Introducing PrismCast: Browser-based Live TV Capture for Channels DVR and Plex

Playground Hacks
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#1865

As soon as I return home. Thank you!

#1866 
[2026/10/15 12:09:06.808 PM] [ERROR] [cnn-iwvkm8] Stream setup failed for https://tv.youtube.com/live: Channel selection failed: Channel "CNN" not found in YouTube TV guide.

[2026/10/15 12:09:06.828 PM] [cnn-iwvkm8] Stream ended after 2s (setup failed).

[2026/10/15 12:09:06.828 PM] [WARN] Stream setup failed for cnn: Failed to start stream.

[2026/10/15 12:09:06.829 PM] GET /hls/cnn/stream.m3u8 from 192.168.1.107 responded 500 in 1863.801 ms.

[2026/10/15 12:09:10.608 PM] [WARN] [cnn-jrppst] Channel "CNN" not found in YouTube TV guide. Create a user-defined channel with one of the names below as the Channel Selector and https://tv.youtube.com/live as the URL. Available channels (uncovered (4 of 6)): Central Coast ABC, Central Coast CW, KION, KSBW.

[2026/10/15 12:09:10.612 PM] [ERROR] [cnn-jrppst] Stream setup failed for https://tv.youtube.com/live: Channel selection failed: Channel "CNN" not found in YouTube TV guide.

[2026/10/15 12:09:10.635 PM] [cnn-jrppst] Stream ended after 2s (setup failed).

[2026/10/15 12:09:10.635 PM] [WARN] Stream setup failed for cnn: Failed to start stream.

[2026/10/15 12:09:10.636 PM] GET /hls/cnn/stream.m3u8 from 192.168.1.107 responded 500 in 1733.824 ms.

[2026/10/15 12:09:15.712 PM] [WARN] [cnn-ce6xro] Channel "CNN" not found in YouTube TV guide. Create a user-defined channel with one of the names below as the Channel Selector and https://tv.youtube.com/live as the URL. Available channels (uncovered (4 of 6)): Central Coast ABC, Central Coast CW, KION, KSBW.

[2026/10/15 12:09:15.714 PM] [ERROR] [cnn-ce6xro] Stream setup failed for https://tv.youtube.com/live: Channel selection failed: Channel "CNN" not found in YouTube TV guide.

[2026/10/15 12:09:15.732 PM] [cnn-ce6xro] Stream ended after 2s (setup failed).

[2026/10/15 12:09:15.733 PM] [WARN] Stream setup failed for cnn: Failed to start stream.

[2026/10/15 12:09:15.733 PM] GET /hls/cnn/stream.m3u8 from 192.168.1.107 responded 500 in 1874.804 ms.
#1867

As you can see, you're still tuning via the "guide" method. What I have you doing will bypass that, so you may need to force quit the CDVR client app you're using, and reload.

When you're actually tuning via the new source I had you set up, there will be no reference to the guide. You'll see log lines like this:

[2026/10/15 01:12:02.977 PM] [youtube.com-lgvdyt] Streaming https://tv.youtube.com/watch/mDtDcVzD6KI: YouTube TV, youtubeTV, FFmpeg [⚡ HEVC]. Tuned in 4.1s (direct).
#1868

Meaning, force quit ChannelsDVR?

#1869

No, I'm back to talking about using the client. However, as you can see in the log entries, you thought you were tuning using the new channel we set up -- but you were not.

This could be because whatever Channels client you're using needs to load the channel list fresh. One way to do that is by force quitting the app. What device are you running the client on? AppleTV? FireStick? Something else?

#1870

ChannelsDVR (current) on AppleTV (current) on Mac Mini M4 (current). I force quit the ChannelsDVR app right off after making the new channel. Is the new channel supposed to have the number "1111?"

#1871

I did a restart channels-dvr in terminal, and filtered for the bnhf source channels (there is one, cnn, and it has the channel number 9181. It will not play in the browser UI.

#1872

And, on a client? I've been streaming various YTTV channels today via PrismCast, using this method, and they've all worked fine on a CDVR client.

Please post relevant log lines for any failed tunes you report, both from PrismCast and from CDVR.

#1873

I don't know what to say at this time. When I first installed Prismcast on this machine several weeks ago, after I got the auth process down, everything worked, albeit with repeated restarts, until a few weeks ago. I even built a second system on my Macbook Pro and hit it from my ChannelsDVR app, the same behavior.

[2026/10/15 01:29:01.594 PM] [ERROR] [cnn-c045yb] Stream setup failed for https://tv.youtube.com/live: Channel selection failed: Channel "CNN" not found in YouTube TV guide.

