OliveTin for Channels: An Interface for Misc Channels DVR Scripts & Tricks

[bnhf]

@chDVRuser

What's your latest annotated docker compose?

I just updated it with a couple of minor changes (that were in other feature-specific threads), plus I added the static-file-server container to allow hosting various files (e.g. Plex M3U/XML) from a local URL, for use in Custom Channels sources.

[bnhf]

Just pushed a new bnhf/olivetin:latest (aka bnhf/olivetin:2024.02.10) that includes the following:

• When generating an M3U based on a "Channel Collection", custom channel logos are now supported as we're no longer using http://$dvr/devices/$source/channels.m3u as a starting point, but are now using JSON data from http://$dvr/devices/$source/channels. It's a slightly slower process, so it can take a couple of minutes to generate the M3U if you have a large number of channels/sources (timeout set to 180 seconds -- thanks @chDVRuser).

• The latest and greatest version 3.x of the @mjitkop script: channels_dvr_monitor_channels.py is now included. More detail can be found here: Python script to be notified of channel lineup changes

[cyoungers]

@bnhf - I just pulled the latest and decided to try the channel lineup change notifications and set it up for sms notification on my t-mobile gateway. I was just wondering if this stdout means everything is normal and that the monitor is running fine.

[bnhf]

@cyoungers

I just pulled the latest and decided to try the channel lineup change notifications and set it up for sms notification on my t-mobile gateway. I was just wondering if this stdout means everything is normal and that the monitor is running fine.

No that error would suggest you didn't supply the e-mail address and password required for this type of SMS message, which uses "SMS gateways" to send texts via SMTP:

SMS gateway

So, if you didn't, you'd want to supply your gmail address and the app specific password you created previously. Then, I'm pretty sure your phone number needs to be in the format shown in Wikipedia, based on your carrier.

[cyoungers]

OK. That makes more sense. I checked that the gateway worked (I'm using T-Mobile) by sending an email from my mail account and that worked. I assumed that I did not need to specify the email info. My feeble brain thought that the email sending part happened magically inside of olive-tin somehow.

Anyhoo, it's working now with stdout showing my baseline lineup. Just waiting for the lineup to change someday before I get a text msg.

Thanks for these collection of utilities. I use it all the time.

[mjitkop]

@cyoungers

Just waiting for the lineup to change someday before I get a text msg.

Keep in mind that the text message will be short by design and won't contain the details of the lineup changes.

In order to get the details of the changes, you can also select the option for email notification, and/or check the stdout console and/or the log file.

[mjitkop]

@bnhf as a manual user, do you have write permissions on the files in /config?

[cyoungers]

I just noticed that my default settings are not remembered once I go back in and make a change to channel lineup change notifications. The other utilities do this @bnhf.

[bnhf]

Big news for a small project -- OliveTin-for-Channels reaches the 1000 download mark!

:

[mjitkop]

Congratulations!

As soon as I can get focused on it, I will add one more download.

[Fofer]

OliveTin scout here I’m not sure if it’s been mentioned before but perhaps this lesser-known tip warrants inclusion in OliveTin, either as an informational snippet, or the basis for a plugin that helps us customize our channel logos? Unless there’s a better way…

Regardless, kudos to @kennyb3653 for sharing it!

Custom Channel Logos Feature be added

The best way to customize channel logos is to create a new custom channel. I called mine "Logos". Note** If you want the logos to be viewed remotely, You have to access them via https:// Note** I could not get this configuration to work on iOS Clients. Only Androids. I abandoned the 2 Channels DVR mentioned earlier in the post. [image] Set it as top priority and make sure none are checked as favorites. [image] Then your custom logos should appear in the guide in the WebUI and Clients […

[cyberskier]

That would be awesome. For what it is worth, I did use OliveTin, using the "Generate a Channels DVR
M3U Playlist" button. I took the generated playlist from the logs, pulling out and using only the six channels I needed. I did only minor tweaks then to each one, before putting them as a "Logos" source. For example, one channel came in the OliveTin log like this:

#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="abc-wmar" tvg-id="5985" tvg-chno="5985" tvg-logo="https://tmsimg.fancybits.co/assets/s28708_h3_aa.png?w=360&h=270" tvc-guide-stationid="21230" tvg-name="WMARDT" group-title="HD",ABC
http://192.168.7.180:8089/devices/ANY/channels/5985/hls/master.m3u8?

