The guide and live TV · Theia: IPTV Player

Getting around

The side menu on the left holds Home, Live TV, Movies, Series, Sports, Favorites and Recordings, with Settings at the foot. Point at it and it opens with names. Drag its edge out to keep the names showing, or use the arrow at its foot or Menu labels in Settings > Appearance, and drag it back in for icons only. To change the order, drag an item up or down. Reset order under Settings > Appearance > Menu order puts it back. Ctrl 1 to Ctrl 6 open Home, Live TV, the guide in Live TV, Movies, Series and Sports, and Ctrl with the comma key opens Settings.

F1 or ? lists every shortcut, and so does Keyboard shortcuts in Settings > Keyboard & input, where you can change the keys too.

The side menu has no Guide item, because the guide is a view inside Live TV. A List | Guide switch at the top of Live TV changes between them, and Live TV opens on the one you used last. An old Guide link, key or Open Theia on choice opens Live TV on the guide. On a TV, see The guide on a TV. Search is at the top of the side menu, and the names show while it has focus. To move an item, hold OK on it, move it with Up and Down, and press OK to put it down. Wherever these guides say right-click, hold OK on a TV, or press the remote’s Menu key. The menu opens on its first line, such as Watch, so OK runs it straight away. A preview is the exception: OK there watches it full screen, and holding OK turns its sound on or off.

On a TV the menu is a narrow strip of icons down the left edge. It opens over the page with names and the page stays where it is. OK or Right on Live TV opens your groups. Back from the groups goes to the menu.

On a TV, Back goes one step back. From the player, or anything opened over a screen such as Search or multiview, it returns to that screen. From any screen it goes to Home, and Back on Home closes Theia. Back on Home won’t close Theia within a second of a screen opening, so a quick double press out of the player lands on Home.

The remote’s highlight is gold, in the player and multiview too, and it follows the accent color you pick. Every button, field and result on screen takes it, so the remote can always reach what you see.

Press Home on the remote and Theia goes quiet: it doesn’t refresh, check feeds or connect to your provider until you come back. When you open Theia or come back to it, today’s games are read first, before the rest of the refresh.

Home

Home shows what’s on now and what you were watching, in sections. A section with nothing to show stays out of the way.

On a TV, Right from the end of a section’s row reaches the link beside its title, such as Guide on what’s on now.

While multiview has channels kept for next time, Continue watching starts with a Multiview card. Open it to bring them back. Right-click it, or hold OK on a TV, and choose Close channels to let them go. More in Multiview.

To choose the sections and their order, click Customize Home at the end of the buttons at the top of Home, or Customize beside Home sections in Settings > Interface. Turn a section off to hide it, and use Up and Down to move it. Reset to default puts them all back.

The live preview

Click a channel name, or a program that’s on now, and it plays in the preview above the grid with the sound off, unless you turned on Previews start with sound in Settings > Playback. Its details show beside it.

A small speaker in the preview’s top right corner shows whether the sound is on. On a computer, click it to turn the sound on or off, and the choice carries to the next preview while you browse. Live TV’s preview works the same way. On a TV there is no mute: the picture you watch always has its sound, and the volume is on your remote, your TV or your soundbar. Previews on a TV follow Previews start with sound in Settings > Playback.

To watch full screen, click Watch, press Enter, or double-click the program. On a computer, double-clicking the preview itself works too. On a TV, OK on the preview, or hold Back anywhere. The player carries on from the preview without starting the stream again.

Hide preview in the toolbar, or the I key, stops the preview and gives the grid the full height, with the program’s details still beside it. With the preview hidden, clicking a channel name opens it full screen.

On a TV, what OK does and where the preview sits depend on the guide’s layout. See The guide on a TV.

The preview is a stream like any other, so it uses one of your provider’s connections.

Keep playing

Press Back or Esc in the player and a live channel keeps playing, with its sound. Live TV and the Guide play it in their preview. On a computer, everywhere else it plays in a small video in the corner, so you can check what’s on or change a setting without losing it.

On a computer, click the corner video to watch full screen again. Point at it for Mute, Full screen and Close.
On a computer, preview another channel and the one playing goes quiet, when your plan allows two streams. With one stream, the preview takes over and Back to returns to your channel. Leaving the preview brings it back too.
Watching another channel replaces it. Movies, episodes and catch-up stop when you leave the player.

