Custom Channels and Stack Duplicates

[jator]

Trying to get the Fast Channels to have redundancy within Channels without the need of a 3rd party "middleware". I've manually created the following:

#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="lg-channels.espn8ocho_amg00497c24_us" tvc-guide-stationid="161567" tvg-name="ESPN 8: The Ocho" group-title="Sports" tvg-logo="http://192.168.0.5:5523/logos/7da850dca9a0d1f1422968f84263ffca.png" tvg-chno="34",ESPN 8: The Ocho
http://192.168.0.5:5523/play/lg-channels/espn8ocho_amg00497c24_us.m3u8

#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="lg-channels.espn8ocho_amg00497c24_us" tvc-guide-stationid="161567" tvg-name="ESPN8: The Ocho" group-title="Sports" tvg-logo="http://192.168.0.5:5523/logos/7c3ba93c3d2583c00fde2944cc83fcfa.png" tvg-chno="34",ESPN8: The Ocho
http://192.168.0.5:5523/play/samsung/US34000040T.m3u8

and wish to have ESPN Ocho show up once in the guide, but have both channels available to tune (redundancy if one source isn't working while the other is).

In the Webguide, it shows up as expected:

But in the apps, I see the following:

I have client settings setup in the webadmin to stack based on channel number, but for some reason it's not working.

Not sure if it's user error, bug, or trying to use a feature in an incorrect manner?

[chDVRuser]

That's normal.
Change your client to stack by guide data instead.
You just have to remember the channel and source selected depends on your source priority and it could be different on each client and the server.

[jator]

Thanks. So makes sense that it stacks to the channels with the same guide info but not able to get it to behave the way it is supposed to. I have a separate Channels instance setup on my NAS for testing and can switch my clients over to it for testing. Here's what I am seeing when I import FAST Channels sources in (only using those with Gracenote ID in this example).

Snippet of M3U for the 2 channels in this example:

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="lg-channels.espn8ocho_amg00497c24_us" tvc-guide-stationid="161567" tvg-name="ESPN 8: The Ocho" group-title="Sports" tvg-logo="http://192.168.0.5:5523/logos/7da850dca9a0d1f1422968f84263ffca.png" tvg-chno="34",ESPN 8: The Ocho
http://192.168.0.5:5523/play/lg-channels/espn8ocho_amg00497c24_us.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="samsung.US34000040T" tvc-guide-stationid="161567" tvg-name="ESPN8: The Ocho" group-title="Sports" tvg-logo="http://192.168.0.5:5523/logos/7c3ba93c3d2583c00fde2944cc83fcfa.png" tvg-chno="34",ESPN8: The Ocho
http://192.168.0.5:5523/play/samsung/US34000040T.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="pluto.6549306c83595c000815a696" tvc-guide-stationid="114140" tvg-name="NBC Sports NOW" group-title="Sports" tvg-logo="http://192.168.0.5:5523/logos/c86f44c0f9568d692831cc9061da3af5.png" tvg-chno="43",NBC Sports NOW
http://192.168.0.5:5523/play/pluto/6549306c83595c000815a696.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="roku.a90a91570ce0536cbb22b591ad7e0da2" tvc-guide-stationid="114140" tvg-name="NBC Sports NOW" group-title="Sports" tvg-logo="http://192.168.0.5:5523/logos/c82a238650b49db31ec3a8cda001e106.jpg" tvg-chno="43",NBC Sports NOW
http://192.168.0.5:5523/play/roku/a90a91570ce0536cbb22b591ad7e0da2.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="samsung.USBD420002446" tvc-guide-stationid="114140" tvg-name="NBC Sports NOW" group-title="Sports" tvg-logo="http://192.168.0.5:5523/logos/743422b42f48a981b7da92c7af3b64bf.png" tvg-chno="43",NBC Sports NOW
http://192.168.0.5:5523/play/samsung/USBD420002446.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="xumo.99951253" tvc-guide-stationid="114140" tvg-name="NBC Sports NOW" group-title="Sports" tvg-chno="43",NBC Sports NOW
http://192.168.0.5:5523/play/xumo/99951253.m3u8

Web Guide:

Client Guide:

Submitted diagnostics from the client: 4e4819fe-43d4-4b13-ad88-c2779a81f8e0

[chDVRuser]

@jator

I have a separate Channels instance setup on my NAS for testing and can switch my clients over to it for testing.

