Skip to content

Concepts

WyreDeck does a few things you may not have seen in other IPTV apps. Here's what each setup option actually means.

Provider types

Xtream Codes

The most common IPTV format. Your provider gives you three things:

  • A server URL (e.g. http://example.com:8080)
  • A username
  • A password

Behind the scenes, WyreDeck queries the server's Xtream API to pull channels, movies, and series, plus an electronic program guide (EPG).

Best for: most paid IPTV subscriptions.

M3U Playlist

A single URL pointing to a flat text file of streams. Some providers distribute this instead of Xtream credentials.

Best for: providers that don't expose Xtream; simpler setups; aggregated lists.

WyreDeck LAN Backbone (coming soon)

Point WyreDeck at a WyreDeck server running on your local network. The server handles heavy lifting (metadata, guide, transcoding) and the TV app becomes a thin client.

Best for: households with multiple TVs that want to share one hot cache.

Cloud (coming soon)

Managed WyreDeck account with server-side catalog and guide. Sign in on every device, content syncs.

Language and region

When you import, WyreDeck classifies content by language and region. Two knobs:

  • Lineup scope: Recommended — prioritizes content matching your device locale first, so your initial library is cleaner. Other languages are still indexed and can be surfaced later.
  • Lineup scope: Import Full Catalog — everything at once. Browse is busier but nothing's hidden.

You can add languages (e.g. Arabic) later in Settings; WyreDeck will re-sync to pull those.

Heads up — classifier in progress

Our current language classifier has false positives (it can tag English titles about a region as that region's language). We're improving this; for now, if content looks miscategorized, mention it in the tester group.

Content pillars

WyreDeck thinks about three independent content types ("pillars"):

  • Live TV — channel guide + linear streams
  • Movies — VOD movies
  • Series — VOD TV shows with seasons and episodes

Each pillar syncs independently. A provider can have any subset. The top nav only shows pillars that synced successfully — no dead links.

Metadata enrichment (TMDB)

IPTV providers give you streams. They don't usually give you posters, descriptions, cast, ratings. WyreDeck fills that in using The Movie Database (TMDB), a free community metadata service.

To use it:

  1. Get a free TMDB API key (step-by-step guide)
  2. Paste it during setup (or later in Settings)

Without a TMDB key, the app still works — it just shows plainer tiles with less info.

Profiles

Multiple household members can have separate watchlists, progress, and language preferences. Profiles don't separate providers — everyone in the household shares the same imported catalog.

Where your data lives

  • Locally on the device: your provider credentials, downloaded metadata, watch progress
  • TMDB (if you add a key): you query their public API for posters and descriptions
  • Your provider: sees your IP address and your requests for streams (same as every IPTV app)

WyreDeck itself does not send your provider credentials anywhere beyond the provider's own server.