On a TV, one video plays at a time. Back from full screen goes back to the screen you came from. Live TV, the Guide and Home’s spotlight keep the channel playing in their preview, on the same stream, and so does a game’s page when it shows that channel. The preview keeps playing as you move through the Live TV list, the guide or the spotlight’s pages, with its number and name shown in the preview’s corner while you’re on another channel. Previewing or watching another channel replaces it. A screen with no preview, such as Movies or Settings, stops the channel. OK on the channel, Watch, OK on the preview or holding Back anywhere takes it back to full screen.

When the player’s controls are showing, the first Back hides them. The remote’s Stop key leaves the player and stops the channel, and so does pressing Home.

Turn it off with Keep playing when I leave the player in Settings > Playback. The mini player is separate: on a computer, press P or click Mini player in the controls for a small window on top of other apps.

Moving around

Key	What it does
Arrows	Move between programs and channels
Page Up and Page Down	A page of channels
[ and ]	The day before or after, in the grid
0 to 9, then . or -	Jump to a channel number, with a dot or dash for a subchannel such as 4.2
Enter	Watch, or play a past program from its start
Ctrl D	Add or remove a favorite
Shift F10 or the Menu key	The program’s menu, as a right-click

With the mouse, the wheel scrolls channels, Shift and the wheel moves through time, and Ctrl and the wheel zooms. You can also drag the grid.

Along the toolbar:

The days, Now, and Time to jump to any hour. These show in the grid, not the list.
The list of channels to show: Favorites, Recently watched, one of your sources and its groups, or your own groups. The list and the guide share this pick, and Theia opens on it next time. With more than one source, the label names the source.
Favorites only.
Options, with Hide channels with no guide, Favorites first and Edit channels. These are Premium.
Grid or List. List shows one row per channel with what’s on now and next.
The guide’s size, Style and Hide preview (Show preview once it’s hidden).

Right-click a program or a channel name for Watch, Preview, Record, favorites, Details and Review matches. Record is there for programs on now or still to come, and past programs you can replay get Watch from start. While the preview plays, Mute or Sound on is there too.

The guide on a TV

On a TV, Live TV and the guide are one place. A List | Guide switch at the top of Live TV changes between the channel list and the guide, and Theia opens on whichever you used last. In Guide, the layouts below apply. The Classic and List guides have their own switch under Options.

Guide layout in Settings > Interface has four choices. It starts on Full screen.

Full screen has a band across the top with a small picture of what’s playing and the show you’re on. The grid below has more channels and more time, and the group name shows beside the List | Guide switch and a Today day chip sits in the grid’s top left corner.
Grid only drops the picture for the most channels. The band keeps the show’s details.
Classic is the guide with the side menu, a big preview and the toolbar.
List shows one row per channel with what’s on now and next.

In Full screen, Grid only and Classic:

OK on a program that’s on now watches the channel full screen at once. On a past program with catch-up it plays from the start, and on one still to come it says when it starts. Moving around never starts a video.
Hold OK for the program’s menu. It starts with Watch. Preview is in it too, and plays the channel in the picture where there is one. Watch from start is there where your provider has catch-up.
Left from what’s on now opens the menu and your groups instead of scrolling back in time. A held Left stops on what’s on now, so only a fresh press goes on. In Classic that’s the side menu, and in Full screen and Grid only your groups.
The day button reaches earlier days and times. In Full screen and Grid only it’s the day chip, which opens a list of days, with Pick a time for an hour, and picking today comes back to now. Once you’re in the past, Left keeps walking back.

In Full screen and Grid only:

The menu ends with Guide time and Guide options.
Up from the first channel reaches the day chip, and Down returns to the same program.
Guide options has Hide channels with no guide, Favorites first and Edit channels. Guide size and Guide style are in Settings > Interface.

In Classic, Up from the top row reaches the toolbar, with the days and Options, and Up again reaches the preview. The Info key hides or shows it.

List is the one layout with two steps: OK on a channel previews it, and OK again watches it full screen.

With no channels, the grid lets Down reach the message’s buttons, such as Add a source, and Up from the grid reaches the day chip.

