Pluto TV script

Chris G · 2024-12-04T23:26:25+00:00

Here is my custom Pluto TV script for TVHeadand. It requires Streamlink and makes use of TVHeadends useful pipe options. It queries the Pluto TV API directly...

Jack

I found a solution that is working for me to the unknown playlist format issue with the help of chat GPT.

Tvheadend does not accept quotes on the second line of a channel entry.
Like this:

pipe://streamlink 'https://pluto.tv/live-tv/51c75f7bb6f26ba1cd00002f' best --stdout

They must be:

pipe://streamlink https://pluto.tv/live-tv/51c75f7bb6f26ba1cd00002f best --stdout

also Tvheadend expects tvg-id (lower-case with a dash), not tvg-ID.

The script needed to have the playlist build lines changed to

    f'#EXTINF:-1 tvg-id="pluto-{channel["_id"]}" tvg-chno="{channel["number"]}" '
    f'tvg-name="{channel["name"]}" tvg-logo="{channel.get("colorLogoPNG", {}).get("path", "")}",'
    f'{channel["name"]}\n'
)
m3u += (
    f"pipe://streamlink https://pluto.tv/live-tv/{channel['_id']} best --stdout\n"
)

So the complete updated script with the changes made need to be this:

import requests
from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
import socket
import io

# CONFIG -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
SOCKET = "/config/epggrab/xmltv.sock"  # Path to your Tvheadend XMLTV UNIX socket
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

now = datetime.now(timezone.utc)

# round the start time down to the nearest 30 min
start_time = now - timedelta(
    minutes=now.minute % 30, seconds=now.second, microseconds=now.microsecond
)
stop_time = start_time + timedelta(hours=8)
epg_begin = start_time.strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S-00:00")
epg_end = stop_time.strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S-00:00")

data = requests.get(
    f"https://api.pluto.tv/v2/channels?start={epg_begin}&stop={epg_end}"
).json()

m3u = "#EXTM3U\n"
root = ET.Element("tv")
programmes = []

for channel in data:
    # ----- XMLTV channel element -----
    chan_id = f"pluto-{channel['_id']}"
    channel_element = ET.SubElement(root, "channel", id=chan_id)
    ET.SubElement(channel_element, "display-name").text = channel["name"]
    ET.SubElement(channel_element, "channel-number").text = str(channel["number"])
    ET.SubElement(channel_element, "icon").text = channel.get("colorLogoPNG", {}).get(
        "path", ""
    )

    # ----- M3U entry -----
    logo = channel.get("colorLogoPNG", {}).get("path", "")
    m3u += (
        f'#EXTINF:-1 tvg-id="{chan_id}" '
        f'tvg-chno="{channel["number"]}" '
        f'tvg-name="{channel["name"]}" '
        f'tvg-logo="{logo}",'
        f'{channel["name"]}\n'
    )
    # NOTE: no quotes around URL
    m3u += (
        f"pipe://streamlink https://pluto.tv/live-tv/{channel['_id']} best --stdout\n"
    )

    # ----- Programme list -----
    for programme in channel.get("timelines", []):
        programmes.append(
            {
                "start": programme["start"],
                "stop": programme["stop"],
                "channel": chan_id,
                "title": programme.get("title", "Untitled"),
                "episode": programme.get("episode", {}),
            }
        )

# Build XMLTV EPG
for programme in programmes:
    start_str = datetime.fromisoformat(programme["start"]).strftime(
        "%Y%m%d%H%M%S +0000"
    )
    stop_str = datetime.fromisoformat(programme["stop"]).strftime("%Y%m%d%H%M%S +0000")

    p = ET.SubElement(
        root,
        "programme",
        start=start_str,
        stop=stop_str,
        channel=programme["channel"],
    )
    ep = programme["episode"]
    ET.SubElement(p, "title").text = programme["title"]
    ET.SubElement(p, "sub-title").text = ep.get("name", "")
    ET.SubElement(p, "desc").text = ep.get("description", "")
    ET.SubElement(p, "episode-num").text = f"S{ep.get('season', 0)}E{ep.get('number', 0)}"
    ET.SubElement(p, "category").text = ep.get("genre", "")
    ET.SubElement(p, "category").text = ep.get("subGenre", "")
    ET.SubElement(p, "category").text = programme.get("category", "")

tree = ET.ElementTree(root)
ET.indent(tree, space="\t", level=0)

