Apollo TV - No Guide Data and No Channels Listed

[afogleson 15]

For those who want  a longer explaination... (I probably should document this.... and maybe it would be nice if I decided to spend the time making it an emby plugin... hmmmm maybe)

so the program will ultimately use an m3u source to create stream files (i believe this even works for the Apollo vod stuff even... have not tested that in a while)

for me my set up is very simple (and complex lol) but for the first part (getting the movies/tv) the create streams program is the start of the process. you can point it at a file of urls (what I do for television - right now i get only as far back as i think the 10th url for tv) or it can be an m3u file/url you tell it the base output dir and it does the rest. you end up with

1. a directory of year folders with movie folders inside that one movie per folder.

2. a directory of TV show dirs containing season dirs then tv season episodes inside that

emby handles all of that very nicely.

the complex part of my set up is I like my emby server to be portable (so i can say take it with me to a hotel when travelling and such) so  i do a fair bit of rsync and such to copy all my network drive stuff that i just updated over to the emby server (a small box with a 4TB external drive running a linux server on it) and on the main machines i have a crontab running which checks for new movies/tv series every 6 hours and will rsync them to the emby server when it has new ones. Technically the main linux workstation crontab calls a script that does all the work. (it gets all the new tv, all the new movies, does the rsync then uses curl to kick off the emby refresh media library task on the server. (actually servers since i have another one running in a docker container locally so if i do take my other server people at the house can still watch emby. if anyone wants that info (scripts and such) i can put that together probably even in here since it is all about apollo though i think the create streams will work with some other providers... m3u is NOT in any way a well defined standard though so i have seen issues on at least one iptv provider for something (it was a while ago so i dont recall what it was)

obviously with it still being 1.0 (and it has been on here for a couple years iirc) it works pretty well. and like i said in my previous post it will pop up a gui if you wanted to just run it adhoc

 

[sundevil67 28]

12 hours ago, afogleson said:

it will pop up a gui if you wanted to just run it adhoc

 

I think I missed this part.. will go back & check! I think that'd be what I'd really need in order to wade back in there. Don't want to hijack another thread with this topic, as I've been guilty of that in the past. I have a folder structure like you mentioned, but it's out of date. At some point I found a website that actually spat out the converted STRM files somehow; but it went away. A full Emby plugin would be awesome - something I'd pay for. 

Back to the OP though - my guide is actually back up & running with the new URL. Thanks!

[afogleson 15]

2 hours ago, sundevil67 said:

Back to the OP though - my guide is actually back up & running with the new URL. Thanks!

Good to hear. Now if they would just get all the movies fixed... try secondHand lions for instance (2003) it gets a forbidden if you browse to it in a browser and obviously wont play in emby because of that

 

[d00zah 149]

On 8/4/2024 at 9:03 PM, afogleson said:

For those who want  a longer explaination... (I probably should document this.... and maybe it would be nice if I decided to spend the time making it an emby plugin... hmmmm maybe)

so the program will ultimately use an m3u source to create stream files (i believe this even works for the Apollo vod stuff even... have not tested that in a while)

for me my set up is very simple (and complex lol) but for the first part (getting the movies/tv) the create streams program is the start of the process. you can point it at a file of urls (what I do for television - right now i get only as far back as i think the 10th url for tv) or it can be an m3u file/url you tell it the base output dir and it does the rest. you end up with

1. a directory of year folders with movie folders inside that one movie per folder.

2. a directory of TV show dirs containing season dirs then tv season episodes inside that

emby handles all of that very nicely.

the complex part of my set up is I like my emby server to be portable (so i can say take it with me to a hotel when travelling and such) so  i do a fair bit of rsync and such to copy all my network drive stuff that i just updated over to the emby server (a small box with a 4TB external drive running a linux server on it) and on the main machines i have a crontab running which checks for new movies/tv series every 6 hours and will rsync them to the emby server when it has new ones. Technically the main linux workstation crontab calls a script that does all the work. (it gets all the new tv, all the new movies, does the rsync then uses curl to kick off the emby refresh media library task on the server. (actually servers since i have another one running in a docker container locally so if i do take my other server people at the house can still watch emby. if anyone wants that info (scripts and such) i can put that together probably even in here since it is all about apollo though i think the create streams will work with some other providers... m3u is NOT in any way a well defined standard though so i have seen issues on at least one iptv provider for something (it was a while ago so i dont recall what it was)

obviously with it still being 1.0 (and it has been on here for a couple years iirc) it works pretty well. and like i said in my previous post it will pop up a gui if you wanted to just run it adhoc

 

