No Audio Stream on most IPTV Channels

[pascholnahui]

Hello,

I'm using Kodi 21.2 on Windows 11 and play free IPTV-channels using the IPTV Simple Client.
I also wanted to make recordings so I tried NextPVR an set everything up on the web interface.
Using the NextPVR addon in Kodi the channels play fine and recording is also possible.

The problem is that most channels don't show an audio stream. Not in Kodi and not not in the Windows NextPVR app in Live-TV.

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pascho.../GerTV.m3u

It only shows an audio stream in these two channels:
ARTE
ANIXE Serie

What can I do to make audio work in the rest of the channels like it does in the IPTV Simple Client?

Thanks.

[mvallevand]

We'd need to see the zipped logs from NextPVR trying to play these in Live TV. I tried one WDR Aachen and it worked. It is a complex stream though so does depend on ffmpeg. I wouldn't mind the Kodi debug log too since although it plays audio Kodi first reports

2025-05-21 15:39:52.389 T:32620 info <general>: ffmpeg[0x24a38474100]: Stream #0:1[0x1e2](und): Audio: aac ([15][0][0][0] / 0x000F), 0 channels

Martin

[pascholnahui]

I hope these are the logs you need.

[sub]

If you focus on a specific channel, does it work on the second attempt?

[pascholnahui]

No.
At the bottom it says:
Streaming failed (transcoder exited)

I tried to change transcoder settings. Now the channels mentioned above and the channels "Dokusat", "Welt der Wunder" and "SR Fernsehen" work in the web player but every other channels says:
failed to start requested stream.

[sub]

The problem is that most channels don't show an audio stream. Not in Kodi and not not in the Windows NextPVR app in Live-TV.

If you do a recording, and try playing it back, do you get audio? Assuming no audio, can you supply a sample recording?

[mvallevand]

OK for DAS Erst the issue is the same as this one https://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?tid=66213 I feel there is no way DAS Erst should be streamed with direct play and it is incorrectly working on the head application/vnd.apple.mpegurl unless there is a change and the m3u8 downloader can handle multiple programs and separate a/v streams as I noted in the other thread.

Code:

#EXTM3U
#EXT-X-VERSION:4
#EXT-X-INDEPENDENT-SEGMENTS
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=2147200,AVERAGE-BANDWIDTH=1460800,VIDEO-RANGE=SDR,CODECS="avc1.4d401f,mp4a.40.2",RESOLUTION=640x360,FRAME-RATE=50.000,AUDIO="program_audio",SUBTITLES="subs",HDCP-LEVEL=NONE
master360p1200.m3u8
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=8500800,AVERAGE-BANDWIDTH=5640800,VIDEO-RANGE=SDR,CODECS="avc1.64002a,mp4a.40.2",RESOLUTION=1920x1080,FRAME-RATE=50.000,AUDIO="program_audio",SUBTITLES="subs",HDCP-LEVEL=NONE
master1080p5000.m3u8
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=5491200,AVERAGE-BANDWIDTH=3660800,VIDEO-RANGE=SDR,CODECS="avc1.640020,mp4a.40.2",RESOLUTION=1280x720,FRAME-RATE=50.000,AUDIO="program_audio",SUBTITLES="subs",HDCP-LEVEL=NONE
master720p3200.m3u8
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=2816000,AVERAGE-BANDWIDTH=1900800,VIDEO-RANGE=SDR,CODECS="avc1.4d401f,mp4a.40.2",RESOLUTION=960x540,FRAME-RATE=50.000,AUDIO="program_audio",SUBTITLES="subs",HDCP-LEVEL=NONE
master540p1600.m3u8
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=1311200,AVERAGE-BANDWIDTH=910800,VIDEO-RANGE=SDR,CODECS="avc1.4d401e,mp4a.40.2",RESOLUTION=480x270,FRAME-RATE=50.000,AUDIO="program_audio",SUBTITLES="subs",HDCP-LEVEL=NONE
master270p700.m3u8
#EXT-X-MEDIA:TYPE=AUDIO,LANGUAGE="de",NAME="Deutsch",AUTOSELECT=YES,DEFAULT=YES,CHANNELS="2",GROUP-ID="program_audio",URI="masteraudio1.m3u8"
#EXT-X-MEDIA:TYPE=AUDIO,LANGUAGE="de",NAME="Klare Sprache",AUTOSELECT=YES,DEFAULT=NO,CHANNELS="2",GROUP-ID="program_audio",URI="masteraudio2.m3u8"
#EXT-X-MEDIA:TYPE=AUDIO,LANGUAGE="de",NAME="Audiodeskription",CHARACTERISTICS="public.accessibility.describes-video",AUTOSELECT=YES,DEFAULT=NO,CHANNELS="2",GROUP-ID="program_audio",URI="masteraudio3.m3u8"
#EXT-X-MEDIA:TYPE=SUBTITLES,NAME="Deutsch",DEFAULT=YES,AUTOSELECT=YES,FORCED=NO,LANGUAGE="de",GROUP-ID="subs",URI="mastersubs.m3u8"

Martin

[pascholnahui]

Here is a recording.
MediaInfo also says there is no audio stream.

[mvallevand]

Sorry attachments need to be under 2MB you typically need to use external links but I think my earilier explanation shows what is going wrong.

Martin

[pascholnahui]

I didn't really get the "extra" command. Could I use that to make these channels work and if yes how do I do that exactly?
I tried to write an extra file that looks like this:

Code:

<extras>
    <channel name="Das Erste HD">
      <command>ffmpeg.exe</command>
      <args>-i https://daserste-live.ard-mcdn.de/daserste/live/hls/de/master1080p5000.m3u8 -i https://daserste-live.ard-mcdn.de/daserste/live/hls/de/master-masteraudio1.m3u8  -codec copy -f mpegts - </args>
    </channel>
  </extras>

The Extra channel appears in the channel list when I search for new devices but it won't play. No video and no audio.
Clearly I'm doing something wrong.