Guidance about using IPTV

[mkcat787 0]

Understood, thanks for the reply.

Quote

 

 

[BrianJFox 18]

Check out the newly released Dispatcharr on Github.  

https://github.com/Dispatcharr/Dispatcharr

It's similar to Threadfin, and I find it very stable for only being a 0.5.2 release.   I find this to be a much cleaner solution to managing the various stream sources outside of Emby, and then just point my Emby instance to this 'cleaner' M3U file and EPG.   Allows merging of multiple sources, establishing channel groups with fallback (killer feature), implements smart connection limits between providers, and can proxy one stream to multiple local clients.  Lots more features implemented as add-ons or future enhancements.    WAF (wife acceptance factor) with Emby LiveTV went up drastically when she didn't need to find the 'right' channel because a stream was down.  

[BensonWright 7]

Dispatcher looks cool. Thanks for the tip! For those running VMs, if you have the space in your RAM, run your differencing disks on a RAM drive. I have increased the database cache and row analysis limit and the load times are really good. Live TV is working better than ever, still wishing for a better buffer/reconnect. M3U4U is really helpful since it sets up a dummy guide; it goes straight into Emby sources. I wanted Threadfin to work as well as an HD Homerun and finally gave up and started using Channels DVR. The subscription is pretty cheap, You can setup new M3U/XML files on your local network for some cable provided streams, other M3Us up to 750 channels on each list. It's working pretty well with Spectrum. You can  also pay for a Hulu subscription that lets you use Channels DVR to record from the streaming service.  If I try Dispatcher, I'll report back.

Edited June 19, 2025 by BensonWright

[ClemFandango 18]

On 09/06/2025 at 21:22, BrianJFox said:

Check out the newly released Dispatcharr on Github.  

https://github.com/Dispatcharr/Dispatcharr

It's similar to Threadfin, and I find it very stable for only being a 0.5.2 release.   I find this to be a much cleaner solution to managing the various stream sources outside of Emby, and then just point my Emby instance to this 'cleaner' M3U file and EPG.   Allows merging of multiple sources, establishing channel groups with fallback (killer feature), implements smart connection limits between providers, and can proxy one stream to multiple local clients.  Lots more features implemented as add-ons or future enhancements.    WAF (wife acceptance factor) with Emby LiveTV went up drastically when she didn't need to find the 'right' channel because a stream was down.  

It's similar to Threadfin in that neither has any form of idiot guide or help

[Apotropaic 41]

5 hours ago, ClemFandango said:

It's similar to Threadfin in that neither has any form of idiot guide or help

It really is ‘security through obscurity’

I’ve messed around a bit with both so let me know if you want a quick run down

[ClemFandango 18]

7 hours ago, Apotropaic said:

It really is ‘security through obscurity’

I’ve messed around a bit with both so let me know if you want a quick run down

My main problem with all of those packages is that I've been trying to use my linux based satellite box as a source and all of them seem to want an M3U file first and I don't know how to get my box to do that.  It's set to auto update the EPG every day at 1am, which it does,  but that's about as far as I can get.

I was hoping that the part of dispatcharr that lets you input a URL to create a stream would take that box as the source and let me manage the channels but it doesn't.

Same thing with threadfin and stream master.  TVheadend doesn't even recognise the box at all.

[ClemFandango 18]

Hey, don't worry too much about dispatcharr now, thanks.  I think I might have thrown together a solution for what I'm after but I won't know for sure until tomorrow as all of  it's set to do it's thing overnight.

[Apotropaic 41]

16 hours ago, ClemFandango said:

My main problem with all of those packages is that I've been trying to use my linux based satellite box as a source and all of them seem to want an M3U file first and I don't know how to get my box to do that.  It's set to auto update the EPG every day at 1am, which it does,  but that's about as far as I can get.

I was hoping that the part of dispatcharr that lets you input a URL to create a stream would take that box as the source and let me manage the channels but it doesn't.

Same thing with threadfin and stream master.  TVheadend doesn't even recognise the box at all.

Interesting, so you want to be able to manage the streams that your Linux satellite box provides.

If you know the format of the stream URLs your satellite box provides then you could just create your own M3U file manually. Then import that into dispatcharr as a local file.

[ClemFandango 18]

10 hours ago, Apotropaic said:

Interesting, so you want to be able to manage the streams that your Linux satellite box provides.

If you know the format of the stream URLs your satellite box provides then you could just create your own M3U file manually. Then import that into dispatcharr as a local file.

I really don't have any idea about the format of the stream URL's but I'd also want somewhat of an automated process anyway.

I've managed to throw together something that kind of works.  There's a plugin called EPG Exporter which you can set to manually export the EPG data to an XML file on a daily basis.

I've mapped one of the folders on my NAS drive to the satellite box and written a (very) simple script to move that file over to that folder, also on a daily basis.

If I point Jellyfin towards that XML file, it actually does pick up the data and populate the EPG with the correct information.

(I know this is an Emby forum and I'm a lifetime pass holder but there's so little information out there about Dispatcharr, I was asking everywhere !)

The only issue I've really faced with this solution is that the EPG doesn't contain any graphics or thumbnails aside from channel logos.  If I record something though, it does appear to insert the correct graphics after the fact which is fine by me.

[Luke 42077]

 Hi, our new WebStreams plugin can help with this:

 

[BensonWright 7]

I am having a lot of success with 4.9.3.0 and how I set up the M3Us to create the strm files as Luke suggested a while back. I'll give the webstreams plugin a try too. The M3U tuner is working well and very stable with the IPTV sources that I have been using. M3U4U is the other helper that's filling up any empty EPG data. Sometimes when the IPTV stream freezes, if I click on the end of the timeline the stream might restart. If not, I back out to the guide and restart the IPTV stream from the channel in the guide. I've wondered if the importmap for the play channel could be called to the videosd playback page and save us on some of the extra clicks. Cheers folks! It's working better than ever.