BETA: Custom Channels via M3U Playlists

Playground Custom Channels
#83

OK, as promised, here's a cool little project you can prop up with Docker and get a Channels optimized M3U playlist and EPG for Pluto. This differs from other Pluto M3Us as it utilizes the extended tags we created to let you add richer data and art into the UI allowing for what you see in the screenshots I posted above.

https://hub.docker.com/r/jonmaddox/pluto-for-channels

All ya gotta do is launch this docker container and it will sit on a port and serve out the M3U and EPG. It updates every 3 hours.

Be sure to get the new builds on TestFlight so you have the changes that help make these look better.

10 Likes
Pluto for Channels
Pluto TV and Stirr
XML Guide for M3U tuner?
Error when Adding Pluto TV as M3U Source
Pluto TV and Stirr
#84

I find the easiest way is to visit zap2it and find a zipcode/provider that has the station listed.
Make sure you pick the correct channel for East or West coast and SD or HD.

Get the url of the stations logo at the far left of the listings by right clicking the logo and selecting one of these options depending on your browser

  • Copy image link
  • Copy Image Location
  • View Image Info

The "tvc-guide-stationid: Gracenote station id" is the number that comes after
https://zap2it.tmsimg.com/h3/NowShowing/

Examples;
WGN AMERICA (HD) is 91096
https://zap2it.tmsimg.com/h3/NowShowing/91096/s91096_h3_aa.png?w=55

WGN AMERICA (SD) is 91097
https://zap2it.tmsimg.com/h3/NowShowing/91097/s91097_h3_aa.png?w=55

NASA TV is 12553
https://zap2it.tmsimg.com/h3/NowShowing/12553/s12553_h3_aa.png?w=55

5 Likes
Station ID for out-of-USA EPG
Looking for tvc-guide-stationid for Comet TV on East Coast
#85

Sweet, just got this going and replaced the previous Pluto TV setup with the .m3u and .xml from this docker container, and wow, Channels looks even better now, with a bunch of more channels to choose from! Thanks so much for your work on this, it's truly outstanding.

For those following along, my Channels DVR server is a Mac, and I'm using Docker Desktop to manage this particular container with a GUI.

3 Likes
#86

Can anyone recommend an M3U creation tool or helpful documentation that might lead me in the right direction? I am quite interested in creating my own internal channels based on recorded content for local streaming but am not quite sure where to start.

#87

Very nice. Thank you. I was a little worried the other links might go away one day. Local control is good. Thanks again.

1 Like
#88

This works very well! I've installed on my ubuntu vm alongside Channels-DVR. I'm not real familiar with Docker but followed your directions without any issues. One addition I made was to run "docker update --restart unless-stopped pluto-for-channels" afterward to ensure the docker container starts again if the system is rebooted. Coincidentally, I needed to reboot for a kernel update and everything came back up just fine afterward.

Great stuff!

3 Likes
#89

Because OCD is real, I was hoping to create sources only for the group-titles I am interested in. Using the Docker implementation for Pluto I entered

http://127.0.0.1:8080/playlist.m3u?group-title=Movies

I was expecting to only get the channels tagged as Movies, but all channels were returned. When I fronted Pluto with xteve, this worked as a Channels-DVR source and only returned movie channels.

Any suggestions?

2 Likes
#90

Perhaps this should go under feature requests, but now that it's possible to add Pluto and Stirr etc, would it be possible to include the sources in the filter dropdown in the Guide?

Screen Shot 2020-11-17 at 5.00.29 PM

3 Likes
#91

Personally, I'd like to see the opposite approach. The guide in the administrative web UI ought to always show all channels. The default setting of Favorites is especially annoying, particularly when setting up a new DVR and wondering why the guide is empty, only belatedly realizing you haven't set any favorites yet.

Remove the list from the web UI. Allow the clients to create arbitrary "bookmark" groups of channels, and replace the "Favorite/HD/SD/All" selector in the clients with the user-defined bookmarks.

#92

This is awesome. Thanks for adding m3u support.

1 Like
#93

Hi, based on the included examples, would you expect this to work ? https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/3p6vxxp3

1 Like
#94

That’s a feature of Xteve. The thing I posted simply generates a full M3U of all of Pluto TV to a file and serves it over HTTP. There’s no real functionality. You can use other M3U tools to filter the channels if you’d like.

#95

That’s an add on for Kodi.

1 Like
#96

Thank you for getting this out to all of us. This only adds to the value of this software!

Is there any reason why these channels don't pop up under Movies or News or Kids?

#97

Ok. Thanks. Regardless, this has been an early Christmas!

1 Like
#98

Great stuff! Thank you for this.

I added Pluto as a source and the streams are working well. I kicked off a few recordings just for grins and ran across a few oddities:

  1. All of the recordings have the "!nterrupted" label. I scanned through them and they appear to be complete. I suspect this may be due to the way Pluto injects commercials. I will watch one tonight to be certain. I don't see a way to modify that label even if it is complete.
  2. Show information is... somewhat lacking. Hopefully that will be improved once I get that nifty tool maddox just posted. Just waiting on the wifey to finish a show to bring it up.
  3. Commercial detection is pretty awful. Likely just due to the stream and they don't use an overlay.

BTW, couldn't get the commercial editor working in the DVR web, but it worked fine in iOS.

#99

Sorry Jon, I wasn't referring to the docker project but the overall functionality of this feature and whether I can use Matts's Kodi add-on like the his Pluto TV (which I don't. know why its so popular :wink: ).

I'll look into it more. Integrating Kayo would be a game changer.

1 Like
#100

The EPG stuff being used doesn’t have that kind of data. This is all incorporated from data that Gracenote provides.

#101

If they source their channels with an M3U in some manner, then yes, that’s how custom channels are powered.

1 Like
#102

This is going to be rough as Channels’ recording features are designed around robust data. These sources just don’t have that great of data, series art for example. They don’t even provide season numbers.

Your mileage will very much vary when recording from custom channels.