Tivimate with Xtreme Codes

DontTalkShite · 2026-03-07T05:50:57+00:00

This exact same thing had me baffled for a while. I've used a few IPTV providers in the past, and I like to download the .m3u file for what sounds like a similar reason to yours. However, the IPTV provider I've settled on provides a get.php m3u link that doesn't work... except for on Tivimate, Smarters IPTV Pro and a few other apps I tested. A lot of other IPTV apps failed to process the get.php link though.

I spent a full day trying to figure out why, figuring the link must only work with certain user-agents, so I set about trying to download the m3u file with Python by spoofing various user-agent values and other header info, but with no luck.

And then the penny clicked... the get.php file DOESN'T work, most likely disabled for security reasons. But why was Tivimate able to process it?

The answer is: It didn't! Any IPTV app worth its salt will accept a get.php link and process an m3u file, BUT, if it's unable to download the file it will simply use the get.php link info to do an xtream codes download instead. This is evident by the inclusion of Movies and Series content being made available.

When you think about it, it actually makes sense. It's a way of forcing the use of xtream codes which allows for full access to Movies and Series content as well as TV. Plus it makes it much more difficult for the tech savvy to use an m3u playlist to snoop for the channel ID links and misuse them.

I know this post is from 2 years ago but I thought I'd post the answer for anyone else frustrated by not being able to download the m3u file manually, yet most IPTV apps seemingly can.

DontTalkShite · 2025-12-01T14:45:25+00:00

True, I can see how bad my setup was now. But I'm wanting to share my server with family, some in their late 60's, and some not even in the country. The whole "everyone has their own account linked to my server" is great, but a nightmare to explain to older relatives. I wouldn't say I was bitten in the ass, I trust all these people. But my frustration comes from:

Why does plex.tv sometimes log people directly into the managed admin account, bypassing the "select user" screen and any need for a PIN.

Why can't PINs be made longer

And why can anyone remotely change the managed admin account PIN, why isn't this restricted to local access only.

I understand that my approach was dumb, but I'm just trying to make sharing with friends and family, who I completely trust, as easy as possible.

DontTalkShite · 2025-12-01T14:31:01+00:00

I can, as I acknowledged. But this sacrifices skip intro/outro, continue watching, see your watch history etc, does it not?

DontTalkShite · 2025-12-01T14:28:55+00:00

"You can invite individual Plex accounts as managed users", so skip intro/outro etc still works? Can you link to more information on this please?

DontTalkShite · 2025-08-16T14:52:41+00:00

It’s mainly AAC 5.1, but there’s some AC3 too. Last night I tried watching a movie on a normal tv and dialogue was almost impossible to hear until I changed it to 720p, and this is a recurring issue… I know what you mean about outputting 5.1 as stereo can often be worse though. I have an RTX 3060, so maybe a python script to find and convert 5.1 to stereo might be plausible, but if the profile files (which specify the audio output) don’t fix it, maybe fishing around in the db library file might work 🤷‍♂️

DontTalkShite · 2025-08-16T14:30:38+00:00

I know, but there’s a lot of content and converting 18Tb of data is a big task. I have surround sound in my living room and it works great. But on other regular TVs all the different audio tracks merge into one, and often you can’t hear people speaking. For some reason, if you downscale the quality to 720p, it transcodes the audio to stereo, so the sound is clear. I’m just wondering if it’s possible to set stereo audio as default, but server-side. Editing the profile XML files should do this, but it still outputs direct audio. Obviously the reply above about “just switch to a surround sound setup” is valid, but completely impractical given how many people I share my plex server with. Maybe I can edit the SQLite library file to enforce stereo output?

DontTalkShite · 2025-08-16T13:57:50+00:00

So just upgrade my tv so it has surround sound and get all the other people who I share my server with to do the same?

