Channels DVR IPTV format

Channels DVR Server
#1

I am trying to integrate some Italian OTA/Free IPTV feeds into a Channels DVR setup with a server in Italy.

I have a number of feeds working. For example, RAI News works:

#EXTINF:-1,IT: Rai News HD
http://mediapolis.rai.it/relinker/relinkerServlet.htm?cont=1

But the feed for RAI 1 does not work:

"#EXTINF:-1,IT: Rai 1 HD
https://mediapolis.rai.it/relinker/relinkerServlet.htm?cont=2606803"

If I plug in the address for RAI1 into a browser (with a TLS plugin installed), it plays fine.

So I have a number of links for channels that work in other IPTV Players/Chrome but do not work inside Channels DVR.

Can anyone shed some light on why some feeds work while others don't (even though the ones that don't work in other software)? To be clear, I am not trying to access any pay for channels but just OTA signals that are available via IPTV (my house doesn't get good OTA signals). I can watch these channels via RAIPLAY app but would like to integrate them into Channels for a more seamless viewing experience.

BTW - the second link (RAI 1) doesn't work outside Italy but I am connecting to it via a Channels DVR instance in Italy.

Thanks!

#2

Unless the dvr server is transcoding I believe it’s the client device that would need to be in Italy.

#3

No, the DVR server. All non-HDHomeRun streams go through the DVR server. Local vs. remote has no bearing on it, as it is the DVR server that acts as the client; it then shares/delegates the streams to clients or disk as required.

#4

In this case, both server & client are currently in Italy.

In the future, I would like to be able to remotely view with client in US and server in Italy (the reverse of what I am currently doing where server is in US and client - and me - are in Italy).

What is perplexing is that the second link (for RAI 1) works fine either as a URL in Chrome (with the Native MPEG-Dash + HLS Playback extension installed) or other IPTV players (for example MyIPTV or TiviMate) but does not work inside Channels DVR.

I thought it might be the relinker mechanism not being supported by Channels but the RAINews link works fine.

#5

Got it, thanks for the clarification!

#6

To help we would need to know what is happening when you try that stream.

Are there errors in the log?

