If you use Tivimate for IPTV make sure to go into your settings to your playlists and check the Xtream Codes parameters to change the output type to HLS. You can Google all the differences if you’d like, but the main one is that HLS can detect your network performance and increase or decrease the quality of the stream. This could help with buffering. It can also give you a higher quality stream than MPEG-TS if you have a really good connection.
some providers work better with a ts stream however, it doesnt hurt to try hls as if it works it is a better option but dont forget to revert if issues show up.
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I’m going to test this out on one of my services. I’m just curious because Tivimate default setting is TS.
From what I read TS provides a better quality stream while HLS will adjust your stream quality to a lower one if you don’t have good speeds or higher one is played if stream has sufficient speed. I’m going to test this out l8r. Tx to @Jayhawks659 for this. Definately another option to try for those with buffering. Again tx Jay, I love learning new stuff like this.
UPDATE: So I changed it on one of my services to HLS and left another one on TS. After a quick 15 minute test on identical channels, I do not notice any difference. I have around 95 Mbps down and 81 Up. Going to leave it like this for a couple of days to see what happens during different server loads depending on time of day. Wondering now how or if this will affect upscaling.
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I posted about this change i’m guessing a few months ago when dealing with buffering as this was an option. I think I might have read about it at tivimate on telegram. However after trying hls within my settings I found no benefit and reverted back. Using the hls with channelsDVR was a no go and within xteve I also had issues with hls. My best guess is it has lots to do with the actual programming(codeing) of the stream as well as each box abilities.
I missed that @TXRon . Apparently with sufficient speed TS is better. But the HLS just might help some with chronic buffering issues due to slower Download speeds. Going to run a test for a couple of days and see if I get buffering. I suspect, and thanks for the info, that I may not see any difference either and go back to TS like you did.
Well to be honest when I mentioned this I got…errrr I think no response as I believe people saw the post and said OMG…another Space Cadet post 
Lol. Had I seen it I definately would have taken a look as I value your knowledge and skillset.
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Already switched mine back.
I did a bit of research on it and a few people stated that hls may be fine for live but is not recommended for VOD. Dunno, but I tested it out for a few hours and really didn’t notice any advantage and so I put it back the way it was.
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Actually this is the problem. I read an article stating that HLS was better for recording. I saw a lot of issues with a 15 to 30 sec delay. Lag was increased. But I never record so can’t test that out.
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same with me. On tivi I tried it and saw zero change. On Channelsdvr the stream died on hls and xteve im not sure but I had issues as well. Like Miki said it might help someone with very low bandwidth and buffering.
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There’s definitely several variables and circumstances where one may be better than another. For lower bandwidth, HLS can definitely help. But the interesting thing is that I have high bandwidth and after switching to HLS I noticed a significant increase in audio quality. Video quality didn’t have any noticable change. Could be due to the upscaling that I didn’t notice anything though. I’m just not sure that TS will offer you the best quality available by default. The quality isn’t adaptable with TS. So I would want confirmation that with a high bandwidth available your HLS stream could actually be better than TS. As I said, it certainly seemed like it to me as far as the audio.
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It’s diificult, for me, to notice any difference as I very rarely ever get buffering. I have the 2019 Shield and upscaling is on and active on anything I am streaming. I can’t use Dolby Vision either>Samsung TV. So after about 6 hrs of continuous use I can’t honestly notice any difference. Picture and sound seem to be unchanged. I will continue using it to see if there is any difference during peak server loads and let you know.
After using MLS for an entire day I can’t find anything negative to report. Well maybe one small thing but can’t honestly say this was the change to MLS. I noticed my EPG did not auto update. I had to manually update this morning.
Ok. New issue found. Using HLS the catchup doesn’t work. Thanks to @Throttlejockey for the assist.
I outputted an m3u file from IPTV Boss using HLS for the source input. My catchup works fine, but haven’t noticed much difference good or bad with live streaming. This is definitely an intriguing topic, though. Love being able to tweak and customize.