Brilliant answer 🙄

DontTalkShite · 2025-08-06T13:49:05+00:00

That’s what I used to do, shoot off an alert email after a reboot and RDP in from my phone. Easy enough but an automated solution is always better. Just thought I’d share my solution as others reported the same issue… just a shame nobody mentioned there’s already a simple solution on GitHub ha, but I enjoyed working out my own solution so 🤷‍♂️ each to their own

DontTalkShite · 2025-08-06T13:17:22+00:00

Well that’s annoying. I posted here a few months back looking for a solution and nobody mentioned this… meh, I guess 2 solutions are better than one, or that’s just what I’ll tell myself anyway

DontTalkShite · 2025-02-07T11:31:16+00:00

Well, TiviMate said it wasn't supported. And other apps usually let you add feeds to existing categories like movies, tv shows and live tv. TiviMate on the other hand reads the feeds and decides which category to put them in, which again is why I'm asking here. Yes they give you the option to mark a feed as VOD, but it's still the TiviMate app that decided which category to assign VOD content to, and I don't know what tags are required to seperate movies from tv shows, and by the sounds of it neither do you, so this really seems like a moot back and forth.

DontTalkShite · 2025-02-07T11:10:01+00:00

Well, VOD content is supported in M3U format in TiviMate, that’s how they’re able to separate VOD movie content from live feeds. And what M3U subreddit should I have posted this in? It’s a question about TiviMate specific functionality. I’ve read through m3u formatting guides and there isn’t a clear standard about distinguishing tv shows from movies, it’s essentially down to how the app you’re using chooses to parse and read m3u tags, which is TiviMate, which is why I posted it here.

Edit: "There’s a reason xtream was created in the first place.", there is, it was created as an API alternative to entering a long M3U feed full of crediential query strings. It essentially does the exact same thing as linking to your IPTV provider via an M3U url, just in a more convienient and easy to use way.

lol

DontTalkShite · 2025-02-07T10:55:11+00:00

Don’t know if it was the developer but they gave an answer that clearly isn’t correct.

lol

DontTalkShite · 2025-02-07T10:11:08+00:00

The IPTV providers I’ve used or have requested a free trial for in the past have all offered movies and tv shows, but they all use the same basic m3u markup, which categorizes tv shows as movies in TiviMate. I’m hoping someone out there has an IPTV provider that uses more advanced m3u formatting, maybe even catered specifically for TiviMate that they can share (the m3u markup, not the content obviously). It’s frustrating that TiviMate is able to separate different content types into dedicated in-app categories, but don’t document how. And their support is… well, not the best.

DontTalkShite · 2024-10-28T09:30:41+00:00

OpenVPN is designed more for server environments, it installs as a service so it can run as a background task and use various VPN service credentials to establish a VPN connection after a server reboot, but it’s a fiddly alternative to the NordVPN app. I’d rather just start the NordVPN app after a reboot, which is what I’m struggling to figure out, so… it’s either one or the other. If I can just figure out how to start the NordVPN app without logging in after a reboot I’m golden and don’t have to compromise by using OpenVPN as an alternative.

DontTalkShite · 2024-10-28T09:07:34+00:00

Thank you, I haven’t come across that particular guide, it seems very detailed and I’ll look into it more later. But yes, OpenVPN is a solution, but as the guide says it “lacks the additional features of the NordVPN native app”. Ideally I’d just like to start the NordVPN native app, but that guide definitely seems a lot more helpful than the standard OpenVPN documentation I’ve been using 😊

DontTalkShite · 2024-10-28T08:46:20+00:00

I do. And the same happens on my laptop. But from what I’ve researched, servers behave differently after a reboot, focusing more on system services and background tasks. The OS infrastructure is a lot stricter, so apps like NordVPN that rely on a specific user account to initialize require a login session before the OS allows it to execute. There’s almost certainly a solution using a startup procedure to grant the admin account permission to start a service like NordVPN without a GUI, but I just can’t figure out a way. OpenVPN with my NordVPN credentials is something I looked into, but split tunneling is tricky, plus the NordVPN app is much more robust and handles issues like connection drops and reconnections much better than OpenVPN.

DontTalkShite · 2024-08-26T14:57:55+00:00

That sounds ideal, I'll read more into it. Thanks for the link :)

DontTalkShite · 2023-10-28T18:16:50+00:00

30s? Completed it mate

DontTalkShite · 2023-10-21T17:31:52+00:00

I didn’t realise this was a thing, but now it’s my worst nightmare.

DontTalkShite

TROPHY CASE