Thank you very much for making this available. Did a little mucking w/ it & an ApolloGroupTV support article to produce a wrapper with a bit more granularity, if anyone is interested... it'll execute from a NAS (w/ some path mods), or Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2). Whether, or not all links are valid... YMMV

 

#!/bin/bash

# CreateStreams
# usage: createStreams
 # -ah,--assumedHeight <arg>   The assumed height resolution of a stream
 # -aw,--assumedWidth <arg>    The assumed width resolution of a stream
 # -d,--delete                 Whether excess video files should be deleted
 # -e,--endYear <arg>          The ending year to parse
 # -f,--optionsFile <arg>      The file of shows to download
 # -help                       Print this message
 # -i,--isUrl <arg>            Whether this is a url or a file
 # -md,--media                 If delete is selected delete media files not
                             # stream files
 # -n,--name <arg>             The file name or url to parse
 # -o,--output <arg>           Where to save the parse entries
 # -s,--startYear <arg>        The year to parse
 # -sd,--stream                If Delete is selected delete the stream file
 # -u,--useGroupName <arg>     Whenther to also use the groupName as a
                             # subfolder

# https://help.apollogroup.tv/support/solutions/articles/48000589710-what-are-the-m3u-epg-urls-sports-vod-url-included-

# Create .STRM files for Apollo Group TV On Demand TV Shows

if [ "$1" == "" ] || [ "$1" == "tv" ] ; then

	VOD_TVSHOW_SRC="https://tvnow.best/api/list/username/password/m3u8/tvshows"
	VOD_TVSHOW_DST="OnDemand/TVShows"

	# CreateStreams -i=true -n $VOD_TVSHOW_SRC -o $VOD_TVSHOW_DST

	for i in /{1..20}; do
		CreateStreams -i=true -n $VOD_TVSHOW_SRC$i -o $VOD_TVSHOW_DST$i
	done

fi

# Create .STRM files for Apollo Group TV On Demand Movies

if [ "$1" == "" ] || [ "$1" == "movie" ] ; then

	VOD_MOVIE_SRC="https://tvnow.best/api/list/username/password/m3u8/movies"
	VOD_MOVIE_DST="OnDemand/Movies"
	
	CreateStreams -i=true -n $VOD_MOVIE_SRC -s=1900 -o $VOD_MOVIE_DST

fi

# Create .STRM files for Apollo Group TV On Demand Sports Events

if [ "$1" == "" ] || [ "$1" == "sport" ] ; then

	VOD_SPORT_SRC="https://tvnow.best/api/list/username/password/m3u8/events"
	VOD_SPORT_DST="OnDemand/Sports"

	for i in "" /1 /2; do
		CreateStreams -i=true -n $VOD_SPORT_SRC$i -o $VOD_SPORT_DST$i
	done
	
fi

 

[afogleson 15]

Id keep in mind that some of those options are not implemented... i was doing some stuff with potential scaling things so the assumedX does not work ... i have not used the -d option (which was meant to cover off on the case where apollo removed a stream I dont know if i really tested that well... basically i just grabbed my beta version from my drive and put it out here. I should run through it again... especially if i am thinking about a plugin

[d00zah 149]

Just now, afogleson said:

Id keep in mind that some of those options are not implemented... i was doing some stuff with potential scaling things so the assumedX does not work ... i have not used the -d option (which was meant to cover off on the case where apollo removed a stream I dont know if i really tested that well... basically i just grabbed my beta version from my drive and put it out here. I should run through it again... especially if i am thinking about a plugin

I discovered that & have since weeded them out. the -d/-sd options reporting errors. -s  didn't seem to affect anything.

Been working around some of Apollo's inconsistencies, but overall i can work with this. Thanks again!

[d00zah 149]

 

 

9 hours ago, afogleson said:

Id keep in mind that some of those options are not implemented... i was doing some stuff with potential scaling things so the assumedX does not work ... i have not used the -d option (which was meant to cover off on the case where apollo removed a stream I dont know if i really tested that well... basically i just grabbed my beta version from my drive and put it out here. I should run through it again... especially if i am thinking about a plugin

How are you adding these to your library? I took a subset of movies generated & created a movie library called "On Demand Movies".

The library view shows signs of artwork (generated tile), so at some level, Emby has added the new content.

but once the full media scan completes, there is no Home Screen option to select/display?

 

.strm files play w/out issue in VLC? Something I'm missing? Or is this a bug I need to report?

