Home Server sending M3U to remote server question

Playground Custom Channels
#1

First off, thanks to all who've taken the time to help me with my oddball/niche requests. I think I have a sense of why what I'm trying to do isn't working but I wanted to ask and see if I could understand it better.

I have a HOME Channels DVR setup on a static IP. I have a Jellyfin (emby) media server that pulls in the M3Us from Channels, imports guide info from a few places and gives me a robust Live TV setup with no tuner. Great, love it, works!

I also have a VPS (cloud based server) running Jellyfin. I have the great PlutoTV Docker project that @maddox created working there and it's awesome.

What I am trying to do is to add and M3u tuner to the VPS Jellyfin install from the Home Channels DVR server. I've got all my firewall and ports working - if I visit my.homesever.ip:8089/devices/TVE-Comcast_SSO/channels.m3u?format=ts from OUTSIDE of my home network, I do - indeed - get the M3u. So I know the M3U is there, it's working, it's accessible remotely.

If I export this M3U and upload it to the remote server, I get a nice full channel list. But when I click to play any of the channels it appears they are loading and then I get this:

image

Does anyone know if this is:

a) Channels not sending the stream

or

b) IP restrictions on TVE coming into play?

If it's B - can you help me understand how the IP restrictions are effecting this stream when the actual TVE stream is being sent to my HOME server (where it works perfectly) and then served to a VPS - so in theory the TVE Provider should only see the HOME IP, right?

I know there's a third option c) something to do with my media server but for now I'm trying to track it down on this end.

thanks!

#2

Try with curl or in chrome incognito to verify.

#3

I have 2 ISPs coming into my home from separate provides so I am 100% sure the M3U is accessible from outside the local network. I also have a channels dvr server on my VPS and if I put the M3U into the channels server, it 'sees' 200+ channels but it cannot tune them.

#4

@ttm1 just realized its an authentication issue.

#5

I tried to explain this in Pulling an M3U from a remote server?

#6

Yes, sorry I realize that now. Just to be 100% clear, there's no way to authenticate without a GUI web browser? No place to add an IP range to the server as whitelisted?

#7

No. The only way is with a vpn, tailscale or reverse proxy.

#8

You could set up a site-to-site VPN between the two locations. That way, you could directly address the Channels server via its local (192.168/16, 10/8, 172.16/12) IP address, and won't be subject to the authentication mechanisms.

#9

The remote server does a number of different things for me, I'm not sure how adding a vpn server to server connection will effect remote access to media streaming, etc. Especially when I only need that connection to work ONCE for authentication. Once the remote machine and IP are authenticated, they can freely access the M3Us on the home channels dvr server.

I do understand how a VPN would solve this but it would make other problems for a one time authentication.

#10

Every single request that is made from outside your home network is authenticated to ensure that it is your authorized account.

#11

Heya @jdroberto, you've pretty much reached the limits of the software. Channels DVR Server was designed from the bottom up with security in mind, to be run locally at home, and specifically not for sharing across the internet like you're trying to do.

While the VPN suggestions are there as a solution to tricking Channels DVR Server into thinking the requests are local to work un-authenticated, it's not a great idea and it's not something we will really support.

1 Like
#12

But once an IP and computer are authenticated, it no longer asks for an authorization code.

#13

Completely understand. This is just me tinkering, I assure you I'm not trying to do anything nefarious or illegal at all. I have a setup I like working well at home. But I am out of the house a good deal (even now) and it's sadly common that my router or connection become unreliable so I like to see if I can replicate my home setup on a VPS. 1) it's great redundancy for me and 2) I've been teaching myself linux from the ground up and this kind of thing is a great way to learn everything from firewall management to folder permissions.

I very much appreciate the security built in.