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Adding a TV provider

Add an M3U playlist or Xtream Codes login, its TV guide, and your provider's films and series.

Adding a provider

  1. Go to SettingsLive TVAdd Provider.
  2. Choose the type your provider gave you: M3U URL (a playlist address) or Xtream Codes (a server address, username and password).
  3. For M3U, paste the Playlist URL. For Xtream, enter the Server URL including the port, then the Username and Password.
  4. Optionally add an EPG URL, the address of your provider's XMLTV guide.
  5. Give it a Display Name and save.

The TV guide (EPG)

  • On M3U, a guide address inside the playlist is found automatically. On Xtream, the server's own guide is used unless you enter one.
  • You can add a Second EPG URL. The first guide wins; the second fills in channels the first doesn't cover. With both set, any guide bundled with the provider is ignored.
  • If one channel shows the wrong programmes, link it by hand. On iPhone and iPad, long-press the channel → Edit… → TV Guide; on the Mac, right-click → Customise Channel → TV Guide. Pick a suggestion or search the guide's channels. The link syncs to your Apple TV.

How often it refreshes

Channels refresh every 24 hours and the guide every 12 by default. Change both, from 1 hour to 7 days, under Refresh Channels and Refresh EPG on the Live TV page. To refresh right now: the Refresh row at the top of the Live TV sidebar on Apple TV, pull down on iPhone and iPad, or the Refresh button on the Mac.

More than one provider

Add as many as you like. The one at the top of the list opens first in Live TV; drag to reorder on iPhone, iPad and the Mac, or use Move Up and Move Down on Apple TV. Each provider gets its own heading in the channel list.

Your provider's films and series

Edit a provider and turn on Use VOD to bring its films and series into Strand: they appear in Library and as something to play on a title's page, even with live channels switched off. Xtream providers also have Refresh VOD Catalogue.

Why a title might not appearStrand matches your provider's films and series to TMDB using the IDs the provider sends. Titles without them can't be matched, and won't show up on a title's page.

Provider details

For Xtream providers, the edit page shows Server Information: whether the account is active, how many connections it allows, and when it expires.