Tvheadend 4.1.1945 - youtube live channels as iptv

  • Hi,

    I use Tvheadend 4.1.1945 on libreelec.

    I want to add a live channel from youtube as iptv input (for ex.

    External Content www.youtube.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.
    )

    How can I do this ?

  • It is possible. I see that with livestreamer addon I can do it, but I don't know how.

    I know that Tvheadend supports m3u url as iptv input. maybe with some changes it will support also youtube link as input.

  • This idea is very interesting. At some point any PVR client which supports IPTV might have this feature, not just TV Headend. Comparison of PVR clients for reference:
    PVR recording software - Official Kodi Wiki

    The IPTV PVR clients supporting a playlist normally want the exact Media Resource Locator for each stream.
    Media resource locator - Wikipedia

    If you create a custom playlist, this often works for some weeks or months, but then a stream MRL changes. Many free IPTV channels have a single live stream MRL embedded in a web page. And the page address never changes. If you had a PVR client that can extract the MRL from a web page automatically, you could create a custom IPTV channel list that always works. Has it been done?

    Other interesting add-ons which could be candidates for a PVR client: Ccloud, Mobdro, Channel PEAR
    FilmOn add-on (& PVR client) already works pretty good too.

    Would also be great if there was a PVR client for SopCast & BitTorrent Live p2p channels
    Best use for Kodi is: combine PVR clients as needed to create a live channel guide with DVB / IPTV / P2P channels all in one menu. This is the future of television :)

  • Be aware, that we don't support piracy in any way.

    We don't support it and we don't allow any discussion that's related to it. So please stop that now.

    I do not use or advocate pirate channels, only legitimate free channels. Bittorrent corporation does not allow pirate channels in their directory - its only original broadcasters with strictly legal stuff. I see no pirate channels listed on SopCast either. Please understand that Bittorrent TV is totally different than Bittorrent file transfer. It's not a piracy service, read their web site! The purpose is to allow TV producers with a small budget to have their own channel without paying high prices for a server farm.


  • If any of the add-ons you talk about are on this list: Official:Forum rules/Banned add-ons - Official Kodi Wiki (and at least 2 of them are) then you are advocating piracy add-ons, which means you are violating the forum rules.

    You appear to be at least partially wrong, I checked that list and only see one item. I will happily obey the rules here, but it's hard to keep track of what is banned and what is not. I am only interested in content which is legitimately free. There are many TV series, live news channels and documentary films deliberately posted online by the content owner. YouTube live channels are but one example. So I would suggest that the forum server should employ a script which notifies the user of banned topics when posting, to avoid accidental violations. I am not convinced that censorship is a good idea, but will obey the rules to the best of my ability and apologise for the one single oversight.

    To some extent I think this sort of censorship is becoming kind of absurd, since Google indexes pirate content but Google is not a banned topic, there is a strange double standard here. In any case, no pirate channel is going to be reliable, so you would not want such things to pollute your custom PVR channel list (where the family expects everything to just work!) I am more interested in finding ways to get legitimate free channels into the PVR lineup that you see when Kodi starts up. If an authentic free stream can be viewed in a web browser, and there is a static URL associated with that stream, it should be possible to add that stream to the PVR channel list, and right now this is not always easy or possible. Kodi will be much more popular when it overcomes this limitation, and the success of open platforms is what I really want to support more than anything else.

    Edited once, last by LE23 (January 2, 2017 at 11:06 AM).

  • Much of the legal free content which makes Kodi great is not really working right now -- for example:

    1. Kodi routinely freezes when you enable/disable the PVR client or backend (e.g. TV headend)
    2. FilmOn PVR client does not work (channels & EPG data appear in list, but dont play)
    3. There is no PVR client for live YouTube channels
    4. OTA channel scan on VDR client is broken
    5. OTA (local) channels from PVR backends are no longer grouped together in the channel lineup when PVR IPTV simple client is enabled

    Also note that OTA channels detected by TV headend server are still working in TV headend client even when all PVR backends have been disabled. (Could this explain why VDR configuration channel scan does not work under any circumstances?)

    This version of Kodi (17.0) is still alpha quality. I understand there are no guarantees, but how can it even be considered a "Release Candidate" when primary features are broken? Many of these features did not work correctly even on stable branch. For this reason, the end user may be justifiably concerned that r17 will be feature-frozen too soon and some of the most serious bugs will be ignored yet again, until some distant future release.

    If Team Kodi or LibreELEC would open an online retail store and sell a hardware package that is fully supported, I know lots of people who would love to buy it (so long as its not effing Wetek.) I will concede that some of the commercial platforms are even less user friendly with respect to the lack of support for a PVR client, EPG, and custom live channel list. However, a built-in setup wizard which automates the configuration of multiple OTA / IPTV PVR clients would place Kodi + LibreELEC on a whole different level where it could actually compete with the mainstream IPTV platforms, cable & satellite boxes. That would lead to widespread adoption by the masses, more developers, more sources of funding, better support from content producers, hardware vendors, et cetera. The world needs an open standard TV platform and Kodi has the potential to be that standard, if you can fix the most serious bugs and simplify configuration.


    It is possible. I see that with livestreamer addon I can do it, but I don't know how.

    Posting these links for reference:

    Utilize the already available Livestreamer addon for IPTV streams?
    Utilize the already available Livestreamer addon for IPTV streams?

    Overview — Livestreamer 1.12.2 documentation
    Plugins — Livestreamer 1.12.2 documentation

    I think we need a dedicated PVR client for Livestreamer, similar to IPTV simple client, so you can just make a playlist with your favorite live channels. Kodi PVR features have a steep learning curve: many new users do not realize that multiple PVR clients can be activated simultaneously, and do not understand the purpose of the different clients. This is why Kodi needs an automatic setup wizard that helps the user to choose and configure PVR clients.

    Edited once, last by LE23 (January 23, 2017 at 9:12 AM).

  • This is how to do it, pretty simple.

    First you need to install youtube-dl, it is used to get the real link of the stream.

    #apt-get install youtube-dl

    Then you need to check which number (resolution) that you prefer using:
    #youtube-dl --list-formats

    External Content www.youtube.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    For example, if you prefer to stream at number 91, then you do:
    #youtube-dl -f 91

    External Content www.youtube.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.
    -g

    This command will give you the real URL

    After that, just put those command using pipe (I am using ffmpeg)

    pipe:///usr/bin/ffmpeg -i index.m3u8 -vcodec copy -acodec copy -f mpegts -tune zerolatency pipe:1

    Note, all in one line.

    That's it.

    Edited once, last by robbytarudji (February 8, 2017 at 7:27 PM).

  • How can I install youtube-dl on libreelec os?

    I try to write the command " apt-get install youtube-dl " in ssh but appear that message :

    I try install youtube-dl control addon from Kodi add-on repository and after that to use the command in ssh but it isn't work

    Code
    youtube-dl -f 91 [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y60wDzZt8yg[/url] -g

    Edited once, last by awaw14 (February 10, 2017 at 12:17 PM).

  • Try static version:

    youtube-dl: Download Page

    For example:

    Code
    wget https://yt-dl.org/downloads/latest/youtube-dl -O /storage/bin/youtube-dl
    chmod a+rx /storage/bin/youtube-dl
    
    # Sky News live
    /storage/bin/youtube-dl -f 91 "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrX6ktLg8WQ" -g
    or
    /storage/bin/youtube-dl -f best "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrX6ktLg8WQ" -g

    It works for me (Raspberry 3b+, Libreelec 9.0.1, HTS Tvheadend 4.3-1774).

    Edited once, last by arekfoxik (April 3, 2019 at 3:30 AM).