mapping IPTV channels to services

Martin Schlatter

I have defined around 100 IPTV broadcasters. I then go to "configuration -> dvb inputs -> services" in the web frontend, select one or multiple rows and click "map selected services". But the services are not mapped, they are ignored. Only when I view a channel by clicking on the blue arrow on the left side, after that I can map the service. Is this a matter of latency of the stream? Does the mapper not wait long enough?

G Kazaroth

map services maps the EPG with the service in the Service tab. If the EPG and service identification info are significantly different, it will have issues mapping the two together. You can still manually map them, it just takes time.

Martin Schlatter

G Kazaroth wrote:

> You can still manually map them, it just takes time.

I tried to map them manually with "map selected services".

Hiro Protagonist

When you 'map selected services' what appears in the log? Note that you can view the log in the web interface by clicking the icon that looks like 2 stacked '^' at the bottom right.

If the problem is stream latency, go back to the 'Networks' tab, edit the network and increase 'Maximum timeout (seconds):'

G Kazaroth

"map selected services" is the automatic way to map services. To manually map services, you must update each row manually. Go to the Channels tab and set the EPG source, Services and channel name. That would be the manual way to link the EPG to the services.

What Hiro is referencing is the scanning tvheadend does to create services from muxes. If the services are already created, I don't think what he is mentioning will do anything since you indicate you already have services.

Martin Schlatter

Hiro Protagonist wrote:

> If the problem is stream latency, go back to the 'Networks' tab, edit the network and increase 'Maximum timeout (seconds):'

This did not help.

> When you 'map selected services' what appears in the log?

When I map selected service and the mapper ignores the service, there is nothing in the log.
No reason why it is ignored.

Martin Schlatter

G Kazaroth wrote:

> map services maps the EPG with the service in the Service tab. If the EPG and service identification info are significantly different, it will have issues mapping the two together. You can still manually map them, it just takes time.

Th IPTV channels do not have EPG at all.

G Kazaroth

Well, I think you have answered your question. Without EPG, the services cannot map to an EPG. If you want to have channels listed you can either type type type and do the manual thing (leaving the EPG blank) or create a xmltv.xml file with only channel info (no program data) and upload that using a tv grabber (filename would be tv_grab_file). If you want the second, you will probably need to find the tv grabber, install it, then create the file. Below is an example of what a single channel xmltv.xml file looks like.


<tv source-info-name="mylist" generator-info-name="mylist">
 <channel id="1234">
  <display-name>2.1 COMET</display-name>
  <display-name>2.1 KWTA</display-name>
  <display-name>2.1</display-name>
  <display-name>KWTA</display-name>
  <display-name>COMET</display-name>
 </channel>
</tv>

Good Luck

Martin Schlatter

If I watch the TVH-stream in VLC, I can "automatically" map selected service. If I don't watch the stream, mapping does not work. Why is this?

G Kazaroth

Last response. tvheadend has code that associates channels using OTA grabbers which were part of the ATSC 1 protocol 30 years ago. The OTA EPG no longer exists, but the tvheadend code still has impacts like what you found. Read and understand the tvheadend code and become a developer if you are interested in how it works.

Martin Schlatter

G Kazaroth wrote:

> Last response. tvheadend has code that associates channels using OTA grabbers which were part of the ATSC 1 protocol 30 years ago. The OTA EPG no longer exists, but the tvheadend code still has impacts like what you found. Read and understand the tvheadend code and become a developer if you are interested in how it works.

This sounds like it is not desired that I post here and ask questions. Maybe I missunderstood the reason of these boards. They are only for developers?

Hiro Protagonist

Ignore the grumpy one. The boards are for people to get help. Sometimes the responses don't live up to it.

Mapping an IPTV service to a channel has nothing to do with EPG.

When you go into Configuration > Channel/EPG and click in the 'services' tab, can you find all the services for your IPTV channels in the pull-down?

Hiro Protagonist

One other thing: in Configuration > DVB Inputs > Services, do you see channel names in the Mux column?

Martin Schlatter

Hiro Protagonist wrote:

> When you go into Configuration > Channel/EPG and click in the 'services' tab, can you find all the services for your IPTV channels in the pull-down?

What do you mean with "services tab"?

> in Configuration > DVB Inputs > Services, do you see channel names in the Mux column?

I see the channel name together with the playlist name: "clean_tv.m3u - Dubai One".

Hiro Protagonist

Martin Schlatter wrote:

> What do you mean with "services tab"?

Sorry, typo.

In the Channels tab, there is a 'services' column. If you click in this column for any channel, you'll see a pull-down listing available services [this is how you manually set the service for a channel]

> I see the channel name together with the playlist name: "clean_tv.m3u - Dubai One".

That looks normal.

Martin Schlatter

Hiro Protagonist wrote:

> In the Channels tab, there is a 'services' column. If you click in this column for any channel, you'll see a pull-down listing available services [this is how you manually set the service for a channel]

I see the services, even those which have not yet been mapped.

Hiro Protagonist

>I see the services, even those which have not yet been mapped.

OK, this all sounds 100% normal, so I'm a bit stumped. Can't see why viewing a stream would make a difference.

When you say "Only when I view a channel by clicking on the blue arrow on the left side" - I presume you're doing this from the

'Services' tab?

As a workaround you could create channels manually and add the service using the pulldown mentioned previously - quite tedious if you have a lot of channels obviously.

Martin Schlatter

Hiro Protagonist wrote:
> When you say "Only when I view a channel by clicking on the blue arrow on the left side" - I presume you're doing this from the

> 'Services' tab?

Yes, I preview the stream from the services tab. If I preview the stream from the muxes tab, -it- [edit:] mapping does NOT work! This is even more strange.

Hiro Protagonist

Martin Schlatter wrote:

> If I preview the stream from the muxes tab, it does NOT work!

Do you mean the stream doesn't play, or it does play but you still cannot map the channel?

Martin Schlatter

Hiro Protagonist wrote:
> Martin Schlatter wrote:
>
> > If I preview the stream from the muxes tab, it does NOT work!
>

> Do you mean the stream doesn't play, or it does play but you still cannot map the channel?

Sorry...if I preview the stream from the muxes tab, the mapping does NOT work. Mapping works only if I preview the stream from the services tab.