Live TV and the guide

The current-time line is off by default. Turn Show current time line on under Settings › TV guide › How the guide looks to draw a vertical line in the current theme’s accent colour from the time labels down through the programmes at the current time, so every channel can be compared at a glance. While the present is on screen, the current time sits in a small accent pill on the time row above the programmes, and the start of that row names what the guide is showing (All channels, Favourites or a group) with how many channels it holds. Whenever the visible hours no longer contain the present, a marker appears next to the date telling you which way it is: ◂ Now when you are looking ahead, Now ▸ when you have scrolled back into what has already aired. The Now button in the row above returns the guide to the current time from either direction, and the guide then follows the clock again by itself. If you would rather do it from a button, assign any spare key to Jump to now under Settings › Remote & buttons › What buttons do › Buttons in the TV guide (how-to 51) — useful when you are deep in the channel list rather than up on the buttons. Leaving Live TV and coming back also returns you to now. A short glowing edge in your theme’s accent colour, the side menu’s “you are here” mark, sits on the channel currently playing, while the highlight follows your remote as a bright bar the text sits on, the same bar the side menu and the guide’s menus use. The channel whose schedule you are reading across stands out in the channel list. Programme boxes show titles only unless you turn on Show programme times under Settings › TV guide › How the guide looks, which adds each programme’s start and end under its title; finished programmes are dimmed (less so when catch-up can still play them), and the preview names the channel playing in it. Choose Playing channel beside Now, or Find playing channel at the top of the groups panel, to return to that row without restarting playback or changing the guide time. If you were only previewing a group in the sidebar, it first takes you back to the group you started from, on the playing channel if that group has it. If the playing channel is not in the group you chose, it opens All TV services to find the row. Hidden or removed channels are not brought back. Replay icons mark catch-up where space allows. Source labels sit below channel names when the row has room; compact rows keep the name readable and show the source beside it. Focus a long source label to read it as it scrolls. Programme progress bars follow the theme accent unless you set a custom progress colour. The information panel follows the programme you focus. Its height stays steady while details load, so the channel grid stays in place. The title and one time row take priority: a red LIVE mark, the start and end, how far through it is and the minutes left, or for a later programme how long until it starts. The episode line and synopsis come next, in larger white text that stays readable over programme artwork; they fit the remaining room, and full details stay available through Info. Choose its ⓘ Info action, or press a remote’s Info button, to open the complete scrollable synopsis and programme metadata. A red record icon marks a programme scheduled to record, and a chain icon marks programmes covered by a Series Link. A replay icon on a past programme marks one you can watch from catch-up. Rewind on the remote also scrolls the guide back in time. The preview keeps playing while you keep browsing. For a TiviMate-style flow, turn on Play a preview as you browse under Settings › TV guide › Preview & the OK button; rapid scrolling is allowed to settle before the preview changes. Make the preview fullscreen after can then promote that channel after 5, 10 or 15 idle seconds. Both controls are available in the free version. If you’d rather skip the preview step entirely, turn on Open fullscreen with one press of OK in the same section.

To open Live TV on Favourites, All TV services, Recently added or one of your own custom folders instead of All channels, choose Live TV opens to under Settings › Home & menu › How each section opens. Its help names the TV service Live TV uses, and Which service Live TV uses just below it opens TV services at Which service each section uses, where you change it. Custom-folder choices are labelled Custom folder · Name, and the stable folder identity means renaming one does not lose the choice. Choose Last used group to have the guide reopen on the group you were browsing last time, such as UK Sports, one of your folders, Favourites or All TV services. It is remembered separately for each profile and each TV service, so it holds when you close the full-screen player, leave Live TV and come back, switch TV service and back, or restart TiviGlass. A group you only previewed in the group list does not count; it has to be one you chose. If that group has since been removed or hidden, the guide opens on All channels instead, and a PIN-protected group asks for the PIN first. You can also choose one of your TV service’s own groups, labelled Group · Name, so a family TV opens on the kids’ group instead of All channels. The list comes from the service Live TV opens with (the one chosen in Live TV uses, if you set one) and leaves out groups you have hidden or filtered out. Stremio sources and lists loaded from a file offer no groups here. The choice belongs to that one service: with a different service in use the guide opens on All channels, TiviGlass starts on its usual screen rather than Live TV, and the picker shows Group (not available), which is also what you see if the group has since been hidden, filtered out or removed by your provider. With parental controls on, a locked or adult group asks for the PIN first, unless Skip PIN on locked channels, films & shows is on. The group choice only decides where the guide opens: hiding a group (hold OK on it, then Group options) is what removes it from All channels for that profile. If a TV on the same account runs an older TiviGlass that does not know this option, that TV can reset the choice to All channels when it next syncs. Anything you pick here other than All channels or Last used group also makes TiviGlass open straight into Live TV, on that screen, after a cold start (a group choice only while its service is the one Live TV opens with) — so choosing Favourites is how you get the app to start on your favourites. Start on the last channel remains the higher-priority option: switch that off under Settings › Home & menu › When TiviGlass starts if you want to see your chosen screen instead of immediately resuming playback.

