into my setup.

It looks like there is an issue with tvheadend on FreeBSD because I noticed a few users with freebsd are having issues with playing LiveTV.

I can confirm that I can view the ABCnews stream when I stream it directly to VLC.

Also, the strange thing is that I can Record and Playback an IPTV recording with my TVheadend on FreeBSD.

I was hoping to find any clue from the logs but I can't see anything other than "...client hung up..."

Scuba Sound

I followed @Saen advise, installed Ubuntu and I could watch liveTV IPTV streams.

I also intalled tvheadend versions: 4.2.3, 4.2.5 and 4.3

Never able to stream IPTV-LiveTV on FreeBSD.

The same m3u config works on Ubuntu LTS:

## on FreeBSD 11.1
<PRE>
curl -v 'http://localhost:9981/play/stream/mux/3a7170322f285afa87058b1171cb8bed?title=ab' --output test.mp4
* Trying 127.0.0.1...
[...]
< HTTP/1.1 200 OK
< Server: HTS/tvheadend
< Cache-Control: no-cache
< Connection: Close
< Content-Type: application/octet-stream
<
* Closing connection 0
</PRE>

==================================

## On Ubuntu LTS
<PRE>
curl -v 'http://localhost:9981/play/stream/mux/772a346947b44091b60853414ba6de53?title=ab' --output test.mp4
* Trying 127.0.0.1...
[...]
< HTTP/1.1 200 OK
< Server: HTS/tvheadend
< Cache-Control: no-cache
< Connection: Close
< Content-Type: application/octet-stream
<
{ [16258 bytes data]
100 909k 0 909k 0 0 147k 0 --:--:-- 0:00:06 --:--:-- 154k

</PRE>

Both cases give the same LOG no matter how verbose I ask tvheadend to be:
<PRE>
2018-01-03 03:40:22.779 [ INFO]:mpegts: abc-news in ABCdirect - tuning on IPTV
2018-01-03 03:40:22.783 [ INFO]:subscription: 0001: "HTTP" subscribing to mux "abc-news", weight: 10, adapter: "IPTV", network: "ABCdirect", service: "Raw PID Subscription", hostname="127.0.0.1", username="admin", client="curl/7.57.0"
2018-01-03 03:40:22.814 [ INFO]:subscription: 0001: "HTTP" unsubscribing, hostname="127.0.0.1", username="admin", client="curl/7.57.0"

</PRE>

- Could anyone running FreeBSD or MacOS confirm if they are able to stream IPTV LiveTV at all?

- Can anyone suggest a way to add additional LOG/Debug information on what happens between "subscribing to mux" and "unsubscribing"?

mpmc

If you want a real full log, pass..

--trace all --debug all --logfile /tmp/full.log

View /tmp/full.log

balanga bar

saen acro wrote:
> Not sure what are you experimenting,
> but work perfect without externals tools in tvh
>
https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/H0W5NA1.png
>

>
https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/H0W6TXN.png

I'm trying to get this working (also on FreeBSD) - but don't see the option 'Use A/V Library' under Basic settings for Edit Mux

I'm also unable to play livetv from my DVB-T network.

C G

I seem to be getting the same when trying to view live from both a HDHomeRun and MegaSat Sat>IP server

Get the following as well before the vlc error
........ Status changed to [Hardware input]
........Status changed to [Hardware input] [Input on service]
........ Status changed to [Hardware input] [Input on service] [Demuxed packets]

........ Status changed to [Hardware input] [Input on service] [Demuxed packets] [Reassembled packets]

Interestingly as per above recording both sources works fine as does playback of the recordings.

Installed Tvheadend via pkg too