Playback Guide

Kernel always prefers direct play over transcoding. These endpoints tell you which one you’re getting and hand you the right URL; you don’t need to decide that yourself.

On-demand (VOD)

Ask what playback method to use

curl http://<server>:9014/watch/vod/<item_id>/play-info \
  -H "Device-ID: <device-id>" \
  -H "Device-Audio-Codecs: aac,ac3" \
  -H "Device-Audio-Channels: 6"

{"method": "direct", "url": "/watch/vod/<item_id>/file", "format": "mkv"}

method is direct, remux, audio-only, or transcode. url is already the right path to request next.

Play it

Direct play: GET the returned url (/file). It’s the raw file, with Range support for seeking.
Transcoded: GET /watch/vod/<item_id>/master.mpd (DASH, used by Roku/Android) or /master.m3u8 (HLS, used by web) to start the transcode job and get a manifest. Segment requests that follow are served as ffmpeg produces them.

Live TV

curl http://<server>:9014/watch/live/<channel_id> \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <jwt>" \
  -H "Device-Id: <device-id>" \
  -H "Device-OS: Roku OS"

Web and most clients get back an HLS master playlist directly.
Roku and Android (detected from Device-OS) get a 302 redirect to /watch/live/<channel_id>/master.mpd. These clients are DASH-only and will not play HLS.

Resolving IDs

GET /libraries then GET /library/{id} then item IDs for GET /item/{id}.
GET /channels for channel IDs used in Live TV playback and GET /programs (EPG).

See the endpoint pages for full request/response schemas.

⌘I

Overview

Endpoints

On-demand (VOD)

Live TV

Resolving IDs

​On-demand (VOD)

​Live TV

​Resolving IDs

On-demand (VOD)

Live TV

Resolving IDs