All I did was replace the part after "tvg-logo" with a link to my logo, and deleted the m3u8 address at the end. So the end result was something like this:

#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="abc-wmar" tvg-id="5985" tvg-chno="5985" tvg-logo="http://www.mywebsite.com/images/tvlogos/wmar.png?w=360&h=270" tvc-guide-stationid="21230" tvg-name="WMARDT" group-title="HD",ABC

[bnhf]

@Fofer

I’m not sure if it’s been mentioned before but perhaps this lesser-known tip warrants inclusion in OliveTin, either as an information snippet, or the basis for a plugin that helps us customize our channel logos?

I've been noodling this around for the last couple of days, and here's an approach that I think could be good:

• Create a "Channel Collection" that contains the channels for which you'd like to use custom logos

• Collect the custom logos you'd like to use and name them with their Channels DVR "tvg-id"

• Upload those logos using the existing DVR - Manage - Images feature of Channels DVR

• Use the "Generate a Channels DVR M3U Playlist" OliveTin Action, with the collection name you chose and a filter of "logos".

• This will generate an M3U that will contain just the channels who's logos you want to override, and will have those logos set to the matching logo name from those uploaded images.

• This M3U can be used via copy-and-paste, or can also be made available on a URL via the OliveTin companion static-file-server container

How does that process flow sound @Fofer and @cyberskier?

[cyberskier]

I would have to test it. I just output all my channels from OliveTin, pulled out the ones I wanted and put those into their own custom channel (so copy and paste), and deleted the last line, which was the m3u8 link, if I recall. I then uploaded the logos to my web server, and pasted the link to the logo after “ tvg-logo” for each channel.

[Fofer]

Sounds like a great approach to me!

[bnhf]

@Fofer

OliveTin scout here I’m not sure if it’s been mentioned before but perhaps this lesser-known tip warrants inclusion in OliveTin, either as an informational snippet, or the basis for a plugin that helps us customize our channel logos? Unless there’s a better way…

@Fofer @cyberskier I've added this Custom Channel Logos "trick" to the latest build of OliveTin, bnhf/olivetin:latest and bnhf/olivetin:2024.02.21.

The process is as described a couple of posts back, with much more detail and screenshots to be found here:

Custom Channel Logos Feature be added

I've added this little bit of custom logo magic to OliveTin-for-Channels, in the most recent build of bnhf/olivetin:latest (aka bnhf/olivetin:2024.02.21). And, here's the process to make it happen via OliveTin: Create a "Channel Collection" containing only the channels for which you want to override their logos. The collection can be named whatever you like -- I'm using "Logos": [screenshot-media-server6_8089-2024.02.21-12_03_37] Gather the custom logos you'd like to use, which can either be…

[bnhf]

New OliveTin-for-Channels pushed today with tags :latest and :2024.02.23. Total update for all sample docker-composes for every extension somebody might want to use with Channels (that I could think of). All examples are for use with Portainer-Stacks! I also posted them all here:

A docker-compose for every Channels-related extension -- suitable for Portainer-Stacks!

I've just updated my docker-compose examples, in OliveTin-for-Channels, for the many excellent container projects that are suitable for use with Channels -- via the WebUI for Docker -- Portainer. I thought I'd post them here as well, for anyone not using OliveTin yet. The idea with the way these yamls are structured, is that you shouldn't need to do ANY editing of the yaml itself, all installation specific values should be set via the environment variables in that section of Port…

[cyberskier]

So dumb/newbie question: How do I get the client names to input as variables for the “send message” feature? My guess would be from the client section of the DVR, but I have some client names with spaces in them.

(I believe I’ve otherwise figured out how to add the CHANNELS_CLIENTS variable, but just don’t know where to find the client names)

Thanks!

[bnhf]

@cyberskier

I believe I’ve otherwise figured out how to add the CHANNELS_CLIENTS variable, but just don’t know where to find the client names

The way I set this up, any message is sent to ALL defined clients. My thinking was, if the message is intended for just one person, put their name(s) in the title. Overall, I've been trying to keep the data required for individual actions as streamlined as possible.

[cyberskier]

Thanks. But don’t I first have to define those clients in Portainer in an environment variable? Or can I just not do that, and it goes to all clients by default?