Getting started

What you need

One of these from your provider:

• a playlist link (M3U)
• an Xtream Codes login: a server address, a username and a password
• a playlist file (.m3u or .m3u8) saved on your PC

Or an HDHomeRun antenna tuner on your home network. See Antenna tuners.

Theia comes with no channels. To look around first, click Try the demo. It adds thirty made-up channels with a guide, and it doesn’t count toward the free version’s two sources.

Installing on Windows

Theia isn’t code-signed yet, so your browser and Windows may warn you when you install it. That’s expected, not a sign anything is wrong. Click Keep in your browser (Edge sometimes asks Keep anyway too), then on the blue Windows screen, More info and Run anyway. The download page has each screen pictured, plus a checksum if you’d rather check the file first.

Or install from the Microsoft Store: no warnings, and it updates itself.

Installing on Fire TV or Google TV

The TV version is a beta. It installs with the free Downloader app, and the TV page has the full steps.

1. Install Downloader from your TV’s app store, and let it install apps in your TV’s settings.

2. Open Downloader and type the code from the TV page, or the link theiaplayer.com/tv.apk, then choose Go.

3. When the download finishes, choose Install, then Open.

First-run setup

Theia opens it by itself until you have a source. Every step can be skipped, and Run setup in Settings > Sources starts it again.

1. Source. Paste the link or server address your provider sent. Theia says what it found under the box. If it doesn’t recognize what you pasted, the account form opens and shows how the paste starts, so a stray label or extra text in front of a link is easy to spot. If you were given a server, username and password, click Enter server, user and password by hand. For a file on your PC, click Browse, and Theia checks it straight away. Otherwise click Check link (or Check account). Already have a backup? Restore from a backup takes you straight to Restore from a file in Settings > Advanced; this isn’t on a TV yet. On a TV, press OK on the box to type with the remote, or type with the Google TV or Fire TV app on your phone.
2. Verify. Theia reads the playlist and shows what it found, or signs in and shows the account’s status. Nothing is saved yet. Name the source under Call it, pick a color and an icon, and click Add source. Each part then loads in turn, and Start watching appears once the channels are in. Set up the guide goes on to the next step.
3. Guide. Your provider’s guide is used if it has one. A separate guide link goes here, as in The guide below.
4. Curate. Check the channel groups you want in lists and the guide. Every group starts checked except adult groups and groups named for another country or language. Unchecked groups are hidden until you want them, though games on their channels still show in Sports.
5. Privacy. Choose whether to send anonymous usage statistics, once a day with no ID, then click Continue. From 0.9.4 the switch starts on, unless you’re in the EU, EEA, Switzerland or the UK, where it starts off and nothing is sent until you turn it on. Turn it off here or any time in Settings > Privacy.
6. Watch. Click Start watching.

Under the box, Use my phone lets you type the link on your phone, and Sign in to bring your providers brings the sources from your Theia account. On a TV with no sources yet, setup starts with a choice of Use my phone, Sign in or Type it here.

A link with get.php or player_api.php and a username and password in it is read as an Xtream login, so the guide, movies and series come with it.

For a TV server you run at home, paste its M3U playlist link, and its guide link in the Guide step. A server address on its own opens the account form, which is for Xtream logins. A home server that works like an HDHomeRun can also be added with Add an antenna tuner.

If the check fails

Nothing is saved, and the card offers what to do next, such as Retry or Paste a different link.

What you see	Try
Couldn’t connect, or No answer in time	Check the address and your internet. If both are fine, ask your provider.
Sign-in refused	Check the username and password.
Account not active, or Subscription has ended	Only your provider can fix this.
A web page came back, or Not a playlist	The address didn’t give a playlist. Check that you copied the whole link.
The server said no	Your provider may block your network, or your internet provider may block the server. When it looks like your internet provider, the card offers Set up your VPN.

Adding another source

Click Add source in Settings > Sources. Before your first source, it also shows in the side menu. On a PC, it sits right under the main items, after Recordings and above Settings, under a thin line. On a TV, it sits at the foot of the menu. The menu has no Guide item: the guide is inside Live TV. It runs setup again from the Source step. On a PC, opening a playlist file with Theia from File Explorer checks it straight away.

With a source already added, Cancel shows above the steps. Esc, or Back on a TV, does the same. Nothing typed or checked is kept.

Live TV and its guide open on your own source rather than the demo, and after that on whichever list you last picked.

The free version holds 2 sources, and an antenna tuner counts as one. With Premium there’s no limit. See pricing.

