Tutorial - How to Watch Roku IPTV M3U Streams With Plex
Streaming Roku IPTV Streams directly is something that can no longer be done with channels or apps made especially for this purpose. Because Roku a while back banned IPTV type channels from their platform. But Plex is a channel that is available on Roku, and while not its primary purpose, it can be used to watch IPTV streams.
Here's a Step-by-Step Tutorial on How to Watch Roku IPTV streams with Plex
To watch Roku IPTV streams, you will need to have the Plex server software installed and running on a PC. While Plex now certainly works fine as a standalone channel or app to watch thousands of Free movies, installing the server software is still needed for extra functions that can add to the Plex experience.
Download and Install Plex Server Software First
Before we go any further, click here to go to the Plex Download page to find software for PC or Mac. Be sure to Select the right Server app for your PC operating system. The Plex server software needs to be first installed and running at the same time while watching the Plex Roku Channel for this to work.
If you already own a NAS, select the software for a NAS and then your PC won't need to be running. Here you can learn more about NAS boxes because they can be awesome for storing media files to work with Plex.
While on their website, be sure to sign-up for a free Plex account and make sure to record the login and password somewhere because it will be needed later.
Plex Server Software Wizard
Once you install the server software it will walk you through and ask to locate your media file folder locations for music, photos, and videos.
It will ask if you want to purchase Plex Pass which is not required but can add some cool features like Plex DVR for Live channels. This along with an antenna and a Network Tuner like a HDHomeRun. You can then record local, live HD TV channels and skip commercials. It costs $6/month or $150 for a one time lifetime purchase.
The rest of the installation is quite intuitive so just follow along and the Plex server software will soon be installed on your NAS or PC. If you have a ton of media it may take a little longer for Plex to index everything.
Add the Roku IPTV m3u Proxy to Plex
Now we add some m3u magic to Plex to make it play IPTV streams both from the browser on your server and also on Roku using their channel.
Head on over to
https://xteve.de/ and download the plugin that is used with Plex. It is on their GitHub tab. Or you can download it directly from GitHub.
This is a proxy tool that works between the Plex channel on your Roku and their server software. Download and unzip the file to your desktop. If you have Plex Pass, you can even use the DVR function to record live TV either from m3u streams or from your network tuner. And then play them back using your Roku Player.
Both an m3u file and the xml guide are required to work with this tool. They will need to be entered in the configuration screen when it runs for the first time. Full instructions for setup are located here.
There is also a great video tutorial that will walk you though but some of it may be muffled and hard to understand. Be sure to click on CC and it will bring up Closed Captions to read what is being said on the screen.
