Can't create successful Apple streamlinks

[Free]

I want to use Channels to be able to access all of my content in one spot. I have several movies I have purchased from Apple over the years that I want to be able to incorporate into my Channels library.

I have added strmlink files to the correct hard drive path and Channels will successfully scan them and add them to the library. I went to the Apple marketing tools website to get the link and verified that the links will go to a page where I could view the content. However, if I click the "Watch" button - either within the Channels app or in the web administration interface for testing - the movies will not open.

In the app, literally nothing happens when you click the "Watch" button.

In the Apple marketing tools dropdown, I have tried both "Mobile/Web" and "Smart TV and Streaming Devices" versions of the links and the results appear identical.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I note that when I look at the movie in the web admin interface and select Manage>View Details, there is a lot of seemingly random text listed under "Stream Links," some of which includes the link I have provided but none of which can be clicked to get to the movie.

I assume there is no way to do this now, but given that there is data listed there under "Stream Links," I wonder if it would ever be possible to edit the stream link from within the movie listing, This would seem to be an easy way to test various different links.

I should probably also note that I am trying to ultimately make this work on an AppleTV box, but I have also tried on my Mac, phone, etc.

[cstark27]

Here is the URL format that worked for me to open Spirited (2022) in the Apple TV+ app on my Apple TV box from Channels DVR.

https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/spirited/umc.cmc.3lp7wqowerzdbej98tveildi3

I got the format from this thread: AppleTV Integration Deep Link URLs - Which Are Working? - Configuration - Home Assistant Community

What does yours look like?

Also there’s a community tool here called SLM, Stream Links Manager. You can try that and see if it makes things easier.

[Free]

Thanks for trying to help. I copied your link, imported the stream link, and still nothing happens when I click on "Watch". Again, if I copy the link I have put into the text file, I can paste into a browser and it works fine.

Is all of this text below "Stream Links" normal?

I know about SLM and have looked at it several times, but I am also not a coder (although reasonably competent with Macs etc) and have seen people struggling with OliveTin etc., and with particular stream links there as well, and I guess I wanted to see some proof of concept before I potentially created more headaches for myself by trying to take that on.

It seemed like a pretty straightforward process to create a strmlnk file but of course best laid plans.

[cstark27]

Looks weird. This is what mine looks like. On a Mac can you paste the link into your text editor as text only/without formatting? On Windows that ctrl+shift+v.

[Free]

I will try to do another one with the "paste without formatting" shortcut but it I have a large library and it takes a long time to scan it, which makes this process kind of tedious because I have to wait a long time between attempts to change or add a new link (unless someone knows a way to simply import one file without scanning the entire library).

In any event, here is what the text inside of the Batman strmlnk looks like:

For comparison, I have another which doesn't register as a hyperlink in the text editor - looks for all the world like plain text - but the garbage info under "Stream Links" in the management panel is basically the same:

[Free]

Wait, maybe it's saving as rich text and not plain text. I see "rtf" in all of that gobbledygook.

I will try again when the library completes its scan.

[Free]

That worked. Thanks very much for helping me work through it. Wouldn't have figured it out for quite while without you confirming that Stream Links info was weird and mentioning about the clean text paste. Cheers!

[Fofer]

@Free

I will try to do another one with the "paste without formatting" shortcut but it I have a large library and it takes a long time to scan it, which makes this process kind of tedious because I have to wait a long time between attempts to change or add a new link (unless someone knows a way to simply import one file without scanning the entire library).

Since the underlying filename of the strmlink is the same but it's just the content of the text file that's changed, I think this would do the trick?

[Free]

That’s a good idea. I’ll try that if I run into more issues. Thanks!