Frndly TV for Channels

roboskull · October 15, 2023, 12:53am

I have missed having MeTV+ since Locast went away. So when I heard Frndlytv was going to add that channel I subscribed.

I have tried a couple free trials of Frndlytv over the years but never added it to Channels DVR until now. It's nice having the Military History channel and HD versions of Great American channels too.

I was also surprised that Frndlytv provides HD versions of the local subchannels like H@I, get, catchy, Metv, etc. So I'm viewing and recording those versions now instead of the SD versions through my antenna and cable.

bnanewbie · October 16, 2023, 4:24pm

For some reason I have lost Friendly Channels. I run using Python3 via terminal. For some reason fo rthe last several days it stays stuck on "starting server on Port 8183". Any feedback or assistance is much appreciated. I have read through this thread and did not see anything specific to this issue...I did change my frndly password and retried...Any help is much appreciated.

Absenm · October 16, 2023, 6:01pm

Well first of all? Have you installed the latest version of Frndly for Channels? It was updated very recently to address some new channels.

bnanewbie · October 16, 2023, 7:34pm

Where is the update downloaded from? I just went to the GITHUB link for Mathisons post and there isn't anything there that I see that is new.

chDVRuser · October 17, 2023, 1:08am

I use the docker, but if running from python, follow the directions here

No Docker

This app can also run without Docker using just Python3.

git clone https://github.com/matthuisman/frndlytv-for-channels
cd frndlytv-for-channels
pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
python app.py --PORT 8183 --USERNAME "MY_EMAIL" --PASSWORD "MY_PASSWORD" --IP "72.229.28.185"

The cmdline arguments are the same as the Docker env arguments.

Add to Channels

You can retrieve the Channels configuration via the status page below.

http://127.0.0.1:8183
(if accessing from different device, replace 127.0.0.1 with the IP of the device)

bnanewbie · October 19, 2023, 12:20am

Yall - I appreciate every one of you! I have no idea why, but I deleted the frndly for channels folder, followed those steps....went to the server settings and deleted the source and re added it..and boom it's back...What in the world....so I have made notes that I have saved in my documents to reference to try this first before reaching out again.....Again, I appreciate every single one of you...Thanks!

Absenm · October 21, 2023, 10:16pm

You shouldn't have to change anything.

The IP variable is an optional setting and is only used to tell LocalNow how to build its feed. It is simply for geo-location purposes. You don't need to change it unless you want a new geo-location. I use one that I just made up in a IP range geo-located to my city. You can completely remove the IP variable from your setup if you want (and then your geo-location will be your servers internet IP). The only reason you really would need to supply an IP address is 1) for privacy masking or 2) to geo-locate to a city of your choice other than the one your internet provider is serving from. I use the IP variable because I am behind a VPN whose geo-location is not my local city.

So if you did provide an IP in your setup, and it is geo-located LocalNow correctly for you, then you have no need to do anything because generally speaking IP addresses don't change geo-location often.

rpaulmerrell · October 22, 2023, 12:14am

Check to make sur eyour pc, computer or whatever is host the docker and channels etc.
I'm guessing you changed routers and I imagine the internal ip address changed on your system.

Absenm · October 22, 2023, 12:23am

That's a good point. You may need to setup new static DHCP addresses that match your old static addresses in your router DHCP settings.

rpaulmerrell · October 22, 2023, 6:36am

Friendly doesn't really track geo-US locations.
I imagine someone deep in the server logs watches things but moving from home to home shouldn't be an issue.
All these setups that channel users configure require a little extra attention but once it is all set up, you are good to go.

dregs · October 27, 2023, 2:48am

Amazing tool! I've noticed that Hallmark channel has no audio on my setup, has anyone had to troubleshoot this before? A&E and other streams work great, but Hallmark just has video without audio.

I am playing the m3u8 via VLC as a test, but feeding through HLS-Proxy -> threadfin -> plex results in the same behavior.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

RJ_DVR · October 27, 2023, 7:50pm

Audio is working here.

Absenm · October 27, 2023, 9:30pm

Hallmark Channel audio works great for me too. But I am curious, does your setup use ChannelsDVR anywhere? You do not mention it anywhere in your tests? I am wondering what happens when you use Frndly_TV_for_Channels from your ChannelsDVR server. If you are not a ChannelsDVR user, then its a little more difficult to address your issue. I had been curious myself if I could pipe this directly to Plex via Threadfin, but have never bothered testing it out. It is strange that it would only be isolated to one channel?

dregs · October 28, 2023, 12:56am

Sorry, I am not using Channels in my setup currently. I agree, it is really weird there's no audio for just the Hallmark channels. VLC doesn't show an audio stream, only video while using the m3u8 in VLC. I will continue to troubleshoot, thank you for the feedback!

dregs · October 28, 2023, 3:52am

Channels server/app plays Hallmark correctly!

