What plays

Multiview opens from a live channel's More menu when its subscription explicitly allows several streams. Selecting a pane gives it sound and the existing transport and subtitle controls. Pausing or rewinding that pane leaves its peers playing. Single view keeps its picture and retained position while closing the others; each pane can also close independently. Explicit mute stays muted when selection changes.

Actual provider connections, including recordings, determine whether another channel can open. A refused pane leaves the existing pictures alone. Saved layouts restore channel choices, not paused positions. Multiview plays on this computer only. Four simultaneous pictures depend on the computer's decoding capacity; native four-pane resource qualification is still pending for this development feature.

Paused pictures remain visible when returning to Single view. Background retained timelines refresh independently, and failed reads keep their last observed bounds.

From 0.0.23, now in Nightly, Mr. Streamer can record live channels. A recording keeps the channel's MPEG-TS stream as your provider sends it, with every picture, sound, subtitle and teletext track, and converts nothing while recording. It plays as a download does, converting only what Mr. Streamer can't play as it is. Recordings play on this computer only, not on a TV.

From 0.0.24, a channel that plays here and its recording share one connection to the provider (see Record now), when the provider sends it as MPEG-TS, or as HLS with plain MPEG-TS segments; an HLS channel offered in several qualities keeps one quality while they share, and picks again after. While it plays above 1080 lines, or in a quality with subtitles sent separately, its recording needs a connection of its own; HLS that can't be recorded at all is listed below. When Watch or a recording reads an MPEG-TS channel more slowly than it arrives, what it hasn't read yet waits in a temporary folder in Mr. Streamer's data folder: up to 2 GiB for all channels together, never leaving less than 5 GB free on that disk. Watch also keeps up to the last 30 minutes of a channel playing here in that folder, so you can pause and rewind it: see Live rewind. The folder is emptied when the stream stops and when Mr. Streamer starts.

An HLS channel can be recorded when its stream is plain MPEG-TS: its highest quality up to 1080p, or, while it plays here and shares its connection, the quality playing, one segment after another. Subtitles an HLS channel sends separately aren't recorded. Encrypted streams, fragmented MP4, byte-range and low-latency playlists, sound sent as a separate stream, and streams without an MPEG-TS programme table can't be. Record then says "This channel's stream can't be recorded." before anything is kept. After a gap, a recording of a live HLS channel goes on up to three segments before live, as playback starts, so after a shorter gap its first seconds can repeat what was recorded just before.

Online search starts off. In Settings > Subtitles > Online search, set up SubDL with your own API key, or OpenSubtitles with your API key, username and password, or both. Choose saved languages and enable search. Saving these settings makes no service request.

For a movie or episode playing on this computer, open CC and choose Search subtitles. Opening CC alone does not search. You can pick another search language in the panel, and Settings there opens the online subtitle settings. File tracks stay above the results, which show the release, service, language, hearing-impaired flag and download count when provided. If one service fails, the other service's results remain usable. Choose a result to download it and show it while the picture continues. Subtitles are read as UTF-8; Arabic subtitles saved in the older Windows-1256 encoding also work. The panel stays open to try another result. Escape or CC closes it; closing while a request runs cancels that request.

A search sends the known TMDB identity, or the title and year when no identity is known, with episode coordinates and languages. Text searches can return another release or cut, so check it against the picture. Provider logins, playable addresses and file request headers are never sent. OpenSubtitles logs in when you download, and that download may consume its allowance. The panel shows only an allowance reported by the service, without assuming a daily limit.

Downloaded SRT and WebVTT text is kept on this computer for the exact movie or episode version. The last selected result shows again for the same viewing profile when you reopen that file, whatever your subtitle language setting is. The selected result, Off and visibility belong to each profile; timing corrections for that exact file and result are shared by every profile. If you last chose Off or one of the file's own tracks there, it stays listed under Saved for this version with its timing and does not show until you choose it again. While a file has a saved result, choosing Off or one of its own tracks turns the downloaded result off for that file only and leaves your subtitle language for other titles as it was. Which of the file's own tracks you picked is not kept. The next time the file opens, its own tracks follow your subtitle language as on any title. Up to eight recent downloaded results per exact file keep their own timing, so switching back to one makes no new download. Forget downloaded subtitles removes all saved results, choices and timing for that file for every profile. When removing its subscription, tick Also delete… to remove them too. Otherwise they remain on this computer. Replacing the listed file or a replacement observed during playback prevents an old correction from carrying over. When the provider puts another file behind a title while it plays, its downloaded subtitle leaves the picture and the panel at once, the file's own tracks stay, and online search for it returns when you open the title again.

Under Timing in the same panel, downloaded text has 0.1-second and 1-second steps and a typed offset up to ten minutes either way. Drift and frame rate opens a drift ratio and all six frame-rate conversions between 23.976, 24 and 25 fps. The labels run from subtitle FPS to video FPS. A conversion keeps its exact ratio; the field shows it to five decimals. Reset restores zero offset and normal drift for the selected result. Try the next result, beside the results, switches to the next one already fetched. G and H shift 0.1 seconds; Shift+G and Shift+H shift one second. Each selected result remembers its own correction. File-track timing retains its 30-second limit; picture subtitles have no timing control.

