Channels
Channels are the primary way to display content in Television Simulator. They can contain various types of content, including images, videos, and more. Each channel has a unique number and can be customized with metadata, visual effects and background audio.
Each channel should have at most one top-level content engine. If you don’t define any content, the channel will be empty and TVS will display “no signal” content, which defaults to TV static. To display more content on a channel you can either use layouts to display multiple content items on screen at the same time, or loops to cycle between different content items, showing only one at a time.
Example
Section titled “Example”You need to define channels in a channels list in the YAML configuration file.
channels:
- number: 123 name: My channel abbr: EXAMPLE
- number: 124 name: My second channel abbr: EXAMPLE2To add content to a channel, figure out which content engine you want to use and add it as a property of the channel. For example, to add an image to channel 123:
channels:
- number: 123 name: My channel abbr: EXAMPLE image: /content/images/my-image.jpgProgram details
Section titled “Program details”You can add program details to a channel, which tells the viewer what’s currently playing. Currently only one program can be defined per channel. The program details include title and description. Program title will be displayed in the program guide and both title and description will be shown in compatible on-screen displays.
Background audio
Section titled “Background audio”Channels allow for background audio playback. You can specify a URL to an audio file that will play while the channel is active. This is useful for channels that display static images or other content that benefits from background music or sound. Background audio is separate from the channel’s main content and can be controlled independently, but can be interrupted when particular content is being displayed.
Channel properties
Section titled “Channel properties”number required
Section titled “number ”Type: number
The channel number. Must be unique across all channels. Negative channels are allowed and will be treated as line inputs. Channel 0 is displayed as “MENU”. You can skip numbers; when pressing channel up or down TVS will skip numbers.
Type: string
A short abbreviation for the channel. Will be displayed in program guides and in OSDs that support it. If not provided it may show up as “UNKNOWN”.
Type: string
The full name of the channel.
Type: string
The title of the currently playing program.
description
Section titled “description”Type: string
A short description of the currently playing program.
Type: string
The URL of an icon to display for the channel. In some OSDs this icon will display when the info screen is visible.
Type: number
The amount of blur to apply to the channel’s video output, in pixels. Overrides the global blur setting.
Type: number
The amount of noise to apply to the channel’s video output, from 0.0 to 1.0. Overrides the global noise setting.
noiseBlendMode
Section titled “noiseBlendMode”Type: normal | multiply | screen | overlay | darken | lighten | color-dodge | color-burn | hard-light | soft-light | difference | exclusion | hue | saturation | color | luminosity | plus-darker | plus-lighter
The CSS blend mode to use for the noise effect. Defaults to screen.
backgroundAudio
Section titled “backgroundAudio”Type: string
The URL of an audio file to play in the background while the channel is active.
backgroundAudioOptions
Section titled “backgroundAudioOptions”Options for customizing the background audio playback.
volume
Section titled “volume”Type: number | false
Default: 1
Volume level from 0.0 (muted) to 1.0 (full volume). If set to false or 0, the audio will be muted.
filterType
Section titled “filterType”Type: 'lowpass' | 'highpass' | 'bandpass' | 'lowshelf' | 'highshelf' | 'notch' | 'allpass'
Type of audio filter to apply; if none is specified, no filtering will be applied.
filterFrequency
Section titled “filterFrequency”Type: number
Default: 0
The frequency, in Hz, for the audio filter.
Type: number | false
Default: 0
Amount of noise to add to the audio, from 0 (none) to 1 (maximum). Set to false to disable.
corsMitigation
Section titled “corsMitigation”Type: true | false
If enabled, disables audio processing for sources without proper CORS headers. Filter options will not work if this is set.
description
Section titled “description”Type: string
A description of the audio source. Use the station name for live radio, or song and artist for music.
nowPlayingUrl
Section titled “nowPlayingUrl”Type: string
URL to fetch “now playing” information.
nowPlayingProvider
Section titled “nowPlayingProvider”Type: string
Provider to fetch “now playing” information from. See documentation for supported providers.
shufflePlaylist
Section titled “shufflePlaylist”Type: true | false
If the background audio is a playlist, enables shuffling when set to true.