WRAL+ and M3U

Playground
#1

I've got a few Livestream options I'd love to add as a channel, but I don't know where to begin. I tried using docker but found it to be more of a headache (probably was user error). Anyhow...

One is a local channel that doesn't have a strong enough signal to pick up OTA. The live stream is about halfway down this link
https://wggs16.com/

The other is WRAL News+. Its live stream link is below as well

If you have any ideas on how to make these work, I'd love to know. I figure I'd have to go through the M3U route, but not sure where to start there either. Thanks in advance for the help!

#2

I built an antenna to pick up a couple of stations on this channel. I could pick it up, but the frequency band is just too susceptible to interference. I eventually ended up signing up for frndlytv, and use frndlytv-for-channels. If you want to create an m3u for the WRAL News+ link, you can.

If you are using a chrome based browser, you can hit F12 while on the website (or right-click, then click inspect). You will want to look at the Network tab of the inspection window on the right side. Type m3u8 in the filter box, and you should see the link that you can copy use in your m3u file.

Create a new file named wral.m3u in a text editor. It should be similar to this:
#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="WRAL" channel-number="16" tvg-logo="https://wwwcache.wral.com/asset/news/2022/07/07/20364186/newsplus_blue_16x9-DMID1-5vwywg8iv-640x360.jpg" tvg-name="WRAL" tvc-guide-stationid="120392" tvc-guide-description="WRAL" tvc-stream-vcodec="h264" tvc-stream-acodec="aac",WRAL
https://content.uplynk.com/channel/4f69a64fd31e4e80bf62e31d1d57f9e5.m3u8 <--- this is the link that you copied.

Now you should be able to add a source in the settings of Channels with a Stream format of HLS, Source - File, Path to m3u file you created.

I do not know what the gracenote station id is for this channel, so the guide will not be right unless you update the station id in the m3u file.

I am by no means an expert, but these steps should get you up and running. Also, sometimes links change on streaming websites, so you might have to change the link in your m3u file if that happens.

Hope this helps.

1 Like
#3

Using the information provided by @dewwest I was able to create a custom channels for WRAL as a text source. See setup pic below.

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="WRAL" channel-number="10216" tvg-logo="https://wwwcache.wral.com/asset/news/2022/07/07/20364186/newsplus_blue_16x9-DMID1-5vwywg8iv-640x360.jpg" tvg-name="WRAL" tvc-guide-description="WRAL" tvc-stream-vcodec="h264" tvc-stream-acodec="aac",WRAL
https://content.uplynk.com/channel/4f69a64fd31e4e80bf62e31d1d57f9e5.m3u8

I removed the tvc-guide-stationid in order to force the hourly blocks saying "WRAL @ XXam". Since this feed is a 24 hour online news feed that has no gracenote EPG data, the best option is just to split it into blocks. Of course, change the channel-number to fit your preferences.

WRALtxtsetup
WRALtxtsetup511×910 59.9 KB

WRALgrid
WRALgrid971×210 28.7 KB

WRALvid
WRALvid800×784 101 KB

#4

Works great! Thanks to you both!

#5

Thanks for the info here. I have just started learning all this.

Questions:

  1. What are option for changing Channel #? I changed it to "5" in the text, but that did not work. Had to change back to "10216".
  2. How would I make this channel come up as a News channel in the guide?
  3. Is there a way to add my local OTA channels into this feature, as my old HDHomerun device no longer works? Like NBC, CBS, and ABC local affiliates.
#6

Make sure you selected "Prefer channel-number from M3U" and that you do not already have a station with the number 5.

image

Old stuff may be sticking around in the guide, too, so be sure to "Delete and Recreate Database" to clear that out and get everything fresh.

image

Read under "Guide Data Fallback" in the directions:

Assuming you don't have guide data for this, you can use the tvc-guide-genres="News".

Not unless they have a publicly available available m3u, which is highly unlikely. However, there are other options, depending upon your situation and market: