Summary
- POTENTIAL FIX: [SLM/PLM] Playing YouTube Live Streams and Videos
- MODIFIED: [SLM] Cooldown for getting data from JustWatch to avoid soft blocks and data loss
- MODIFIED: [GEN] JustWatch connection no longer a requirement for startup
- FIXED: [PLM] Some valid stations would respond as fails when testing
POTENTIAL FIX: [SLM/PLM] Playing YouTube Live Streams and Videos
Several more adjustments have been made that should restore the functionality and performance of YouTube Live Streams and Videos that existed prior to 2026-01-15. Additionally, there are more backup options in case there are unforeseen issues, a correction in configuration to be able to use Node.js, and a modification of the Docker build file to support the prior item. On top of that, there have been updates in the logging to get more info for what is happening and suppressing repetitive/unnecessary text.
As with the last update, this is still a situation in flux and there may need to be future updates. Due to this, #92 remains open under monitoring status. Further, the last update and the last resort backup option in this release both suffer from bugs already discussed in #52. It is unclear if the problem is with SLM Streams or with Channels DVR clients players.
MODIFIED: [SLM] Cooldown for getting data from JustWatch to avoid soft blocks and SLM data loss
Many functions that connect to JustWatch to retrieve data (i.e., get new episodes for TV Shows) may be too efficient and cause or are a contributing factor to potential JustWatch soft blocks. This would be when JustWatch would identify your IP address as an attack and block access at your location, either temporarily or permanently. This basically caused SLM to be unusable and sometimes required getting a new IP address with a router reboot. Also, if it happened in the middle of a process, it could result in SLM removing important data, like all existing Stream Links.
Now, in order to hopefully avoid this, a 'cooldown' has been added when JustWatch does not respond as expected. This cooldown starts at 60 seconds and increases another 60 seconds each time until JustWatch responds or SLM is shut down. This may put a process into an infinite loop, but that is an intentional protective measure to make sure you don't loose everything in SLM and your Media Player client. Nevertheless, if things go well, you would see in the logs something like this:
2026-01-24 14:48:25.774887: INFO: Preparing offers in TV Show 'Beachfront Bargain Hunt (2013)'...
2026-01-24 14:48:37.198264: WARNING: JustWatch responded with status code '502'.
2026-01-24 14:48:37.199263: INFO: Initiating JustWatch 'cooldown' for 60 second(s) and then trying again...
2026-01-24 14:49:38.170529: INFO: Checking for new episodes, updating metadata, and preparing offers in the TV Show 'Beachfront Bargain Hunt: Renovation (2015)'...
Or, in a more extreme situation:
2026-01-24 15:08:52.924914: INFO: Checking for new episodes, updating metadata, and preparing offers in the TV Show 'Jeopardy! Masters (2023)'...
2026-01-24 15:08:53.475585: WARNING: JustWatch responded with status code '403'.
2026-01-24 15:08:53.475585: INFO: Initiating JustWatch 'cooldown' for 60 second(s) and then trying again...
2026-01-24 15:09:53.990565: WARNING: JustWatch responded with status code '403'.
2026-01-24 15:09:53.990565: INFO: Initiating JustWatch 'cooldown' for 120 second(s) and then trying again...
2026-01-24 15:11:54.537190: WARNING: JustWatch responded with status code '403'.
2026-01-24 15:11:54.537744: INFO: Initiating JustWatch 'cooldown' for 180 second(s) and then trying again...
2026-01-24 15:14:55.088806: WARNING: JustWatch responded with status code '403'.
2026-01-24 15:14:55.088806: INFO: Initiating JustWatch 'cooldown' for 240 second(s) and then trying again...
2026-01-24 15:18:55.606669: WARNING: JustWatch responded with status code '403'.
2026-01-24 15:18:55.606669: INFO: Initiating JustWatch 'cooldown' for 300 second(s) and then trying again...
2026-01-24 15:23:56.347804: WARNING: JustWatch responded with status code '403'.
2026-01-24 15:23:56.351801: INFO: Initiating JustWatch 'cooldown' for 360 second(s) and then trying again...
2026-01-24 15:29:56.887294: WARNING: JustWatch responded with status code '403'.
2026-01-24 15:29:56.888294: INFO: Initiating JustWatch 'cooldown' for 420 second(s) and then trying again...
2026-01-24 15:36:57.429549: WARNING: JustWatch responded with status code '403'.
2026-01-24 15:36:57.429549: INFO: Initiating JustWatch 'cooldown' for 480 second(s) and then trying again...
2026-01-24 15:44:58.057065: WARNING: JustWatch responded with status code '403'.
2026-01-24 15:44:58.059063: INFO: Initiating JustWatch 'cooldown' for 540 second(s) and then trying again...
2026-01-24 15:53:58.612046: WARNING: JustWatch responded with status code '403'.
2026-01-24 15:53:58.613043: INFO: Initiating JustWatch 'cooldown' for 600 second(s) and then trying again...
2026-01-24 16:03:59.176248: WARNING: JustWatch responded with status code '403'.
2026-01-24 16:03:59.177265: INFO: Initiating JustWatch 'cooldown' for 660 second(s) and then trying again...
2026-01-24 16:15:00.635301: INFO: Preparing offers in TV Show 'John Adams (2008)'...
On top of this, other tools were added to try to not aggravate JustWatch including more header definitions and random pauses. The hope is that these will minimize the triggers that would make the cooldowns necessary to begin with.
MODIFIED: [GEN] JustWatch connection no longer a requirement for startup
A connection to JustWatch is no longer necessary when starting Streaming Library Manager. Instead, you'll get a notification about the error with a link to troubleshooting steps to resolve it. Additionally, if you are not a SLM user, this test is skipped entirely, as well as attempts to update SLM-only data files.
FIXED: [PLM] Some valid stations would respond as fails when testing
There are some edge case stations that respond as a failure when testing even though the stream would work in other tools like VLC. This is due to certain host providers bouncing the connection around and looking for more information from the asking program. A patch has been added to mimic the behavior seen in tools like VLC so that these stations respond appropriately.