Pluto for Channels

From what I understand, content doesn't actually flow through the docker container or the non docker solution. Both solutions simply provide guide data and source information (where the content can be accessed). If either solution failed, you'd end up with stale data. It wouldn't produce an error like you show. I think @HankLloydRight is right, but if you have specific channels that are not working and logs that show what is going on, it might be something that can be tracked down.

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I went to the URL in the nocords.xyz pluto playlist file for the Julia channel:

https://service-stitcher.clusters.pluto.tv/stitch/hls/channel/606b5ee42b54a100079dd593/master.m3u8?advertisingId=&appName=web&appVersion=unknown&appStoreUrl=&architecture=&buildVersion=&clientTime=0&deviceDNT=0&deviceId=1a7762ea-ffbf-11ec-a3c4-80b05c6203e3&deviceMake=Chrome&deviceModel=web&deviceType=web&deviceVersion=unknown&includeExtendedEvents=false&sid=6010eeed-5955-4c5b-9600-6a7a484c25eb&userId=&serverSideAds=true

And it returned a master.m3u8 file (text below). So I think that link is working, I still suspect it's a local network problem.

#EXTM3U
#EXT-X-MEDIA:TYPE=SUBTITLES,GROUP-ID="subs",NAME="English",DEFAULT=NO,FORCED=NO,URI="subtitle/en/playlist.m3u8?terminate=false&embedPartner=&serverSideAds=true&paln=&includeExtendedEvents=false&architecture=&deviceId=1a7762ea-ffbf-11ec-a3c4-80b05c6203e3&deviceVersion=unknown&appVersion=unknown&deviceType=web&deviceMake=Chrome&sid=6010eeed-5955-4c5b-9600-6a7a484c25eb&advertisingId=&deviceLat=0&deviceLon=0&deviceDNT=0&deviceModel=web&userId=&appName=web",LANGUAGE="en"
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=997452,SUBTITLES="subs"
997452/playlist.m3u8?terminate=false&embedPartner=&serverSideAds=true&paln=&includeExtendedEvents=false&architecture=&deviceId=1a7762ea-ffbf-11ec-a3c4-80b05c6203e3&deviceVersion=unknown&appVersion=unknown&deviceType=web&deviceMake=Chrome&sid=6010eeed-5955-4c5b-9600-6a7a484c25eb&advertisingId=&deviceLat=0&deviceLon=0&deviceDNT=0&deviceModel=web&userId=&appName=web
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=1539795,SUBTITLES="subs"
1539795/playlist.m3u8?terminate=false&embedPartner=&serverSideAds=true&paln=&includeExtendedEvents=false&architecture=&deviceId=1a7762ea-ffbf-11ec-a3c4-80b05c6203e3&deviceVersion=unknown&appVersion=unknown&deviceType=web&deviceMake=Chrome&sid=6010eeed-5955-4c5b-9600-6a7a484c25eb&advertisingId=&deviceLat=0&deviceLon=0&deviceDNT=0&deviceModel=web&userId=&appName=web
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=2142297,SUBTITLES="subs"
2142297/playlist.m3u8?terminate=false&embedPartner=&serverSideAds=true&paln=&includeExtendedEvents=false&architecture=&deviceId=1a7762ea-ffbf-11ec-a3c4-80b05c6203e3&deviceVersion=unknown&appVersion=unknown&deviceType=web&deviceMake=Chrome&sid=6010eeed-5955-4c5b-9600-6a7a484c25eb&advertisingId=&deviceLat=0&deviceLon=0&deviceDNT=0&deviceModel=web&userId=&appName=web
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=3063648,SUBTITLES="subs"
3063648/playlist.m3u8?terminate=false&embedPartner=&serverSideAds=true&paln=&includeExtendedEvents=false&architecture=&deviceId=1a7762ea-ffbf-11ec-a3c4-80b05c6203e3&deviceVersion=unknown&appVersion=unknown&deviceType=web&deviceMake=Chrome&sid=6010eeed-5955-4c5b-9600-6a7a484c25eb&advertisingId=&deviceLat=0&deviceLon=0&deviceDNT=0&deviceModel=web&userId=&appName=web
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=572723,SUBTITLES="subs"
572723/playlist.m3u8?terminate=false&embedPartner=&serverSideAds=true&paln=&includeExtendedEvents=false&architecture=&deviceId=1a7762ea-ffbf-11ec-a3c4-80b05c6203e3&deviceVersion=unknown&appVersion=unknown&deviceType=web&deviceMake=Chrome&sid=6010eeed-5955-4c5b-9600-6a7a484c25eb&advertisingId=&deviceLat=0&deviceLon=0&deviceDNT=0&deviceModel=web&userId=&appName=web

Fixed it

I run my channels qnap server behind a VPN for security purposes.

I stopped and then restarted the VPN. Its working again

Both suggestions were pertinent. The fact that I could access Pluto directly and the "tls" observation by hanklloydright pointed to a https / certificate issue localy

Thanks to all. Great community!

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Just curious what the expected amount of guide data should be. Should it be more than 12 hours of guide info? Want to set my expectations on what I should be seeing because right now I'm getting 12 hours and not the 2 weeks like I'm getting on TVE, OTA and Frndly.

