I see.
So, what format does Channels understand then?
Only https based links?
Channels works with HDHomeRun-based networked tuners or things that pretend to be HDHomeRun networked tuners. There is lots of documentation on the internet about how HDHomeRun's work as well as on the threads that @tmm1 referenced about using Telly, xteve, tvheadend, etc.
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I see an app called Stir advertised on cable and my OTA stations.
I tried it, several local ota stations and local news stations and many from other areas are in it, free. A few are the channels i also get via TVE, lie Comet, Charge, TBD, a several others.
You can view others by state.
Seems fully legal to me, if they have tv adds on the same networks that u can watch in the app, AND it has not been pulled by Google to being illegal or TOS violations.
Also, there are news sites that CBSN, that even currently, u can see many other cities feed, which is the same as the OTA feed.
Sinclair Broadcast Group, a local TV broadcasting company, owns STIRR. It's legit, but no ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX or CW on their service. The key here is they own or license the content.
Still posting, why? Those are national feeds and not NBC, ABC etc. FYI channels has those.
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Don't worry, many people here don't bother to read twice what others asking especially if those asking are not from USA.
If there is no live stream on webpage you have to catch up network traffic from the app itself via some proxy and with a bit of luck you can get url request. It is still problematic to work as you need to reverse engineer how the autorisation token would be stored etc. You can try if your cable operator offers live tv watching on their site, if so you cen send me link and we could think about some automatic extraction.
Also there are some HDHomeRUn simulators that use live stream but currently CHannels support for them is problematic at best, as it is difficult to get xmltv EPG working.
Well first, I do not know of the channel (Treehouse) has a live stream in their mobile app, I assume it does, but I can not install the current version of the app as Google says it is not compatible with any device i have. The apk i found from 2018, loads to a Network error screen and is not usefull. So, there is no app to capture data from. Regardless, some one did find a IPTV link for Treehouse, but its has its own issues that make it not usable.
Discovery family, that channel, already it is possible to get url and auth tokens keys etc, it easy, and to capture vod and live streams via ffmpeg once u have that url from the app....but that process and, trick, is not something Channels can make use of, technically speaking, and legally speaking (most likely).
As i stated in first post, i knew it was a long shot to even ask here about such things.
Amoungst all of this, discovering what IPTV is and finding so many random sites with thousands of links to streams from all over the world, has been exciting and informative though.
On the contrary, Channels do exactly that. It comes bundled with ffmpeg to play stream and TVE is supported by including chromium inside the bundle probably with Pupeteer to automate authorization.
I intended to write own alternative of Telly or Xteve to be possible for inclusion in channels but currently I am busy doing other stuff and without additional help and someone who can do code review it is difficult to do This quicly. But if you are developer we can think about doing this,
Personally I would welcome Channels to be backend PVR solution but devs denied request for POST API endpoint as well as for web socket (without this I cannot develop Trakt integration) 
I have paid for a IPTV service now, and i have proper .m3u playlist file that uses normal HTTP urls.
Shame i can not use it with Channels DVR.
I just noticed that Emby, has easy and direct support for .m3u.
U just go in and Add it as a source, select the file, and assign it a Guide Data source (Embys free built in one works great) and presto. It now shows up as a normal channel in Emby with full DVR ability too.
I hope some day, Channels DVR will support native .m3u as a tuner, as Emby does.
Which IPTV service are you using?
watchyaTV. was recommended to me by someone who has a much more complex setup and very good with streaming boxes. and knows far more about iptv and streaming things than I. they big Kodi user and such.
I also found out, that AT&T, CenturyLink, and a few other big name companies offer IPTV services as their normal tv service, instead of cable or satellite. but i think u have to use their provided equipment.
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Is this what the channels forum has become. People recommending shady Iptv services? Get a legit cable service and pay for it.
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Cable companies are just as "shady" to many and charge you more....
And cord cutters want to drop cable, not buy into it.
As i also said, in many area, "cable" tv is ONLY offered via IPTV service.
I have a legit iptv service and paid for it. Not some found on dark web links for free.
There is plenty of chat on iptv use in all other home media software forms, plex, emby,kodi etc.
And dedicated threads here on the topic of using iptv urls in channels....which is what this THREAD is titled....not the whole form board, if you don't want to see are engage in this topic, then don't post and ignore it....seesh.
U are going off topic and all u do is post your snide opinion with no facts to back it up.
No, local channels from other ares are not illegal. My neighbor has CenturyLink Prisim IPTV and gets dozens of local stations from all over the nation.
Furthermore, i pay to access the channels, to a cable company or a online streaming platform/service, it makes no difference. (ur complaint at first was, its not a paid service and i am trying to get things for free.) And if u think the money u pay to a cable tv company goes back to the networks or content creators of the show..AH! ur wrong. Companies like Comcast profit big time from their insane prices and add on fees. (they now charge $25 extra per package, just to have HD service channels, and $5 per remote control...i could go on)
Any company can, but cable tv companies specifically, have been proven to have shady practices, with hidden fees, no name fees, no reason price hikes, fine print that screws over customers and over all, monopoly powers to do whatever they want. That is shady and bad business practice. Lawsuit have been filed and won due to this.
With streaming service, no matter what it is, u get flat rate, no hidden fees no contract/cancel anytime, try before you buy even most of the time.
maybe, IPTV is less reliable than TVE or a direct cable line...but for many folks, u can not get cable, or sat, or antenna and certain channels, but only can via IPTV where they have good enough internet connection. IPTV is the future, in some form, as cable tv is a dying industry and everyone is moving to internet provided tv streams.
And Channels offers TVE, and others do not...so...your argument is quite week,
and no, tmm1, not true. there are numerous providers with closer more reliable servers and less load and i have tried a few, and get different results per channel with each.
And how can u even know they are all pirated? There are many services out there and have been online for very long time and are even on catv tech shows, recommended by major tech news site like cnet, The Verge, and other cord cutter review sites. I never said i was a expert or very knowledgeable about iptv things, but u sure don't seem to be either. I don't expect you or others to give me a list of what they consider "legit" services or not, but i see plenty of users here that do use iptv with Channels and works fine. I came here to ask about how to use iptv in channels, specific to my use case, as others have, and all i get is shit on about it, and have people opinions on things shoved down my throat with no real useful info. I responded one users question, in my own thread, and was thread jacked by someone else, and that makes the dev lock the thread. a user that, i look up, cause many threads to be locked thanks to their posts.
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How are cable companies shady? They pay for the ability to rebroadcast networks. You have a right to subscribe or not. These IPTV services don't. Stop pushing them. Just because other services offer the ability to use them doesn't mean Channels should. FYI Plex is being investigated. Also this this thread is in the Tve section which is for legitimate services.
Your experience will be the same no matter which M3U provider you pick. These are all pirated streams, and none of the money you pay goes to the copyright holders.
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