[2026/10/15 01:29:01.619 PM] [cnn-c045yb] Stream ended after 3s (setup failed).

[2026/10/15 01:29:01.619 PM] [WARN] Stream setup failed for cnn: Failed to start stream.

[2026/10/15 01:29:01.623 PM] GET /hls/cnn/stream.m3u8 from 192.168.1.107 responded 500 in 2529.518 ms.

[2026/10/15 02:53:28.509 PM] Restarting browser for scheduled maintenance (uptime: 6h 5m).

[2026/10/15 02:53:29.426 PM] Capture system verified successfully.

[2026/10/15 02:53:29.439 PM] Chrome ready: Chrome/155.0.8059.41 (GPU: Apple M4 [AV1, H264, HEVC]).

[2026/10/15 02:53:30.170 PM] Browser restart complete. Fresh instance is ready.

[2026/10/15 04:38:32.770 PM] [WARN] [cnn-i1iakb] Channel "CNN" not found in YouTube TV guide. Create a user-defined channel with one of the names below as the Channel Selector and https://tv.youtube.com/live as the URL. Available channels (uncovered (4 of 6)): Central Coast ABC, Central Coast CW, KION, KSBW.

[2026/10/15 04:38:32.772 PM] [ERROR] [cnn-i1iakb] Stream setup failed for https://tv.youtube.com/live: Channel selection failed: Channel "CNN" not found in YouTube TV guide.

[2026/10/15 04:38:32.797 PM] [cnn-i1iakb] Stream ended after 2s (setup failed).

[2026/10/15 04:38:32.797 PM] [WARN] Stream setup failed for cnn: Failed to start stream.

[2026/10/15 04:38:35.965 PM] [WARN] [cnn-hf0nvg] Channel "CNN" not found in YouTube TV guide. Create a user-defined channel with one of the names below as the Channel Selector and https://tv.youtube.com/live as the URL. Available channels (uncovered (4 of 6)): Central Coast ABC, Central Coast CW, KION, KSBW.

[2026/10/15 04:38:35.968 PM] [ERROR] [cnn-hf0nvg] Stream setup failed for https://tv.youtube.com/live: Channel selection failed: Channel "CNN" not found in YouTube TV guide.

[2026/10/15 04:38:35.988 PM] [cnn-hf0nvg] Stream ended after 2s (setup failed).

[2026/10/15 04:38:35.988 PM] [WARN] Stream setup failed for cnn: Failed to start stream.

[2026/10/15 04:38:40.000 PM] [WARN] [cnn-ia1ck0] Channel "CNN" not found in YouTube TV guide. Create a user-defined channel with one of the names below as the Channel Selector and https://tv.youtube.com/live as the URL. Available channels (uncovered (4 of 6)): Central Coast ABC, Central Coast CW, KION, KSBW.

[2026/10/15 04:38:40.002 PM] [ERROR] [cnn-ia1ck0] Stream setup failed for https://tv.youtube.com/live: Channel selection failed: Channel "CNN" not found in YouTube TV guide.

[2026/10/15 04:38:40.022 PM] [cnn-ia1ck0] Stream ended after 2s (setup failed).

[2026/10/15 04:38:40.022 PM] [WARN] Stream setup failed for cnn: Failed to start stream.
#1874

Repeated restarts, are not the norm, and were probably an early symptom of whatever is happening here.

As I said before, you're somehow failing to select the new channel I asked you to setup -- or that setup is invalid, and CDVR is rolling over to another source. Your log shows that PrismCast is continuing to use the "guide" method for finding a channel instead of using the deeplink URL we're providing.

This is why I asked you for CDVR logs as well as PrismCast logs, for any failed tune. I'd suggest you disable any other sources (since none of them are working anyway) that could potentially tune CNN.

Also, as I suggested previously, using VLC would eliminate many variables and allow us to simple test the deeplink URL -- and either succeed, or be able to analyze errors that are directly tied to that URL.

Did you ever disable precaching for Xfinity and/or YouTubeTV? It's interesting that these failed guide-based tunes (which is not what we want right now) continue to reference the same, very small, identified channel set.

#1875

This is the panel for the channel that contains the code you sent. Did I set it correctly? I cannot find any channels that match the "1111" value that the "new" CNN channel should be presenting as, but I filter for any channels that are a part of the bnhf source I created today. There is this one, and it has a channel number of 9181. I have never seen that number before, and otherwise see no CNN channel with the number 1111. I feel like you are giving me sound instructions but I may be missing something.

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image1578×1502 149 KB

By CDVR, I assume you mean the logs from my ChannelsDVR service on the Mac?

