No ability to select audio stream of a multi audio stream channel

[ElEmFurt]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
I am currently using xTeve with Jellyfin to filter out channels I don't need and my problem is that the IPTV provider I am using, has multiple languages as audio streams within a channel,
for e.g. English and Tamil are options for one channel and when I play it on the IPTV site, I can select and remedy the
problem whereas xTeve picks a track randomly which sadly in my case isn't English.

Describe the solution you'd like
It would be nice if I could select the audio streams for each channel somehow when sending to JellyFin.
You can see in this screenshot how the audio selection works on the IPTV Site.

Describe alternatives you've considered
None other than using the IPTV provider directly.

Additional context
My main workflow is JellyFin -> xTeve -> JioTVGo (my IPTV provider, setup as a server locally). If I connect my IPTV provider directly to JellyFin, I get a lot of useless channels and xTeve allows me to turn on, only the ones I need.

Any help with the problem above would be appreciated.

[joperezr]

This response was auto generated by GitHub Copilot

Unfortunately, this feature request is out of scope for xTeVe's design philosophy. Let me explain why in detail:

How xTeVe Works (The Simple Version)

Think of xTeVe as a smart organizer and filter that sits between your IPTV provider and Jellyfin. Its job is to:

1. Fetch the channel list (M3U playlist) from your provider
2. Filter out channels you don't want
3. Organize the channels into groups
4. Pass the stream URLs to Jellyfin

The key point is that xTeVe doesn't actually handle the video/audio data itself – it just gives Jellyfin the URL where the stream lives. It's like giving someone directions to a restaurant rather than cooking the meal yourself.

Why Audio Selection Is Difficult

When your IPTV provider offers multiple audio tracks (English, Tamil, etc.), that information is embedded inside the video stream itself, not in the M3U playlist. The M3U playlist just contains:

• Channel name
• Stream URL
• Basic info (logo, group, etc.)

It doesn't say "this channel has English and Tamil audio tracks."

What Would Be Required

To let you select audio tracks, xTeVe would need to fundamentally change how it works. It would have to:

1. Inspect every stream using tools like FFmpeg to detect what audio tracks exist
2. Actively process the video stream to either:
   • Remove unwanted audio tracks
   • Reorder them so your preferred language is first
   • Or completely re-encode the stream with only your selected audio

This means xTeVe would become a video transcoding server, not just a simple middleware. This would:

• ❌ Require significant CPU resources (transcoding video is very heavy)
• ❌ Add latency/buffering to your streams
• ❌ Increase complexity and potential for bugs
• ❌ Make xTeVe much harder to run on low-power devices
• ❌ Go against the design principle of being a lightweight proxy

Why Your IPTV Site Can Do It

Your IPTV provider's website can select audio tracks because they have full control over how they serve the stream. They likely:

• Have special backend APIs that can serve different audio configurations
• Use custom video players that communicate with their servers
• Can modify streams on-the-fly because they control the source

Alternative Solutions

Since this is out of scope for xTeVe, here are some alternatives:

1. Configure Jellyfin's audio preferences: Check if Jellyfin has settings to prefer certain audio languages by default
2. Contact your provider: Ask if they offer separate stream URLs for different audio tracks (some providers do)
3. Use a dedicated transcoding proxy: Tools like FFmpeg-based proxies could sit between xTeVe and Jellyfin to handle audio selection (though this adds the complexity mentioned above)
4. Manual selection in Jellyfin: While not ideal, you could manually switch audio tracks in Jellyfin's player each time (if the player exposes this option)