When the guide looks wrong

A channel’s row is empty. It has no guide match. Click the empty row, or hold OK on it on a TV, to open Review matches and pick one. More in Getting started.
Programs start early or late. Click a program. Under Guide time in its details, move the whole guide or just that channel in 15-minute steps. On a TV in Full screen or Grid only, hold OK on a program and choose Guide time. When Theia has spotted the difference on an Xtream login, Fix it is there too. More in Getting started.
The guide or channel list says it couldn’t update. A line on the Guide and Live TV says why, in plain words. Try again runs that source’s refresh. When it looks like your internet provider is blocking the source, Network & VPN is there too, and a VPN usually fixes it. The line goes away once a refresh works. Refresh channels and Refresh guide on the source’s page do the same, and the page shows the reason at the top.

Favorites

Press Ctrl D on a channel or program, click Favorite in a program’s details, or right-click and choose Add to favorites. In Live TV there’s Add to favorites under the preview, and in the player there’s a star by the channel name.

Favorites only in the guide’s toolbar, or the star at the top of the Live TV list, shows just your favorites in Live TV and the guide. While you watch a favorite, channel up and down in the player then stays within them too. The Favorites screen shows your channels as tiles with what’s on now and next, and your movies and series as poster rows. See Favorites in Movies and series.

Catch-up

Catch-up plays programs that already aired, on channels where your provider keeps them. Those channels have a small ring beside their name, and so do the past programs you can still play.

Double-click a past program with a ring, or select it and click Watch from start.
The seek bar covers the whole program. Click or drag it to move around, or use the Left and Right arrows for 10 seconds.
Back to live goes to the channel as it is now.

On a TV in Full screen or Grid only, open the day chip to reach earlier days, then press OK on a past program with a ring. In the player, the TV names the show you’re watching and shows its times. Press Up from the player bar to reach the timeline, as in Live rewind, and Back to live goes to the channel as it is now. Details in the player’s menu names the show.

How far back you can go is up to your provider. If a past program plays the wrong show, click Source settings on the source in Settings > Sources. Under Guide and catch-up, try Re-detect, then Catch-up offset.

Live rewind

On a live channel in the player you can pause and go back.

Pause with K or the pause button. Space doesn’t pause live TV. On a TV, Select shows the controls with Pause lit. Select again pauses, and once more plays.
Go back 10 seconds with Left or J, forward with Right or L, or drag the seek bar. On a remote, Rewind and Fast forward do the same.
On a TV, when the channel can be rewound, press Up from the player bar to reach the timeline. Left and Right jump back or forward 10 seconds, OK pauses or plays, and Down returns to the buttons. Left and Right on the buttons still change channel.
Back to live appears while you’re behind, and jumps to now. Beside it, the player says how far behind you are, such as 2:00 behind live. On a TV the same words sit on the timeline line. In a tight window they shorten to 2:00 behind.

On a computer, Theia holds about the last 5 minutes in memory, and a high-quality channel fits a bit less. Point at the seek bar to see how much is held. A TV box holds about 2 minutes, and a stick with 1 to 1.5 GB of memory about 1. On a channel with catch-up, going back further switches to your provider’s recording.

Sizes and the clock

All of these are in Settings > Interface:

Interface size: makes everything in Theia larger or smaller, from 80 to 150 percent. It starts at 120 percent on a computer and 110 on a TV. Ctrl + and Ctrl - change it too, and Ctrl 0 puts it back. It is the first setting in the list.
Density: Compact, Standard, Comfortable or Large. Home, Live TV, the guide, Movies, Series and Sports follow it. A TV has no Density setting: Interface size, above it, sets the size there.
Guide size: from Tiny up to TV, for reading across the room. The − and + in the guide’s toolbar do the same, and clicking the size name puts it back to match Density. On a TV in Classic or List, it’s Size under Options in the guide.
Clock: 12-hour (3:05 PM) or 24-hour (15:05). Until you pick one, Theia writes times the way your device’s own clock is set.
Guide layout: Grid or List. A TV has four, described in The guide on a TV.
Live TV layout, on a TV: List first or Columns. See Live TV on a TV.
Guide style: Grayscale, or Colorful to tint programs by category. Style in the guide’s toolbar shows the color key. On a TV in Classic or List, the switch is under Options in the guide.
Open Theia on: Home, Live TV, Guide (which opens Live TV on the guide), Sports, or the last screen you used.

