Vela
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Guides

HDHomeRun and Tvheadend on iPhone

HDHomeRun tuners and DVR servers such as Tvheadend already serve your channels as an M3U playlist, and most DVR servers serve an XMLTV guide too. Any iPhone player that reads M3U can use them, with no IPTV provider involved.

What you need

  • A tuner or DVR server on your home network, and the address of its M3U playlist.
  • Its XMLTV guide link, if it has one.
  • Your iPhone or iPad on the same network, or connected to it through a VPN when you're away.

Open the playlist link in Safari on the iPhone first. If Safari can't open it, or asks for a password, a player that signs in with just a link won't get in either. Vela's playlist sign-in takes a link and no separate password.

HDHomeRun

  • HDHomeRun tuners with firmware 20220831 or later serve their channels at http://<tuner address>/lineup.m3u. The HDHomeRun app or your router's list of devices shows the tuner's address. If the link returns nothing, update the firmware.
  • Every stream takes a tuner. A model with two tuners plays two things at once, and a third is refused until one stops.
  • Many broadcasts, including US ATSC 1.0 ones, use MPEG-2 video, which the iPhone's own player doesn't decode. A player needs its own decoder for it: Vela switches to its built-in player by itself.
  • Encrypted channels, which some ATSC 3.0 stations use, only play in apps licensed to decrypt them. An M3U player can't play them.
  • The lineup lists channels, not programmes. For a guide, use the XMLTV from a DVR server you run on top of the tuner, such as Tvheadend or Channels DVR, or another XMLTV source you're entitled to use.

Tvheadend

  • Playlist: http://<server>:9981/playlist/channels.m3u (9981 is Tvheadend's usual web port).
  • Guide: http://<server>:9981/xmltv/channels, with the EPG Tvheadend has collected.

Tvheadend wants to know who's asking before it hands over the playlist or a stream, and that's where most setups get stuck. Two ways through:

  • No password on your home network. In Configuration > Users > Access Entries, add an entry with the username *, streaming rights, and your home network's range in Allowed networks (for example 192.168.1.0/24). Devices on your Wi-Fi then play with just the link. Don't open Tvheadend to the internet set up like this.
  • A user with a password. The playlist then needs that login to load, and its stream links can carry a short-lived ticket instead of your password, which stops working in any player that keeps a copy of the playlist. Vela keeps one and reads it again every 12 hours by default. Tvheadend's persistent authentication is meant for this, and its built-in help explains the /playlist/auth/ form of the link. With a link-only player, the home-network entry above is the simpler route.

Channels DVR, ErsatzTV and Tunarr

  • Channels DVR: the server can share its channels as an M3U playlist and its guide as XMLTV, from its web port (8089 unless you changed it). Its help pages give the current links. It's also a way to get a guide for an HDHomeRun.
  • ErsatzTV and Tunarr: both turn your own media library into channels that run to a schedule, and both serve those channels as an M3U playlist with an XMLTV guide. The links are in their web interfaces. Add both to a player and its guide grid shows your schedule.

Setting it up in Vela

  1. Choose M3U Playlist.
  2. Paste the playlist link into Playlist Link (M3U or M3U8).
  3. Paste the guide link into TV Guide Link (XMLTV, optional), or leave it empty if the playlist names its guide in its first line.
  4. Give it a name, such as the room or the server, and tap Sign In.

Categories come from each entry's group-title. The guide is matched to channels by tvg-id, then by name, so most guides line up without editing; if yours doesn't, IPTV guide (EPG) not showing goes through why. A tuner and a server can be separate providers in Account, and you switch between them there.

These all serve standard M3U and XMLTV. If yours serves something Vela doesn't read, tell us on the support page and say what its playlist looks like.

Watching on a TV

Tap the TV button in the player to play on an AirPlay, Google Cast or DLNA TV on the same network, with the phone as the remote. A Google Cast or DLNA TV fetches the stream straight from your tuner or server. Not every TV takes every format (Google Cast devices don't play MPEG-2 video, for instance), and Vela greys out the TVs that can't take a stream and says why. More in how to cast IPTV from iPhone to a TV.

Away from home

A tuner's address, like 192.168.1.20, only works on your home network. To watch while you're out, connect the iPhone to your home network through a VPN; Vela plays whatever address the playlist holds. Don't put a tuner, or a Tvheadend without a password, on the open internet.

Playlists of udp:// multicast addresses need a special permission from Apple before an iPhone app can receive them. Use the server's http:// playlist instead.

Vela includes no channels or content. Use it only with a subscription or playlist you're entitled to use.