FastChannels 5.4.0

✨ New

• ESPN source: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, ESPN Deportes, SEC Network, ACC Network, NFL Network and MLB Network, played through the FastChannels Player bridge. Sign in with an ESPN account using a TV activation code (espn.com/activate). The session renews itself, guide data comes from ESPN, and all nine have Gracenote IDs. Off by default.
• DirecTV channel numbers (opt-in, per source): output each DirecTV channel's own number as tvg-chno, including sub-channels for feeds that share a number (e.g. 213 / 213.1, 305.1–305.3). The numbering matches the community ah4c/ADBTuner grabber scripts. Other sources are numbered around DirecTV, so there are no duplicate numbers. Based on PR #62, thanks!
• Decimal channel locks: lock any channel to a number like 700.1 from the Channels page or the feed's Order & Numbers dialog.
• Feed Order & Numbers: typing a number now locks the channel to exactly that number in every feed, even outside the feed's range. DirecTV-numbered and locked channels stay put when you drag or renumber, and the dialog explains when a number snaps.
• Spectrum Travel Channels: Spectrum's streamable stand-ins for local stations you can't stream from where the server is. They're named, numbered and categorized after the home station they replace.
• FOX One moves to Premium Sources with its own settings card. It can use the shared TV-provider account or its own separate login (with its own browser profile), and the home ZIP now lives on the FOX One card.
• Bridge page devices card: lists every FastChannels Player device with its online state, model, OS, player version, what it's playing, the picture resolution, Wi-Fi signal and recent recoveries. Install or update the player per device, or all at once.
• Outside-the-US warning: the dashboard warns when the server isn't in the US, since nearly every source is US-only. The stream audit now reports geo-blocks (HTTP 403/451/452) clearly. Set GEO_CHECK_ENABLED=0 to turn off the lookup.
• ah4c scripts now come from ah4c itself (sullrich/ah4c, scripts/firetv/fastchannels, maintained there with bnhf and mackid1993). FastChannels ships the same set and shows each tuner's script version in the tuner check. Tuners on an older set get an update hint, and the export dialog includes a one-line in-place update command.

🔧 Fixes

• FastChannels Player 5.2.10: rides out live ad gaps by rejoining the live edge instead of exiting to the launcher, and rebuilds the player when it silently freezes. It also reports picture/recovery status for the new devices card.
• Wake before tune: the bridge wakes a sleeping Fire TV before tuning. Before, the device accepted the tune but stayed dark.
• Sling: fixed endless segment 404s and a soft/blurry picture on FastChannels Player, and ~1,800 schedule-API calls per hour per viewer are now cached.
• TV Everywhere sign-ins:
  • NBC, AMC Networks, FOX and FOX One now keep a valid sign-in when only its short-lived token expires, instead of breaking hours after every sign-in.
  • Cox accounts now sign in through Spectrum's page, which is where Cox logins now go. If Spectrum answers IDLI-4213, the provider switches to Cox automatically.
  • Clearer messages for Spectrum's bot checks (IDID-4000), plus one automatic retry after a first-attempt device reject.
  • Discovery sessions are reused until Discovery rejects them, and it works with Spectrum and Cox again.
  • Networks that can't work with your provider are marked instead of failing.
  • Retired TWC/Charter_Direct providers are hidden from the picker.
  • FYI's schedule and logo moved to aetv.com.
• Spectrum:
  • Re-tuning a channel no longer gives a black screen from an expired stream token.
  • "Change account" is clicked instead of Continue when Spectrum recognizes a different account on your home network.
  • Regional news now goes to Local News.
  • Spectrum1–14 promo loops are removed, including from existing installs on upgrade.
• Stream audit: stops early with "Sign-in failed" on bad credentials (FreeCast) and reports aborted audits honestly ("N of M scanned (aborted — …)"). It also explains the gap between "scanned" and the channel badge (#64).
• Categories: Fox News and Fox Business → News, plus Pulse, Paranormal Chronicles and Pluto TV Hispanic Favorites.
• Also fixed:
  • The Channels page sorts by the number actually shown.
  • Clicking away from a channel number no longer locks it.
  • The channel API rejects non-integer numbers.
  • Bridged DRM channels no longer log a misleading "auto-disable" on every tune.

🗑️ Removed

• Cox Contour source retired, since Cox is folding into Spectrum and Contour sign-ins have been failing since mid-September. Existing Cox channels show as Retired and are purged after 7 days. Cox as a TV Everywhere provider still works.

⬆️ Upgrading

No manual steps: pull the new image/tag. New database columns are added automatically on first boot, and channel numbers, Gracenote IDs and M3U/EPG output are unchanged unless you turn on DirecTV channel numbers.

docker compose pull && docker compose up -d

(If you build from source instead: git pull && docker compose up -d --build.)

Then update FastChannels Player on your Fire TV / Android devices. The new player (5.2.10) is bundled in the image, so upgrade FastChannels first:

1. Open the Bridge page → FastChannels Player devices card. Any device on an older player shows Update to 5.2.10.
2. Click it per device, or click Update all. FastChannels installs the app over adb and keeps its data, so there's nothing to reconfigure.
3. Updating restarts the player, so don't do it during a recording. A device that's playing asks before updating, and Update all skips busy devices; run it again later for those.