I've got a handful of STRM files installed now, looking forward to adding more. The content "imported" this way works the same as actual media files, as far as Channels DVR is concerted, it treats them the same. I've found that videos added by STRM files even work in Virtual Channels. At least on tvOS. Very cool!
@maddox I saw your post in another thread but haven't gotten anything to work – has anyone else tried using HLS streams (m3u8) that aren't "live" but point to on-demand content? They usually contain #EXT-X-PLAYLIST-TYPE:VOD.
On the latest tvOS beta I get a Recording not found (-17) error.
I can PM a few examples of links I've tried if needed.
Sure PM me some examples.
1 Like
When you added shows in tv show sections using strm file and when you click to play the video does it play in the same screen or takes to third third party app ?
Answer is in the first post.
So now (v2022.05.09.0150) when I click to watch in the web, it opens a new tab at the web location of the file; it does not play in the Channels player. I tested both in Firefox and Chrome.
That was not coming from me; that was what was happening when I selected "Play in VLC" in the web interface. In the current version, though, it does open VLC fine and play, but it is definitely using the direct link and not parsing through Channels.
Yeah, bad assumption there! Also that it wasn't really ready for Web yet, either. I definitely wasted a lot of time trying to figure out what was wrong with me! Thanks for updating the info at the top, please keep it up as features are added.
I was not able to get any of my examples to work on Google TV or on an Android phone.
Drop me a diagnostics after playback attempt
Diagnostics submitted as ea30e93e-d916-428d-88cf-8c8c879f00ef from the TS4K+.
where would you find these files?
You don't "find" them, you make them. See the directions for Stream Links and do the same, except to a file on the web that is a video.
Strm is a feature I see a lot of potential in. If there was a easy/reliable way to make vast collections of these. The effort it take to manually search out content, locate true video url, make/rename text file.
It might be. Quick process on a individual video scale. But to make 100s or 1000s manually. Nah.
*.Strmlnks at begining was great because it had premade repository of links (not maintained) but it sucked because it launched externally
*.strm is great because it plays like native video. But is not capable (I could be wrong) of pointing to netflix/streaming. And the lack of a shared repository of *.strm files, its a feature that only the true power users will use but soon abandon in a few months. Except for 1 or 2 outliers.
What I would love to see. Is the ability to point to a external source ex: My brothers NAS in another State. Auto generate and maintain *.strm of his library
Or
The ability to point to a source to my brother in another State NAS and treat it like a local source.
1 Like
Documentation for Stream Files was added:
1 Like
While this is certainly something you could do, with the community's help, it's not something we'll be adding as sharing like this is not part of our priorities. Channels is a personal home library.
With local content imports, when you import a show episode, CDVR treats it like a recording in your library and won't record the same episode if it airs (If both programID's match).
Does this also apply to STRM file episode imports?
It should as it looks at the library. Not files.
1 Like
I am struggling to find the actual movie urls instead of just a landing page. Is there a tutorial somewhere on how to get the correct url from say prime video or netflix? I read the thread here and the promo page on the main site, I completely understand the process of creating a STRM file and where to put it in the server just not how to find the correct url.
Amazon and Netflix do not have direct URLs for a video file. Those services are not the target of this feature.
So this page for some more info:
https://kodi.wiki/view/Internet_video_and_audio_streams
I’m linking to some of my own media files hosted in Google Drive and on some FTP space at my webhost. There is also lots of interesting video content saved at the Internet Archive (archive.org.)
4 Likes
I appreciate the reply. That makes sense, I think the example of the file name format for episodes threw me off since they used The Office. So basically this is intended for YouTube and other open source videos? How about movie locker services like Movies Anywhere?
It will work as long as you provide a direct link to a program/movie to play.
I even tried it using a UNC path (\\{ip address}\path-2-movie-file)..
If you need to authenticate to play it, it won't work.