IPTV channels

You can create, edit, and delete your IPTV Internet protocol television channels. You can have an unlimited number of channels.

Each IPTV Internet protocol television channel can have multiple output streams to optimise the content for different end-user devices. You can also set the storage device used for the DVR Digital video recording for the channel and associate the channel with an EPG Electronic programming guide.

Create a new channel

Before you can create a channel, you must do the following:

Configure your streaming servers (such as Flussonic or Wowza).
If you want to provide catch-up TV, set your storage devices for DVR Digital video recording in Storage > Storage list.

Learn more: Adding DVR storage locations

To create a new channel

Navigate to IPTV channels > Channels.
Select + Add a channel.
Add the channel details.

Learn more: Channel details

Information

The channel number is shown in the channel listings in IPTV channels > Organize channels.

Tip

MinistraPRO allows you to set multiple streams for each channel, to provide the optimal format or protocol for viewer platforms such as Tizen, LG, iOS, and so on.

Learn more: Output streams
Add output streams by selecting Add stream.

Information

If you want to enable DVR Digital video recording, make sure to add the necessary URL.

Learn more: DVR stream settings
Select Save.

Your channel is now included on IPTV channels > Channels and IPTV channels > Organize channels.
After you have created your channels, you can organize your channels.

Learn more: Organizing IPTV channels

Information

Channels are only available to subscribers when the channel is included in a service package which is part of a defined tariff.

Learn more: Creating service packages

Channel details

Configure your channel using the Channel fields.

Basic settings

Setting	Description
Channel number	The number of the channel in your channel list. There is no limit on the number of channels you can have. For example, 2043. Learn more: Organizing IPTV channels
Channel name	The name of the channel. You can use letters A to Z, numbers 0 to 9, and the following symbols: !@#$^&*()_-+:;,.
Genre	The primary genre of the channel. MinistraPRO provides default genres. Genres can be added, removed, or edited in IPTV channels > Genres. Learn more: Adding genres and categories
Languages	The languages used by the channel. You can select multiple languages.
Volume correction	The value by which the volume of a stream is adjusted on an STB Set-top box device. The general volume level of the STB Set-top box is not changed. Information This setting is only supported for Infomir Linux STB Set-top boxs.
Channel logo	The logo for the TV channel. You can add the TV channel logo in its original format, or resize the image. We recommend a maximum file size of 1 MB.
Output streams	Learn more: Output streams

DVR settings

Information

MinistraPRO can synchronise DVR Digital video recording settings with Flussonic.

Learn more: Flussonic integration

Setting	Description
Type	The type of DVR Digital video recording recorder, for example, Flussonic DVR.
Storages	The Flussonic DVR Digital video recording storage server added in Step 1. Learn more: Adding DVR storage locations
Stream ID	The stream ID for the DVR Digital video recording recorder. For example, the stream ID of the Flussonic stream URL `https://dvr.ministra.pro/infomir/index.m3u8` is infomir.
Duration	The maximum amount of time, in hours, that content is archived, or that live content can be paused or rewound. The duration must match the duration configured on the Flussonic server.

EPG Electronic programming guide settings

Setting	Description
XMLTV ID	The value of the `id` attribute of the `channel` element in the EPG Electronic programming guide XML source file. For more information about the XMLTV format, refer to https://wiki.xmltv.org/index.php/XMLTVFormat. If you are using multiple EPG Electronic programming guide files, you can prefix the the XMLTV ID with the EPG Electronic programming guide filename using the format `<prefix> <XMLTV ID`. For example, you have three channels, Eurosport, HBO, and TLC. You do not have an EPG Electronic programming guide source that contains EPG Electronic programming guides all of the channels, but you find two sources that cover all three channels. EPG Electronic programming guide source 1 with the prefix 1_ contains: `channel_id = "HBO"` `channel_id = "Eurosport"` EPG Electronic programming guide source 2 with the prefix 2_ contains: `channel_id = "TLC"` `channel_id = "Eurosport"` The `channel_id` for Eurosport is the same in both sources. With the prefix, you can specify from which source to take the EPG for the Eurosport channel. You have decided to take the EPG from the second source for Eurosport. The XMLTV ID for these three channels would be written as follows: `HBO` `TLC` `2_Eurosport` Learn more: Adding an IPTV EPG
Time correction for EPG Electronic programming guide	The time zone adjustment, in hours, to align an EPG Electronic programming guide with the IPTV Internet protocol television channel. For example, an EPG Electronic programming guide is for Australia at UTC+09:30 but the channel is being broadcast in Europe at UTC+02. The time correction value would be -7:30.

Setting

Description

XMLTV ID

The value of the id attribute of the channel element in the EPG Electronic programming guide XML source file. For more information about the XMLTV format, refer to https://wiki.xmltv.org/index.php/XMLTVFormat.

If you are using multiple EPG Electronic programming guide files, you can prefix the the XMLTV ID with the EPG Electronic programming guide filename using the format <prefix> <XMLTV ID.

For example, you have three channels, Eurosport, HBO, and TLC. You do not have an EPG Electronic programming guide source that contains EPG Electronic programming guides all of the channels, but you find two sources that cover all three channels.

