IPTV catch-up explained: watch programmes you missed

IPTV catch-up lets you watch a programme that has already aired, or restart one that is on now from the beginning, without having recorded anything. It works only when your provider archives the channel on its own servers, usually for a few days, and when your playlist tells the player so. In Telyqro you pick a past programme in the TV guide and press OK, or choose “Watch from start” while a live channel is playing.

What is IPTV catch-up?

Catch-up goes by several names: timeshift, TV archive, replay or “rewind TV”. They all describe the same thing. The service you subscribe to keeps a recording of what a channel broadcast over the last few days. When you ask for a programme from that period, the player requests that slice of the archive instead of the live stream, and the provider’s server sends it like a video you can seek through.

This has three consequences worth knowing before you go looking for the feature:

• Nothing is stored on your device. Catch-up is not a recorder. If the provider didn’t archive the channel, no player can bring the programme back.
• The archive has a length. Each channel keeps a set number of days, chosen by the provider. A programme older than that is gone, even if the TV guide still lists it.
• It depends on the TV guide. The player needs to know when a programme started and ended to ask for the right part of the archive. No guide data means no programme to pick.

Not every channel is archived. Providers often record some channels and not others, and the number of days can differ from one channel to the next in the same playlist.

How a playlist says a channel has catch-up

The information arrives with your playlist. Where it lives depends on the type of login you have (if you’re not sure which one that is, see Xtream Codes vs M3U: what’s the difference).

Xtream Codes logins

With an Xtream Codes login, the provider’s panel marks each live channel. A channel with tv_archive set to 1 is archived, and tv_archive_duration gives the number of days it keeps. Telyqro reads both when it imports the playlist and asks the panel for its time zone, so the archive request points at the right hour even when the provider’s servers run on a different clock from yours. A channel marked as archived but with no number of days is treated as having no catch-up, because there is no way to know how far back it goes.

M3U links and files

An M3U playlist carries catch-up as attributes on each channel’s #EXTINF line. Two of them matter most: catchup (the method used to build the archive address) and catchup-days (how many days are kept). Some playlists add catchup-source, a template for the archive address. A line might look like this:

#EXTINF:-1 tvg-id="news.example" catchup="shift" catchup-days="3",News Channel

Telyqro understands these catchup methods:

Whatever the method, Telyqro needs catchup-days with a whole number to offer catch-up on that channel. A playlist that only says catchup="default" without saying how many days are kept won’t show catch-up. If your M3U has no catchup attributes at all, the provider hasn’t included archive information in it. Our guide to M3U playlists explains the rest of the format.

How to tell which channels have catch-up in Telyqro

You don’t need to read the playlist yourself. Telyqro shows it in three places:

• In the TV guide, past programmes you can play from the archive start with a ⟲ symbol and stay in normal text. Past programmes that can’t be played are greyed out.
• In the programme details, an archived past programme shows “⟲ Catch-up” next to its time and length.
• In the player, while a live channel is playing, a “Watch from start” button appears next to what’s on now, but only on channels the provider archives.

If none of your channels show any of these, the playlist carries no catch-up information. Ask your provider whether catch-up is part of your subscription and on which channels.

How to watch a past programme in Telyqro

You need a TV guide for your playlist first. Telyqro loads it from the playlist or from your Xtream login and keeps it up to date in the background. Then:

1. Open the TV Guide tab.
2. Pick the channel, then move left along the time axis into the past. The guide goes back at least 12 hours, and further when your guide data covers more days.
3. Find a programme marked with ⟲ and press OK (or click or tap it). It starts playing from the archive right away.
4. To read about the programme first, press Info or Menu on the remote, long-press it on a touch screen, or right-click it, then choose Watch from the archive.

While a programme plays from the archive, the controls show a “Catch-up” badge, the programme’s title, a progress bar with the clock time you’ve reached, and the programme’s start and end times. You can pause and seek within the programme. When you want the live channel again, choose Back to live. In the guide, pressing Back after scrolling into the past returns you to the present.

Start a programme that’s on now from the beginning

Tuned in ten minutes late? While the live channel plays, bring up the on-screen controls and choose Watch from start. Telyqro switches to the archive at the start of the current programme. You can do the same from the TV guide: open the details of the programme on air and pick Watch from start instead of Watch live.

Why won’t a past programme play?

When a programme you expected to rewatch isn’t marked ⟲, or fails to start, one of these is usually the cause:

• It is outside the archive window. The window counts back from now to the programme’s start. On a channel that keeps three days, a film that started three days and ten minutes ago has dropped out, even though the guide still lists it.
• The channel isn’t archived. Catch-up is set per channel. A sister channel may have it while this one doesn’t.
• The M3U has no catch-up information, or it lacks catchup-days. Telyqro can only offer what the playlist describes.
• The TV guide is missing or not matched. Without programme times there is nothing to pick. If the guide is empty for that channel, work through how to fix an IPTV TV guide that isn’t showing.
• The guide times are off. If catch-up starts in the middle of the programme, or in the previous one, the guide and the archive disagree about the time. A guide shifted by an hour asks the archive for the wrong hour.
• The archive itself has a gap. Providers sometimes fail to record a stretch, or a channel was off air. The guide can’t know this, so the programme looks available but the server returns nothing. Try a different programme on the same channel; if those play, the gap is on the provider’s side.
• Your playlist is out of date. If the provider has just added catch-up, refresh the playlist so Telyqro reads the new channel details.

Catch-up on Samsung and LG TVs

Catch-up and the full TV guide grid are available now on Android phones and tablets, Android TV and Google TV, Fire TV, Windows and Linux. Telyqro for Samsung and LG TVs is coming soon, and catch-up is coming to those TVs soon as well. Every build that is ready today is on the Telyqro download page. The full list of what the app does is under all features.

If catch-up matters to you when comparing apps, it is one of the points in our checklist for choosing an IPTV player.

Questions

How many days of catch-up do IPTV providers keep?

It is set by your provider, channel by channel, and can change over time. Telyqro uses whatever number of days the playlist gives for each channel. The TV guide shows you the result: past programmes you can still play carry the ⟲ symbol.

Is IPTV catch-up the same as recording?

No. A recording is saved on your device. Catch-up is an archive kept by the provider, streamed to you on request. You don’t need storage space, but you also can’t keep a programme past the end of the archive window.

Does catch-up work with an M3U link?

Yes, if the provider includes catch-up attributes in the M3U, including catchup-days. With an Xtream Codes login the information comes from the provider’s panel instead.

Can I fast-forward and rewind in catch-up?

Yes. A programme played from the archive behaves like a recording of that programme: you can pause and seek anywhere between its start and end, then go back to the live channel.

Why does catch-up start at the wrong time?

The TV guide’s times don’t match the provider’s archive, often by a whole hour. Check that the guide shows the right programme on air now. If it doesn’t, the guide’s time offset is the problem, not catch-up.