v5.8.0

About 150 more Free Networks channels, a fix for Pluto audio drifting out of sync after ad breaks, an optional admin login, REELZ, and Warner TVE and SundanceTV without the DRM bridge.

Update FastChannels Player to 5.2.13 (Bridge → FastChannels Player devices → Update). It fixes a crash that could drop the Fire Stick to its home screen after a tune.

Free Networks

• OG Network: 84 live channels, 50 of them not carried by any other source (CaribVision, Nigbati TV, ToonOvation, Colorized.TV, ZAZ Gamers, Americana Television, ...). Channels with nothing to play fail right away instead of hanging.
• Cineverse: 22 channels from Cineverse, RetroCrush and JoySauce (AsianCrush, MidnightPulp, Screambox, Bob Ross, Dove Channel, Lone Star, Dog Whisperer, Real Madrid, ...), with about a day of guide.
• BeOND TV (19 channels) and Mansa TV (20), including Health Hero Network, Adrenaline TV+, Manifest TV, HBCU and Stingray 90s, with about a day of guide.
• CBS: the free Judge Judy, Hot Bench and Car Chase channels from cbs.com, with guide via Gracenote. (#72)
• All clear HLS up to 1080p. Channels Free Networks already carries from another network are skipped. If Free Networks is on, the new networks appear on the next scrape and can be switched off on the source card.
• Network filter: with Free Networks selected, the Guide and Channels pages have a Network dropdown. On the Channels page it carries through paging and sorting, and "all matching" bulk actions stay inside the chosen network.
• History's FAST channels are kept when play.history.com renders without them (retries, then its last good list), so they no longer drift toward deactivation. Stingray channels on Mansa no longer fail the stream audit on a first tune after sitting idle.
• Where a network's own guide leaves a gap of 30+ minutes, it is filled from Gracenote (Tastemade Travel). KSL/BeOND guides no longer run out because of Cloudflare serving stale schedules.

Pluto

• Audio no longer drifts after ad breaks. Since about Oct 24, Pluto leads each paid ad break with a 15-second bumper that, in the stream format we requested, had no audio. Channels DVR's live player closed that gap by pulling the audio forward, so audio ran 15 seconds further ahead of the picture with each break until the stream was restarted (recordings just had a silent gap). FastChannels now asks for Pluto's separate audio track, which covers the bumper. Tested in Channels DVR through four bumper breaks: no audio gaps, 0.00s A/V offset.

New

• Optional admin login (#75): Settings → Advanced. Off until a password is saved. Protects the admin UI and its API; playlists, guides, /play, /watch, images and the player heartbeat stay open for DVRs, IPTV players and the bridges. FC_AUTH_DISABLED=1 bypasses it to recover a forgotten password.
• REELZ: new TV-provider source from reelzplus.com. Run Get Access → Sign in with your TV provider in a browser and paste the link it lands on; REELZ+ subscribers can use email and password. Clear 720p HLS, guide from REELZ plus Gracenote.
• Multiple HDHomeRun devices (#76): add each under Device addresses. The original device keeps its channel IDs; the others' channels get their own IDs, guide and tag, and an IP change only needs the address updated.
• Bridge audio setting (Bridge page): Auto passes Dolby through when the HDMI device accepts it; Decode to PCM decodes it on the stick; Stereo uses the channel's stereo AAC track when it has one (DIRECTV, ESPN, CNN). For capture cards that click or drop out on Dolby channels.
• FastChannels Player 5.2.13: fixes a teardown crash after a tune, adds the bridge audio modes, and logs audio diagnostics under FCPlayer.Audio when Debug logging is on.
• Adult Swim: Off the Air, Mr. Pickles, Squidbillies and Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule.
• Preview errors: when a stream fails in the admin preview player, it says why (HTTP status, reason, which request) with a Details toggle and a Copy button for bug reports.

Changes

• Warner TVE (TBS, TNT, truTV, TCM East/West) and SundanceTV play clear HLS and no longer need the DRM bridge. No new sign-in needed; existing channels are un-bridged on their next scrape or audit.
• Native M3U advertises its guide in the #EXTM3U header (url-tvg / x-tvg-url), so TiviMate and similar players load the EPG without a separate URL. (#79)
• Sources page: Bally Sports Live, Adult Swim and Hallmark are listed under Free Networks, each group has its own card, and enabled sources are listed first. (#80)

Fixes

• YouTube: custom YouTube channels that played for about 30 seconds and then dropped work again (android client first, then mweb, android_vr last). If a client starts getting segment 403s, it is moved to the back of the order for 24h automatically.
• Spectrum: stream sessions are cached for 3.5 minutes, under the license token's real lifetime, so quick re-tunes no longer start with a failed license request.
• Guide: short shows (~11 minutes) show their titles again; Bally Sports guide works again after the site's restructuring; Zeam channels with no current schedule get named placeholder blocks; PBS lists the new France 24 feed once instead of once per station. (#80)
• Disney TVE: ABC-owned local news streams get a guide; local ABC stations missing from the community map are matched to Gracenote by call sign, with tvtv filling in when Disney's schedule is empty. (#80)
• Logos: a scraper's switch to a bundled logo now applies to existing channels (EPlusTV 6 Jackson). Gracenote logos for Bloomberg, PosiTV, KSL On Air and the TBN channels.
• Access log: failed Amazon license requests are shown; only successful ones are hidden.

Upgrading

No manual steps; the database adds its new settings on first boot. Then update FastChannels Player to 5.2.13 on each device (Bridge → FastChannels Player devices → Update, or Update all).

docker compose pull && docker compose up -d

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