Downloaded subtitles and their timing play on this computer only. A receiver keeps the file's supported subtitle tracks. Returning to this computer restores its saved download, unless you had turned it off for that file on this computer.

• Live subtitles show from their next line after you turn them on, and another sound track starts the channel again, except on HLS channels.
• An HLS channel shows the subtitles its stream lists and the closed captions in its picture. DVB subtitles and teletext inside an HLS stream don't show.
• Surround sound that needs converting plays as stereo.
• After you skip in a movie or episode, the subtitle already on screen at that moment can't always be had: Mr. Streamer reads only a little of the file for it, and only while the picture can spare the connection. That works for MKV files when the subtitle began shortly before, and for MP4 files with text subtitles; a line that began long before, a slow connection, and other kinds of files leave it out. While no line shows, "Subtitles unavailable" shows at the top right, the movie plays on, and the subtitles are back from the next line. The same happens when the subtitles stop arriving altogether.
• Closed captions come from the CEA-608 data most broadcasts carry. A channel or file that sends captions only in the newer CEA-708 form shows none.
• Converting an HEVC or Xvid picture uses much more of your computer's processor than playing it as it is.
• A damaged broadcast can take more than ten seconds to start, while Mr. Streamer retries it with the picture re-encoded.
• Interlaced channels that play directly, common in European HD broadcasts, aren't deinterlaced; fast motion can show fine horizontal lines.
• On a TV, a movie or episode plays at normal speed, subtitle timing can't be shifted, and the mini player is off, since it has no picture to show. Video the TV could play itself, such as HEVC, is still converted on your computer.
• If your TV doesn't show up or doesn't play, please report it with its make and model.

Mr. Streamer tells you why. The cross at the top right of the message closes it, also with Tab and then Enter or Space; the channel or title stays stopped, and Watch or Play beside the picture tries it again. A new failure shows its own message.

For a channel, a small line under the message adds what Mr. Streamer observed: the provider's HTTP status, the qualities it tried, how often it reconnected and the time. Your provider's address and login never show.

• No stream right now: the provider lists the channel and answered 404 or 410 for its stream. Try again later or pick another channel. With a quality picked for the channel it reads No Full HD stream, and your pick stays.
• Refused by the provider: the provider turned the stream down, with a status such as 401 or 403. The status doesn't say why. On a subscription, check whether another device is watching, since many allow one connection. On a public playlist, some channels only play in certain countries. Mr. Streamer stops at a refusal instead of trying more streams against it, and offers no other quality.
• Provider is limiting requests: the provider answered 429. Wait a moment before trying again.
• Provider error: the provider answered with another error, such as 502 or 503, instead of the stream.
• No answer from the provider: the provider didn't answer, or sent nothing, also after four reconnects.
• No picture arrived: the provider answered and nothing with a picture or sound came, also after four reconnects.
• Lost the stream: the channel played, stopped arriving, and four reconnects didn't bring it back. Often a network problem.
• Keeps dropping: the channel came back and broke off again within 30 seconds each time, until its four reconnects were used. Another quality may hold better.
• Can't play this stream: the stream arrived and Mr. Streamer couldn't play or convert it, also after one try with the picture re-encoded. Please report it with the channel's name.
• Login not accepted: the provider rejected your username or password when the channel opened. Update login opens that subscription in Settings > Subscriptions, where you enter the password again.
• … needs its password again, or its link for a playlist: your system no longer gives Mr. Streamer the saved password or link of the subscription this plays from. Enter password, or Enter link, opens it in Settings > Subscriptions. The lists still show what it loaded before.
• Can't play this title: the file uses a format Mr. Streamer can't play or convert. Please report it with its name and the details shown.
• Not available: the provider has no file for that movie or episode right now; some providers list titles whose files are gone.
• … didn't answer, … connection lost, … got no stream or … can't play this, with your TV's name: see Playing on a TV.

Settings > Playback > Keyboard shortcuts lists each playback command with its keys in Live TV and in movies and series, for the active viewing profile. Select a command's keys and press the new key: it replaces every key for that command in both. Escape cancels, and a key another command uses or a reserved key is refused with the reason. Reset restores one command's defaults, but refuses if a restored key conflicts with another saved binding. Free the key by resetting or remapping that command first, or use Reset all to restore every command's defaults. If a change can't be saved, the old keys keep working and Try again saves it again. Downloaded-title text subtitle timing uses Shift for a larger adjustment; live and embedded subtitle timing use the same step with or without Shift.

Typing fields, editable text, open player menus and focused sliders keep their own keys. Space and Enter activate a focused button. A held key repeats seeking, volume and timing adjustments, but does not repeatedly pause, mute or open a menu.

Escape and Live TV navigation remain fixed. Command, Control and Alt combinations are reserved for the app and operating system, including search, Settings, window controls and native media keys. A shortcut change does not remap those commands.