#EXTGRP before #EXTINF breaks the parsing of playlist.

[noskill24]

#EXTGRP after #EXTM3U breaks the playlist.
The first channel in this list will not work.

#EXTM3U
#EXTGRP:Entertainment
#EXTINF:-1,Channel 1
http://path-to-stream/live/channel-1.ts
#EXTINF:-1,Channel 2
http://path-to-stream/live/channel-2.ts

[phunkyfish]

EXTGRP markers are only permitted after the channel is defined, and before the URL I believe.

[phunkyfish]

EXTGRP markers are only permitted after the channel is defined, and before the URL I believe.

Ok, I just checked this and maybe it should work. What do you mean by breaks the playlist?

[noskill24]

EXTGRP marker - is begin named grouping.

All the channels (EXTINF-markers) after EXTGRP-marker belongs to the same group (EXTGRP) until the next EXTGRP will be found. Many IPTV players support EXTGRP in this manner. In this way EXTGRP works with group of channels.

EXTGRP after EXTINF and before channel-URL overrides the global EXTGRP found before and affects only current channel. Next channel without local EXTGRP belongs to global EXTGRP.

-- What do you mean by breaks the playlist?
Kodi can't parse the following sequence #EXTM3U; #EXTGRP; #EXTINF;. Also Kodi can't display the next channel if EXTGRP is found before EXTINF. But it should... And it should as I say above.

At least you should just skip global EXTGRP if you don't support it, but you should correctly parse the next EXTINF.
Just load the M3U from my post and see what happens.

The following M3U should be identical. First one is simply more optimized.

#EXTM3U

#EXTGRP:Entertainment
#EXTINF:-1,Channel 1
http://path-to-stream/live/channel-1.ts
#EXTINF:-1,Channel 2
http://path-to-stream/live/channel-2.ts

#EXTINF:-1,Channel 3
#EXTGRP:Sport
http://path-to-stream/live/channel-3.ts

#EXTM3U

#EXTINF:-1,Channel 1
#EXTGRP:Entertainment
http://path-to-stream/live/channel-1.ts

#EXTINF:-1,Channel 2
#EXTGRP:Entertainment
http://path-to-stream/live/channel-2.ts

#EXTINF:-1,Channel 3
#EXTGRP:Sport
http://path-to-stream/live/channel-3.ts

[phunkyfish]

Groups are only supported per channel and only after the EXTINF and before the URL.

The amount of the effort to make this work how you want is not worth it. It would mean rewriting a large part for the M3U parser logic (in C++) for a feature that is not in widespread use. It would be less effort to just write a converter for your M3U file in Python.

[noskill24]

Ok! If you don't support EXTGRP in global space, then just SKIP and IGNORE them, as all IPTV software do with unsupported features.

KODIs parser simply fails and do not display the next channel (EXTINF) after EXTGRP. KODI can't load such playlists correctly. Other players load such playlists without errors, they simply ignore that unsupported EXTGRP.

I'm using online M3U provider with dynamic URLs, so I can't convert it every day after update.

[phunkyfish]

Ok! If you don't support EXTGRP in global space, then just SKIP and IGNORE them, as all IPTV software do with unsupported features.

KODIs parser simply fails and do not display the next channel (EXTINF) after EXTGRP. KODI can't load such playlists correctly. Other players load such playlists without errors, they simply ignore that unsupported EXTGRP.

I'm using online M3U provider with dynamic URLs, so I can't convert it every day after update.

I can try to do something but it might not be possible. The parser has no concept of position in the M3U. It simply expects lines to be in the right order.

Will let you know if/when I have something ti test.

But a question first, is it only the first channel that gets skipped or is it every channel with an EXTGRP in the wrong place?

[noskill24]

Each first EXTINF (first only) after EXTGRP fails. These channels don't display.

Just load this M3U and see what happens... Channel 1 and 3 will not display.