I have compared the m3u8 between working and non-working stations in VLC. I see Hallmark presents 3 audio stream options (LANGUAGE="und", LANGAUGE="vid", and LANGUAGE="eng"). My guess is VLC is unable to present the "eng" audio stream and ends up playing nothing.

chDVRuser · October 28, 2023, 4:34am

LANGUAGE="und" is the default stereo audio track
LANGUAGE="vic" is another stereo audio track
LANGUAGE="eng" is the closed captions

#EXTM3U
#EXT-X-VERSION:3
#EXT-X-INDEPENDENT-SEGMENTS
#EXT-X-MEDIA:LANGUAGE="und",AUTOSELECT=YES,CHANNELS="2",FORCED=NO,TYPE=AUDIO,URI="...",GROUP-ID="audio_0",DEFAULT=YES,NAME="und"
#EXT-X-MEDIA:LANGUAGE="vic",AUTOSELECT=YES,CHANNELS="2",FORCED=NO,TYPE=AUDIO,URI="...",GROUP-ID="audio_0",DEFAULT=NO,NAME="vic"
#EXT-X-MEDIA:LANGUAGE="eng",AUTOSELECT=YES,FORCED=NO,TYPE=SUBTITLES,URI="...",GROUP-ID="subtitles",DEFAULT=YES,NAME="caption_1"
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:CODECS="avc1.64001F,mp4a.40.2",AVERAGE-BANDWIDTH=2891655,RESOLUTION=1280x720,SUBTITLES="subtitles",FRAME-RATE=30.0,BANDWIDTH=2891655,AUDIO="audio_0"
...
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:CODECS="avc1.4D401E,mp4a.40.2",AVERAGE-BANDWIDTH=2341691,RESOLUTION=768x432,SUBTITLES="subtitles",FRAME-RATE=30.0,BANDWIDTH=2341691,AUDIO="audio_0"
...
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:CODECS="avc1.640015,mp4a.40.2",AVERAGE-BANDWIDTH=1131655,RESOLUTION=512x288,SUBTITLES="subtitles",FRAME-RATE=30.0,BANDWIDTH=1222122,AUDIO="audio_0"
...
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:CODECS="avc1.64000D,mp4a.40.2",AVERAGE-BANDWIDTH=801691,RESOLUTION=384x216,SUBTITLES="subtitles",FRAME-RATE=30.0,BANDWIDTH=852552,AUDIO="audio_0"
...

And it plays fine in VLC for me.

dregs · October 31, 2023, 1:33pm

Issue completely resolved. HLS-Proxy doesn't support streams with multiple audio tracks, which was causing the issues I reported. Frndly TV for Channels is working perfectly, like I said earlier - Amazing tool!

My new flow is Frndly TV for Channels (docker) -> plex-dvr-hls proxy -> plex. No Threadfin or HLS-Proxy. Hopefully this is helpful to someone who isn't using Channels. Appreciate the kind support from this forum.

chDVRuser · November 3, 2023, 11:45pm

57 posts were split to a new topic: Unable to load guide data for Frndly TV

Absenm · November 2, 2023, 7:43pm

And since it is buried pretty far back (like 400 posts ago), here are the instructions for the Double Source method for anyone who might be looking for them. Really this should be covered in the OP of this thread, and the Info & Instructions page but it isn't. The status page actually does give some instruction, but it isn't clear that those are instructions.

If the status page is working than you just need to setup custom channels in ChannelsDVR.
It is best to use the double source method to add frndly-for-channels to Custom Channels. You need to setup two sources to get EPG data for all the channels.

Source 1
Go to ChannelsDVR Setting > Add Source > Custom Channels.
Set Nickname: whatever1
Set Stream Format: HLS
Set Source: http://host_ip:8183/playlist.m3u8?gracenote=include
Set Options: Refresh URL Daily
Set XMLTV Guide Data: None (do not add a link)
Save

Source 2
Go to ChannelsDVR Setting > Add Source > Custom Channels.
Set Nickname: whatever2
Set Stream Format: HLS
Set Source: http://host_ip:8183/playlist.m3u8?gracenote=exclude
Set Options: Refresh URL Daily
Set XMLTV Guide Data: http://host_ip:8183/epg.xml?gracenote=exclude
Save

The always diligent @chDVRuser has some screen caps of this custom channels setup above:

mexicanmamba · November 2, 2023, 10:24pm

Just added frndly on my synology with this , but I am getting invalid source url: failed to retrieve m3u: GET: when I add the source. How can I fix it?

version: '3.9'
services:
  frndlytv-for-channels:
    image: matthuisman/frndlytv-for-channels
    container_name: frndlytv-for-channels
    environment:
      - IP=${IP} # For Geo-locating FrndlyTV to a different area
      - USERNAME=${USERNAME} # FrndlyTV username (the email you used to sign-up)
      - PASSWORD=${PASSWORD} # FrndlyTV password (the password you chose when you signed-up)
    ports:
      - '8185:80'
    restart: unless-stopped