# Send EPG to Tvheadend’s XMLTV socket
xml_bytes = io.BytesIO()
tree.write(xml_bytes, encoding="UTF-8", xml_declaration=True)
try:
    with socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX, socket.SOCK_STREAM) as s:
        s.connect(SOCKET)
        xml_bytes.seek(0)
        s.sendall(xml_bytes.read())
except Exception:
    # You can uncomment these lines for debugging
    # with open("pluto.xmltv", "wb") as f:
    #     tree.write(f, encoding="utf-8", xml_declaration=True)
    pass

# Print the playlist to stdout — Tvheadend reads this
print(m3u, end="")

Hopefully this can help someone out

Barry

Jack
THANK YOU! I will check this out and get back to you.
Barry

Chris G

The latest version is this one:

#!/usr/bin/python
import requests
from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
import socket
import io
import sys

# CONFIG #############################################################################################
SOCKET = "/config/epggrab/xmltv.sock"  # Path to your UNIX socket
######################################################################################################

if len(sys.argv) > 1:
    IP = sys.argv[1]
else:
    IP = None

now = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
start_time = now - timedelta(
    minutes=now.minute % 30, seconds=now.second, microseconds=now.microsecond
)
stop_time = start_time + timedelta(hours=8)
epg_begin = start_time.strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S-00:00")
epg_end = stop_time.strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S-00:00")

if IP != None:
    headers={"X-Forwarded-For": IP}
else:
    headers={}

data = requests.get(
    f"https://api.pluto.tv/v2/channels?start={epg_begin}&stop={epg_end}", headers=headers
).json()

m3u = "#EXTM3U\n"
root = ET.Element("tv")
programmes = []

for channel in data:
    channel_element = ET.SubElement(root, "channel", id="pluto-" + channel["_id"])
    ET.SubElement(channel_element, "display-name").text = channel["name"]
    ET.SubElement(channel_element, "channel-number").text = str(channel["number"])
    ET.SubElement(channel_element, "icon").text = channel.get("colorLogoPNG", {}).get(
        "path", ""
    )

    m3u += f'#EXTINF:-1 tvg-id="{"pluto-" + channel["_id"]}" tvg-chno="{channel["number"]}" tvg-name="{channel["name"]}" tvg-logo="{channel.get("colorLogoPNG", {}).get("path", "")}",{channel["name"]}\n'
    if IP != None:
        m3u += f"pipe://streamlink --http-header 'x-forwarded-for={IP}' 'https://pluto.tv/live-tv/{channel['_id']}' best --stdout\n"
    else:
        m3u += f"pipe://streamlink 'https://pluto.tv/live-tv/{channel['_id']}' best --stdout\n"

    for programme in channel["timelines"]:
        programme_data = {
            "start": programme["start"],
            "stop": programme["stop"],
            "channel": "pluto-" + channel["_id"],
            "title": programme["title"],
            "episode": programme.get("episode", {}),
        }
        programmes.append(programme_data)

for programme in programmes:
    start_time = datetime.fromisoformat(programme["start"]).strftime(
        "%Y%m%d%H%M%S +0000"
    )
    stop_time = datetime.fromisoformat(programme["stop"]).strftime("%Y%m%d%H%M%S +0000")

    programme_element = ET.SubElement(
        root,
        "programme",
        start=start_time,
        stop=stop_time,
        channel=programme["channel"],
    )
    ET.SubElement(programme_element, "title").text = programme.get("title", "Untitled")
    ET.SubElement(programme_element, "sub-title").text = programme["episode"].get(
        "name", ""
    )
    ET.SubElement(programme_element, "desc").text = programme["episode"].get(
        "description", ""
    )
    ET.SubElement(programme_element, "episode-num").text = (
        f'S{programme["episode"].get("season", 0)}E{programme["episode"].get("number", 0)}'
    )
    ET.SubElement(programme_element, "category").text = programme["episode"].get(
        "genre", ""
    )
    ET.SubElement(programme_element, "category").text = programme["episode"].get(
        "subGenre", ""
    )
    ET.SubElement(programme_element, "category").text = programme.get("category", "")

tree = ET.ElementTree(root)
ET.indent(tree, space="\t", level=0)

xml_bytes = io.BytesIO()
tree.write(xml_bytes, encoding="UTF-8", xml_declaration=True)

try:
    with socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX, socket.SOCK_STREAM) as s:
        s.connect(SOCKET)
        xml_bytes.seek(0)
        s.sendall(xml_bytes.read())
except:
    pass
    with open("pluto.xmltv", "wb") as file:
        tree.write(file, encoding="utf-8", xml_declaration=True)

print(m3u)

