Usage ‐ PLM ‐ Streaming Stations ‐ Managed Stations - babsonnexus/stream-link-manager-for-channels GitHub Wiki

While maintaining your own m3u using the "Manual Stations" option is available, it does not take advantage of the functionality inherent in PLM. Clicking on Streaming Stations will reveal the "Managed Stations" area for this tool:

If you do not see this navigation option, you need to check Linear: Playlist Manager Extension [PLM] on the Settings page and save that first. Once this is done and you have activated Linear: PLM Streaming Stations Add-on (on by default), you will find an option under Internal Playlists on the Manage Playlists page called Streaming Stations.

Once activated and on this page, you have similar settings for overall Playlist Manager, with the ability of Streaming Stations to have its own station numbers and maximum number of stations per playlist.

How you approach this will depend upon how you intend to integrate Streaming Stations, either directly into something like Channels DVR or parsing through the main PLM functionality.

Meanwhile, outside the core settings, is the input and testing area. In the first row, you can select a Source, put a URL, and click the Test button, which will do the same function as going to the direct links discussed under manual stations.

Doing so will give you the option to open the streaming m3u8 or similar extension in the tool of your choice, thus confirming the availability and correctness of the original URL. If nothing happens, it is most likely you have a pop-up blocker enabled that is blocking this function and need to add an allowance exception for Streaming Library Manager.

Should you be using the Live Stream (MPEG-TS) option for something like a MPEG-DASH Media Presentation Description (MPD) live stream...

...you might get a pop-up that does not play in the browser. Rest assured this is a valid result due to how this particular feature works. It should only be considered an issue in this or any of the other options if you receive an error similar to this:

With this confirmation, you can then Add these details as stations of your own. You could even use the Custom selections if you know an m3u8.

There is additionally the option for a Stream Link station, which will launch the corresponding app on the client device:

For those unfamiliar, these 'Stream Link Stations' will launch an app on a client device and play a stream from there. More info can be found at https://community.getchannels.com/t/experimental-stream-links-from-the-guide-via-custom-channels/36062. An example for the URL would be nbctve://live/usa.

Information on the purposes and allowed inputs of all the fields is available as a pop-up box by hovering over the header:

Every time you Add, Delete, or Save changes, a set of m3u files is created or updated. These can be seen in Playlist Manager's Manage Playlists area under Uploaded and Generated Playlists, Guides, and Related Files.

There will be separate ones for HLS, MPEG-TS, and STRMLNK stations. Additionally, back in the Settings, you can set the number of stations allowed per file (along with a starting station number), with the default being 750 for the same reasons as discussed above. Note that these all contain plmss in the name and cannot be manually deleted. At this point, you could then take these links and integrate them directly into your final watching tool (i.e., Channels DVR). In other words, there would be no need for you to manually maintain your own m3u file.

Just as with regular PLM playlists, these, too, can automatically be loaded into Channels DVR as a 'Custom Channel'. However, you could also take it to the next logical step by adding it as a source Playlist right above this value; either manually or by clicking the Add to Playlists button as discussed in Manage Playlists. Therefore, you could take advantage of all of PLM's regular functions, including incorporating guide data. In the end, no matter which method you prefer, there is a simple way to integrate your web-based streaming stations that otherwise cannot be!