M3U Editor...what do you use?

[darrenkdean 31]

It's that time a year again, to re-evaluate what's going well & what could be going better.  Curious to know, for anyone that is utilizing IPTV in their Emby Server, what are you using for your M3U Editor & what are the pros/cons for your setup?

I've been using iptveditor.com.  Simple to use, easy to edit the m3u list, order the channels & channel numbers, quickly matches nice color logos, matches up the guide data, etc. etc.  One limitation I've found, is with Live Sports Streams like ESPN +.  These channels don't have guide data, but rather the channel name updates to reflect the name of the event.  With iptveditor.com you don't get any control over how often these channels/stream names are refreshed, & that can lead to challenges in finding which one of 800+ channels the game or event is on.

I've had IPTVBoss recommended in the past.  Anyone use it & know how well or not well it handles channels like ESPN+ that need the channel names refreshed often?  Any other solutions or recommendations I should look into, that play well with Emby?

Edited February 20, 2025 by darrenkdean

[Luke 42077]

@Carlo  and  @Spaceboy may have some tips.

[irPhunky 3]

https://m3u4u.com is fairly good for editing a playlist while also sync'ing on going changes.

[Carlo 4560]

I've not extensively looked for a solution that handles this but from person experience have found it usually requires a custom solution adapted for each IPTV's m3u file.

Just looking through 1 IPTV provider I found over 12 different formats used for channels like this. While a pain, it can be handled. One this particular m3u file I'm looking at with the different formats, all had start date & time entries using about 6 different formats. The biggest problem is not a single one of these channels have an end time.

Sure, you could have defaults set for different types of sporting events like 2.5 hours for a baseball game, 3 hours for a soccer match, 4 hours for an NFL game, etc in order to build a proper EPG and schedule recordings, but you might be surprised that doesn't guarantee you'll get a recording from it.

This may sound strange but some of these channels can be very difficult to record correctly due to the way they are implemented. Some channels may be always on with a static image streaming during non-events which is ideal. Others may use redirects; some create and dispose channels "as needed" which causes errors when the stream isn't active. This can cause a couple of issues as many providers count new channel access or opening over a period of time such as 30 seconds as a stream. This can be problematic as "3 streams" are active trying to tune into a channel that isn't even active or has been disposed of. If a channel is a redirect that you access early starting to record and isn't active, recording may indefinitely try the redirected URL which may never work nut had recording started slightly later would have received a redirect to the working URL. Channels created/disposed on the fly likely aren't shut down properly closing the stream but instead just stop sending packets abruptly.

This is something you can try checking by using one of the events setting up a timed recording that starts early, ends late to see what happens.  Don't assume if it works for PPV channels it's works for MLB or NFL channels as the provider could be sourcing it's set of channels from multiple different providers who use different techniques.

Carlo

[CharlesF 36]

StreamMaster

[Jean0987654321 0]

I use this

https://github.com/babsonnexus/stream-link-manager-for-channels

 

[wtrh2otrial 0]

On 2/19/2025 at 7:01 PM, darrenkdean said:

It's that time a year again, to re-evaluate what's going well & what could be going better.  Curious to know, for anyone that is utilizing IPTV in their Emby Server, what are you using for your M3U Editor & what are the pros/cons for your setup?

I've been using iptveditor.com.  Simple to use, easy to edit the m3u list, order the channels & channel numbers, quickly matches nice color logos, matches up the guide data, etc. etc.  One limitation I've found, is with Live Sports Streams like ESPN +.  These channels don't have guide data, but rather the channel name updates to reflect the name of the event.  With iptveditor.com you don't get any control over how often these channels/stream names are refreshed, & that can lead to challenges in finding which one of 800+ channels the game or event is on.

I've had IPTVBoss recommended in the past.  Anyone use it & know how well or not well it handles channels like ESPN+ that need the channel names refreshed often?  Any other solutions or recommendations I should look into, that play well with Emby?

Yes, it does update. This is all in the FAQ page. You need to setup auto updater. Then it will update 6 times a day.

Checkmark sync channel name for the espn+ category. Then in auto updater you have to load the xmltv m3u file. 

You should be asking this on their support ticket page and/or their discord group. Not bashing it on another forum where people won't have an aswer. IPTV Editor is much better and much easier then IPTV Boss. 

[stplatt 8]

If you're looking for the best free self-hosted solution, check out dispatcharr

[knoll126 10]

2 hours ago, stplatt said:

If you're looking for the best free self-hosted solution, check out dispatcharr

2nd this, it has been great.

[darrenkdean 31]

On 1/12/2026 at 12:31 PM, wtrh2otrial said:

Yes, it does update. This is all in the FAQ page. You need to setup auto updater. Then it will update 6 times a day.

Checkmark sync channel name for the espn+ category. Then in auto updater you have to load the xmltv m3u file. 

You should be asking this on their support ticket page and/or their discord group. Not bashing it on another forum where people won't have an aswer. IPTV Editor is much better and much easier then IPTV Boss. 

Wow, nice post after 11 months.  I have used iptveditor.com for many years & continue to use them today; if you actually read my threads across the Emby forums, I have been a fan & referred many to iptveditor.com.  I'm not bashing them & yes I use their Auto Updater as well as have had communication with their developers on this topic.  It's not foolproof, though it has greatly improved over the last 18 months.

I also use threadfin, dispatcharr, & the native emby tuners - each for different use cases.  To each their own.  Cheers.
 

Edited January 18 by darrenkdean