How to use ChannelBox

Install ChannelBox

After you buy, the thank-you page and your email both have your download link. The same link always gives you the newest version, so keep the email.

Windows

1. Download IPTV-Player-Setup and open it. If you’d rather not install anything, the portable version runs straight from a folder or USB stick.
2. If Windows shows “Windows protected your PC”, click More info, then Run anyway. You only do this once.
3. Open ChannelBox from the Start menu.

Mac

1. Open the .dmg and drag ChannelBox into Applications.
2. Open it. If your Mac says it can’t check the app, open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway. You only do this once.

Updating

ChannelBox checks for new versions by itself; when one is out, Update available shows in the sidebar. Go to Settings → Updates. The first time, paste your ChannelBox key — it’s in your purchase email and on your download page (the download link works too). Then click Download and install: ChannelBox closes and the installer opens. Your playlists, favourites and settings stay.

You can also download again from your link any time and install over the top.

Add your TV provider

ChannelBox is a player — the channels come from your IPTV provider. Look in your provider’s welcome email for either an Xtream Codes login or an M3U playlist link. Xtream Codes is better if you have both: it brings movies, series, catch-up and the TV guide with it.

1. Click Settings in the sidebar, then Add playlist.
2. Choose Xtream Codes or M3U / XSPF link at the top.
3. Give it a name you’ll recognise, like “Home TV”.
4. Xtream Codes: enter the server (it looks like http://example.com:8080), your username and your password.
   M3U link: paste the whole playlist link.
5. Leave TV guide link blank unless your provider gave you a separate guide link ending in .xml or .xml.gz.
6. Click Add. ChannelBox checks the login, loads your channels and takes you to the guide.

More than one provider

Add as many playlists as you like. They’re listed under Settings → Playlists; click one to switch to it. The tick shows the one you’re watching.

Your password

Passwords are locked away with your computer’s own protection (Windows data protection or the Mac Keychain) and only ever sent to your provider. See the privacy policy.

Use the TV guide

Live TV opens the guide: channels down the left, times across the top, and a red line at the current time. The channel you pick plays quietly in the preview at the top, with what’s on.

• Pick a channel or show: click it once. The preview switches to it.
• Watch it: click it again, double-click it, press Enter, click Watch, or click the preview picture.
• Jump to a channel: type its number, like on a cable remote. 104 goes to channel 104.
• Look ahead or back: the arrows either side of the bar page through time. Now brings you back.
• Narrow it down: the buttons along the top show one group at a time (News, Sports and so on, as your provider names them), or just your ★ Favourites. The search box finds a channel by name or number.
• Keyboard: ↑ ↓ move between channels, ← → move between shows, Page Up Page Down scroll a screen at a time.

Catch-up

If your provider records a channel, the preview says Catch-up beside its name. Pick a show that has already aired and the button says Catch up — it plays from the start.

If a channel’s guide is wrong

Your provider matches each channel to a guide listing, and now and then it picks the wrong one — a West-coast channel showing the East listings, or one city’s station showing another’s. Pick the channel and click Wrong guide? under the preview. ChannelBox suggests listings with a similar name; click the one that matches what’s on, or search for it. If the shows are right but at the wrong time, use the hour buttons to shift them. Only that channel changes, and Use the provider’s match puts it back.

The guide fills itself in

The listings come from your provider and refresh on their own while ChannelBox is open, so there’s nothing to update. If you see “No guide information” on every channel, see If something isn’t working.

Watch live TV

When a channel starts, the info banner shows its number, logo, the show with its times and progress, and what’s on next. It hides after a few seconds — move the mouse, click the picture or press I to bring it back.

• Change channel: the CH up and down buttons, Page Up / Page Down, the arrow keys, + / −, or the mouse wheel.
• Go straight to a channel: type its number.
• See every channel: the list button or L opens the channel list beside the picture, with what’s on each.
• Full screen: double-click the picture, or press F. On Windows this covers the taskbar; on Mac, the menu bar and Dock.
• Favourite: click the star at the top.
• Picture in picture: the small-window button keeps the channel playing in a corner while you use other apps.
• Pause, rewind and record: see the next two sections.
• Wrong guide? The calendar button at the top fixes the listings for the channel you’re watching.
• Back to the guide: Esc or the back arrow.

Pause and rewind live TV

While you watch a channel, the buttons above the banner pause and rewind it, like a PVR.

• Pause: press Space or the pause button. Press it again and the channel carries on from where you stopped.
• Go back or ahead: ← goes back 10 seconds, → goes ahead 30. Drag the slider to anywhere in the last hour.
• Back to live: click LIVE or press End. The banner shows how far behind live you are.

