Better IPTV

Modern, cross-platform IPTV player built with Rust and Tauri

Features • Installation • Quick Start • FAQ • Contributing

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📺 Overview

Better IPTV is a powerful desktop IPTV player that combines the performance of Rust with the flexibility of a modern web UI. Built on MPV for reliable video playback, it handles everything from live TV to movies and series with ease.

Why Better IPTV?

• 🚀 Fast & Efficient - Rust backend handles 100,000+ channels without breaking a sweat
• 🎯 Smart Features - EPG, parental controls, multi-profile support, and more
• 🎨 Modern UI - Clean, responsive interface with dark/light themes
• 🔒 Privacy First - All data stored locally, credentials never leave your device
• 🌍 Cross-Platform - One app for Linux, Windows, and macOS

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✨ Features

🎬 Complete Content Library

• Live TV - Stream live channels with real-time Electronic Program Guide (EPG)
• Movies (VOD) - Browse and watch thousands of on-demand movies
• TV Series - Automatic episode playlists with season/episode organization
• Smart Search - Instant filtering across all content types
• Virtual Scrolling - Smooth performance with massive playlists (tested with 100K+ channels)

🔒 Family-Friendly Parental Controls

New in v2.3.0

Protect your family with comprehensive content restrictions:

• Secure PIN Protection - 4-6 digit PIN with industry-standard Argon2 encryption
• Manual Channel Blocking - Select specific channels to restrict (with virtualized selection for smooth performance)
• Auto-Detection - Automatically identifies and blocks adult content (+18, XXX, Adult markers)
• Category Blocking - Block entire channel groups at once
• Three Viewing Modes:
  • Hide - Completely remove blocked channels from view
  • Lock Icon - Show with lock indicator, unlock with PIN
  • Blur - Show blurred thumbnail, unlock to watch
• Session-Based - Temporary unlock during session, auto-locks on restart

📋 Flexible Playlist Management

• M3U/M3U8 Support - Import from local files or URLs
• Xtream Codes Integration - Direct connection to your IPTV provider
• Multi-Profile System - Switch between multiple providers/playlists
• Favorites - Star channels for quick access
• Category Quick-Access - Horizontal bar for instant category filtering

🌐 Language & Accessibility

• 19 Language Support - Audio and subtitle preferences for:
  • Scandinavian: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish
  • European: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Russian
  • International: Arabic, Turkish, Japanese, Chinese, Korean
• Per-Profile Settings - Different language preferences for each profile

🚀 Performance & Reliability

• MPV Integration - Industry-standard player with all codecs supported
• Hardware Acceleration - Automatic GPU usage for smooth playback
• SQLite Database - Lightning-fast local storage
• Batch Processing - Efficiently handles large playlist imports
• Error Boundaries - Graceful degradation, no full-app crashes

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📥 Installation

System Requirements

MPV Media Player

Better IPTV uses MPV for video playback. Installation varies by platform:

Linux:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install mpv

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S mpv

# Fedora
sudo dnf install mpv

macOS:

brew install mpv

Windows:

🎉 New in v2.3.0: Windows users no longer need to install MPV separately! It's now bundled with the installer.

If you prefer a manual installation or already have MPV:

• Download from mpv.io
• Or use Chocolatey: choco install mpv

Download Better IPTV

Pre-built Packages:

1. Visit Releases
2. Download for your platform:
   • Linux: .AppImage (universal), .deb (Ubuntu/Debian), .rpm (Fedora/RHEL)
   • Windows: .msi installer or .exe portable
   • macOS: .dmg disk image

Linux AppImage:

chmod +x Better-IPTV.AppImage
./Better-IPTV.AppImage

Build from Source:

git clone https://github.com/mewset/better-iptv.git
cd better-iptv
npm install
npm run tauri build
# Output: src-tauri/target/release/bundle/

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🚀 Quick Start

1️⃣ Launch & Setup

On first launch, you'll see the setup screen. Choose your import method:

2️⃣ Import Playlist

Option A: M3U/M3U8 File

1. Click "Import M3U Playlist"
2. Enter a profile name (e.g., "My IPTV")
3. Choose source:
   • Local File: Browse to your .m3u/.m3u8 file
   • URL: Paste your playlist URL
4. Click "Import" and wait for channels to load

Option B: Xtream Codes

1. Click "Import Xtream Playlist"
2. Enter a profile name
3. Fill in credentials:
   • Server URL: http://server.com:port
   • Username: Your username
   • Password: Your password
4. Click "Import" (loads Live TV, Movies, and Series)

3️⃣ Configure EPG (Optional)

1. Open Settings (gear icon)
2. Navigate to EPG Settings
3. Enter your XMLTV EPG URL
4. Click "Fetch EPG"
5. EPG updates automatically going forward

4️⃣ Start Watching!

• Browse: Use tabs (All/Live TV/Movies/Series) and category bar
• Search: Type in search box for instant filtering
• Play: Click play button on any channel
• Enjoy: MPV opens in separate window with full playback controls

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💡 Usage Tips

Content Navigation

• Tabs: Filter by All, Live TV, Movies, or Series
• Category Bar: Horizontal scroll for quick category access
• Search: Real-time filtering by channel/group name
• Favorites: Click star icon to mark favorites

Watching Series

1. Go to Series tab
2. Select a series to open details
3. Choose season from dropdown
4. Click Play on any episode → remaining episodes auto-queue

Multiple Profiles

• Import multiple playlists as separate profiles
• Switch profiles from setup screen
• Each profile maintains independent channels, favorites, and settings

Parental Controls

1. Open Settings → Parental Controls
2. Set a PIN (4-6 digits)
3. Choose blocking method:
   • Manual selection
   • Auto-detect adult content
   • Category blocking
4. Select viewing mode (Hide/Lock/Blur)
5. Save settings

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🎮 Keyboard Shortcuts

Within MPV player window:

Key	Action
Space	Play/Pause
F	Toggle Fullscreen
↑ / ↓	Volume Up/Down
← / →	Seek Backward/Forward (10s)
M	Mute/Unmute
Q	Quit Player
Esc	Exit Fullscreen

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❓ FAQ

Why won't MPV open?