It works on a Ubuntu host running the Linuxserver.io Alpine based docker image.
From memory, the quotes are needed on my system.
The EPG maps fine too.

Barry

Hi Chris!
Thanks for the reply! FWIW I've found sometimes a single or double quote is required and sometimes not. (I'm talking in general, not specifically the Pluto script.)

Things that are different on my side:

I'm not using the Linuxserver.io image (not even sure what that is)
I have capitals in the script's title -- easier for me to read but Jack's post indicates TVHeadend wants all lower case

For some reason I can't find the original SD cards for the project so looks like I"m staring from scratch. May not be a bad thing!

Barry

Barry Before I look too stupid I finally dug further into this "Linuxserver.io Alpine" thing. What I had looked at previously seemed unnecessarily complicated. ...This time looked at the RPi Imager and found an option for Alpine Linux; will play with that and see if why things aren't working for me.

And "staring from scratch" s/b "starting from scratch".

Chris G

A docker image is kind of like a virtual machine, but without any of the downsides.
The only downside is more disk space required.
If a bunch of docker images use FFmpeg, then FFmpeg is essentially "installed" multiple times, one instance for each container.
Think of it like an isolated environment.
Someone sets them up with all the required dependencies etc and you just run them.
They run on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows.
The only thing to look out for is if the image you want to run supports your system architecture (x86, ARM, ETC).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docker_(software)

Barry

Hi Chris! Thanks for explanation.
Having a horrible time installing Alpine Linux: used the RPi Imager, the one option to RPi 4. Initial installation instructions are vague but Googling helped. First problem is the configuration not being kept; Google indicated a failing SD card so used a brand-new one. Same. Also an error about the 'network failed to load'.
Can regular Bookworm be used? (That I understand! <g>)
Thanks!

chewitt

Docker virtualises an application (and that application's runtime dependencies) instead of a machine, inside an image called a container. When the container is running Docker exposes the app binary(s) to the host machine so you can run and interact with them as if they were installed locally. Alpine Linux is commonly used for the OS runtime environment for the application inside the container as it can be configured to have a very light/minimlist configuration. You can run Alpine as the host OS for Docker, but (as with virtual machines) the whole point of Docker is you can use your normal/favourite OS, so if the RPiOS 'Bookworm' image is more familiar, install that, then install Docker, then deploy a Tvheadend container (the official one, or from linuxserver.io).

Barry

chewitt Hi chewitt! Things are starting to (slowly) make more sense -- that's the problem with being self-taught: tons of holes in the knowledge. I'm going to go back to RPi Bookworm, install Docker, then TVHeadend 'inside' Docker.

Chris G

Chewitt did a better job of explaining it than me.

You ever used a Linux live image?
IE, running Linux from a DVD/USB stick?
It's a bit like that.

Someone creates something called a Dockerfile.
It's basically a list of commands and options that tells Docker how to create the Docker image.
So that involves installing packages and or compiling stuff, their dependencies, etc.
Once the image is built, think of it as read only.
Users can "play" that image, and it will work (assuming the image is good) on any system with Docker installed (assuming the image supports the architecture).
While it's read only, you can mount local directories to directories inside the image, which can be written to.

Barry

Chris G Hi Chris! Between you and Chewitt I'll figure it out! 🙂 Have done the Ubuntu Live running from a thumbdrive ... so my Raspberry Pi is sort of equivalent to the computer/hardware, Docker is sort of the Live Image, and TVHeadend is the sort of the utilities being tested in the Live Image. (Actually was clearer before typing!)

Anyway, to this point I have created Bookworm (64-bit) on to my Raspberry Pi 4. Also installed Docker and passed the "Hello world" test. Your 'USB Live Image' explanation helped to explain the "Docker took the following steps" message.

