Output from Emby Server not reflecting edited m3u file

[normanmurcheson 7]

I edited the original m3u file which feeds my Emby server by removing several hundred channels from it.

The channel edit window accurately reflects the newly edited file. Only the channels that are currently in the file show in the edit window. The editor does see I've changed the m3u.

When I actually try to play any channels either on the server or by connecting an Android client, the channels I edited out all still show. So do any changes I've made in the server editor. It is seeing all the new changes I made, but not that I actually deleted a number of channels in the m3u.

How do I get Emby Server to see the changes in the actual m3U file and only put out the channels that are current in the edited m3u instead of the version I originally started with three days ago?

Hopefully this will be the last head-scratcher for a while.

Thanks a lot.

 

 

[Carlo 4330]

Hi, If you  changed the m3u file you can "edit" the tuner and save it without changing anything.
You should be able to also just force a new guide refresh.

You should see a guide refresh start.

Your m3u tuner will be read in again with new channels added (if any).  The guide will refresh for these channels.
Before ending the refresh Emby will remove any channels that no longer exist in the m3u file.

So basically you need to wait for the guide to finish refreshing before you can tell if new/old channels have been updated/added/removed.

Let us know how you make out when you guide is done loading.

Carlo

[normanmurcheson 7]

If I try to "play" one of the channels which shouldn't be there I get "No compatible streams are currently available. Please try again later or contact your system administrator for details".

[normanmurcheson 7]

Will give that a whirl. Thanks a lot.

[normanmurcheson 7]

I followed your instructions to the letter and waited for the EPG refresh to finish (blue bar stopped). It didn't do anything I'm afraid. Any other ideas?

 

 

[normanmurcheson 7]

I see now that the guide refresh stopped at exactly 50%. Now it is sitting at 0.0% and not moving.

[Carlo 4330]

Just wait, it's doing something.

If in doubt check the server log to see if it's adding or removing channels.

It can take longer than usual for the guide refresh when you change the m3u.

[normanmurcheson 7]

That log is definitely busy. Thanks so much for the knowledge.

I'll come back to it in the morning. Thanks a lot Carlo.

[Carlo 4330]

Sure thing.

Let us know how things look in the morning!

[normanmurcheson 7]

Emby definitely ran through its routine at least somewhat. The Emby server.txt went from over 160 megs to a few hundred k. And the epg refresh indicator did close.

Unfortunately nothing is different with the recognition of the m3u. All of the channels that were removed from the m3u are still very much there. Nothing changed.

In looking at the Embyserver.txt this time, I did see a number of error codes which unfortunately don't mean a lot to me at this point. I did a "save as" at that point so that you could have a look at it. That file is attached below.

diags.txt

[normanmurcheson 7]

The only thing I ever saw when I looked at that log was that it was removing old programs. And was finding channels within the epg. I was not able to see anything about Emby removing any channels.

[normanmurcheson 7]

Here's something peculiar. All of the channels that were edited within Emby after the m3u was edited have the very same logo within their groups, ie. the NBC channels have a generic NBC logo, the ABC channels likewise have a generic ABC logo, etc. The IPTV service is scrupulous about supplying distinct logos for every channel. They are most definitely different from each other in the original source. I just verified that in TiviMate.

I have noticed some cases of logos sometimes getting criss-crossed as I've been working in Emby. Does Emby normally generate icons itself on the basis of the info it's fed or does it just take the logo as it's been presented in the source?

[normanmurcheson 7]

One of the ABC channels removed from the m3u is showing a "HBO Zone" logo in Emby currently, as one example. Several of the ABC removed channels show a "Stingray Music" logo. That's the way they were when they originally came in before the m3u edit.

Edited August 8, 2021 by normanmurcheson

[normanmurcheson 7]

Several of the ABC removed channels show a "Stingray Music" logo.

 

[normanmurcheson 7]

I am using a tinyurl link to bring in the m3u.

[Carlo 4330]

I would get rid of the tunyurl and just use what it redirect to.

What I would do is remove the tuner and do a guide refresh.
This should remove all channels and give you a clean slate.

Then put back the tuner (without tiny URL) and let it load fresh.

Let us know how that works.

[Carlo 4330]

BTW, if you have setup manual port forwarding you can turn off

network->Enable automatic port mapping

which will stop errors from showing in your log for UpnP.

[Luke 37093]

Try removing the nextpvr plugin and then restarting the server. The guide refresh should run quicker after that.

[normanmurcheson 7]

@cayars@Luke Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

In the interest of learning more about how this works, on Sunday I cleanly uninstalled the whole program. Once it was reinstalled I used the m3u file directly from my hard drive instead of going through the Internet. I did not install the next PVR plugin as I realized that I didn't actually have that program.

Before, I was editing the channels in the master channel list in the server admin screen. I soon discovered the capability of editing the metadata in the live TV channels screen. With that set to "group channels by tag" the number of channels dealt with at one time went down considerably. What a major difference in the performance! Channels now open up for editing within a very few seconds and save instantly.

Using the master channel list in admin as I was, I could really see things bogging down. I would often wait for over a minute for that whole list to repaint after saving an edited channel. That was definitely working things too hard. I have a feeling something had gotten corrupted in that process.

It looks like I've also solved the problem of the switching icons. I started out using the IPTV provider's original guide, then switching to various sources of Emby guide data for the various groups (tags). Any channel which has a totally wrong icon is one that wasn't included in the provider's epg. As I would add sources Emby would automap those channels to whichever source was next installed. That mapping was frequently wrong. This is not Emby's fault. I place the blame for that with the IPTV providers and the inconsistent way in which they set up and document their channels. Most IPTV services (and channel providers) suffer from horrendous clerical ability. They have far too much else on their plate. Necro IPTV is actually the best I've ever seen for providing an EPG. They go above and beyond with their logos as well. And shopping for the very best sources.

I can also see that when Emby automaps a channel to the Emby data it brings in the full set of logos for light screen, dark screen, etc. I'm going to work with this some more. I'm going to bet that switching an incorrect channel to "no epg source", saving it and then mapping it to the proper source will bring in the correct icons.

I am working with over 2000 channels here and using 24 EPG sources currently. Emby is now performing absolutely consistently every time I edit and save a channel.

@Luke I'm just blown away by what you've done with this. Once you get your head around the concept, Emby is actually far easier and vastly more versatile than the editing m3u files and the like. You've just really thought of everything. I love being able to adjust everything in Emby right on the screen as things will finally look. If you'd like a channel to show in both movies and entertainment, just add a tag. Absolutely brilliant!!! Images for upcoming programs and the like is mere icing on an already supremely rich cake.

A major tip of my hat to you and your team, Sir.

Thanks so much again for being here for me guys.

 

[Carlo 4330]

Thanks for the kind words.
It's nice to see how well the system is received like this when people really explore Emby's options and flexibility like this as you have done.

It is quite powerful!