SrcBox (Windows / WPF)

July 28, 2026 · View on GitHub

SrcBox is a high-performance, modern IPTV player designed for the Windows platform.

Built on the powerful libmpv playback core and combined with a modern WPF interface, it delivers a smooth and stable live viewing experience. It supports core features like M3U playlists, EPG (Electronic Program Guide), and Catchup (Replay), while offering deep optimizations for IPTV scenarios (such as FCC fast channel switching and UDP multicast optimization), making it the ideal choice for watching live TV on your PC.

Disclaimer:

All videos, screenshots, and demonstrations shown on this page are for functional demonstration purposes only and are not actual playable or available media resources.

This project does not provide any m3u playlist files or the channel data contained therein, nor is it responsible for third-party data sources.

SrcBox is merely an open-source player tool; users must find legal playback sources themselves. Please comply with local laws and regulations.

Overview
Features & Changelog
Roadmap
Internationalization
Interface & Interaction
Configuration & Parameters
libmpv Engine
Development Guide
Screenshots

Overview

SrcBox uses libmpv-2.dll as its playback core, hosting the video window via WindowsFormsHost. It provides IPTV channel list, EPG, catchup, timeshift, recording, and upload queue capabilities.

Entry Window: MainWindow.xaml
libmpv Wrapper: MpvPlayer.cs
M3U Parser: Services/M3UParser.cs
EPG Service: Services/EpgService.cs
Main playback state: Architecture/Presentation/Mvvm/MainWindow/MainShellViewModel.cs

Technical Architecture

This project is developed using C# / WPF. The core architecture is as follows:

UI Layer: Built with WPF (ModernWpf), providing a smooth and modern user experience.
Architecture Layer: Architecture/ is split into Application / Platform / Presentation, with modular playback and settings flows.
Interop Layer: Encapsulates libmpv calls via MpvPlayer.cs and MpvPlayerEngineAdapter.
Rendering Layer: Uses WindowsFormsHost to host a Win32 window handle, embedding mpv's rendering output into the WPF interface to bypass WPF's native media element limitations.
Service Layer:
- M3UParser: High-performance regex-based parser supporting complex M3U extended tags.
- EpgService: Asynchronous EPG loading and in-memory caching based on XmlSerializer.

Project Structure

📂 SrcBox
├── 📂 Architecture    # Layered modules (Application/Platform/Presentation)
├── 📂 Services        # Core services (M3U/EPG/Recording/WebDAV/Notifications)
├── 📂 Controls        # Drawers and dialogs (EPG/Recording/Timeshift/Upload Queue)
├── 📂 Resources       # Localization and theme resources
├── 📂 Tests           # MSTest automation project
├── 📄 MainWindow.*.cs # Split main window logic
└── 📄 MpvPlayer.cs    # libmpv wrapper

Features & Changelog

Version note: verifiable Git tags in this repository are 1.0.1 to 1.1.2; the current branch describes as 1.1.6, and the project version is 1.1.6 (see LibmpvIptvClient.csproj / setup.iss).

Core Playback

Feature	Description	Params/Example	Changelog
Playback Control	Play/Pause, Stop, Seek, Fast Forward/Rewind	Hotkeys: Space/S/Arrow keys	Since 1.0.1
Volume Control	Slider adjustment, mute support	Range 0-100, hotkey M	Since 1.0.7
Audio Settings	Volume gain, max volume limit, audio delay	-200dB～+60dB, hotkey Ctrl+PgUp/PgDn	Since 1.1.6
Status Indicators	Live/Replay/Timeshift status in overlay	Auto-detection	Since 1.0.5
Scheduled Reminder & Auto Play	Program reminder and scheduled autoplay policy	Supports “remind-only / auto-play” modes	Since 1.1.2
Minimal Mode	Compact player window mode with dedicated interactions	Synchronized in window/fullscreen, hotkey W	Post-1.1.2 (untagged)

IPTV Specifics

Feature	Description	Params/Example	Changelog
M3U Parsing	Local/Remote M3U, UTF-8/GB18030 compatible	Supports `#EXTINF` attributes	Since 1.0.1
EPG	XMLTV (gz) support, day switching	Auto-match `tvg-id`, hotkey E	Since 1.0.1
Catchup (Replay)	Template-based catchup URL generation	`{utc:yyyyMMddHHmmss}` etc.	Since 1.0.1
Timeshift	Seek back in live stream history, hotkey T	Depends on `catchup-source`	Since 1.0.2
Channel Mgmt	Grouping, Search, Favorites, History	Persisted locally, hotkeys L/F	Group/Search/Favorites: since 1.0.1; History: since 1.0.4
FCC/UDP	Fast Channel Change & Multicast optimization	Toggle in Settings	Since 1.0.1
Deinterlace	Optimized for 1080i/720i interlaced video	Auto-detection, multiple algorithms	Since 1.1.6
Web Remote	Control player through browser	Playback, volume, channel switching	Since 1.1.6
Recording & Upload	Local recording, WebDAV upload, upload queue	Local/remote modes, hotkey R	Post-1.1.2 (untagged)

Fullscreen & Overlay

Double-click/Enter Fullscreen: Toggle fullscreen by double-clicking or pressing Enter.
Overlay Bar: Auto-shows at bottom on mouse move; supports controls & EPG toggle.
Side Drawer: Auto-shows channel list (right) or EPG (left) on mouse hover near edges.
Escape Key: Exit fullscreen mode.

