Services

HLS service

This service spawns a HTTP web server that returns HLS playlist of all Stalker IPTV channels. All returned IPTV links are rewritten in a way that all the streams will go through this application, eventually hiding original viewer's source IP from IPTV provider as well as hiding IPTV provider's server IP/host from IPTV viewer.

Stalker portal will issue a temporary URL to IPTV HLS stream with a token, which might also be mapped to your source IP. Such link will expire in minutes if not accessed, which makes it impossible to obtain new URL when using apps like VLC. Solution to this problem is to force rewrite all HLS URLs which results in all traffic being sent through this application.

There is no caching - if 5 devices are watching the same channel, the IPTV provider will receive 5x more requests.

Proxy service

This service spawns a HTTP web server which is used as a Stalker portal in STB boxes. It forwards all the incoming requests from STB boxes to the real Stalker portal, but on-the-fly rewrites all the credentials and hardcoded parameters.

How your current setup looks like now:

[STB MAC:A] <--> [Stalker middleware]

How it would look if you use this service (it rewrites from MAC address A to expected address B):

[STB MAC:A] <--> [Stalkerhek MAC:B] <--> [Stalker middleware]

You are not limited to a single STB box anymore:

[STB MAC:A] <-->
[STB MAC:B] <--> [Stalkerhek MAC:B] <--> [Stalker middleware]
[STB MAC:C] <-->

This service does not proxy IPTV streams, TV shows or VOD - such contents will be directly accessed by STB box, exposing its source IP.

However, some Stalker portals will not allow accessing IPTV streams/media contents from source IPs that are different from this application's source IP. As a workaround, one can do one of below workarounds:

• Setup VPN server on the same host where Stalkerhek is hosted, then connect to it in TV box or in router.
• Setup HTTP proxy server on the same host where Stalkerhek is hosted, then redirect traffic to it in TV box settings or in router.
• Use below mentioned rewrite option.

As an alternative to VPN or HTTP proxy, a rewrite configuration option has been introduced to address this issue and redirect IPTV streams traffic to Stalkerhek HLS service, which works fine with apps like OTT Navigator IPTV but completely breaks functionality of actual STB boxes that load Stalker portal in "website" mode. Here is the status of the rewrite configuration option:

• IPTV streams will be redirected to HLS service, works.
• TV archive won't be redirected, does not work.
• VOD won't be redirected, does not work.

If I did not miss anything, everything else should be part of communication with Stalker portal, which is being proxied perfectly fine by Proxy service.