Did you delete and rebuild the guide database on that NAS?
I'm not sure how to get a client to refresh the channel lineup and guide data from the server.
I've seen posts complaining about them not syncing.

I'm not seeing the issue on my iPhone connecting to a server with two sources having identical cable channels and guide info. It only shows each channel twice when I stack by channel number.

Stack by channel                     Stack by Guide

[Shaggylive]

@jator

tvg-chno="34",ESPN 8: The Ocho
....
tvg-chno="34",ESPN8: The Ocho
http://192.168.0.5:5523/play/samsung/US34000040T.m3u8

is that space your problem?

[jator]

@Shaggylive

@jator

tvg-chno="34",ESPN 8: The Ocho
....
tvg-chno="34",ESPN8: The Ocho
http://192.168.0.5:5523/play/samsung/US34000040T.m3u8

is that space your problem?

Possibly but the NBC Sports Now below the ESPN Ocho don't have the space difference so I am assuming it's not the cause of the duplicate channels. Will try to delete and recreate the database per @chDVRuser suggestion and report back.

[jator]

@chDVRuser, I'm afraid to ask, but is that an iPhone you are using? I've tried testing numerous situations (using my phone, so much easier than the Nvidia shields, thanks for pointing out the obvious).

Whether I am choosing the stack by guide or channel methodology in the Web GUI or in the app on my phone, the client app won't "honor" the stacking in any situation. It's like the feature is showing but not active in my android app. Wonder if another android user else can do a quick check to see if they can recreate the same situation I am showing?

[chDVRuser]

@jator

is that an iPhone you are using?

Yes

@chDVRuser

I'm not seeing the issue on my iPhone

[Shaggylive]

recreating the db definately helps, especially with androidtv clients, although I'm constantly rebooting my streamer4k to resolve guide and upNext issues. likely due to me messing around constantly.

I've been messing with m3u's on and off all winter. i believe the stack by channel number uses the channel-id=
I know it definitely helps with tuner redundancy and recording scheduling, but i"m not sure if that will work with FAST channels.

here's the top of one of my ah4c stacks, I modified it to match TVE fields, but use DTv #'s (and a extra custom for my guide)

#EXTM3U

#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="msnow" tvg-id="356" tvg-chno="3" tvc-guide-stationid="64241" tvg-name="MSNow,MSNow
http://{{ .IPADDRESS }}/play/tuner/356

#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="msnow" tvg-id="356" tvg-chno="356" tvc-guide-stationid="64241" tvg-name="MSNow,MSNow
http://{{ .IPADDRESS }}/play/tuner/356

#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="hln" tvg-id="6031" tvg-chno="204" tvc-guide-stationid="64549" tvg-name="HLNHD",HLN
http://{{ .IPADDRESS }}/play/tuner/204

#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="sundance" tvg-id="6085" tvg-chno="239" tvc-guide-stationid="92041" tvg-name="SUNSTR",SUNDANCE
http://{{ .IPADDRESS }}/play/tuner/239

#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="244" channel-number="244" tvc-guide-stationid="58623",Syfy
http://{{ .IPADDRESS }}/play/tuner/244

[chDVRuser]

@jator

It's like the feature is showing but not active in my android app.

I don't have one, but this says it should work on Apple, Android and Amazon Fire TV

Settings

[jator]

Just tested on my daugthers iPAD (she was very skeptical when I asked to borrow it for some reason......)

Same results as the android client, so seems like it's something else than Apple vs Android.

[chDVRuser]

[Shaggylive]

@jator

It's like the feature is showing but not active in my android app.

you know, this is likely why I started messing around with m3u's.
I'll play some more, but my dual msnow shows both listing (how I want it kinda) either way, but my atsc3 channels get grouped with guide data, and show both (17.1 & 117.1) if grouped by #

[jator]

@Shaggylive

@jator

It's like the feature is showing but not active in my android app.

you know, this is likely why I started messing around with m3u's.
I'll play some more, but my dual msnow shows both listing (how I want it kinda) either way, but my atsc3 channels get grouped with guide data, and show both (17.1 & 117.1) if grouped by #

Yeah, if I direct feed my 2 HDHR tuners into the server and not use a "middleware" layer, Channels groups those just fine. So I was assuming that doing the same with custom channel M3Us would behave the same way.

[Shaggylive]

@jator

So I was assuming that doing the same with custom channel M3Us would behave the same way.

lol, yeah. on second look, I'm fairly sure your middleware will accept a proper tune if the channel-id doesn't match the source since it's pulling another m3u8 for the source channel to tune.

try using the channel-id="Your Preferred source" for all the channels

[jator]

@Shaggylive

try using the channel-id="Your Preferred source" for all the channels

No change when I mirrored the non-http line in the M3u for ESPN Ocho:

#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="lg-channels.espn8ocho_amg00497c24_us" tvc-guide-stationid="161567" tvg-name="ESPN 8: The Ocho" group-title="Sports" tvg-logo="https://res.cloudinary.com/dndea4kmd/image/upload/v1775324676/tv-logos/vmzl1ncxofppneblzyoc.png" tvg-chno="34",ESPN 8: The Ocho
http://192.168.0.5:5523/play/lg-channels/espn8ocho_amg00497c24_us.m3u8

#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="lg-channels.espn8ocho_amg00497c24_us" tvc-guide-stationid="161567" tvg-name="ESPN 8: The Ocho" group-title="Sports" tvg-logo="https://res.cloudinary.com/dndea4kmd/image/upload/v1775324676/tv-logos/vmzl1ncxofppneblzyoc.png" tvg-chno="34",ESPN 8: The Ocho
http://192.168.0.5:5523/play/samsung/US34000040T.m3u8

[jator]

So put this in as a head scratcher......

I have the below in it's own custom channel for NBC backup. When I have the Stack by Guide, I just get 1.2 and 1.1 is hidden. When I Stack by Channel number, I get both 1.1 and 1.2. So the feature does work on Android. But for some reason, my custom channel I setup for Fast Channels is not liking it.

#EXTINF:-1 tvg-id="[removed but unique and not the same as 1.2 below]" tvg-name="WGAL 8" tvg-logo="https://yt3.ggpht.com/Zq-dzbtP-2Jm2O-xPEWTX4R_sHxIAf_1h9RtsOjIB2X227W-9rIkoLFn-JjDGgPxVUG4UIBwFB4=ns-nd" tvg-chno="1.1" group-title="Entertainment" tvc-guide-stationid="25544", WGAL 8
http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:xxxx/stream/xxxxxx

#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="250651153932967491829225020240794548685" channel-number="1.2" tvg-logo="https://yt3.ggpht.com/Zq-dzbtP-2Jm2O-xPEWTX4R_sHxIAf_1h9RtsOjIB2X227W-9rIkoLFn-JjDGgPxVUG4UIBwFB4=ns-nd" tvc-guide-stationid="25544",NBC (WGAL)
http://192.168.0.2:5592/stream/1

Noticing the values are different (different sources and I didn't do my due diligence to make them consistent. Will play with them tomorrow and see what happens if I make them the same except for the http link.

[chDVRuser]

I usually have it set to stack by guide data.
And I never noticed this until now, but even on an iPhone it's not consistent.

It should be showing 2 each of channels 95, 101, 230, 398, 712, 718, 719 and 1088.

[Shaggylive]

for what it's worth, I think the dev's may be in the the middle of changes.

here's a what my tve m3u8 looked like on apr5

#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="6030" tvg-id="6030" tvg-chno="6030" tvg-logo="https://tmsimg.fancybits.co/assets/s58646_ll_h15_ac.png?w=360&h=270" tvc-guide-stationid="58646" tvg-name="CNNHD" group-title="Favorites",CNN

Here's apr14

#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="cnn" tvg-id="6030" tvg-chno="6030" tvg-logo="https://tmsimg.fancybits.co/assets/s58646_ll_h15_ac.png?w=360&h=270" tvc-guide-stationid="58646" tvg-name="CNNHD" group-title="HD",CNN