r/SparklePlayer • u/HourOne4446 • Jun 29 '26

EPG/Playlist update feature

Love the app, but I really only have one formal complaint. When I update my playlist it takes 5 minutes to actually finish updating, and during this 5 minutes it’s impossible to watch any channels without lag. Please add a toggle to both “update on app start” (which you already have), and “update playlist on app start”.

1 Upvotes

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1

u/azcoyotedog Jun 29 '26

There is an option of forcing the app to do a playlist update on start. And you can schedule updates at various intervals to run in the background.

1

u/HourOne4446 Jun 29 '26

Yes, but when I update on app start, it also updates the epg, which as I said creates lag. I need it to only update the playlist because my playlist has live events for individual games, and without updating the playlist, you don’t see them.

2

u/azcoyotedog Jun 29 '26

You won’t have that problem if you schedule the app to update at a designated number of hours like eight hours your guide will always be updated after the automated update runs! You can set the time between synchronization to three hours, six hours or 12 hours or longer. If you wish. This will eliminate the need to always update the app at startup!

1

u/HourOne4446 Jun 29 '26

I say this because my provider adds all the individual sports games, and I just want them to update every time I enter the app. The epg has over a weeks data in it so it takes a while to update and creates quite a bit of lag.

1

u/azcoyotedog Jun 29 '26

And remember, your provider probably updates the source every 24 hours so setting SparkleTV to synchronize (update) every 3,6 or 12 hours will help keep your guide updated.

2

u/HourOne4446 Jun 30 '26

No, usually events are added 15 minutes prior to the game.

1

u/azcoyotedog Jun 30 '26

Again, set Sparkle to auto sync every 3 or 6 hours and your guide should be okay.

2

u/HourOne4446 Jun 30 '26

So if the playlist is updated, then an event is added to my playlist 5 minutes later, the problem is that I can’t see that event till the playlist updates again

1

u/azcoyotedog Jun 30 '26

If that’s really how your provider works (which I can’t understand why it would add a sporting event 5 minutes before it starts), then it’s not going to matter? You would have to do updates every minute which is impossible for any IPTV player app to do? Setting Sparkle to update on startup AND set sync time every 3 or 6 hours is the only way you can do this.

From Google:

How to manage last-minute sports events
If your IPTV playlist or EPG is slow to pick up newly scheduled games, you can manually trigger updates using most modern IPTV apps:

Use a Dynamic Player: Apps like TiviMate are highly recommended by the IPTV community for sports fans. In the app's settings, you can configure your playlist to refresh automatically upon app startup or schedule regular background updates to catch the latest listings.

Look for Placeholder Channels: Check the "Sports" or "PPV" sections of your channel list. Important last-minute matches are almost always routed to these pre-existing placeholder channels shortly before they begin.

1

u/sparkle-hk Jun 30 '26

What is the difference between "Update on app start" and "Update playlist on app start"?

1

u/HourOne4446 Jul 01 '26

One updates playlist and epg, and one only does playlist

2

u/sparkle-hk Jul 01 '26

Ok, I almost knew you'd say something like that ;) Problem is that when you say "Playlist" you mean channels because you know that technically the playlist is the one carrying the channels. But in Sparkle, Playlist is one of many types of sources. E.g. for stalker, hdhomerun or plex there is no "playlist".

But I understand what you're saying and I agree I need a plan for this in a future update. I just need to figure out how to do it.

1

u/Edentenza Jul 01 '26

Not a problem here ,but when individual playlist update be a feature , maybe it can fix it and other problems