Catch-up

Catch-up lets your customers replay programmes that have already aired, straight from the guide. It is a feature of your provider: the recordings are on the provider's side, and M3UTool passes them on to your customers. Follow these steps to see which channels have catch-up and to make sure it works.

Steps

1. Open the TV guide tab: Open Live TV and click the TV guide tab.
2. Open the filters: Click Filters in the top bar.
3. Show the catch-up channels: Under Catch-up, click Has. The list shows every channel with a catch-up archive. None shows the channels without one.

4. Check their guide: Click a few of these channels and look at Now and Up next. A catch-up channel needs a working guide, because customers pick the programme to replay in the guide.

How it works

• From your provider: Every refresh copies the catch-up details of each channel from your provider: whether it has an archive and how many days back it goes. For Xtream providers, M3UTool also asks the provider directly, because many do not put catch-up in their M3U list.
• To your customers: The catch-up details go out with the Xtream login and the M3U link, so every player that supports catch-up offers it on those channels.
• Replay: When a customer plays a past programme, M3UTool sends their player to the provider's recording for that time.
• The provider's clock: Your provider finds the recording by a time on its own clock. M3UTool reads that clock from your provider at every refresh and turns the time over for you, summer and winter time included.

There is nothing to switch on. If the provider has catch-up on a channel, your customers get it.

When a replay starts at the wrong programme

M3UTool turns every replay time into your provider's clock by itself. A provider that names the wrong clock can still send a replay hours off. Follow these steps to correct it.

1. Open Playlist settings: In the editor, open Playlist settings and click Catch-up in the menu on the left.
2. Check the clock: Under Provider clock, each provider address shows the clock M3UTool read, for example Europe/Amsterdam (UTC+02:00). Waiting means the clock is read at the next refresh.
3. Test a replay: Replay a programme that ended an hour ago. Note how many hours it is off, and whether it starts too early or too late.
4. Set the correction: In Move catch-up starts, pick the hours. Example: the replay starts 2 hours too early, so pick +2 h. It saves by itself.
5. Test again: Replay the same programme. It now starts at the right moment.

Leave the correction at No correction when replays are right. It moves every replay of the playlist.

Good to know

• M3UTool cannot add catch-up where the provider has none. The number of days back is the provider's too.
• Catch-up follows the guide. On a channel with a Shift, a replay starts at the programme your customer picked in the shifted guide. More in Guide time shift.
• When only one customer gets replays hours off, the cause is their player. Their guide is then hours off too. Fix it with Guide clock for that customer. More in Guide clock.
• Days ahead in the guide file settings never removes past programmes, so catch-up keeps its guide. More in Guide file settings.