Recently added uses the catalogue dates supplied by your TV source. If an older saved catalogue has no dates yet, the empty screen offers Refresh channels. A source that supplies no date metadata cannot build that list.

Every channel change brings up a short channel banner — the channel name and logo, what’s on now with how far through it is, and what’s next — so you always know where you have landed. The banner shows no buttons: along its bottom it reminds you which keys do what (▲ ▼ Change channel and OK Controls; the first is left out if you have given Up or Down another job). It clears itself after a few seconds and does not take over the remote: Up/Down keep moving through channels while it is showing, so you can keep surfing. Press OK to turn the banner into the full playback controls (how long those stay up is Settings › While watching › Player controls & clock › Hide player controls after). Auto leaves that to TiviGlass: the controls you open yourself stay a little longer than the banner that appears on its own. Never keeps the controls you opened on screen until you hide them, and still clears the channel banner.

If you like to surf quickly, set Delay before switching channels (Settings › While watching › Changing channels). With a delay, the on-screen selection moves instantly but only the channel you settle on is actually tuned — much faster, and much kinder to your provider.

The programme and channel stay visible at the top while you choose. Back closes the menu (on a touch screen, use the Back arrow at the top), and the first focused choice is never a delete or reset action. This single menu covers favourites, watchlist, recording, reminders, multi-view, groups, renaming the channel, channel numbers, guide matching and per-channel corrections.

The menu shows what this programme is already set to do. Once you have set a reminder its button lights up and reads Reminder on; press it again to remove the reminder, with no question asked, and once more to set it back. While a channel is recording, the Record button reads Recording; a scheduled recording reads Will record; a linked series offers Remove series link. Cancelling a recording or removing a series link still asks once first, with the answers Keep it and Cancel recording (or Keep link and Remove link), and you never have to leave the guide to undo what you just set. The full lists stay where they always were — Recordings, Reminders and Settings › Recordings › Recording › Series Links.

Actions your TV service or your box cannot do are simply not shown. Watch from start and Watch this programme appear only when your provider actually carries catch-up for that channel and the programme is still inside the days it keeps; Add to Multi-view appears only on a box that can decode more than one channel at once. An action your plan does not include is shown greyed with the plan it needs, because that is the one limit you can lift.

A guide programme has no on-demand ID of its own, so TiviGlass asks you to confirm a matching title from your provider’s Movies or Shows catalogue. If the provider does not carry it there, nothing is saved and the app tells you.

Match listings chooses where this channel’s programme listings come from, with the closest matches first and their schedules beside them. How-to 14b explains it in full.

Some remotes report a held button as lots of very fast presses instead of one long one. TiviGlass detects this and adapts, but on a third-party remote the first hold may register as a normal press — back out and hold again and it will work from then on.

Your TV’s own remote is the common case. When you control the box with the TV remote rather than the one it came with, the buttons travel over the HDMI cable, which has no way to say “still holding” and repeats the press instead. TiviGlass recognises that immediately, with no first-hold cost, so holding OK opens this menu. Holding Back jumps to the top in a channel or group list; elsewhere it counts as one Back rather than several. If you want two Backs there, leave a short beat between them.

If your remote still won’t hold, assign any spare button to Options for the focused item under Settings › Remote & buttons › What buttons do (how-to 51); one press of it opens this menu.

Holding OK on a group in the guide opens its options with Edit in Channels & groups first, which lands on that group, and the quick changes after it: rename, move, lock, hide, reset, Add all to a custom group, Show and hide in the guide and Tidy up. Bulk changes always ask before changing everything.

A group can hold channels from several playlists at once — manage each source in turn, and rows from elsewhere carry a source badge and play using their own provider’s details. Groups exist separately for Live, Movies and Shows. Deleting a playlist thins the groups it fed rather than removing them. Groups you already made keep working even if your plan lapses — only creating new ones needs Premium.

You can send channels straight into a group your provider already gave you: to merge “UK Regionals” into “UK Entertainment”, select them and pick UK Entertainment as the destination — no need to invent a group you already have. Copy leaves the channels where they are as well as adding them. Move also takes them out of the group you are standing in — they stay in Favourites, Search and All channels. To undo a move, select the channels in their new home and move them back to the original group. The group you are currently viewing is not offered as a destination. Custom groups are Premium, but copying and moving between your provider’s groups is free. Switch playlists and keep selecting: one custom group can be filled from all of them (provider groups belong to a single playlist, so channels from another one are skipped). Back leaves selection mode without changing anything.

Your active playlist does not change when you play something from another one, so your guide, favourites and resume points stay where they were. Favouriting a channel here works whichever service it comes from. Playlists a profile isn’t allowed to see never appear in the merged view.