Now to install TVHeadend - the Docker version!

Chris G

Barry Hi Chris! Between you and Chewitt I'll figure it out! 🙂 Have done the Ubuntu Live running from a thumbdrive ... so my Raspberry Pi is sort of equivalent to the computer/hardware, Docker is sort of the Live Image, and TVHeadend is the sort of the utilities being tested in the Live Image. (Actually was clearer before typing!)

No not really. Maybe my analogies suck.
Your system and host OS are what they are.
You install Docker, which is kind of like an image "player".
It lets you run Docker images.

To install TVH etc traditionally, you would need to install the required dependencies (and the correct versions).
With a good/working Docker image, it's all contained in the image, if you have docker installed, it will just work.

For instance, I have nothing installed on my host OS other than Docker and mergerfs.
All of my services are "Dockerised".
I map any required Docker volumes to a separate drive from my OS.
I use the new yaml system to configure my containers (Docker-Compose).
Because of this, I can wipe the system and be back to where I left off in minutes.
I simply install docker, map my drives, then load the yaml file.

Barry

Well, I think I'm getting there -- thanks for being patient with me!
AFAICT I have installed TVHeadend as a Docker:
docker run --name TVHeadend -p 80:8080 -d lscr.io/linuxserver/tvheadend
And running "docker ps " I get this:
barry@raspberrypi:~ $ docker ps CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES 7cacf214d913 lscr.io/linuxserver/tvheadend:latest "/init" 9 seconds ago Up 8 seconds 9981-9982/tcp, 0.0.0.0:80->8080/tcp, :::80->8080/tcp tvheadend
Trouble is I'm not able to access TVHeadend for the initial configuration: http://localhost/tvheadend -- also tried adding ports 80, 8080, 9981, 9982. Thought maybe 'needs to be turned on'? "docker exec -it tvheadend /bin/sh" -- that gets me to the docker command line but still no web access to TVH.
Thanks again!

Chris G

That looks like the wrong ports.
Check the parameters section here: https://hub.docker.com/r/linuxserver/tvheadend

Barry

Chris G Hi Chris! I'm getting a 404-type error with a note indicating they've logged it and will look into the problem. I thin k I was on the page earlier this afternoon so will check in a bit (have to call my Mother shortly to make sure she is OK). I noted int the TVH logging it is running and looks like it is waiting for me to do the configuring -- let me in! <g> ...Also noted a 'docker0' entry in ifconfig of 172.17.0.1 -- nope, and trying to ssh to it just sits.

Chris G

Barry

404 for me too now.
A super simple way of dodging all this port mapping stuff is to simply run the container in host networking mode.
This means it automatically binds all the exposed internal image ports to the same ports on the host.
There's no problem with this until you want to run multiple images that all want to bind the same port numbers.
https://docs.docker.com/engine/network/tutorials/host/

The README is also available here: linuxserver/docker-tvheadend

Barry

Hi Chris! Just saw your reply about the 404 and will look at the new information.

Typed this off-line and maybe explains some of the access issues:

Hi Chris!
You simply have more (a lot more! <g>) experience than I do – this is my first foray into using Docker. Probably wasn’t the best first project. 🙂

Anyway I think I have have found why I can’t access. The general installation instructions I followed are from https://www.stacksimplify.com/aws-eks/docker-basics/get-docker-image-from-docker-hub-and-run-/ – I was looking for them at TVHeadend but no luck.

So at “Step-3: Run the downloaded Docker Image & Access the Application”
• Copy the docker image name from Docker Hub
<code>docker run --name app1 -p 80:8080 -d stacksimplify/dockerintro-springboot-helloworld-rest-api:1.0.0-RELEASE
http://localhost/hello </code>

So I changed that to <code> docker run --name app1 -p 80:8080 -d lscr.io/linuxserver/tvheadend:latest </code> and the ran <code> http://localhost/tvheadend </code> which didn’t work.

Found out later ‘app1’ probably should be called ‘TVHeadend’ so swapped that in, got an error message I think about duplicate ports, so found out how to remove the ‘app1’ thing, then I remembered someone mentioning issues with upper case so installed as ‘tvheadend’.