#EXTM3U

#EXTGRP:Entertainment
#EXTINF:-1,Channel 1
http://path-to-stream/live/channel-1.ts
#EXTINF:-1,Channel 2
http://path-to-stream/live/channel-2.ts

#EXTGRP:Sport
#EXTINF:-1,Channel 3
http://path-to-stream/live/channel-3.ts
#EXTINF:-1,Channel 4
http://path-to-stream/live/channel-4.ts

[phunkyfish]

Ok, so there was actually a small bug here. In your example channels 1 and 3 should be in a group and 2 and 4 should not.

Fixed in this PR: #784
Testbuilds for Nexus: https://jenkins.kodi.tv/blue/organizations/jenkins/kodi-pvr%2Fpvr.iptvsimple/detail/PR-784/4/artifacts
Testbuilds for Omega: https://jenkins.kodi.tv/blue/organizations/jenkins/kodi-pvr%2Fpvr.iptvsimple/detail/PR-785/1/artifacts

[noskill24]

Actually channels 1, 2 should be in the same group, and 3, 4 in another as of EXTGRP describes a begin named grouping.
But ok, at least all the channels now will appear in the menu. Thanks.

[phunkyfish]

Actually channels 1, 2 should be in the same group, and 3, 4 in another as of EXTGRP describes a begin named grouping. But ok, at least all the channels now will appear in the menu. Thanks.

That's your feature request though. The behaviour for the add-on is that EXTGRP behaves the same way as the group-title tag in the channel definition (i.e. it only affects the next channel). I have not found any examples online following your description. Just examples describing the former.

I'm happy to look at this if I can see examples of this online. But do note that if anyone was to mix EXTGRP and group-title, the group-title would end any EXTGRP block.

[phunkyfish]

What platform are you running on and what version of Kodi do you use?

[noskill24]

-- I have not found any examples online following your description. Just examples describing the former.

BorPas-Soft IP-TV Player for Windows for example.
My local Internet providers M3U has the same structure. And their hardware support it.

-- What platform are you running on and what version of Kodi do you use?

Kodi v20.2 (Nexus) for Windows

[phunkyfish]

Ok, can you try the testbuild from here and let me know how you get on?

https://jenkins.kodi.tv/blue/organizations/jenkins/kodi-pvr%2Fpvr.iptvsimple/detail/PR-784/8/artifacts

[noskill24]

What should I test exactly?

All the channels now appear in the menu (as expected). Thanks for fixing!

Only first channel after EXTGRP is in group as described in your comment:
#783 (comment)

[phunkyfish]

What should I test exactly?

All the channels now appear in the menu (as expected). Thanks for fixing!

Only first channel after EXTGRP is in group as described in your comment: #783 (comment)

It should respect EXTGRP as a begin group specifier. But only in the test build above.

[noskill24]

EXTGRP affects only first channel... as described here #783 (comment)

[phunkyfish]

Strange, let me rebuild the PR. Because it’s working for me with your example.

[phunkyfish]

Ok, https://jenkins.kodi.tv/blue/organizations/jenkins/kodi-pvr%2Fpvr.iptvsimple/detail/PR-784/8/artifacts is definitely the correct build of the add-on.

With this exact example I get two channels in each group:

#EXTM3U

#EXTGRP:Entertainment
#EXTINF:-1,Channel 1
http://path-to-stream/live/channel-1.ts
#EXTINF:-1,Channel 2
http://path-to-stream/live/channel-2.ts

#EXTGRP:Sport
#EXTINF:-1,Channel 3
http://path-to-stream/live/channel-3.ts
#EXTINF:-1,Channel 4
http://path-to-stream/live/channel-4.ts

[noskill24]

Oh, I apologize. I have checked my version and it was 20.10.0... It seems something gone wrong with my installation of 20.10.1.

I have re-downloaded and re-installed the version 20.10.1-win-x86_64. And it works fine!

Thank you very much!