Themes and colors

In Settings > Appearance, Theme is Dark, Light or System, which follows your computer or TV. Pick a look for each under Dark theme and Light theme. Midnight and Daylight are free. Daylight is a warm, stone-colored light look, and Arctic is the cool version of it. Slate, OLED Black, Ember, Arctic and the Accent color choices are Premium.

Without Premium you can try them on that page. They stay until you leave it, and Undo puts yours back.

On Windows and Mac, Theia’s panels turn solid when your system asks for less transparency: Transparency effects off in Windows Settings > Personalization > Colors, or Reduce transparency on in System Settings > Accessibility > Display on a Mac.

Live TV

Live TV is the same channels as a list. The groups on the left are your own groups, then Favorites and Recently watched, then each source’s groups.

Click a channel to preview it. Double-click it, double-click the preview, or press Enter to watch full screen.
On a computer the preview takes the full width of the window. Details on the preview opens the channel’s details over it, and closes again.
A channel your provider sends in more than one version shows how many beside its name. Click the number, or choose Other versions from its menu, to list them under it.
Type in Filter channels to narrow the list.
Right-click a channel to rename it, give it a number, or hide it or its group.
Show hidden is the last line of the groups. It shows hidden channels and groups in the list. Right-click one and choose Show channel or Show group to bring it back. Hidden channels in Settings > Channels lists them too.

Favorites, hiding, renaming and numbering are free, and so is Clean up channels in Settings > Channels.

Live TV on a TV

Live TV layout in Settings > Interface has List first, the default, and Columns.

List first shows a small picture of what you’re watching on the right at the top, with what’s on now and next, over one wide channel list. Above the list, the group you’re in and its channel count sit beside the List | Guide switch, Search channels and Options.
Columns keeps the groups, the channels and the preview side by side. At a large Interface size the groups fold away. Down from the preview reaches the Favorite and Details buttons.
OK on a channel watches it full screen at once. Moving down the list never starts a video. Hold OK for the channel’s menu, which starts with Watch. Preview in it plays the channel in the picture.
Right from the list reaches the picture. OK there watches it full screen, and holding OK turns the sound on or off. Left comes back to the list.
Live TV opens on your groups, from the menu with OK or Right, and from the channel list with Left at the left edge or Back. Each source’s name shows once, with All channels and its groups under it. OK on a group opens it and goes straight into its channels.
Back from the channel list opens your groups, and Back from your groups returns to the menu with Live TV lit.
New group and, when something is hidden, Show hidden are the last lines of the groups. Hold OK on a group for its options.
Search channels at the top right searches all your channels with the remote’s keyboard or voice.
With no channels, Live TV opens on the empty page and its Add source button, and Back goes to the menu.
Edit channels in a group’s options edits that group, and Up from the first channel reaches the bar with Done.

Clean up channels

A big list often carries channels from many countries and languages. Clean up channels hides the ones you never watch in one step.

Open Settings > Channels and click Clean up.
Under Countries and languages and Kinds of channel, check what you watch. Your own country and language start checked, and so does any country with a channel you’ve watched. Keep all and Hide all set every country and language at once.
Click the button that says how many channels it hides.

Favorites, channels in your own groups, channels you’ve watched or recorded, and channels you showed again yourself are never hidden. A group that holds channels you watch stays, and Other and unknown is always shown. Hide new groups like these after a refresh starts on, so new groups your provider adds that match what you hid stay hidden too.

After a big list first loads, Home offers the cleanup once. Choose what to keep opens it, and Not now puts the offer away.

To bring everything back, click Show everything again in Settings > Channels, then Show everything. Channels you hid yourself stay hidden, and your choices are kept for next time.

Your own order and groups (Premium)

On a computer, Edit channels is at the foot of the channel list or under Options in the guide. On a TV, it’s in Settings > Channels, or in a group’s menu. It lets you put channels in your own order: drag them, or use Top, Up and Down. Reset order puts this list, or every list, back.
+ New group, under your groups, makes a group of your own. Right-click a channel and choose Add to group to fill it. Right-click your group to rename, move or delete it.
Change order under Group order in Settings > Channels sets the order groups appear in Live TV and the guide.

Without Premium you can try all of these, along with the guide’s Options. They reset when you leave.