[afogleson 15]

So it does not matter where you generate them to generally... but i do mine in a library '

/Video/Movies/HD/    and point emby at that dir for my movies library (name it what you will)

my program orders them into years of course but that is more for organization than anything.

in emby once you do that you do the scheduled task "scan media library"  that can take a while on a large set of new movies of course, but once it is done...

you go into that library and you should see them all and be able to click play.

i dont use vlc anymore but technically VLC wont play the .strm file... it WOULD play the url IN the .strm file of course.

 

[d00zah 149]

1 minute ago, afogleson said:

So it does not matter where you generate them to generally... but i do mine in a library '

/Video/Movies/HD/    and point emby at that dir for my movies library (name it what you will)

my program orders them into years of course but that is more for organization than anything.

in emby once you do that you do the scheduled task "scan media library"  that can take a while on a large set of new movies of course, but once it is done...

you go into that library and you should see them all and be able to click play.

i dont use vlc anymore but technically VLC wont play the .strm file... it WOULD play the url IN the .strm file of course.

 

Thank you for replying. I realize this is a hijack of the OP,  but your feedback serves as a sanity check.

VLC is just a quick test... & it does play the url contained in the .strm files.

I have created the library & added the content as you suggest, but Emby is not presenting the library to browse. Might be a bug, but I'm going to set up a 'portable' server version w/out any plugins to test this import. IF the issue persists, I'll post an error report in the appropriate section.

Thanks again.

[afogleson 15]

Yeah we really should start a new thread lol

[sundevil67 28]

On 8/4/2024 at 2:54 PM, d00zah said:

It has been on on-going problem, but a recent report provides new links...

https://www.reddit.com/r/ApolloGroup_TV/comments/1ejdxyo/looks_like_the_epg_is_back_up_and_working/

edit: can confirm much fewer blank listings w/ 2nd option

 

Since that outage, I've been unable to watch any Apollo VOD titles. I get an error like "No Playable Streams", or it will just return to the show/movie's main page. I tried to re-add the paths shown on Apollo's Emby help page (https://tvnow.best/api/list/username/password/m3u8/movies), but they don't work. They can get lazy about updating documentation.. I'm asking here though because they specifically mention that they don't provide any support for this kind of operation through Emby. 

Anyone else struggling with this? 

Thank you.

Edited August 20, 2024 by sundevil67

[d00zah 149]

No problem here. I've scripted afogleson's tool to run each night & while I've only spot-checked a few movies, TV series are working fine.

Using the URLs detailed here.

Using a VPN, or SmartDNS? Some folks report being blocked otherwise.

edit: just tested a couple of more movies added recently & they work, too.

https://tvnow.best/api/list/$USER/$PSWD/m3u8/movies

Edited August 20, 2024 by d00zah

[afogleson 15]

24 minutes ago, d00zah said:

No problem here. I've scripted afogleson's tool to run each night & while I've only spot-checked a few movies, TV series are working fine.

Using the URLs detailed here.

Using a VPN, or SmartDNS? Some folks report being blocked otherwise.

 

What i will say.... and i am adding a flag to do this but it will be a bit... i have noticed that apollo keeps changing their urls for movies (have not seen it in tv but movies for sure) and my tool currently just does not overwrite anything that is already there. I have had a lot of the streams on movies just fail... live tv and tv vod have worked fine...

 

Short term what i did...

1. create a different output dir for my tool (easy on the command line)

2. generate all over again

3. im on *nix so then i rsync that over the top of my old strm files and then i have FEWER problems... i think there is some real mess up over on the apollo side and if i could find a decent provider with m3u available i would consider moving this winter when my subscription runs out....

[sundevil67 28]

On 8/4/2024 at 4:26 PM, afogleson said:

Yes i found the same thing... for reference here so people do not have to run around everywhere....

here is the epg link for the 7 days list:

https://epg.starlite.best/utc.xml.gz

This is broken again on my end.. Apollo is even saying so in their support chat. 

All of the URLs in my .strm files start with: https://tv4.live, which no longer work. While I add the m3u source link as https://tvnow.best, I guess I have to use a find/replace tool to swap that out in each .strm file in my Emby library. 

[d00zah 149]

The guidance I saw on that sub-reddit worked for me... drop the .gz & use https://epg.starlite.best/utc.xml

This has been mostly working... still random gaps, on & off.

All my .strm files contain links which start w/ https://tvnow.best/api/stream/... , & work, as you've discovered.

[sundevil67 28]

11 hours ago, d00zah said:

The guidance I saw on that sub-reddit worked for me... drop the .gz & use https://epg.starlite.best/utc.xml

This has been mostly working... still random gaps, on & off.

All my .strm files contain links which start w/ https://tvnow.best/api/stream/... , & work, as you've discovered.

