m3u syntax

[jeneral]

I have an IPTV service that allows me to export the channels to an m3u. I have modified the m3u to use the service's channel numbering. I can import the m3u using Kodi Simple IPTV addon and get the desired channel numbers. NextPVR has no problem importing the m3u but it ignores the channel number field. Instead of the desired channel number, I get a sequential channel list (1-30). I was curious if there is a correct m3u syntax to import the desired channel numbers?

Here is a line from my m3u. In this case I'm trying to get the channel number to be 140 instead of 1 (since it's the first channel in my file). Kodi appears to use the 'tvg-chno' field to assign the channel number.

#EXTINF:-1 tvg-id="10179" tvg-chno="140" tvg-name="ESPN US HD" tvg-logo="http://*/*/misc/logos/240/549.png" group-title="Eng;Sports",ESPN US HD


I also have a question regarding non-english characters. The line below is from my m3u:

#EXTINF:-1 tvg-id="76943" tvg-chno="873" tvg-name="Bein Sports en Español HD" tvg-logo="http://*/*/misc/logos/240/1239.png" group-title="Esp;Sports",Bein Sports en Español HD

In NextPVR the channel name appears as such:

Bein Sports en Español HD

I can manually change it but I also see similar glitches in guide listings and descriptions.

[sub]

I haven't actually encountered a .m3u file with this 'tvg-chno' field, but I've add support for it in the next build.

Regarding the non-English characters, can you zip up an m3u file and PM it to me so I can check the character encoding? I'm happy for you to search and replace any username/password info in the file before zipping it.

[sdennis91]

I ran into a problem with the way nextpvr reads the m3u files. mostly regarding this. The m3u editors add the line as linktochannel"tvg-chno="168"group-title="USA Religion",(Faith) Hillsong and next pvr will not see the tvg-chno. So i did some testing and found that nextpvr needs this info to be linktochannel "tvg-chno="168" group-title="USA Religion",(Faith) Hillsong it seems something needs fixed for nextpvr to read tvg-chno with or without a space before and after the " as some editors such as ones thats online will write with a space and ones that are downloaded and used locally will write the m3u file without a space. Correct me if I'm wrong, if so direct me to another m3u editor that allows me to put the tvg-chno in the correct place.

[mvallevand]

I think you are wrong you probably are using your online editor incorrectly, perhaps cutting and pasting from a browser and not using a download option. The fields are space delimited that is why quotes are needed for multi word titles.

Martin

[sub]

I ran into a problem with the way nextpvr reads the m3u files. mostly regarding this. The m3u editors add the line as linktochannel"tvg-chno="168"group-title="USA Religion",(Faith) Hillsong and next pvr will not see the tvg-chno. So i did some testing and found that nextpvr needs this info to be linktochannel "tvg-chno="168" group-title="USA Religion",(Faith) Hillsong it seems something needs fixed for nextpvr to read tvg-chno with or without a space before and after the " as some editors such as ones thats online will write with a space and ones that are downloaded and used locally will write the m3u file without a space. Correct me if I'm wrong, if so direct me to another m3u editor that allows me to put the tvg-chno in the correct place.

Can you post a few lines, so we can't see exactly what you mean? (edit out your username/password if it's in the urls)

I'm pretty sure it should always have spaces.

[RealTeej]

Thought I'd chime in as I am having the same trouble.

It seems that different applications use different parameters in the M3U8 file to assign the channel numbers

In mine seeing as I have switched between different PVRs I currently have:
tvg-num
tvh-chnum
tvg-chno

NextPVR doesn't appear to use any of those.. As a suggestion can NextPVR potentially add something whether its an option in the settings or whether in the backend it just checks for tags such as the ones above and uses whichever one appears first in an M3U8 file? And as a fallback then reverts to numbering from the lowest available channel number in nextpvr.

eg. The below M3U8 entry in my file has several parameters. If tvg-num appears first NextPVR should use that as a priority over tvg-chno for example.

#EXTINF:-1 channelID='51c75f7bb6f26ba1cd00002f' tvg-num='1000' tvg-chno='1000' tvg-name='Little Stars Universe' tvg-id='51c75f7bb6f26ba1cd00002f' tvg-logo='https://images.pluto.tv/image.png' group-title='M3U|plutotvcustom',Little Stars Universe
http://10.0.0.0:1234/M3U/watch/51c75f7bb6f26ba1cd00002f

[mvallevand]

I remember sub adding tvg-chno which I consider the standard https://github.com/kodi-pvr/pvr.iptvsimp...v-elements but I know he removed one element because another used complained so I am not sure if this was it. If it is still supported it should rule IMO

The bottom line is without a custom app IPTV providers can do what they want and there isn't one solution that will make everyone happy.

Martin

[sub]

In mine seeing as I have switched between different PVRs I currently have:
tvg-num
tvh-chnum
tvg-chno

NextPVR doesn't appear to use any of those.. As a suggestion can NextPVR potentially add something whether its an option in the settings or whether in the backend it just checks for tags such as the ones above and uses whichever one appears first in an M3U8 file? And as a fallback then reverts to numbering from the lowest available channel number in nextpvr.

Current versions of NextPVR support tvg-chno (along with channel-number and channel-id). You posted in the old v4 forum though, so not sure if you're just using a really old version that doesn't support these.

[RealTeej]

In mine seeing as I have switched between different PVRs I currently have:
tvg-num
tvh-chnum
tvg-chno

NextPVR doesn't appear to use any of those.. As a suggestion can NextPVR potentially add something whether its an option in the settings or whether in the backend it just checks for tags such as the ones above and uses whichever one appears first in an M3U8 file? And as a fallback then reverts to numbering from the lowest available channel number in nextpvr.

Current versions of NextPVR support tvg-chno (along with channel-number and channel-id). You posted in the old v4 forum though, so not sure if you're just using a really old version that doesn't support these.

Apologies, am using the most current up-to-date version.

I've added the channel-number='1000'  tag in however doesn't affect the way nextpvr picks up the channels. I know you mentioned channel-id was the other tag, however could it be trying to use the channelID as well? As I use that for linking to the EPG it is a random bunch of characters and numbers which may explain why it isn't working correctly..

[sub]

Give me an example m3u, using tvg-chno, and I'll try importing it here.