FastChannels - FAST Channels aggregator/manager

Not sure if I missed something in this thread but my channel list (currently only plex is enabled) has a mix of Auto and Off for gracenote IDs, even though I've never manually adjusted these. Shouldn't these all be Auto by default, and is there a way to change it en masse?

I said I wouldn't bring it up again but I now have guide information for BYUtv (Samsung TV).
Turn off GN ID for BYUtv and the guide information is correct.
There's only 5-6 hours of EPG but it is correct. Video is HD.
Unlike cable/sat BYUtv feeds, the Samsung feed has periodic ads.

I had to do a batch update to disable my erroneous name match - I'll think through how to fix that in next version.

I think you guys will like my next update anyway. I found a site that we can reverse lookup Gracenote (not 100% but good data). So instead of just guessing what Gracenote station has on, you can self-audit even better.

As example: looking at channel "Sonic the Hedgehog" via Gracenote helper. The top line is what our built-in guide shows as now playing, then it looks up (via CDVR) a list of candidates for Gracenote. Then, the helper looks up (with the new API) what's playing on those Gracenote IDs. Then, you can use your human brain to decide if you want to use that new Gracenote ID.

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That is just awesome - amazing work, mate

I love this new project.
works so nice and smooth. I like only running one docker rather than 4 or 5. Running the streams through playlist manager.

thanks

Love where you're going with this.

Without having the Episode Title, it's going to be hard to compare Sonic The Hedgehog episodes on a Sonic The Hedgehog channel.

One thing everyone should do first is to verify that the scraped guide data (top line) is actually what is airing on that stream. Even scraped guide data from the source can be wrong.

i dont disagree with what you're saying, but at same time, it's simply a helper. no way for this to be 100% perfect. It'll definetly require the human audit piece.

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True.
Just wanted to let everyone know that before spending the time trying to match a GN ID with the scraped guide data, verify that the scraped guide data (top line) is actually what is airing on that stream.
Otherwise, you're wasting your time.

I just noticed that Philo offers free channels...maybe they are considered a FAST provider now too?

There are a lot of FAST TV providers. I think that many/most? streaming providers offer access to a set of FAST channels in hopes that you will eventually sign up for their paid service. It looks as if Philo offers just over 130 FAST channels.

I have DirecTV as my paid content provider. So, I know that DirecTV also offers over 150 FAST channels for free with "My free DirecTV".

It's easy to get overwhelmed with so many providers. Many are repeats of the same or similar set of channels. I think that it's important to stay focused on the providers which offer the most channels and best quality streams.

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Question about DRM and Dead channels, audit and inspect.

I know an audit can mark a sources channels as DRM and Dead, and that you can manually re-enable those channels. I tried doing an inspect on a single channel, it returned with an error, but was still marked as enabled.

Can you manually audit a single channel so that if it's DRM or Dead it will mark it?

And...Philo has been very reliable and has quality, at least for TVE.
Some of the providers included in FAST, i have never heard of, nor do they offer anything of quality, to me. It already can be overwhelming.
However, one just has to take a minute, scroll the list of channels in each provider, and decide if it is for them.
FAST makes it easy to compare sources per channel in one spot.
Most, is not always best.

I wish i could fully hide/not show disabled sources entirely from the Dashboard page, would clean things up alot to be able to "focus" on things. Like you can show/hide disabled channels in the channels page.

Point is, what is quality, or interesting, or what is "best", is subjective to the user.

Just saying, if it is possible to add Philo as a fast source at some point, would be welcome.
Not a big deal.

inspect doesn't change channel status-- it's more of a one-off checker for you. I could implement auto-shut off channel, but figured if you are being that tedius of checking one-offs, you'd shut off channel yourself since your right there in the ux.

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I agree wholeheartedly. I welcome access to any source which offers quality in terms of stream stability, video clarity, and/or genre variety. In this "wild west" world of streaming, my head is constantly reeling trying to find the best combination. I appreciate that @KineticMan has created, and is supporting a tool we can all use to find our own vision of the best content selection.

I'm happy to look at Philo. Quick eye test looks like it's a ton of duplicates (which I suspect any new provider I may add in the future will be the case). But, the guide data/stream quality may be better. I'll add to list to at least investigate.

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You're creating work for me!
But I don't mind.

Any way to scrape the channel descriptions from the sources?

I mean, some channel names obviously reveal what the channel is about, others not so much.

Also found a mis-categorization
brave_screenshot
Don't think it's Local News. Is it?

Yeah, I could probably make a helper that would show the logic of why one category was picked or another. But honestly, a lot of them I just fed the channel list into a LLM and told it to categorize to the best of its abilities. Obviously not great for maintenance long-term. Definitely could improve upon that.

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Philo is using DRM for the free channels. Most of the stuff they provide is already available through other sources.

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Well, that sucks, if true for all their channels.
Maybe useful for Guide Data then perhaps, if their streams match the other FAST ones.
They seem to have at least a few days of data.

How are you determining that?
You also said Fox One was DRM (and it's not)

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