EPG Electronic programming guide source 1 with the prefix 1_ contains:

channel_id = "HBO"

channel_id = "Eurosport"
EPG Electronic programming guide source 2 with the prefix 2_ contains:

channel_id = "TLC"

channel_id = "Eurosport"

The channel_id for Eurosport is the same in both sources. With the prefix, you can specify from which source to take the EPG for the Eurosport channel.

You have decided to take the EPG from the second source for Eurosport. The XMLTV ID for these three channels would be written as follows:

HBO

TLC

2_Eurosport

Learn more: Adding an IPTV EPG

Time correction for EPG Electronic programming guide

The time zone adjustment, in hours, to align an EPG Electronic programming guide with the IPTV Internet protocol television channel.

For example, an EPG Electronic programming guide is for Australia at UTC+09:30 but the channel is being broadcast in Europe at UTC+02. The time correction value would be -7:30.

Parental control settings

Setting	Description
Age restriction	Enables password restriction for the channel. Information Passwords are set in subscriber accounts. All devices for the account use the same password for accessing age-restricted content. Learn more: Manage your subscriber accounts

Output streams

MinistraPRO allows you to set multiple streams for each channel, to provide the optimal format or protocol for viewer platforms such as Tizen, LG, iOS, and so on.

Tip

Follow the guidelines for streaming formatting, such as for HLS HTTP live streaming, DASH Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP, MPEG Moving picture experts group, and so on. The following stream formats are recommended for smooth playback on all platforms.

Streaming protocols:
- MPEG-DASH for Tizen and WebOS
- HLS for iOS, Android, and Linux STB Set-top boxs
Video codec: H.264 AVC using baseline and main profiles.
Video container: MP4
Audio format: AAC
Subtitles format: WebVTT

For vendor-specific supported formats, refer to the vendor documentation.

Linear stream settings

Linear streams are used for live IPTV Internet protocol television.

Setting	Description
Channel URL	The URL of the live broadcast stream. An example of an HLS stream is https://streamer.example.com/stream_name/index.m3u8 An example DASH stream is https://streamer.example.com/stream_name/index.mpd.
Temporary URL	The encoding that is used to ensure the viewer has permission to access the stream. Learn more: Configuring temporary URL protection
Enable monitoring	Allows MinistraPRO to check the availability of the channel URL. Caution If you select Enable Monitoring for an output stream and that stream stops working, MinistraPRO switches the channel to a lower-priority output stream. MinistraPRO may display unexpected behaviour if all the streams that are available to the watcher are not working.
FAST channels link	Enables free ad-supported streaming television (FAST).

DVR stream settings

DVR Digital video recording streams are used for catch-up IPTV Internet protocol television programming and allow for pausing, rewinding, and fast-forwarding media.

Setting	Description
Channel URL	The URL used for DVR Digital video recording.

Filter settings

If you are configuring multiple streams for a single channel, create a filter so that stream is delivered to the relevant devices. Filters are run sequentially based on priority for each channel, to determine which stream is delivered to the user device.

Setting	Description
Multi Filter	If the user's device matches the specified filter, then the streaming link is available to the user. Learn more: Creating multi filters If you are using a single stream for all devices, leave the filter field blank.
Priority	The place in the filter sequence when this filter is run. The highest priority is 0. You can set the same priority for multiple output streams. Where multiple streams have the same priority, channel watchers are distributed equally among the output streams. Tip If you select Enable Monitoring for an output stream and that stream stops working, MinistraPRO switches the channel to a lower-priority output stream.

Setting

Description

Multi Filter

If the user's device matches the specified filter, then the streaming link is available to the user.

Learn more: Creating multi filters

If you are using a single stream for all devices, leave the filter field blank.

Priority

The place in the filter sequence when this filter is run. The highest priority is 0.

You can set the same priority for multiple output streams. Where multiple streams have the same priority, channel watchers are distributed equally among the output streams.

Tip

If you select Enable Monitoring for an output stream and that stream stops working, MinistraPRO switches the channel to a lower-priority output stream.

DRM

You can apply DRM protection to output streams.

Learn more: Digital rights management

Setting	Description
Enable DRM	Enables DRM for the output stream.
DRM Group	The DRM security group for the output stream. Learn more: Digital rights management
DRM Type	The DRM type for the output stream. The following types are available: Widevine, by Google, for Android Fairplay, by Apple, for iOS Playready, by Microsoft, for webOS and Tizen

Setting

Description

Enable DRM

Enables DRM for the output stream.

DRM Group

The DRM security group for the output stream.

Learn more: Digital rights management

DRM Type

The DRM type for the output stream.

The following types are available:

Widevine, by Google, for Android
Fairplay, by Apple, for iOS
Playready, by Microsoft, for webOS and Tizen

Load balancing

Load balancing is an optional feature of MinistraPRO.

Learn more: Configuring streaming servers for load balancing

Setting	Description
Enable load balancing	Enables load balancing servers to be used for this channel.
Streaming servers	The names of the load balancing servers that can be used for this channel. Learn more: Add server details
Balancer monitoring	Enables the channel to check the status of the load balancing servers to select the relevant server.

Setting

Description

Enable load balancing

Enables load balancing servers to be used for this channel.

Streaming servers

The names of the load balancing servers that can be used for this channel.

Learn more: Add server details

Balancer monitoring

Enables the channel to check the status of the load balancing servers to select the relevant server.