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That sounds about right: the Pluto guide data is limited in terms of future programming. If you try the Pluto app you’ll also see their guide doesn’t go too far ahead.

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Yeah, 12 hours is right. I believe the recommended XMLTV guide refresh is Every 3 Hours (the data on the backend only updates every 3 hours). Same goes for the non-docker solution.

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Thank you @Absenm and @blackngold75 for the confirmation! Thought I was doing something wrong for a bit there.

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Interesting article about Pluto TV:

I will say, being able to integrate all of this dynamic content alongside my other “regular” TV channels, and being able to surf and search and record any of it for later viewing, via the magic that is Channels DVR, has been awesome. I feel like not enough people know about it.

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Just came to post a shout out, this is awesome!! We only have OTA channels (67 I think) and this added 365 channels :slight_smile:

Thanks for all the great work!

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18 posts were split to a new topic: Pluto setup issues

Is there any logical reason why I wouldn't be able to get the Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy channels to show up from Pluto?

I've had this setup for about 9 months now. Channels server was showing me with 352 Pluto channels. I went thru the process of downloading the latest source and creating new container. Reloaded the playlist and still 352 channels. Even tried creating a new source on the Channels server and it's still showing the same number. Everything else seems to be working fine. I can stream & record. Program guide data updates every few hours. Just can't figure out why some networks are missing. Thx.

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Thanks. I SWEAR I searched this discussion for "Wheel" before posting, and didn't get a result. Chalk it up to user error, I guess.

Regardless, good to know it's not just my setup. Hopefully will show up eventually.

So it looks like both Wheel and Jeopardy are available using the standard streaming method, they just are not exposed to the API. You could add them as a Custom Channels source with the source type of Text.

A couple of things to note:

  1. These are not going to have EPG data. They're not going to be good for recording.
  2. They will eventually stop working because everyone is going to use them verbatim as they are listed below or the sid is going to expire. If that happens, download a Pluto master playlist from https://nocords.xyz and replace everything after the master.m3u8 with the URL parameters from the playlist you download.
#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:0 channel-id="jeopardy" channel-number="1005" tvg-logo="https://images.pluto.tv/channels/625f04253e5f6c000708f3b7/colorLogoPNG.png" tvc-guide-art="https://images.pluto.tv/channels/625f04253e5f6c000708f3b7/featuredImage.jpg?fill=blur&fit=fill&fm=jpg&h=562&q=75&w=1000" tvc-guide-title="Jeopardy!" group-title="Game Shows", Jeopardy!
https://service-stitcher-ipv4.clusters.pluto.tv/stitch/hls/channel/625f04253e5f6c000708f3b7/master.m3u8?advertisingId=&appName=web&appVersion=unknown&appStoreUrl=&architecture=&buildVersion=&clientTime=0&deviceDNT=0&deviceId=2c6d977a-9395-11ed-8ba2-4af9b0531fdd&deviceMake=Chrome&deviceModel=web&deviceType=web&deviceVersion=unknown&includeExtendedEvents=false&sid=1a246232-1da8-473d-9cd6-3eee0717be0f&userId=&serverSideAds=true

#EXTINF:0 channel-id="wheel-of-fortune" channel-number="1010" tvg-logo="https://images.pluto.tv/channels/625f054c5dfea70007244612/colorLogoPNG.png" tvc-guide-art="https://images.pluto.tv/channels/625f054c5dfea70007244612/featuredImage.jpg?fill=blur&fit=fill&fm=jpg&h=562&q=75&w=1000" tvc-guide-title="Wheel of Fortune" group-title="Game Shows", Wheel of Fortune
https://service-stitcher-ipv4.clusters.pluto.tv/stitch/hls/channel/625f054c5dfea70007244612/master.m3u8?advertisingId=&appName=web&appVersion=unknown&appStoreUrl=&architecture=&buildVersion=&clientTime=0&deviceDNT=0&deviceId=2c6d977a-9395-11ed-8ba2-4af9b0531fdd&deviceMake=Chrome&deviceModel=web&deviceType=web&deviceVersion=unknown&includeExtendedEvents=false&sid=1a246232-1da8-473d-9cd6-3eee0717be0f&userId=&serverSideAds=true
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That's great, @fashioncents! Thanks for sharing. Maybe @HankLloydRight can integrate those channels into nocords.xyz too, that sort of content doesn't really need EPG data to enjoy anyway.

So those two channels are not in the standard download from Pluto? Isn't that strange?

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I simply added them as a source titled GameShows01 and pasted the text there.

Had channels calculate the channel number. It displays in the guide with default hour (@8AM, @9AM) structure so it is recordable.

There is no ignore setting for refreshing the XMLTV Guide Data so I set it for refreshing daily.

Oh and toggle the drop-down for the SOURCE as TEXT instead of URL or it won't work

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Yeah - I should have been more clear. What I meant was it’s not going to have the episode metadata, so the episodes won’t have that information when you record them.

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A post was split to a new topic: New Pluto Channels Feb 2023

@maddox curious about there always being a space after the comma and before the channel name on the #EXTINF line?
It really throws off some scenarios where matching playlist to xml by channel name is required.