Provider Group/Channel Order Passthrough

[solohpgh]

Hey All.

Can someone tell me if there is a switch that I need to use (or even if it is possible), to ensure that when using m3u-filter in reverse proxy mode, that the output order of the groups and the channels, remain the same as the providers?

So far I have tried a combination of things:

• source template set to url or group or name
• source target - sorting omitted from config

However, anything I have tried so far, the output from the xtream api sorts the groups alphabetically.
(The channels remain in the order of the provider, so that is fine and wanted)

Any suggestions that I can try?

[euzu]

Hi @solohpgh,

this is not possible.

The only solution is to define the sorting yourself,

Sorting can be done by using the sort part of input target:

You can sort groups or channels inside groups. You can sort ASC or DESC or define a sequence with the channel names.

  targets:
  - name: test
    output:
      - type: m3u
    filter: "!TEST_FILTER!"
    options: {ignore_logo: true}
    sort:
      groups:
        order: asc
      channels:
        - { field: name,  group_pattern: '^FR.*',  order: asc }
        - field: name
          group_pattern: '^News'
          order: asc
          sequence:
            - CNN
            - BBC
            - NTV
    mapping:

If you want to keep the provider's order, we will need to implement that.

The problem is that multiple sources can be combined, and channels can be mapped to new groups. This means the result could be completely different from the original source.

The group names might be different, the channel names could change, and channels from different sources might be mixed into a new group.

How would you map the original to the result in this case?
I can't think of a solution for this.

[solohpgh]

Thanks for feedback.

For my scenario, I'm only using one source so the mapping (in theory) should be one-to-one.

I was thinking maybe it would resolve two issues that I am having:

• Client: Tivimate; loses channel association when marking as favourite, after the source provider makes changes to their line-up (the favourite channel will change from what was saved)

• Playlist Manager: IPTVBoss; to address the above client issue, I attempted to feed the m3u-filter output into this application. However, it experiences the same issue, provider changes affect the channel group mappings (if I were to use the provider details directly with this application, the group and channel mappings remain intact).

Hence the reason for the original ask; by rearranging my work flow:
FROM:
Provider --> m3u-filter --> IPTV Client (Tivimate/Smarters/UHF)
&
Provider --> m3u-filter --> IPTVBoss --> IPTV Client (Tivimate/Smarters/UHF)

TO:
Provider --> IPTVBoss --> m3u-filter --> IPTV Client (Tivimate/Smarters/UHF)

I'm able to maintain a stable channel lineup on the client and Boss allows me to predefine the order of the output, pre-populate custom groups with favourites, saving the time and effort of rearranging on the client.

I will play around with the sorting in the filter to try make the task a little easier.

[euzu]

@solohpgh please do not forget that the sort is applied at the end, this means if you rename a channel or group the final name will be used for sort.