ErsatzTV IPTV Server

This is a repackaged open source software product wherein additional charges apply for cloudimg support services.

## Why This AMI Instead of Self-Deploying?

ErsatzTV is an open source personal IPTV server. It turns your own local media, such as movies, shows and music videos, into live, always-on television channels that play on a schedule you define, then streams those channels over HLS and MPEG-TS. It emulates an HDHomeRun network tuner and publishes an M3U playlist and an XMLTV electronic programme guide, so Plex, Jellyfin, Emby and other IPTV clients can add it as a live-TV source and browse a proper channel guide. A full web interface lets you connect media libraries, build channels, arrange schedules and tune the ffmpeg transcoding, and a REST API is available for automation.

Deploying it yourself means installing the runtime, provisioning a modern ffmpeg build, writing systemd units, hardening a reverse proxy, generating secure passwords and maintaining the stack over time. This AMI eliminates that effort entirely: a working IPTV server is operational within minutes of launch, not hours, with a pre-hardened, tested configuration backed by 24/7 expert support.

The current release available is ErsatzTV 26.6.

## Application Stack

ErsatzTV is installed from the official self-contained build, verified against the checksum the project publishes before it is unpacked, and runs as a dedicated unprivileged system user under systemd with automatic restarts, clean logging and a hardened service sandbox. Media transcoding uses a clean, redistributable FFmpeg 7.x build included in the image. An nginx reverse proxy fronts the application on port 80.

## Secure By Default

ErsatzTV has no login of its own on its management interface, which means anyone who can reach it gets full control of your channels and libraries. This image eliminates that risk:

• ErsatzTV is kept bound to the local machine by a host firewall, with a reverse proxy in front of it
• A unique administrator password is generated for every instance on its first boot
• The password is hashed for the reverse proxy and the plain value is placed in a root-only file
• No shared or default password ships in the image, and there is never a window in which an unauthenticated instance is exposed
• Build-time state is wiped before capture, so every instance reseeds a fresh, empty ErsatzTV

The endpoints your IPTV players need, the tuner, the playlist and the guide, stay open without a password so Plex, Jellyfin and Emby keep working, while the admin interface stays protected. An unauthenticated health endpoint is provided for load-balancer probes.

## Ready To Use

Retrieve the generated password from the root-only credentials file, browse to the instance on port 80, sign in as admin, then connect your own media libraries and build channels. Point your IPTV clients at the unauthenticated tuner, M3U and XMLTV endpoints on the same host. This image ships no media of any kind; you supply your own content and are responsible for holding the rights to stream it.

## cloudimg Support

24/7 technical support by email and live chat. Our engineers help with deployment, connecting media libraries, building channels and schedules, ffmpeg transcoding, TLS termination and integrating Plex, Jellyfin and Emby.

## Use Cases

• A private, self-hosted live-TV service built from your own media library
• A scheduled channel source that Plex, Jellyfin or Emby consume as a live-TV tuner
• A retro or themed always-on channel streamed to any IPTV client

ErsatzTV is a trademark of its respective owner. All product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.