I will fix the issue with my .strm file paths when I get back to my home office (still can't be 100% sure what they look like on my primary drive containing my libraries since I can no longer use TeamViewer), but that's an issue for another day. I hope to one day be able to figure out how to run your script & get that whole thing streamlined so I no longer have to worry about generating those files & manually copying them over.

Forgive me for adding yet another topic here, but it's not everyday I have the attention of Apollo/Emby users who are also way more tech savvy than myself! The biggest flaw with the Apollo or Playberry apps on Firestick (for me anyway) is the inability to upload or download subtitles (unlike the MacOS version of Playberry, which has this built-in).

Unfortunately Firestick version of this & Everyone I’ve referred the service to, myself included, simply cannot watch anything that doesn't have English subtitles available. I can sometimes get around this by adding the title to Emby, but this requires my help, and the end user watching with Emby running off of my 12+ year old computer.

I've been searching for an alternative solution for quite some time now, and the best I've been able to come up with is Kodi, which is still far too complicated to expect these other users to mess with. I just tried to use VLC for just one movie they want to watch, but the difficulty just getting the direct URL typed into the open stream dialog, even with my iPhone, caused me to give up.

Do you perhaps know of another user-friendly IPTV app for Fire Stick that can download subtitles internally the way that Emby can?

THANK YOU

[d00zah 149]

All the Apollo Group TV VOD content I've experimented with are just 'scene' downloads (sorry if this borders on a verboten topic). Once a Movie/episode has been loaded, Emby media info accurately displays for that video, including numerous subtitle tracks. I just tried the Emby app on my FireStick, & the previously tested videos can all be played back w/ subtitles enabled. Is this what you're looking for? Or some FireStick-supported player, other than Emby?

[sundevil67 28]

32 minutes ago, d00zah said:

All the Apollo Group TV VOD content I've experimented with are just 'scene' downloads (sorry if this borders on a verboten topic). Once a Movie/episode has been loaded, Emby media info accurately displays for that video, including numerous subtitle tracks. I just tried the Emby app on my FireStick, & the previously tested videos can all be played back w/ subtitles enabled. Is this what you're looking for? Or some FireStick-supported player, other than Emby?

I was hoping to connect with Apollo/Emby users unable to use Emby in all scenarios/platforms & need another app/IPTV front-end for FireStick that has the same kind of built-in subtitle management capability Emby does. 

[d00zah 149]

I won't go as far as to install VLC on my FireStick, but this shows it can be done...

https://www.firesticktricks.com/vlc-on-firestick.html

& when I load one of the .strm files in VLC (on my desktop), all the subtitle tracks contained in the target are selectable. YMMV

[sundevil67 28]

20 minutes ago, d00zah said:

I won't go as far as to install VLC on my FireStick, but this shows it can be done...

https://www.firesticktricks.com/vlc-on-firestick.html

& when I load one of the .strm files in VLC (on my desktop), all the subtitle tracks contained in the target are selectable. YMMV

I tried that but couldn't get the link actually entered & working. I typed it manually & with my phone, but it doesn't work.

[d00zah 149]

Granted, the article is an advertisement for VPN, but it reads sound, & it's fairly recent. I'll try it when I have a chance.

 

edit: Although, hand-entering the .strm URLs won't make ANYONE happy. I'm pretty certain no similar solution will be palatable to the end-user. Emby just makes it simple (-ish ;^).

 

edit #2: Just loaded the updated Apollo Group TV app on my FireStick. The VOD movies I tried all allow turning on the embedded subtitles, too... left-most icon in the top-right grouping. I think I'm missing what you are looking for.

Edited August 21, 2024 by d00zah

[sundevil67 28]

Having trouble with the live TV stuff again as I reconfigure my server - getting this error with their guide URL - anyone else having this problem?

https://epg.starlite.best/utc.xml

[sundevil67 28]

9 minutes ago, sundevil67 said:

Having trouble with the live TV stuff again as I reconfigure my server - getting this error with their guide URL - anyone else having this problem?

https://epg.starlite.best/utc.xml

Getting weird errors & the link they're giving me for the guide data - the file definitely does exist 

https://starlite.best/api/list/user/pass/m3u8/livetv

[sundevil67 28]

Just now, sundevil67 said:

Getting weird errors & the link they're giving me for the guide data - the file definitely does exist 

https://starlite.best/api/list/user/pass/m3u8/livetv

They are duplicating too & this other weird error

[d00zah 149]

I've been using the following w/out any obvious errors.

(live TV)

https://tvnow.best/api/list/USERNAME/PASSWORD

(guide)

https://epg.starlite.best/utc.xml

I've tried others which were recommended, but these have been reliable.