Changing a source

Each source has a card in Settings > Sources:

• Name and color renames it and sets its color and icon. The color marks its channels and search results.
• Choose groups opens the Curate step again, to pick which of its groups show.
• Edit sign-in, on an Xtream login, changes the username and password. Check and save checks them before saving.
• Source settings opens the rest, such as Refresh interval, Streams allowed and User agent.
• Refresh now fetches the source again straight away.

Source settings also lists what you entered for that source under Sign-in details, such as its server, username and password, or its playlist and guide links, each hidden until you click Reveal. Copy puts one on the clipboard; on a TV, Show code shows it as a QR code to scan with your phone instead. These stay on this device, the same as your saved sign-ins (see Your data).

User agent is the name Theia sends with every request to that source. Leave it empty to use Default user agent in Settings > Advanced. Set one only if your provider asks for it.

The guide (XMLTV)

Xtream logins bring their guide automatically, and so do playlists that name one. If your provider gave you a separate guide link:

1. In setup, choose Use a guide link in the Guide step. After setup, go to Settings > Sources and click Set up the guide on the source’s card.
2. Paste the address. Plain and gzipped XMLTV both work.
3. Click Load guide.

A guide link you add is used for the channels it covers, and the provider’s guide fills in the rest. Guides refresh every 8 hours, and the source’s card lets you pick from 2 to 24 hours.

Once the guide loads, Theia matches it to your channels and shows how many found a match. Review matches lists every channel with the guide it was matched to. Pick one for a channel that has none, or fix a wrong one. A match you set or lock there is kept through every refresh.

If programs all start early or late, change the source’s Guide time offset. It’s in the Guide step and in Settings > Guide. To move just one channel, use Guide time in a program’s details. On a TV in Full screen or Grid only, hold OK on a program and choose Guide time.

For an Xtream login, Theia also checks the guide against your provider’s own listings. When it looks off, a line such as “Your guide looks 2 hours off.” shows with Fix it and Ignore: in the Guide step, under Guide time offset in Settings > Guide, and in a program’s details. Fix it sets the offset for you. To undo it, set Guide time offset back where it was. If your provider puts its guide right later, Theia offers to undo the fix the same way. Ignore leaves the guide as it is, and that fix isn’t offered again.

Streams allowed

Your plan lets you watch a set number of streams at once. Previews, multiview tiles and recordings all count, and Theia warns you before going past that number.

In Settings > Sources, click Source settings on the source and set Streams allowed:

• Automatic uses the number the source reports. Xtream logins and antenna tuners report one.
• 1 to 10, or Unlimited, if you know your plan.

When the limit is unknown, Theia asks “How many streams can this source play at once?” the first time something would open a second stream. Choose Not sure and it warns you each time.

What the first load does

After Add source, Theia shows each part as it loads, with a count or a progress bar:

• Channels (and Movies and Series for an Xtream login)
• Guide
• Matching to the guide
• Search
• Sports schedules, when the public schedule is on in Settings > Sports

A checkmark marks each part that’s done, and the one after is marked Next. A big list can take a few minutes.

If the provider takes a while to answer Channels, it says Getting the channel list. Above it, Theia ticks off how long it has waited, such as Waiting for your provider… 1:05. Once anything arrives, that line shows how much instead, such as 4.2 MB received. Past a minute with nothing back, it suggests trying a closer VPN server, if you use one. Cancel there removes the source you just added and takes you back to the Source step.

Once the channels are in, Start watching appears. You can leave then. The rest keeps loading, and a small ring in the title bar shows how it’s going (on a TV, it sits under Settings in the side menu). Select it to see the same list. It says All set when everything has loaded, then goes away. If a part didn’t load, it stays and says Needs a look.

If a part doesn’t load, it says why, with Retry. Channels still work without the guide.

After that, the source is fetched again every 12 hours. Refresh interval on the source’s page changes it, from every 30 minutes to weekly, or Off. Open Sports, or pull down to refresh on iPhone, and Theia also brings playlists older than 30 minutes up to date in the background. A quiet Updating channels line shows at the bottom, and nothing waits on it. On the source’s page, Refresh channels fetches the whole source again, then its guides. Refresh guide loads only the guides and matches them, which is lighter. While either runs, the page shows each step as it happens. If a source can’t update, its page says why.

Free and Premium

Watching, the guide, search and favorites are free, with up to 2 sources and no ads. Premium adds multiview, your own channel order, groups and guide options, more themes and accent colors, unlimited sources, sync across your devices and recording.

Paste your key in Settings > Premium and click Activate. On a TV, type it with the remote, or with the Google TV or Fire TV app on your phone. Plans, the free trial and canceling are in Premium, plans and the free trial.

Your provider password is encrypted for your Windows account and stays on your PC. On a TV, it’s encrypted with the TV’s own key store and stays on the TV. More in Your data.