How do I install Docker on my Mac to use with Pluto

[jabski]

I really hate asking question like this because it shows my ignorance of these things.
I’ve used channels with my HDHR and love the ability to record my OTA stuff.
I’ve tried searching for this but I can’t seem to find detailed instructions.
I’ve discovered a lot of things on Pluto that I’d LOVE to be able to watch at my convenience.
So, could some kind soul please describe how I go about installing Docker on my Mac mini, and how it’s used?
PLEASE?

[maddox]

Try just using this:

Non-Docker source for PlutoTV and Stirr m3u playlists and EPG

Hello everyone, I've created a little PHP project (repo) that can replace the need to have a local Docker instance for PlutoTV and Stirr. It's very simple. For PlutoTV, the project runs a slightly modified version of the pluto-for-channels script by @maddox in nodejs on my web server (thanks @maddox and the dev team!) . Then my PHP script just replaces the deviceID and sid URL parameters with uniquely generated UUIDs upon each page load. So every use/access of the playlist.m3u file from the…

[jabski]

Well, thanks…. I DID see this when searching but it still doesn’t sink in.
I’m kind of old and dense when it comes to these things. ( I had similar problems just getting channels up and running) getting old sucks! Ha ha
I’ll just be happy with channels the way it is and not concern myself with it.
Thanks for channels. I enjoy it every day!

[Fofer]

It’s very easy. On your Channels DVR server, add a custom source. Enter the details for Pluto, as served up by nocords.xyz

• For Pluto “Source” Playlist: https://nocords.xyz/pluto/playlist.m3u
• For Pluto “XMLTV” EPG: https://nocords.xyz/pluto/epg.xml

That’s it.

[jabski]

Fofer, ok, i went to the server page and where it shows “ 1 source found”, it shows my HDFX-4K
So I clicked on the add source, then I clicked on the Custom Channels from the drop down. Yes?
After that, I typed exactly as shown in the blue links above. After I clicked save it said something to the effect of colons not accepted at the beginning. Then I retyped everything with no https or colons or slashes, and had a different fail message.
https://nocords.xyz/pluto/playlist.m3u
Was I supposed to type this exactly ( I did), and the same for the second link
If I was supposed to download and. Jew them, there wasn’t anything to see.
Again, this is on a Mac mini.
This is encouraging, because I know a little bit more now, but I’m still doing something wrong… ha ha
Thanks for walking me through this. I wish I was better at it……

[Fofer]

Don’t “retype” these or remove any colons or http or slashes.

Copy and paste these addresses exactly as they are listed here:

@Fofer

• For Pluto “Source” Playlist: https://nocords.xyz/pluto/playlist.m3u
• For Pluto “XMLTV” EPG: https://nocords.xyz/pluto/epg.xml

[jabski]

The sentence above was supposed to say “ view” not Jew!!!
This iPads keyboard leaves a lot to be desired!
Anyway, that did it! THANK YOU SO MUCH…..
So many thing to record. Guess I’ll be getting a larger HD.
Thank you again. This community is so tolerant of dummies like me. Lol

[Fofer]

Glad to be of help! Also cool is the fact that this thread helped inspire an update to the custom source addition workflow to make it easier for newcomers in the future:

Very minor issue with URL entry on Custom Channels form

I saw this issue the other day on the Frndly thread Frndly TV for Channels - #444 by fortuna15, and I think it may have been mentioned again on the How do I install Docker on my Mac to use with Pluto - #5 by jabski thread. I've done this by accident a number of time too. When entering in the URLs on the Custom Channels form, accidentally including spaces before the URL will give this error. invalid source url: parse " http://whatever_ip:8183/playlist.m3u8": first path segment in URL cannot c…

[jabski]

Last question regarding this. Am I supposed to go into the Channels DVR settings and do anything regarding the programming guide for this? Or will it repopulate by itself per the setting in your screenshot example of the refresh daily and then the refresh every hour?

[chDVRuser]

For the XMLTV Guide Data refresh, I would set that to every hour.
The Pluto for Channels docker container grabs 12 hrs (*) of EPG info about every three hours.
You can view when the last refresh happened by viewing it's webpage at
http://ip-of-docker-container:8080/

(*) Technically it asks Pluto for 24 hrs of guide data, but Pluto only returns 12 hrs.

[jabski]

Ok, thanks.

[chDVRuser]

I see you're using the nocords url instead of your own docker container.
In that case, as I mentioned, you want the XMLTV Guide Data refresh set to every hour.
The nocords website refreshes the Pluto EPG guide data from Pluto every hour as seen at https://nocords.xyz/
Files last updated: Sat, 13 Aug 2022 12:00:06 -0400
Running pluto-for-channels version: 1.2.11