The first time you pause or rewind a channel, ChannelBox starts keeping the last hour of it on your computer — that takes a second or two. To be able to rewind as soon as a channel starts, turn on Settings → Keep a rewind buffer on every channel.

Record shows

• From the guide: pick a show and click Record, then Record this show. A red dot marks it in the guide.
• While watching: press R or the red record button at the top.
• Every episode: choose Record every episode on this channel. Each airing in the guide is recorded, and repeats of an episode you already have are skipped.
• No guide for the channel? Record starts now and runs for an hour; stop it whenever you like.

Recordings in the sidebar lists what’s recording now, what’s coming up and what’s recorded. Click Watch to play one, the folder button to find the file, or the bin to delete it. Recordings start a minute early, run two minutes over, and are saved as MP4 files in Videos › ChannelBox Recordings (on a Mac, Movies › ChannelBox Recordings), so they play anywhere.

Find a show and reminders

Click Find a show above the guide, or press Ctrl+F (⌘+F on a Mac), and type part of a show’s name. ChannelBox searches every channel’s guide from now through the next three days. Click a result to see it in the guide, or use its bell and record buttons right there.

Remind me shows under the preview for any show that hasn’t started. A minute before it starts, a card pops up — even over the channel you’re watching — with Watch now. If ChannelBox is behind other windows, your computer shows a notification too.

Multi-view

Watch up to four channels at once. Click the four-squares button above the guide (it starts with the channel you’ve picked) or at the top while you watch.

• Click Add a channel in an empty square and pick one.
• One channel has the sound, with an orange outline. Click another picture, or press 1–4, to hear it instead.
• Double-click a picture to watch it full size. 2 channels shows two side by side, larger.

Cast to your TV

While you watch, click the cast button at the top and pick your TV. It works with a Chromecast, a Google TV, and TVs with Chromecast built in. The TV and the computer have to be on the same network. The first time, your computer may ask whether ChannelBox can use the network — allow it.

The TV plays the channel from your computer, so leave ChannelBox open. Flip channels as usual and the TV follows; Stop casting brings the picture back to the computer. AirPlay isn’t supported.

Parental lock

1. Go to Settings → Parental lock and click Set up a PIN. Type a 4-digit PIN twice.
2. Turn on the groups and movie or series categories to lock. Lock adult groups finds the ones with adult names for you.
3. To lock one channel, pick it in the guide and click the padlock under the preview.

Locked channels show “Locked” in place of their shows, have no preview, and ask for the PIN to watch. Locked movie and series categories are hidden until the PIN is typed. Once it’s typed, everything stays open until ChannelBox closes — or click Lock now in Settings. Changing what’s locked, changing the PIN, or turning the lock off all need the PIN.

Movies and series

If your provider includes on-demand, it shows up under Movies and Series in the sidebar. M3U playlists usually don’t include these; Xtream Codes logins usually do.

• Use the category buttons or the search box to find something.
• Movies: click a poster and it plays.
• Series: click a poster, pick a season, then click an episode. Esc closes the episode list.
• Movies and episodes have the usual controls for pausing and skipping.
• If a movie has Dolby or DTS sound, ChannelBox converts it so you can hear it. Those movies get ChannelBox’s own bar: play/pause, a slider to jump anywhere, and ← / → to skip back 10 or ahead 30 seconds.

Favourites and recent channels

Click the star on any channel — in the guide preview or while watching — to add it to your favourites. The Favourites page in the sidebar lists them along with the channels you watched most recently, each with what’s on now. Click one to watch it; click its star to remove it.

In the guide, the ★ Favourites button shows only your favourites, so flipping channels skips the ones you never watch.

Settings

• Playlists — switch between providers, add one, or delete one with the bin icon.
• Reload channels — pulls your channel list again. Use it when your provider adds or renames channels.
• Reload TV guide — pulls the listings now instead of waiting for the next automatic refresh.
• Second TV guide — adds another guide (free Canadian, US and UK guides are built in, or paste a link). Channels your provider’s guide leaves empty are filled from it where the listing IDs match, and its listings show up under Wrong guide? so you can point any channel at one.
• Keep a rewind buffer on every channel — rewind as soon as a channel starts instead of from your first pause.
• Parental lock — see Parental lock.
• Open in full screen — ChannelBox starts full screen, like a TV. F11 or Esc switches back.
• Keyboard — a reminder of the shortcuts below.

Keyboard shortcuts

ChannelBox works like a cable remote. These work on Windows and Mac.

If something isn’t working