Here are the ChannelsDVR service logs when I try to hit CNN HD at 9181. Lines in the log seem to show it also falling back to 9032, which is the regular Xfinity stream instance

2026/10/15 17:41:57.165310 [ERR] Could not start stream for M3U-bnhf ch9181 CNN HD: M3U: Could not fetch playlist from http:: Get "http://http//192.168.1.107/:5589/play?url=https://tv.youtube.com/watch/niY10UGQat0": dial tcp: lookup http: no such host 
2026/10/15 17:42:06.194126 [TNR] Opened connection to M3U-prism for ch9032 CNN
2026/10/15 17:42:17.418561 [SNR] Rewriter statistics for 192.168.1.206 (Living Room) for ch9032 CNN: discontinuity_detected=0 transport_errors=0 saw_pcr=false saw_pmt=true highest_pts=14.250000
2026/10/15 17:42:17.418616 [SNR] Buffer statistics for 192.168.1.206 (Living Room) for ch9032 CNN: buf=0% drop=0%
2026/10/15 17:42:17.418645 [SNR] Streaming statistics for 192.168.1.206 (Living Room) for ch9032 CNN: timeouts=0 segment_timeouts=0 playlist_timeouts=0
2026/10/15 17:42:17.418995 [TNR] Closed connection to M3U-prism for ch9032 CNN
#1876

The URL, where you modified it for your Mac Mini's IP, has http:// entered twice. Fix that, and reload the M3U.

#1877

This shows that same problem mentioned above.

#1878

/ before the port also

#1879

Yes, quite right, multiple editing problems.

#1880

Don't worry too much about the channel number right now, whatever CDVR assigns is fine. Use 9181, if that's what shows when you look at the bnhf source in the WebUI. Once you get the editing sorted out, please tune on a client (not via the WebUI now), and submit both logs if there's a failure.

#1881

Oops about the malformed ULR and port. Fixed, reloaded and restarted. Same. Argh.

#1882

Logs?

#1883

ChannelsDRV

2026/10/15 18:15:50.265091 [ERR] Failed to load HDHR #A3A55909 lineup: Get "http://192.168.1.107/lineup.json?tuning&show=found": dial tcp 192.168.1.107:80: connect: connection refused
2026/10/15 18:15:51.763065 [ERR] Failed to load HDHR #AB8E5B09 lineup: Get "http://192.168.1.251/lineup.json?tuning&show=found": dial tcp 192.168.1.251:80: connect: connection refused
2026/10/15 18:17:13.711893 [ERR] Failed to load HDHR #A3A55909 lineup: Get "http://192.168.1.107/lineup.json?tuning&show=found": dial tcp 192.168.1.107:80: connect: connection refused
2026/10/15 18:17:15.392703 [ERR] Failed to load HDHR #AB8E5B09 lineup: Get "http://192.168.1.251/lineup.json?tuning&show=found": dial tcp 192.168.1.251:80: connect: connection refused
2026/10/15 18:17:16.139515 [ERR] Failed to load HDHR #A3A55909 lineup: Get "http://192.168.1.107/lineup.json?tuning&show=found": dial tcp 192.168.1.107:80: connect: connection refused
2026/10/15 18:17:17.682945 [ERR] Failed to load HDHR #AB8E5B09 lineup: Get "http://192.168.1.251/lineup.json?tuning&show=found": dial tcp 192.168.1.251:80: connect: connection refused

Prismcast

[2026/10/15 06:15:20.671 PM] [ERROR] [youtube.com-h6gb0i] Stream setup failed for https://tv.youtube.com/watch/niY10UGQat0: Waiting for selector `video` failed.

[2026/10/15 06:15:20.672 PM] [youtube.com-h6gb0i] Stream ended after 12s (setup failed).

[2026/10/15 06:15:20.676 PM] GET /play?url=https://tv.youtube.com/watch/niY10UGQat0 from 192.168.1.107 responded 500 in 11892.544 ms.

[2026/10/15 06:15:33.749 PM] [ERROR] [youtube.com-2su8q7] Stream setup failed for https://tv.youtube.com/watch/niY10UGQat0: Waiting for selector `video` failed.

[2026/10/15 06:15:33.749 PM] [youtube.com-2su8q7] Stream ended after 12s (setup failed).

[2026/10/15 06:15:33.751 PM] GET /play?url=https://tv.youtube.com/watch/niY10UGQat0 from 192.168.1.107 responded 500 in 12160.158 ms.
#1884

http://192.168.1.251 is the ip of my Macbook Pro, which also has a sandbox of ChannelsDVR on it but is not enabled. WTF?