Filter by channel prefix: open Settings › Channels & groups › Groups › Hide groups & channels by name → Add custom filter. Select Channel name starts with, enter a literal prefix such as US|, UK| or FHD, then choose Hide matches or Show only matches. Matching ignores case and uses the displayed channel name; renaming a channel can change whether it matches. Multiple Show filters combine, and Hide wins. Saved filters apply to this TV source in the channel list, guide, favourites and custom folders, including after refresh. Disable or delete the filter to restore those channels; no channels or favourites are deleted. Prefix filtering requires Premium and stops narrowing lists if Premium expires. Prefixes TiviGlass detects in your groups are listed one per row: press OK on one and choose Off, Show only these or Hide these. Deleting a filter you made asks first.

Missing channels after cleanup? Open Settings › Channels & groups, choose the Tidy up tab with All channels selected, and choose Bring back channels. This restores every hidden channel in the active playlist for your profile, including channels you hid manually. The restore is carried to your other devices when cloud sync is enabled. A playlist refresh preserves hidden flags; it does not undo cleanup. Restore all channel names only undoes renaming. If feeds are still collapsed together, turn off Merge duplicate channels under Channels & groups › Duplicate channels, and check Show or hide groups and Hide groups & channels by name for hidden groups or filters.

All of these are overlays on top of your provider’s data. Refreshing the catalogue never wipes them, and clearing an override always brings the original name, logo or number straight back.

Renaming is free. Typing a name yourself is included on every plan; on a paid plan the same dialog first offers tidied-up suggestions built from the provider’s own name, so you can clear a country prefix or a quality tag in one press instead of retyping the line. Restore original is always there, and a rename follows the channel everywhere — the guide, search, favourites, your groups and the player.

Event and pay-per-view slots are treated differently on purpose. Some providers rewrite those channel names every few hours to whatever is on right now, so they arrive looking like ENDED | Fri 28 Aug 05:59 | UK: MAX PPV 1 or MAX USA 43: NO EVENT. A rename is permanent, so tidying one of those would pin last night’s match to the channel for good. TiviGlass instead suggests the part that stays true — MAX PPV 1 — and where there is no such part it offers nothing and leaves the provider’s own text alone, which is why the suggestion list is sometimes empty on those channels and not on the ones beside them.

The other half of that is what you see while you browse. When a slot like that has no real guide listing, TiviGlass reads tonight’s fixture out of the channel name and shows it as what’s on — next to the picture, in the empty guide cell, and on Home. A real guide always wins. A reminder or recording you set from that title still fires at the time shown, but it will not follow a later schedule change, because there was never a guide row to follow.

Three ways to reach the guide’s button behaviour. From the guide itself, hold OK on a channel and choose Guide behaviour. From Settings, it is under TV guide › Preview & the OK button, and the same switch is also on Remote & buttons › What buttons do. Searching Settings for “single tap”, “small player” or “fullscreen” also lands on it.

If the guide looks too small or too crowded, these are the two controls for it. They are free, they are per profile, and they only affect the guide — so you can enlarge the guide without enlarging every other screen. To make the whole app bigger instead, use App text & layout size under Settings › Look & feel › Size & screen; the two combine, so it is worth changing one at a time.

A guide source that came from your provider is shown but can’t be deleted — it disappears with the playlist. Sources you add yourself, including their order and On/Off state, travel with cloud sync and Cloud Backup; the feed address is encrypted in the cloud copy. Provider-supplied sources are rediscovered when that playlist updates. The line at the top of Guide listings (for example “TV guide: 812 of 900 channels have listings”) tells you how many of your channels currently have programme data, which is the quickest way to spot a bad source. When some channels are blank, Missing listings has the tools: Check for missing TV listings and Match listings (how-to 14b).

A very large guide that keeps stopping part way now carries on where it left off. Each source shows what happened on its last try, and where a download was cut off mid-way the line tells you how much was saved and that the next update continues from there rather than starting again. Some very large feeds take two or three updates to arrive in full on a slow connection; that is normal and it does not mean the address is wrong. Nothing is lost in between, and the saved part is thrown away only if you change or remove the source, or the TV runs genuinely short of storage.

Opening the TV guide pulls the schedule in by itself the first time each session if there isn’t one yet. Routine manual and timed updates live under TV services, so there is only one update process to remember.

Background updates run on any connection, including a 4G router or phone hotspot. If data use matters, lengthen Update every or turn Update automatically off under Settings › TV services › Keeping up to date.

The channel list and the movie and show library never update while you are watching. If an update comes due in the middle of a programme, including the one that follows opening the app, it waits and runs once playback has stopped. The TV guide is still checked on time.

Programme times come from your guide source, not from TiviGlass, and the app shows them in your TV’s own time zone. If everything is out by a whole number of hours, the source is stamping its times against a different zone — that is what Guide time offset is for. Check your TV’s date, time and time zone first, then set the offset to the difference you can see. If it is one or two channels rather than the whole guide, use Channel corrections on those channels instead. Whichever you use, the direction is the same: the guide running behind the real broadcast needs a plus correction to move it forward.