Tvheadend: TV streaming server and digital video recorder
Tvheadend is a self-hosted media streaming and television tool. TV streaming server and digital video recorder.
Why self-host Tvheadend
Running Tvheadend yourself means you control the data, the uptime policy, and the upgrade schedule. That is a different relationship with software than subscribing to a hosted service.
What it does
Tvheadend falls into the Media Streaming, Television category of self-hosted software. It is designed to be deployed on your own infrastructure, whether that is a home server, a VPS, or a local machine running Docker.
Community traction
The project has 3k stars on GitHub, which is a reasonable proxy for how widely it is used. Active repositories tend to ship bug fixes faster and have better documentation than projects that stall after the initial release.
Deployment
Like most modern self-hosted apps, Tvheadend supports Docker. A single compose file handles the deployment in most cases.
Alternatives
If Tvheadend does not fit your needs, common alternatives include Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video. The self-hosted versions of these tools often differ in resource requirements and feature focus, so it is worth testing the one that matches your workload.
Maturity
The current release is 4.3. The project has moved past early development and tends to ship stable, documented releases.
License
It is licensed under GPL-3.0, making it freely available for personal and commercial use.
Links
Whether you are just starting with self-hosting or adding to an existing setup, Tvheadend is a reasonable pick in the media streaming and television space.