If you are running your IPTV service on a smart tv, enigma 2 box, PC, tablet or even a smart phone, almost certainly you have installed the service using a streaming line. This type of extensions are the most flexible and widely used among users, but there is more to this ...

Almost all IPTV CMS (Content Management Systems) Softwares which are the tool used by providers creating, managing and maintaining their service, have Streaming Line section to create accounts. Due to the flexibility it has, most of the IPTV programmers highly invest on it and use streaming line scripts for importing the service into their programs/apps. In this article, we`ll first explain the different video formats of streaming lines and then 8 of the most common scripts which providers can supply their clients with. Whether you are a user or a provider, this article helps you understanding the purposes of each script, how they work and a few pros and cons regarding some of them.

 

IPTV-wise, Video Streaming has 3 widely used formats:

-HLS:

It stands for HTTP Live Streaming. In this form, the broadcasting server distributes the stream into different 10 seconds segments of mp4. This is good when the broadcaster wants to stream multiple streaming qualities so that the viewer could use proper bitrate of the video considering the network bandwidth. HLS was originally invented and used by Apple on their devices. The only disadvantage is that HLS has 10 to 30 seconds of delay so if live streaming does really matter, it is not recommended.

-MPEGTS:

This one`s acronym has two parts MPEG and TS. MPEG stands for Moving Picture Experts Group which was a company founded in 1988 specialized in video streaming stuff and later joined with Adobe. TS ,on the other hand, stands for Transport Stream. This format can carry audio, video and metadata like subtitle, epg or other form of data to lock the stream. Mpegts has an error correction feature to keep the integrity of the video whenever the signal is low. 

-RTMP:

Back in mid-2000s, Macromedia company developed RTMP ,which stands for Real Time Messaging Protocol, and now we know it as Flash. It is now one of the methods being used by local  IPTV streaming sources, those who extract the feed directly from original broadcaster, to stream the content to their online server and from that point stream it to their clients using HLS or MPEGTS.

 

Now lets get to know 8 of the most widely used streaming line scripts by IPTV users:

-M3U:

It`s a plain text file which has the title and the link location of each stream/channel being provided by your IPTV provider. It can be installed on carious devices from Smart TV`s to handheld devices. Almost all android-based IPTV devices can or need this extension to run.

-M3U with options:

It`s the same as the above extension but with some more features. If your provider has the possibility, you can get channels into grouped folders, EPG and Picons.

-Web TV List:

On some devices like Openbox, you need this form of plain text file. It has no features.

-Simple List:

As the name says, it`s a simple list of streams links and has no feature. Format of the file is .txt .

-Enigma 2 OE 1.6:

It`s a full bouquet file containing all streams which are being assigned to your account which can should placed in /etc/enigma2 folder of your Enigma 2 receiver box using FTP clients like Filezilla. This works on almost all boxes.

-Enigma 2 OE 2.0:

This one is identical as the one explained above but it is advised to be used only for Dreambox type of boxes.

-Enigma 2 OE 1.6 Autoscript:

Autoscripts enable you to install the bouquet without placing the bouquet file manually. You need to simply connect to your box through SSH Terminal and then execute the command which is provided.

-Enigma 2 OE 2.0 Autoscript:

Only suitable for Dreambox.

 

Make sure your device has enough memory and a strong cpu as IPTV is mainly about encoding and decoding video formats. Some devices can run IPTV using multiple extensions explained above but you need to make sure which one is the most suitable. For instance, IPTV can be installed on a Zgemma box using Enigma 2 OE 2.0 scripts but you might notice quality issues and lags. So it does matter which extension with which format you use.

 

Any questions? post it on WDS Community Forum and let us help you.