M3u4u addition of DropBox the configuration no longer works

Playground Custom Channels
#1

I had m3u4u running like a champ with my IPTV service and Channels DVR. However, when m3u4u started to introduce DropBox, and I followed the instructions to configure it, it no longer works.

  1. The guide for those channels configured with m3u4u no longer populates the guide.

  2. I now get the following error:

Streaming to the tuner failed. Please Play to try again.
GET:http: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:8090/devices/M3U-TLCEastchannel/channels/71393/stream.mpg: 503 Service Unavailable

Any help would be appreciated.

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#2

I don't know specifically about m3u4u but I would really suggest you look at using the excellent Playlist Manager created by @babsonnexus:

It is guaranteed to work with Channels DVR and you get excellent support for it.

#3

Some of the playlists provided by iptv providers tend to be quite extensive. If you use StreamLink manager, you’ll need to edit the m3u file and set up your Gracenote configuration so that the channels provide accurate guide data. The process may be a bit lengthy, but the result is well worth it.

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#4

Thank you very much. I did look at and set it up and even watch the YouTube video but seems very convoluted. I have Channels DVR running on a Mac and didn't see an option for Mac OS. Installed it on a windows machine and then accessed StreamLink server but not sure where to go from there? It requires you to have channel folder access and not sure I can do that from the web app. I am going to check YouTube for a good video.

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#5

I did look at it some more. I have an IPTV service and there is no way it supports that only the popular ones. Also,Channels DVR is running on my Mac and StreamLink is running on Windows. There is no way to link StreamLink to my Mac. Apparently it needs access to the folder on the Mac.

#6

I installed SLM on my Mac server by way of Docker and Portainer. It was pretty easy, I just followed the instructions.

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#7

I've got everyting loaded on my Synology and I thknk it's great.
The m3us from those providers are rather large so expect to create your own custom copy with the channels you want.
The gracenote feature in SLM is really nice and makes life so easy.
Feel free to reach out if you have questions.

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#8

Folder access is only needed if you are using SLM features. If you are only using PLM features, this is not important. These details are clearly laid out in the directions on the repo. Also as shown there, you can just turn off SLM.

But just an aside, if you open up network access between your machines and map a drive, that can give you access, too. Or as @Fofer pointed out, Mac is fully supported through the 4 Docker paths and the Python path.

I have no idea what this means. PLM doesn't care what the source is, it's completely agnostic. If you have a link to a playlist, it will work. PLM does not provide any playlists; that is totally up to the user.

Ouch, rude.

#9

babsonnexus, I didn't mean to be rude so I apologize. I just need to get more training. It does look very promising. When I was learning my way around m3u4u, a fellow from the community pinged me privately and walked me through the process. So I am just trying to find more info. Is there any documentation or command line syntax on how to connect the StreamLink server on Windows to my Channels DVR on the Mac?

#10

Plenty, just Google "how to open a network path from mac to windows". Never had a Mac, so cannot offer any insight myself, but have done similar with Linux/Windows before, so probably not much different.

#11

As a Mac user running Channels DVR on a Mac mini having had no previous experience with docker myself, I’m curious why you’d install SLM on Windows and then struggle to connect it when you could just install and run it on the same Mac mini instead, in the first place?