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TV Mode

TV mode streams live channels from M3U playlists. You add playlists by URL or local file path, and the app parses, groups, dedupes, and lets you search and play them.

Entering TV mode

  • Ctrl+T toggles Streaming / TV mode.
  • On first entry with no playlists, the playlist manager opens.
  • While in TV mode, type to filter channels by name or group, Enter to play, /list for all channels, /config to manage playlists, [r] to reload.

Adding playlists

  1. /config opens the playlist manager, split into URL playlists and File playlists.
  2. Select [ Add URL ] or [ Add file ], type the source, Enter to add.
    • URL example: https://example.com/playlist.m3u
    • File example: ~/playlists/mine.m3u
  3. Sources persist in tv_config.json (under the config dir). Local file playlists are reread directly on every TV-mode entry; remote URL playlists may reuse a recent cached snapshot for up to 24 hours. If tv_config.json encounters corrupt data on disk, it is safely rotated to tv_config.json.corrupt.{timestamp} rather than deleted.
  4. Highlight a source and press d (or Enter) to remove it; the list reloads.

src/providers/tv/ parses each source (http(s) or local file), extracting channel id, name, logo, group-title, and stream URL. Playlist lines are pre-counted to preallocate vector capacity, eliminating dynamic heap reallocations during large 50,000+ channel imports. Channels are deduped by stream URL across all playlists. The search box filters by name or group; the status bar reports how many channels were imported and which playlists failed.

Playback

Enter on a channel launches the default player with the channel URL (via the same launch_player path as movies). Channel logos are cached under the iptv image namespace.

Commands in TV mode

  • /list — display all loaded TV channels.
  • [r] key — reload all active M3U playlist sources.
  • Global commands (/settings, /clear, /help, /exit) are active across all modes.
  • Streaming/Addon-only commands (e.g. /browse, /history, /favorites) display friendly guidance notifications prompting you to switch modes (Ctrl+S or Ctrl+A).