@tmm1 that was fast works like a charm.... now can test flirc 
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I numbered the channels even the ones on the HDhomerun the same as my local Verizon guide and they all fell in place and more like what my wife is used to. Great work here. This is starting to justify a lifetime premiere membership to Emby.
#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="510" tvg-logo="https://tmsimg.fancybits.co/assets/s28719_ll_h3_ac.png" tvg-name="WBFFDT" group-title="Favorites",FOX
http://192.168.1.243:8089/devices/ANY/channels/45.1/stream.mpg?format=ts
I actually made a m3u file of my 3 tuners combined HDhomerun, Locast and Spectrum.
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Yeah this solved the problem in my household where some prefer Emby for viewing and recording ... I prefer Channels DVR ... too many tuners were getting used when watching or recording same channels ...
No longer a problem Channels cannot be beat. I have Channels DVR folders in EMBY and EMBY folders imported in channels DVR.
I'm glad I stumbled over this thread. I'm setting up things for both me and my Mom who is a technophobe.
Channels DVR kept throwing hurdles at us for her. Most recently she might watch a channel awhile and then try to change channels. If for whatever reason the timing had gotten off a little (buffering I guess) it would pop up a dialog to confirm she wanted to leave her time-shifted show behind. The remote I set her up with doesn't even have the option to pause, rewind,etc. Nor does it have a select button for her to confirm. I digress...
I think this may work out better. I used the links to the m3u files further up the thread to create a custom list of the channels she cares about (not as easy as clicking hide in Channels DVR of course).
I'm then able to use that list as an IPTV source in multiple apps. The first one I tried was "TVIRL" which combines that m3u list as a source with Android Live Channels. That might be of interest to some because it meant I could also include Pluto channels since they are already integrated into Live Channels.
I think I'm going to end up using TiViMate though. For whatever reason it seems to switch channels faster.
I did try Emby but it's really overkill for us. The only thing it has that I can't seem to replicate is a way to get guide data. Mom really doesn't care about that part but it bugs my OCD to see "No Information" on every screen when flipping channels. LOL I do wish there was an easy way to get the existing guide data from Channels because it has matched up guide data far better than any of the ways I tried in the past day of fiddling with this.
The last thing I looked at was Schedules Direct for EPG data and it was just beyond me. As far as I can tell none of the approved apps fit with anything I'm using.
Anyway thank you for everyone who has shared what they are doing in this thread. It has definitely helped.
Did you try your local verizon or other cable companies. I matched the channel number in the beginning of the m3u of each channel to their guide. The "510" is from Verizons guide. #EXTINF:-1 channel-id="510"
Also downloaded the guide in Emby.
#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="510" tvg-logo="https://tmsimg.fancybits.co/assets/s28719_ll_h3_ac.png" tvg-name="WBFFDT" group-title="Favorites",FOX
http://192.168.1.243:8089/devices/ANY/channels/45.1/stream.mpg?format=ts
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In Emby the guide works fine. For my Philo stations it matched them up perfect with no effort. For the locals even after re-doing the stations names in the m3u I still had to match some of them manually but it wasn't a big deal since there aren't a ton of them. The app is kind of overkill for my purpose though. And for some reason TiviMate changes channels much quicker. So did the TVIRL method of including the m3u in Android Live Channels.
I tried Jellyfin which seems to be modeled after TiviMate. The server part is almost identical to Emby. With Jellyfin and Schedules Direct again I was able to match up the stations just like in Emby. But the Android App for that was slow and felt really inferior. If I was going that route, I'd just go on to Emby for sure.
I finally gave up on the guide data. I tried Zap2XML but figuring out that script was way beyond me and I found mixed messages of whether it was even working anymore. That was my last try I think. Mom doesn't care about that aspect. It is really mainly me staring at the taunting "No Information" message on every channel that's bothered. LOL
I'll probably just stick to using Chanels DVR for my own viewing. But it's nice that this gives Mom a more bare bones approach so I really do appreciate all the knowledge that's been shared in this thread.
