Guides

IPTV catch-up on Apple TV

Catch-up plays a past program from an archive your provider keeps on its own server. Guidevi plays that archive; it brings no archive, no channels and no streams of its own, and it keeps no copy of any video.

What catch-up is

Some providers keep an archive of recent programs on their own servers, so a channel can be played from a moment in the past. That is catch-up. The archive belongs to your provider and stays on its server. Guidevi only asks for the program you picked and plays it. It keeps no copy of any video and doesn’t record or download anything.

Whether a channel has an archive, and how many days it reaches back, is up to your provider. Guidevi shows at most 7 days.

How your provider announces the archive

Guidevi reads these signals when it imports your source. You don’t type anything for them.

  • Xtream account: the panel marks each channel that has an archive (tv_archive) and says how many days it keeps (tv_archive_duration).
  • M3U playlist: channels carry catchup (the kind of archive address), catchup-days (how many days) and, for some kinds, catchup-source (the address pattern).
  • Flussonic servers use their own archive addresses; Guidevi understands both the HLS and the MPEG-TS kind.
  • SIPTV playlists use timeshift with a number of days.

If a playlist names an archive but not the number of days, Guidevi assumes 1 day. If your provider keeps more, nothing breaks; you just see less than is there. An archive kind that Guidevi doesn’t know is ignored, and the channel plays live as usual.

What you see in Guidevi

  • Is there an archive? Open the source (Settings, then Sources) and look at the Guide section. The Archive row shows how many channels have one and for how many days, for example “128 channels · up to 7 days”. If the row is missing, the source has no archive Guidevi can use.
  • The ⟲ mark. In the guide, past programs that can be played from the archive carry a small ⟲ mark, and so do channels that have an archive. It is shown to everyone, so you can check your provider before you buy anything.
  • Start Over, free. While a program with an archive is on, the player has a Start Over button. It restarts the program from its beginning. It isn’t shown when the program began less than 2 minutes ago, or when the channel has no archive.
  • Past programs, Premium. Select a program that has ended to open its details, then choose “Watch from Archive”. The day menu in the guide gains an Archive section with the earlier days. Free Guidevi shows these with a lock.
  • Program search, Premium. The Search tab can look for program titles across your guide: what is on now, what is coming and what is in the archive. Type at least 3 characters.

If the times are off

When a program from the archive starts early or late, you may see the end of the previous program or miss the first minutes. Guidevi asks for the archive using its own clock figures, and a provider whose server clock or time zone is wrong can throw that off.

  1. Open Settings, then Sources, and open the source.
  2. In the Guide section, find Archive Clock Adjustment. It is shown only for sources that have an archive. The default is Automatic.
  3. Choose a value in steps of 30 minutes, up to 12 hours either way. If the program starts 1 hour early (you see the end of the one before), choose +1 hr. If you miss its first hour, choose −1 hr.
  4. Open the program from the archive again. The new value is used on the next request; a program that is already playing isn’t reopened.

This is a different setting from Time Shift in the same section. Time Shift moves the guide’s times; Archive Clock Adjustment changes only the request for the archive. Start Over uses the same adjustment. For wrong guide times, see the guide doesn’t match my channels.

If it doesn’t work

  • No ⟲ marks and no Archive row. Your source doesn’t announce an archive, or announces a kind Guidevi can’t use. Ask your provider whether the channels have an archive and what the playlist or account says about it. Guidevi can’t add one.
  • “Program Not in the Archive.” The provider didn’t return that program. Archives can have gaps, and some programs are added only after they end. Open the channel live or choose another program.
  • “No Longer in the Archive.” The program is older than your provider keeps. The message says how many days the archive reaches.
  • The program plays but starts at the wrong time. Use Archive Clock Adjustment, above.
  • It worked yesterday and doesn’t today. Providers change how long they keep programs, and a busy archive server can be slow. Try again later; the Guide section shows what Guidevi found at the last import.

Still stuck? Send us a diagnostics log from Settings; it masks addresses, usernames and passwords. See Support.

More guides

Guidevi’s free version includes one source and the guide from yesterday to 24 hours ahead. Premium is optional; see what it adds.

Guidevi is made for Apple TV, iPhone and iPad.

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