ErsatzTV on Apple TV

What you need

• ErsatzTV running on the same home network as your Apple TV, iPhone or iPad.
• Its address: an IP address such as 192.168.1.20, or a name your router resolves. Don’t use localhost; your TV can’t reach itself through it.
• At least one channel set up in ErsatzTV.

Where the addresses are

ErsatzTV answers on port 8409 unless you changed it. Replace <server> with the server’s address.

The playlist builds each channel’s stream address from the address you used to open it. Use the same address in Guidevi that you would type in a browser on the same network, so the streams point to a server your TV can reach.

ErsatzTV shows the M3U and XMLTV links in its own web interface; the ErsatzTV documentation says they can be copied from the top right of the page. A channel with no schedule has no programmes in the guide yet.

Add it in Guidevi

On Apple TV

1. Open Settings, then Sources and choose Add a Source.
2. Choose “Add on This Apple TV”. The page with the code is for adding by phone; it has no home server form (see below).
3. Choose “Home Server or Antenna”, then pick ErsatzTV as the server software.
4. Enter the server’s address. The port is already filled in; change it only if you changed it on the server. Guidevi shows the generated channel list and guide addresses.
5. Choose “Test Connection”, then “Save”. The first import runs in the background.

Typing with the remote is slow. When you have an iPhone nearby, tvOS can offer its keyboard for the field.

From your iPhone instead. The page that opens when you scan the code has a Playlist URL form, not the home server form. Enter the two addresses from the table: the channel list in “Playlist URL”, the guide in “Guide (XMLTV) URL”. Both devices must be on the same home network. The M3U guide walks through it.

On iPhone and iPad

1. Open Sources: on iPhone it is in Settings (the gear button on the Live tab), on iPad in the sidebar, and choose to add a source.
2. Under Source Type, choose “Home Server”, then pick ErsatzTV as the server software.
3. Enter the server’s address, then choose “Test Connection” and “Save”.

If it doesn’t work

• “No channels found”: the server answered, but its channel list is empty. Check that channels exist and are enabled in the server.
• “Different software at this address”: check that you picked the right software and port.
• The channels load, but the guide is empty or doesn’t match: see the guide doesn’t match my channels.

Server documentation

• ErsatzTV documentation: clients

Addresses checked in September 2026 against TVHeadend 4.3, ErsatzTV 26.3, Tunarr 2026.9 and Dispatcharr. Newer versions may differ.

More guides

• Add an M3U playlist on Apple TV
• Add an XMLTV guide (EPG)
• The guide doesn’t match my channels
• TVHeadend on Apple TV
• Tunarr on Apple TV
• Dispatcharr on Apple TV
• All guides