v1.1.6 New Features

Web Remote Control: Control the player through a browser, with playback control, volume, channel switching and status view
Audio Settings: Volume gain (-200dB～+60dB), max volume limit (100%～1000%), audio delay (-100s～+100s)
Deinterlace: Optimized for 1080i/720i interlaced video streams with auto-detection and multiple algorithms (yadif/bwdif)
Keyboard Shortcuts: Full keyboard shortcut support including playback control, channel switching, volume, fullscreen toggle, etc.
Resizable Settings Window: Settings window can now be freely resized

v1.1.2+ Interaction Highlights (Synced from VitePress)

EPG status chips: Live red chip and Replay green chip; clicking Live chip switches back to live immediately.
Now-playing indicators: Current row highlight and a green left stripe during replay playback.
Scheduling improvements: single-instance reminder list, checkbox batch delete, Select All/Invert, and unified tray/right-click/dropdown entries.
Scheduled autoplay policy: supports both “remind-only” and “auto-play-at-time” modes.
Minimal mode sync: compact window top interactions, resize behavior, and status badges stay synchronized with window/fullscreen states.
Tray & exit flow: persistent tray with Open/Reminders/Manage M3U/Settings/Exit and explicit “No => minimize to tray” behavior.

Locate Strings.en-US.xaml in the Resources/ directory.
Copy and rename it to the target language code (e.g., Strings.fr-FR.xaml).
Translate the content and submit a Pull Request.

Interface & Interaction

Main Interface

Top Bar: Menu buttons (Open File, Settings, etc.) and window controls.
Center: Video playback area.
Bottom/Overlay: Progress bar, volume, toggles (EPG/List).

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Function	Description
`Space`	Play/Pause	Toggle playback state
`S`	Stop	Stop current playback
`↑`	Previous Channel	Switch to previous channel
`↓`	Next Channel	Switch to next channel
`←`	Previous Source / Rewind	Live mode: switch source; Timeshift/Replay mode: rewind
`→`	Next Source / Fast Forward	Live mode: switch source; Timeshift/Replay mode: fast forward
`M`	Mute	Toggle mute state
`Enter`	Toggle Fullscreen	Enter/exit fullscreen mode
`L`	Channel List	Show/hide channel list sidebar
`E`	EPG	Show/hide EPG program guide
`Escape`	Exit Fullscreen	Return to window mode from fullscreen
`F1`	Debug Window	Open debug information window

For detailed information, please refer to the Keyboard Shortcuts Documentation.

Official Documentation

Visit Official Documentation Website <<

Language	Documentation Link
简体中文	srcbox.top
繁體中文	srcbox.top/zh-TW
English	srcbox.top/en
Русский	srcbox.top/ru

Configuration & Parameters

`user_settings.json`

Located in the application run directory, stores user preferences.

{
  "Hwdec": true,              // Hardware decoding
  "SourceTimeoutSec": 3,      // Source switch timeout (seconds)
  "TimeshiftHours": 2,        // Timeshift duration (hours)
  "Language": "en-US",        // Interface language
  "ThemeMode": "Dark"         // Theme mode (Dark/Light/System)
}

libmpv Engine

This project depends on libmpv-2.dll.

Hardware Decoding: d3d11va is enabled by default.
No Audio: Some IPTV sources have slow audio probing; probesize=32 is set to speed up start, which might cause brief silence.

Development Guide

Prerequisites

OS: Windows 10 / 11 (x64)
IDE: Visual Studio 2022 or JetBrains Rider
SDK: .NET 8.0 SDK
Dependency: libmpv-2.dll (included in repository root and copied to output on build)

Build & Run

# Restore dependencies
dotnet restore

# Build (Debug)
dotnet build

# Run
dotnet run

# Tests
dotnet test .\Tests\LibmpvIptvClient.Tests.csproj

Note: If libmpv-2.dll is missing at runtime, the app will fail to start; by default the repository copy is copied during build.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Possible Cause	Solution
Crash on startup	Missing `libmpv-2.dll`	Download x64 dll and place in run dir
Video but no audio	Audio probe timeout	Normal optimization; try switching tracks or restarting
EPG "No Data"	Network or format issue	Check XMLTV URL accessibility and GZIP format
Settings not saving	Permission denied	Ensure write permission to app directory

Testing & Contribution

Workflow

Fork the repository.
Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature.
Commit changes: git commit -m 'feat: Add some AmazingFeature' (Follow Conventional Commits).
Push branch: git push origin feature/AmazingFeature.
Submit a Pull Request.

Code Style

Follow existing C# style (K&R / Allman hybrid, see .editorconfig if available).
Ensure UI changes adapt to both Dark and Light themes.

Performance Benchmarks

CPU Usage: < 15% @ 1080p (i5-8250U baseline).
Memory: < 500MB during stable playback.
Startup: < 2 seconds (cold start).

Privacy & Security

Local First: All playlists, EPG caches, and user configurations (favorites, settings) are stored locally on your device (user_settings.json) and are never uploaded to any cloud server.
Network Activity: The application only initiates network connections when requesting your specified M3U/EPG URLs, checking for updates (GitHub API), or downloading CDN resources.

Screenshots

Main Interface
Fullscreen Overlay
Settings