Television channels

For the channel to appear in the portal, it must be created and configured in Smarty. To do this, you can limit yourself to a short algorithm of actions:

After that, the channel can be considered configured and ready to view. The channel will appear in the portal after the execution of the management command:

The above algorithm does not cover the entire spectrum of channel configuration capabilities. In fact, Smarty has a much wider range of capabilities. Below is a list of channel configuration blocks available in Smarty, with a description of their parameters:

Title — the name of the channel. This name will be displayed in the portal for users of the service.
EPG transmission programme — thanks to this parameter, the channel program, channel icon, preview images for programs, program description and their age rating are determined for the channel. You can read more about the configuration of the EPG transmission program in the corresponding article.
Category — category of TV channel. Additional channel categories can also be specified. This parameter is necessary to determine the category of the channel (not in all templates). For ease of administration, it is recommended that «Category» (Main and Additional) in Smarty correspond to the channel category in django-admin.
Display the channel in the category «All» — in the absence of a tick, the channel will only be available in the corresponding channel category. If you have a tick, this channel will be displayed in the portal category «All channels ».

Position on the list after — the position of the channel in the list of TV channels. If this field is left empty, the channel will automatically take up a position after the previous channel (if the default sorting is used).
Logical Channel Number (LCN) — the logical channel number that will appear in the channel list in the portal. Not to be confused with the channel sorting number, as these are two different parameters — a logical number is needed so that when dialing it in the portal, this channel is launched (can be used as a sorting number if the sorting type is chosen « sorting by LCN»). If there is no logical channel number, then the channel will be available according to its number in sorting.

This configuration unit of the channel is necessary to configure the sending of statistics to the right holder or integrator of the channel.

This configuration unit is designed to configure the interactive for the channel. You can choose a service provider (created in the « General settings » — «HbbTV» providers;), as well as specify the channel ID corresponding to the channel of the source of the interactive.

Included — will the channel be displayed or not? By default, the channel will be turned on. You can remove the box for this channel if you need to temporarily remove this channel from the available ones.
Tariff packages — the condition under which the channel will be available to the user. If the user does not have a tariff plan corresponding to this channel, the channel will not be available for viewing. In the case of choosing a tariff with the type « Display content in the list without the possibility of starting» the channel will be displayed in the list of channels when selecting which will display a list of tariffs where this channel is available for viewing, or will play a stub (depending on the options of the portal).
Age rating — if the template implements the function of profiles (age ratings), then the channel will be available only when selecting a profile with the corresponding (or higher) age rating.
Parental control — if enabled, the channel will be available via PIN. It is recommended to use for channels rated «18+».

Streaming services — here you can specify streaming services, which are broadcasting and writing archives. More about streaming services can be read in the corresponding article.
URL-prefix — needed to substitute the mask of streaming services.
Multicast channel address — if the channel is broadcasting through Multicast, then you can specify the address in this line (you also need to create a streaming service like «Multicast» and link it to this channel).
Multicast address for recording — in this field you can specify the Multicast address for recording the stream. This parameter may be relevant if different addresses are used for live broadcasting and recordings.
Channel options — this option is needed to transfer additional parameters to the URL mask (can be used to transfer higher quality video, audio tracks, subtitles and other features).

Direct stream URL — allows you to transfer the direct URL of the channel stream. If a direct stream URL is specified, all other broadcast parameters will be ignored.
Redefine the ID for video servers — allows you to redefine the channel id for, for example, a server with archive transmission records.

Time Shift for Pause Live TV — thanks to this parameter, you can set the time offset for the live pause function. It can be used in certain situations (for example, if the broadcast delay on the live stream server is greater than on the recording server).
Default aspect ratio — this parameter allows you to change the default aspect ratio of the channel (for example, you can set a 4x3 resolution for channels with archival chronicles or classic films). The option can be ignored by the portal options (more details can be found in the section) «Portal and application settings»).
Stream-stub URL for lock mode — if the portal option to start the stream or the plug banner is enabled, then for tariffs with the access type « Display content in the list without the possibility of running it» instead of a notification with a list of tariffs that provide access to viewing channels, this stream will be launched (this parameter has a higher priority than the banner stub).
Banner stub for lock mode — if the portal option is enabled to start the stream or stub banner, then for tariffs with the access type « Display content in the list without the possibility of running it» this banner will be displayed.

Duration of retention of records — default 0. You can give any other meaning. If the value of this parameter exceeds the number of days (or the value of 0) specified in the streaming service settings, its value will be ignored.
Restriction of archives on tariff — with this option, you can add a restriction of access to the archive of records (you may need additional monetization of the archive function if necessary).