Now, I think I found the port problem: <code>
https://docs.linuxserver.io/images/docker-tvheadend/
Host vs. Bridge
If you use IPTV, SAT>IP or HDHomeRun, you need to create the container with --net=host and remove the -p flags.
Parameters
Containers are configured using parameters passed at runtime (such as those above). These parameters are separated by a colon and indicate <external>:<internal> respectively. For example, -p 8080:80 would expose port 80 from inside the container to be accessible from the host's IP on port 8080 outside the container.
</code>

So if I decipher that my
<code> docker run --name tvheadend -p 80:8080 -d lscr.io/linuxserver/tvheadend:latest </code>
needs to be removed and re-installed substituting the -p (port) numbers forrrrrrr… haven’t a clue other than 9981 for one or the other, maybe both.

...Buy Me a Coffee button?! You’re needing a “buy me aspirin” button! <joke!>

Chris G

docker container ls will list all the containers you may have created.
You can then run docker remove <name> to remove them.

Try something like the example they give:

docker run -d \
  --name=tvheadend \
  -e PUID=1000 \
  -e PGID=1000 \
  -e TZ=Etc/UTC \
  -e RUN_OPTS= `#optional` \
  -p 9981:9981 \
  -p 9982:9982 \
  -v /path/to/tvheadend/data:/config \
  -v /path/to/recordings:/recordings \
  --device /dev/dri:/dev/dri `#optional` \
  --device /dev/dvb:/dev/dvb `#optional` \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  lscr.io/linuxserver/tvheadend:latest

Just change the mounts and remove/edit the optional parameters if they are not needed.
If it helps, here is how I used to create my Docker container before I switched to the newer compose method:

docker create \
--name=TVHeadend \
--restart=unless-stopped \
-e PUID=1000 \
-e PGID=1000 \
-e TZ=Europe/London \
--network host \
-v /mnt/containers/TVHeadend:/config \
-v /mnt/storage/Downloads/Recordings:/recordings \
-v /mnt/containers/TVHeadend/startup-scripts:/custom-cont-init.d \
-v /mnt/containers/TVHeadend/startup-services:/custom-services.d \
--device /dev/dri:/dev/dri \
--device /dev/dvb:/dev/dvb \
lscr.io/linuxserver/tvheadend:latest

The startup directories are a feature from linuxserver.io.
You put scripts in these directories, and their images run them on startup... That's how I ensure Streamlink is installed.
A bit like a Linux live image, any changes made inside the container are lost on restart.
Config setting for TVH persist because we map the necessary container dirs to dirs on the host.

Barry

Chris G Hi Chris! I have not done anything with the above yet but did experiment with the suggested https://docs.docker.com/engine/network/tutorials/host/ to create a nginx server. Somehow that failed! Semi-quick summary to maybe help figure out what is going wrong.

Their 'Procedure' Step 1: docker run --rm -d --network host --name my_nginx nginx ==> gave me a SHA and what might be a Container hexadecimal.

Access Nginx by browsing to http://localhost:80/. <== The connection was reset
docker ps, docker ps -a ==> only listings TVH – no nginx

sudo netstat -tulpn | grep :80
barry@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo netstat -tulpn | grep :80
◦ tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:80 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 2117/docker-proxy
◦ tcp6 0 0 :::80 :::* LISTEN 2124/docker-proxy

They then stay to stop the container. I wanted to see what it was doing so: docker container inspect my_nginx
[]
Error: No such container: my_nginx

At this point I'm not too concerned about nginx not installing; posting should the lack of success be significant.

Some time this afternoon I'll remove the current TVHeadend I have installed and try your 'second' option -- the one with the Time Zone = London. Quick side trip to figure out how to enter mine: thinking US/Chicago or US/Central....

Barry

Well, get excited and couldn't wait until later! Removed my old tvheadend, installed the new (your second listed) TVHeadend - got some long Container ID. (Oh, it's "America/Chicago"). docker ps -- where are you?! docker start TVHeadend: there you are! http://localhost/tvheadend ==> Unable to connect. http://localhost/tvheadend:9981 ==> Unable to connect. Caught something thought: Firefox is switching my http to https -- I think that's the connection error. Will have to search my notes for how I undid that on my main computer.

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