Xtream Codes, M3U or Stalker portal: which login your provider gave you

IPTV providers use three kinds of login. They are not brands or apps; they are ways of describing where your channels live and who you are. Most players read at least two of them. Knowing which one you have tells you what to type, and what to expect from it.

Xtream Codes: a server, a username and a password

How to recognize it. Your provider gave you three things: a server address, usually with a port (something like http://example-host.tv:8080), a username and a password. Some emails call it an “Xtream login”, an “API login” or simply “for TiviMate and similar apps”.

What it gives you. An Xtream Codes login is the richest of the three. Through it the player can ask for live channels sorted into categories, films and series with their artwork, the provider’s own guide, and, where the provider keeps one, a catch-up archive per channel. It also tells the player when the subscription expires.

Adding it to TiviDeck. Open Settings › Playlists › Playlists, choose Add a source, then Xtream Codes, and enter the three details exactly as written. Choose whether to load live TV, films and series, or both. On the phone app, the same form is under Add a provider. Where the provider sends an expiry date, TiviDeck shows it on the source; where it does not, TiviDeck says so instead of assuming the login lasts forever.

M3U: one long address

How to recognize it. Your provider gave you a single link, often long, that ends in .m3u or .m3u8, or contains type=m3u. Sometimes a second link is included for the guide, usually ending in .xml or .xml.gz.

What it gives you. An M3U playlist is a text file listing channels: a name, a logo, a group and a stream address for each. It is simple, which is its strength and its limit. It does not carry a guide on its own, which is why the second link exists, and it is mostly used for live channels.

A useful trick. If the M3U address contains username= and password=, it often comes from an Xtream Codes server. The part before the path is the server, and those two values are your username and password. Entered as an Xtream login, the same subscription may bring films, series and a guide that the plain playlist leaves out. If it does not work, the M3U address still will.

Adding it to TiviDeck. In Settings › Playlists › Playlists › Add a source, choose M3U URL and paste the address. Long addresses are much easier to type from your phone. If your provider gave you a guide link, add it under Settings › TV guide; it is added to your provider’s guide and fills the channels it left blank.

Stalker portal: an address and a MAC

How to recognize it. Your provider asked for, or gave you, a MAC address, twelve characters in pairs that often start with 00:1A:79, and a portal address, sometimes ending in /c. This kind of login comes from set-top boxes, where the portal recognizes the box itself rather than a username.

What it gives you. The portal decides what the box may see from its MAC address. Live channels, a guide and, depending on the provider, films and series come through the portal.

Adding it to TiviDeck. On the TV app, choose Stalker portal under Add a source. Enter the MAC address the portal knows this box by, then the portal address. The path is optional; TiviDeck tries the usual ones. Paste everything exactly as your provider wrote it. On the phone app, the same choice is under Add a provider.

Which one should you use?

• If you have a choice, use Xtream Codes. It brings categories, films, series, the guide, catch-up information and the expiry date in one login.
• Use M3U when it is all you have, and add the guide link if your provider sent one.
• Use a Stalker portal when your provider only works that way. The MAC address matters: the portal expects the one it was given.

A few things that apply to all three

Connections. Providers limit how many streams one login can play at once. Every player that is open and playing uses one, and so does every tile in multi-view. If a second stream refuses to start, that limit is usually why.

Several providers. With Premium, TiviDeck reads every provider you add at once, of any of these kinds, and the Sports Hub matches games across all of them. Basic keeps one provider, the household’s main one; the others stay saved for when you choose a plan.

Too many channels. A large login can bring tens of thousands of channels. The category manager under Settings › Playlists lets you keep the ones you want; unticked channels stay out of the guide, search and everything else.

Keep it private. These details are your subscription. Never post a login, an M3U address with a password in it, or a MAC address in a public forum or a screenshot.

TiviDeck never sells, hosts or resells channels; it plays the login your provider gave you. The help center has each of these steps as a card, and tivideck.com/get has the app.