Tvheadend

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h1. Automatic IPTV Network

The IPTV Automatic Network parses a playlist (in m3u format) and creates all muxes from this list.

h2. Identifier 

The URL (including query string) is used as the identifier. Changes to a URL (on a reload of the playlist) would mean Tvheadend sees the entry as a new "mux", existing muxes/URLs that are no longer present in the playlist will be removed.

h2. Scanning

Tvheadend will (by default) probe each entry in the playlist for service details, depending on the size of the playlist, this can take a very long time. Some service providers don't allow this kind of probing/mass scanning and may deny (or rate limit) access to the streams, leading to scan failures. In such cases you must disable the probing, or set the maximum number of input streams.

h2. Disable Service Probing/Speed up Scanning/Create Services Without Scanning

To create services without scanning/service probing you must set a _Service ID_ (usually this value is 1) and turn off _Scan after creation_ during the creation of an _IPTV Automatic Network_, existing networks can be edited and then _forced scanned_ to achieve the same outcome. The prerequisite is that the imported IPTV MPEG-TS stream(s) only have one service with identical service identification (Service ID - SID).

h2. Maximum Input Streams

If your provider only allows you to view a limited number of concurrent streams you'll need to enter this value into the _Maximum # input streams_ field for your network, not doing so may lead to scanning and/or tuning failures. 

h2. Determining Service ID (SID)

To determine the correct SID for your playlist follow these steps:

# Open the m3u playlist in your favourite text editor and copy a URL, any url as long as it points to a MPEGTS stream. *If you've already imported your playlist, done a scan & have successfully scanned  service(s) you can skip this and the next two steps*.

# Create a new (temporary) IPTV network (not a _IPTV Automatic Network_) and add the copied URL as a new mux. 

# Tvheadend should now probe the URL for service details. 

# Now, In the _Services_ tab, you should see a service in the grid, along with lots of other details, take note of the value under the _Service ID_ column. See notes 1/2 below if you can't see the column or value.

# Now that you have the correct SID, you can enter it into the _Service ID_ field when creating (or editing) your automatic IPTV network. See note 1 below.

h2. Notes

# In order to see both _Service ID_ and _Scan after creation_, or the _Service ID_ column, the user interface _View level_ must be set to _Expert_. 

# If you have no value under the _Service ID_ column, Tvheadend has yet to probe the service or has failed to do so, check the log (click the bar at the bottom of the webui) for details. You can also force a scan/probe of a service by copying the play link (play icon, from the _Services_ tab) into your favourite media player.

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The information on this page applies to Tvheadend version 4.2.1+.