MPV must be installed on your system (except Windows v2.3.0+ which includes it bundled).

Verify installation:

mpv --version

See Installation for platform-specific instructions.

Can I watch channels directly in the app?

No, Better IPTV uses MPV as an external player. This provides superior codec support and performance, but video displays in a separate window.

EPG data not showing?

Check:

1. Playlist contains EPG identifiers (tvg-id or tvg-name)
2. EPG URL configured in Settings → EPG Settings
3. EPG data fetched (click "Fetch EPG" button)
4. Wait a minute for EPG refresh cycle

How many channels can it handle?

Better IPTV uses virtual scrolling and batch processing to handle 50,000+ channels without performance degradation. Better-IPTV has been using a 150.000+ channel playlist during development without any problems.

Does it work with VPN?

Yes! Ensure your VPN is active before launching streams.

Are my Xtream credentials secure?

Absolutely. All credentials are stored locally in an SQLite database on your device. Nothing is sent to external servers. Logs automatically mask sensitive data.

Can I play local video files?

No, Better IPTV is designed exclusively for IPTV streams. Use MPV directly for local media.

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🛠️ Troubleshooting

Channels Buffering

• Check internet connection - Run speed test
• Try another channel - May be provider/server issue
• Adjust MPV cache - Advanced users: edit MPV config

Series Not Importing (Xtream)

• Verify credentials - Double-check username/password
• Check provider support - Not all Xtream providers offer series
• Retry import - Network issues may cause partial imports

App Won't Start

• Linux: Ensure .AppImage has execute permissions (chmod +x)
• Windows: Run as administrator or check Windows Defender
• macOS: Allow app in System Preferences → Security & Privacy

Parental Controls Issues

• Auto-detect not working? - Re-save settings to trigger channel scan
• Lock mode not showing channels? - Update to v2.3.0+ (bug fixed)
• PIN modal stuck? - Restart app, issue resolved in v2.3.0

Logs Location

If you need to share logs for debugging:

Linux: ~/.local/share/better-ip-tv/logs/better-ip-tv.log Windows: %APPDATA%\com.m0s.better-ip-tv\logs\better-ip-tv.log macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/com.m0s.better-ip-tv/logs/better-ip-tv.log

(Credentials are automatically masked in logs)

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🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Better IPTV is open source and community-driven.

Report Bugs

Create an issue with:

• Detailed description
• Steps to reproduce
• OS and app version
• Screenshots if applicable
• Log file (see Troubleshooting)

Suggest Features

Open a feature request describing:

• What you want
• Why it's useful
• How it should work

Submit Code

Development Setup:

# Fork & clone
git clone https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/better-iptv.git
cd better-iptv

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run dev server
npm run tauri dev

# Run tests
npm run test          # Frontend tests
cd src-tauri && cargo test  # Rust tests

Code Standards:

• TypeScript: Follow ESLint config (npm run lint)
• Rust: Use rustfmt and clippy

  cargo fmt
  cargo clippy

• Commits: Use Conventional Commits

  feat: add category quick-access bar
  fix: resolve EPG timezone bug
  docs: update README installation steps
  

Pull Request Process:

1. Create feature branch: git checkout -b feature/my-feature
2. Make changes with tests
3. Run linters: npm run lint && cargo clippy
4. Commit: git commit -m "feat: description"
5. Push: git push origin feature/my-feature
6. Open PR on GitHub with detailed description

Community Guidelines

• Be respectful and inclusive
• Provide constructive feedback
• Help other users in issues/discussions
• Document your changes clearly

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📝 What's New

Version 2.3.0 (Current)

🔒 Parental Controls

• PIN-protected content restrictions with Argon2 encryption
• Manual channel blocking with virtualized selection
• Auto-detection of adult content markers
• Category-level blocking
• Three viewing modes: Hide, Lock, Blur
• Session-based temporary unlock

🎉 Windows MPV Bundled

• Windows users no longer need separate MPV installation
• Everything included in installer
• Still compatible with existing MPV installations

🐛 Bug Fixes

• Auto-detect parental controls now properly adds channels to blocked list
• Lock and Blur modes now correctly show channels (previously would hide them)
• PIN modal no longer gets stuck on "Processing..." after multiple unlocks

See full changelog

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📄 License

GNU General Public License v2.0

Better IPTV is free software. You can use, modify, and distribute it under GPL v2.0 terms.

Why GPL v2.0? MPV is licensed under GPL v2+, requiring derivative works to also be GPL-licensed. We embrace this to promote open source values.

See LICENSE for full text.

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🙏 Acknowledgments

• MPV Project - Exceptional media player with comprehensive codec support
• Tauri - Cross-platform framework enabling this project
• Open TV - Architectural inspiration and reference
• IPTV Community - Standards, protocols, and ongoing support

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📞 Support & Contact

• Issues: Report bugs or request features
• Discussions: Community discussions

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Made with ❤️ for IPTV enthusiasts

Better IPTV is not affiliated with any IPTV provider. Users are responsible for compliance with local laws and provider terms.