OTT Navigator catch-up: verify the channel, date and archive source

Choose one precise past programme

Catch-up troubleshooting needs a channel, programme and date. An old entry in the guide does not establish that a corresponding recording remains available. Begin with a recent programme on a channel the source owner explicitly says has archive access, and keep the source account’s actual permissions in mind.

Record whether live playback currently works and whether the programme appears in the guide. These are useful separate results. A source can deliver live video while its archive route is unavailable, and a guide can contain historical schedule information beyond the source’s playable retention period.

Use the documented archive action

OTT Navigator’s guide describes selecting an already aired programme from the channel schedule or guide, with Start over and Switch to live as separate player actions. Use the appropriate action for the test rather than repeatedly pausing a live stream and assuming the same mechanism is involved.

Observe the requested programme’s actual opening scene and displayed time. If it opens the live point or another programme, preserve that mismatch. A stream beginning successfully is not enough to show that the correct historical interval was requested. Keep the exact channel and date in private support notes.

Inspect metadata only against a real supported archive

The developer explains that playlist catch-up declarations and provider properties can describe the archive type and retention. Changing them only helps when the source actually has an archive in the relevant format. Obtain the correct source information before overriding those values.

For an original example, setting seven days in the app cannot recover a programme the source only retains for two days. Similarly, a source may record some channels and exclude others. Compare one known supported channel before generalizing a failure across the entire account. Do not invent archive URL patterns or alter private source addresses to probe unprovided access.

Check the guide as a separate navigation input

OTT Navigator documents different archive navigation when a channel lacks EPG information. If the archive opens in coarse intervals rather than named programmes, inspect guide availability and channel matching separately. A schedule problem and an archive-retention problem can coexist.

Return to live deliberately after the test and confirm the expected channel state. The result should identify whether the failure concerns source retention, channel coverage, metadata or the selected interval. It does not establish an IPTV Europe catch-up promise or imply that displaying more past guide days creates playable media.

Related reading

• OTT Navigator: select the matching provider template
• OTT Navigator live rewind: identify a DVR window rather than a catch-up library

Questions answered

Sources & further reading

Official references for the subjects discussed. Service terms and device software can change.

• https://ottnav.github.io/faq/playback/catchup.html
• https://ottnav.github.io/faq/formats/catchup.html