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Threadfin

Threadfin is available in the NetActuate Marketplace as a one-click, open-source appliance you can deploy into any NetActuate PoP. M3U proxy and IPTV middleware with HDHomeRun emulation for Plex, Emby and Jellyfin. It is grouped under the Media & Streaming category.

What It Does​

Threadfin is a self-hosted M3U proxy and IPTV middleware, a maintained successor to xTeVe. It takes your IPTV provider's M3U playlist and XMLTV guide, lets you filter, map and rename channels, and then presents everything to your media server as if it were a physical HDHomeRun network tuner. Plex, Emby and Jellyfin discover it automatically and get clean live TV and a matching program guide.

Key features

  • Emulates an HDHomeRun tuner so Plex, Emby and Jellyfin just work with live TV
  • Combines and filters multiple M3U playlists into one clean channel lineup
  • Maps and renames channels and merges XMLTV EPG guide data
  • Web UI on port 34400 for channel mapping, filters, logs and settings
  • ffmpeg or VLC stream buffering to smooth out flaky provider streams
  • A configurable tuner count to control concurrent streams

Use cases

  • Give Plex, Emby or Jellyfin a tidy live TV lineup from raw IPTV M3U feeds
  • Combine several provider playlists behind one HDHomeRun-style endpoint
  • Buffer and stabilize provider streams between the source and your players

Why run it on the NetActuate edge Running Threadfin in a PoP near your provider tightens the ingest hop and gives the ffmpeg buffer a stable path, so streams start faster and rebuffer less before they reach your media server and viewers.

Deployed from the NetActuate marketplace it boots hardened and pre-configured from your seeded values: web authentication is enabled and an admin account is created with your generated password at first boot, over loopback only, so the appliance is never reachable in an unconfigured, open state.

Upstream project: Threadfin (https://github.com/Threadfin/Threadfin), an independent open source project. Threadfin is not affiliated with or endorsed by NetActuate; NetActuate packages the unmodified upstream 1.2.37 release binary on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

Best for: Plex, Emby, Jellyfin.

Vendor and Project​

Threadfin is an open-source project, offered here under the Open Source listing with best-effort community support.

NetActuate supports the underlying infrastructure. Application-level support follows the listing SLA class (open-source, best effort).

Sizing​

vCPURAMDisk
Minimum11 GB20 GB
Recommended22 GB30 GB

No VPU (hardware acceleration) is required for this appliance. Choose a size at deploy based on your expected load.

Configuration Fields​

When you deploy, you provide these fields. They are written into the appliance at first boot.

FieldRequiredDefaultNotes
Admin passwordNogeneratedGenerated for you and stored in your secret list; never echoed back. Log in to the web UI at /web as user 'admin' with this password. Web authentication is enabled at first boot. Stored write-only in your account secret list
Server nameNoThreadfinThe identity Threadfin advertises to your upstream IPTV providers.

Using the Appliance​

Threadfin is up

  1. Open the web UI. Browse to http://YOUR_VM_IP:34400/web/ and sign in as user admin with the admin password you set at deploy (in your secret list).
  2. Add your provider. In Settings, add your IPTV M3U playlist URL and, optionally, your XMLTV guide URL, then map and filter the channels you want.
  3. Connect your media server. In Plex, Emby or Jellyfin, add an HDHomeRun tuner at http://YOUR_VM_IP:34400 and point the guide at Threadfin's XMLTV output.

Exposure posture: the web UI on port 34400 is protected by the admin password you seeded. Before production use, put a TLS-terminating proxy in front or restrict access to trusted source IPs.

FAQ​

Is there a software license fee? No. Threadfin is open source and free to run. You pay only for the NetActuate infrastructure and bandwidth.

Where is the web interface? On port 34400 at path /web by default.

Who supports it? NetActuate operates the underlying infrastructure. The application itself is community-supported open source (best-effort SLA class).

Version and Changelog​

VersionStatusReleased
1.2.37Current (default)2026-07-11

Deploy​

Need Help?​

Contact support@netactuate.com or open a support ticket from the portal.