FYI. I guess I was not done. I managed to figure out how to use WebGrab+Plus to get guide data into the right format. Combined with a modified playlist from Channels DVR it seems to be working well in TiviMate. I haven't tried it in any of the other apps yet but theoretically that means you should be able to use TVIRL in Android Live Channels to get TVE Channels, etc. into one app together with Pluto and whatever else integrates. Anyway not completely related to the original using Emby but FYI the built in playlists open up other options. 
I use TVIRL but pull from xTeve I'll check out WebGrab and see how that works. I agree that this opens all types of options. I'm trying to see how VLC could play in the mix as well (with guide data) for a desktop app but Emby does just fine on Linux, Mac and Win. For me Plex just doesn't perform well. Plex takes 5 or more seconds to start the live video. Emby and VLC play almost instantly.
I tried individual streams in VLC and they worked. I never tried to do anything more advanced than that. I was mainly curious if it would work.
Webgrab+Plus has a learning curve to it and you have to pay (5 euro for a year) if you want more than 30 channels. It's very manual code-wise not push a few buttons and done, but once I figured out how it worked I was able to rig together the guide data and now have it set to run with a batch file that will copy it to dropbox periodically.
Being able to combine Channels DVR and its abilities with other software has given me a slightly dumbed down version that will work well for Mom. Flipping channels is almost like on the traditional TV. A little bit slower but I think that's primarily down to rural DSL. I'm hoping for good things from Starlink.
On the plus side she can now see program guide info and know what is actually on which is not possible on the antique cable system here.
Is there a way to automate channel renaming to more easily get proper guide data for Emby?
What feed are you looking to rename ... my Cable and OTA feed had no problem matching in EMBY as ChannelsDVR and EMBY use the same guide provider.
Charter / Spectrum in Riverside California. I have very few matches..
When I was using Tvheadend, I had to manually name the channel feeds to get them to match properly. If you save the M3U playlist to your disk to import into your IPTV DVR (Emby, Tvheadend, Plex, etc.), then it's only a one-time job to match the channels.
(And it can be a hassle, but it's just a one-and-done thing. But it works; and I was using Charter/Spectrum from Riverside, too.)
Ae you talking TVE because TMM1 has made a change to match the channels from the guide for regular Cable and OTA.
Also make sure your server has the most recent prerelease and you recreate the M3U
Is there a way to automate channel renaming to more easily get proper guide data for Emby?
There are a few choices to automate the normalizing of the call signs. All of the options I'm aware of require a bit of work.
- Download the m3u file from channels-dvr and do a "find and replace" in your favorite text editor. This is one and done approach and you'll only need to update the m3u when the lineup changes (new channel added, etc.). You will still need to find the different guide sources in Emby to get all of the guide data.
** in my case, it takes 3 guide sources in Emby (local OTA, DirectTV with zip code 10001, Charter Spectrum with zip code 90001.
-- OR --
- Use xTeve to link to the channels-dvr m3u (always live and updated) and map the channels to the guide data. You would need to get up to speed on xmltv and you would need an account with Schedules Direct. This approach is not simple but has a lot of benefits (makes your m3u look like a HDHR device on your network). Plus your m3u and guide data are managed together.
-- The xTeve option also allows you to use lineups like ABCNews by assigning a dummy guide source so the channel shows in the guide without a guide source.
I'm wondering why you are using guide sources in different time zones? Also, how'd you find out which channels match to which guide source?
The East coast guides do not include some of the Pacific channels (like USAP, BRAVOP, etc).
I have a Schedules Direct account. I experimented with different guide sources by downloading their data. I wrote a program to match channels-dvr channels to guide lineups by matching their station id's. This took quite a few attempts until I found the mix of guides to match all of them up.
BTW - this is how I accomplished this and I knew next to nothing when I started. I couldn't even create a m3u manually. Lots of Googling, frustration and gin.
I found that adding the Philo guide from schedules direct to EMBY matche my east coast channels. Like A & E , AMC lifetime etc...
How'd you get and input a Philo Guide?