#7

Failed connection

2022/02/28 00:08:53.540891 [SYS] Created database snapshot: backup-20220228.000853
2022/02/28 00:22:40.548187 [M3U] stream timestamps: ITALYNEW-0: start_at=2022-02-27T21:22:34+01:00 current_at=2022-02-28T00:22:04+01:00 end_at=2022-02-28T00:22:24+01:00
2022/02/28 00:22:40.548187 [TNR] Opened connection to M3U-ITALYNEW for ch9000 IT: Rai 1 HD
2022/02/28 00:22:40.554980 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 9000 from 127.0.0.1 (encoder=remux, resolution=, deinterlacer=, bitrate=2793)
2022/02/28 00:22:50.773332 [HLS] Probe failed for live stream after 10.2178496s and 0 bytes
2022/02/28 00:22:56.259950 [HLS] Couldn't generate stream playlist for ch9000-dANY-ip127.0.0.1: Timeout waiting for session to start after 8s
2022/02/28 00:22:56.259950 [HLS] Stopping transcoder session ch9000-dANY-ip127.0.0.1 (out: 0s, finished: false)
2022/02/28 00:22:56.259950 [HLS] ffmpeg: ch9000-dANY-ip127.0.0.1-remux: pipe:: could not find codec parameters
2022/02/28 00:22:56.319296 [TNR] Closed connection to M3U-ITALYNEW for ch9000 IT: Rai 1 HD
2022/02/28 00:22:56.689736 [M3U] stream timestamps: ITALYNEW-0: start_at=2022-02-27T21:22:44+01:00 current_at=2022-02-28T00:22:14+01:00 end_at=2022-02-28T00:22:34+01:00
2022/02/28 00:22:56.689736 [TNR] Opened connection to M3U-ITALYNEW for ch9000 IT: Rai 1 HD
2022/02/28 00:22:56.695990 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 9000 from 127.0.0.1 (encoder=remux, resolution=, deinterlacer=, bitrate=2793)
2022/02/28 00:23:06.954279 [HLS] Probe failed for live stream after 10.2582895s and 0 bytes
2022/02/28 00:23:12.482507 [HLS] Couldn't generate stream playlist for ch9000-dANY-ip127.0.0.1: Timeout waiting for session to start after 8s
2022/02/28 00:23:12.482507 [HLS] Stopping transcoder session ch9000-dANY-ip127.0.0.1 (out: 0s, finished: false)
2022/02/28 00:23:12.483636 [HLS] ffmpeg: ch9000-dANY-ip127.0.0.1-remux: pipe:: could not find codec parameters
2022/02/28 00:23:12.537785 [TNR] Closed connection to M3U-ITALYNEW for ch9000 IT: Rai 1 HD
2022/02/28 00:23:15.070993 [M3U] stream timestamps: ITALYNEW-0: start_at=2022-02-27T21:23:04+01:00 current_at=2022-02-28T00:22:34+01:00 end_at=2022-02-28T00:22:54+01:00
2022/02/28 00:23:15.070993 [TNR] Opened connection to M3U-ITALYNEW for ch9000 IT: Rai 1 HD
2022/02/28 00:23:15.076145 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 9000 from 127.0.0.1 (encoder=remux, resolution=, deinterlacer=, bitrate=2793)
2022/02/28 00:23:25.539845 [HLS] Probe failed for live stream after 10.4637007s and 0 bytes
2022/02/28 00:23:29.499658 [HLS] Couldn't generate stream playlist for ch9000-dANY-ip127.0.0.1: Timeout waiting for session to start after 8s
2022/02/28 00:23:29.499658 [HLS] Stopping transcoder session ch9000-dANY-ip127.0.0.1 (out: 0s, finished: false)
2022/02/28 00:23:29.500161 [HLS] ffmpeg: ch9000-dANY-ip127.0.0.1-remux: pipe:: could not find codec parameters
2022/02/28 00:23:29.541014 [TNR] Closed connection to M3U-ITALYNEW for ch9000 IT: Rai 1 HD
2022/02/28 00:23:30.776215 [M3U] stream timestamps: ITALYNEW-0: start_at=2022-02-27T21:23:24+01:00 current_at=2022-02-28T00:22:54+01:00 end_at=2022-02-28T00:23:14+01:00
2022/02/28 00:23:30.776215 [TNR] Opened connection to M3U-ITALYNEW for ch9000 IT: Rai 1 HD
2022/02/28 00:23:30.781380 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 9000 from 127.0.0.1 (encoder=remux, resolution=, deinterlacer=, bitrate=2793)
2022/02/28 00:23:40.884515 [HLS] Probe failed for live stream after 10.1026223s and 0 bytes
2022/02/28 00:23:46.481091 [HLS] Couldn't generate stream playlist for ch9000-dANY-ip127.0.0.1: Timeout waiting for session to start after 8s
2022/02/28 00:23:46.481091 [HLS] Stopping transcoder session ch9000-dANY-ip127.0.0.1 (out: 0s, finished: false)
2022/02/28 00:23:46.482178 [HLS] ffmpeg: ch9000-dANY-ip127.0.0.1-remux: pipe:: could not find codec parameters

Successful connection

2022/02/28 00:25:05.825683 [TNR] Opened connection to M3U-ITALYNEW for ch9005 IT: Rai News HD
2022/02/28 00:25:05.831622 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 9005 from 127.0.0.1 (encoder=remux, resolution=, deinterlacer=, bitrate=3104)
2022/02/28 00:25:06.541955 [HLS] Probed live stream in 708.8688ms: h264 1280x720 progressive 2761874bps
2022/02/28 00:25:06.571492 [HLS] Session ch9005-dANY-ip127.0.0.1 started in 934.6895ms
2022/02/28 00:23:46.549851 [TNR] Closed connection to M3U-ITALYNEW for ch9000 IT: Rai 1 HD

#8

I have confirmed both links work. Just that the RAI 1 feed does not inside Channels DVR

#9

Try setting the stream type from HLS to MPEG-TS. Just a random guess, but looking at your logs it appears that maybe the Rai News feed is HLS, but the Rai 1 feed is MPEG-TS.

If changing the type works for Rai 1, then there is a solution: you can create 2 separate playlists, one for the HLS streams, and a second for the MPEG-TS streams.

1 Like
#10

I forgot to mention that I had tried that already. Didn't work. Will try it again just to check.

2 Likes
#12

Does the IPTV interface in Channels mimic or adhere to a particular user agent? If so, what is it? Perhaps I can pass that as an argument to the relinker?

#13

One thing I discovered was that on some feeds, if one tries to view it from guide selecting "web browser", it will fail. If you specify "full browser", feed plays.