📺 Live TV: Fast channel zapping, category grouping, and search.
📅 TV Guide (EPG): Interactive grid guide with 24h timeline, search, and dynamic resizing.
🎬 VOD Support: Dedicated sections for Movies and TV Series with rich metadata, posters, and seasonal episode lists.
❤️ Favorites System: Unified favorites for channels, movies, and series with instant synchronization.
⚡ High Performance: Optimized for large playlists (7000+ channels) using virtual scrolling and batch rendering.
⚙️ Management:
- Support for Xtream Codes and M3U playlists.
- Manage hidden content categories.
- Playback preferences (volume memory, auto-play).
🐳 Docker Ready: Easy deployment containerization.

Screenshots

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Node.js (v14 or higher)
npm

Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/nodecast-tv.git
cd nodecast-tv

Install dependencies:
```
npm install
```
Start the development server:
```
npm run dev
```
Open your browser at http://localhost:3000.

Docker Deployment

You can run NodeCast TV easily using Docker.

Create a docker-compose.yml file (or copy the one from this repo):

services:
  nodecast-tv:
    build: https://github.com/technomancer702/nodecast-tv.git#main
    container_name: nodecast-tv
    ports:
      - "3000:3000" # Host:Container
    volumes:
      - ./data:/app/data
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - PORT=3000 # Optional: Internal container port

Run the container:
```
docker-compose up -d
```

The application will be available at http://localhost:3000.

Browser Codec Support

NodeCast TV is a web-based application, which means video decoding is handled by your browser, not by the server. The server simply proxies the stream data - it does not transcode or re-encode video.

This means codec support depends entirely on what your browser can decode natively:

Codec	Chrome	Firefox	Safari	Edge
H.264 (AVC)	✅	✅	✅	✅
H.265 (HEVC)	❌¹	❌	✅	⚠️²
VP9	✅	✅	⚠️³	✅
AV1	✅	✅	❌	✅
AAC Audio	✅	✅	✅	✅
AC3/EAC3 (Dolby)	❌	❌	✅	❌
MP3 Audio	✅	✅	✅	✅

Notes:

Chrome may support HEVC on macOS with hardware decoder
Edge requires the paid "HEVC Video Extensions" from Microsoft Store ($0.99)
Safari VP9 support varies by device/version

If a stream doesn't play:

The stream codec may not be supported by your browser
Try a different browser (Safari for HEVC/Dolby, Chrome/Edge for VP9/AV1)
Check if your IPTV provider offers alternative stream formats

Supported Stream Types

NodeCast TV is optimized for HLS (HTTP Live Streaming).

✅ HLS (.m3u8): Fully supported and recommended. Best for adaptive bitrate and network resilience.
✅ MPEG-TS (.ts): Supported via the backend proxy. Works well for standard IPTV providers (Xtream Codes).
⚠️ High Latency/P2P: For sources like Acestream, prefer HLS output (.m3u8) over raw TS streams to avoid timeouts during buffering.
❌ RTMP/RTSP: Not supported natively by browsers.

Acestream / P2P Streaming

If you are using acestream-docker-home or similar tools, you MUST use the HLS output format.

Don't use: http://proxy:6878/ace/getstream?id=... (This is a raw MPEG-TS stream)
Do use: http://proxy:6878/ace/manifest.m3u8?id=... (This wraps the stream in a browser-friendly HLS playlist)

TVHeadend

If you're using TVHeadend as your source, you may need to configure a few settings for streams to play correctly in NodeCast TV:

Option 1: Enable Force Backend Proxy (Easiest)

In NodeCast TV, go to Settings → Player → Streaming
Enable "Force Backend Proxy"
This routes streams through the server, bypassing browser CORS restrictions

Option 2: Configure TVHeadend CORS

In TVHeadend, go to Configuration → General → Base → HTTP Server Settings
Add your NodeCast TV URL to "CORS origin" (e.g., http://192.168.1.100:3000)
Note: You must include the protocol (http:// or https://)

Additional Tips:

Enable "digest+plain" authentication in TVHeadend if using username/password in the M3U URL
Try different stream profiles (?profile=pass or ?profile=matroska) if playback issues persist

Technology Stack

Backend: Node.js, Express
Frontend: Vanilla JavaScript (ES6+), CSS3
Database: JSON-based local storage (LowDB style)
Streaming: HLS.js for stream playback

Project Structure

nodecast-tv/
├── public/              # Frontend assets
│   ├── css/             # Stylesheets
│   ├── js/              # Client-side logic
│   │   ├── components/  # UI Components (ChannelList, EpgGuide, etc.)
│   │   ├── pages/       # Page Controllers (Movies, Series, etc.)
│   │   └── api.js       # API Client
│   └── index.html       # Main entry point
├── server/              # Backend server
│   ├── routes/          # API Endpoints
│   ├── services/        # Playlist parsers & logic
│   └── db.js            # Data persistence layer
└── data/                # Persistent storage (playlists, settings)

Usage

Go to Settings -> Content Sources.
Add your IPTV provider details (Xtream Codes or M3U URL).
Click "Refresh Sources".
Navigate to Live TV, Movies, or Series to browse your content.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL-3.0).

You are free to:

Run the program for any purpose
Study how the program works and change it
Redistribute copies
Distribute copies of your modified versions

Under the condition that:

You typically must distinguish your modifications from the original work
You provide the source code to recipients
You license any derivative works under the same GPL-3.0 license

See the LICENSE file for details.