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Coax, ErsatzTV, and Tunarr

Coax isn't the only way to turn a media library into TV channels. Here is how it differs from ErsatzTV, dizqueTV, and Tunarr, and how to keep the channels you already built in one of them.

Your server:
Your platform:

How Coax compares

ErsatzTV, dizqueTV, and Tunarr also make channels from a library. They run on your server, and every channel someone is watching is a stream the server has to produce. At best that is a cheap transcode: the server repackages the file without touching the picture. Usually it is an expensive one: the server re-encodes the video, and a 4K channel takes a full CPU core or a hardware encoder for as long as anyone is tuned in. You watch through a Live TV client, with an M3U playlist and an XMLTV guide to point it at.

Coax does the work on your device. The schedule is built there, the file is played as it is, and MKV is repackaged on the device, so the server only serves the file. It transcodes only when the device cannot play the video, the connection cannot carry it, or you ask for it: see What Coax asks of your server. The guide and the picture are one screen.

Coax is Apple-only, and its channels exist only inside Coax. The schedule is built on one of your devices and reaches the rest through iCloud.

But I already set up ErsatzTV

Keep it. Register it with Plex as a TV tuner, and its channels show up in Coax as Live TV next to the channels Coax builds. The same goes for dizqueTV and Tunarr.

In Plex (Live TV needs a Plex Pass):

  1. Open Settings › Live TV & DVR › Set Up Plex Tuner.
  2. If your channel server is not detected, enter its address by hand. ErsatzTV: http://<host>:8409. dizqueTV and Tunarr: http://<host>:8000. Use the machine's network address, not localhost, so your Apple TV can reach it too.
  3. For the guide, choose Have an XMLTV guide on your server and enter the guide address. ErsatzTV: http://<host>:8409/iptv/xmltv.xml. dizqueTV and Tunarr: http://<host>:8000/api/xmltv.xml.
  4. Let Plex match the channels to the guide and finish.

In Coax:

  1. Open a Lineup's Configure. A TV Tuners section lists the tuner; turn it on.
  2. A Live TV category appears in the channel list. Edit it to pick which of its channels you want.
  3. Tap Play. The Lineup rebuilds with your channels in the guide, carrying your channel server's own schedule.

Coax reads TV tuners from Plex only today. Tuners registered with Jellyfin are not yet supported.

Coax reads TV tuners from Plex only today. Tuners registered with Emby are not yet supported.