Glossary
Terms that appear in the app, in this wiki or at your provider – briefly explained. Alphabetical by the German term.
0.99×
The speed at which Neverlag plays while it collects reserve: one per cent slower than normal. Not audible, not visible; every minute adds a good half second of buffer. Once the target is reached, playback runs at 1.00× again. See How Neverlag stays stable.
A/V offset
How far apart sound (audio) and picture (video) are. Small values go unnoticed; when lips and voice no longer match, “Out of sync?” in the player helps.
Frame pacing
How Neverlag distributes the pictures on your screen. “Even” means every picture stays on screen for the same length of time. Setting under Playback → Frame pacing; background under Picture and sound.
Refresh rate (Hz)
How often your screen redraws the picture per second. 60 Hz is common, TVs can usually also do 50 Hz, ProMotion devices up to 120 Hz. If the channel’s frame rate (25/50) does not match the refresh rate (60), playback stutters.
Bitrate
How much data arrives per second, in megabits per second (Mbit/s). HD needs a few Mbit/s, 4K considerably more. The quality window shows the bitrate as a curve.
Catch-up
A feature some providers offer: retrieving past programmes from the TV Guide. The recording sits at the provider; if the provider does not offer it, Neverlag cannot replace it.
Codec
How picture and sound are packaged for transmission (for example H.264, HEVC, AAC, AC-3). Your device must be able to unpack the codec; the hardware decoder or the software does this. In the quality window under “Picture”. Only relevant when you report a problem.
Controller
The one decision-maker in the app. All other mechanisms (receiver, regulator, decoder monitoring) only report to it what they see; it chooses the remedy. Setting Controller decides – leave it switched on.
Deinterlacing
An old TV standard: one picture consists of two fields (1080i, the “i” stands for interlaced). Deinterlacing combines them into full frames. Neverlag does this by itself; 1080i25 becomes 50 pictures per second.
Demo mode
Neverlag without your own provider: a built-in catalogue with channels such as “Nordkanal” and “Sportwelt” and freely licensed clips, also offline. Always free to use. Examples in this wiki use the demo catalogue.
Receiver (local receiver, relay)
An intermediary in the app: it fetches the channel from the provider and passes it on to playback. If the connection drops, the receiver reconnects without the picture freezing. Setting Playback through local receiver.
EPG (programme guide, TV Guide, programme listings)
Electronic Program Guide: the programme data – what is on, when, on which channel. Comes from the provider (built in with Xtream, as an XMLTV file with M3U). Also called “TV Guide” or “programme listings” in the wiki and in the app.
Hardware decoder
A dedicated chip in the device that unpacks the picture. Fast, economical. If it fails, the software takes over (more power, possibly stuttering at 4K). Neverlag heals back into the hardware in the middle of the session.
HDR
High Dynamic Range: more contrast and colours than normal television (PQ or HLG). Needs a device, a screen and a playback path that support it; otherwise colours look flat.
HLS
One way of delivering channels: in small chunks (files of a few seconds) rather than as a continuous stream. Neverlag uses HLS only if it has already worked in the session; otherwise the stream (TS).
Journal
The technical log of playback: when a channel started, how full the reserve was, when the app reconnected, when the picture stalled. Stays on the device, is deleted after 10 days, can be shared anonymised. See Diagnostics.
Category, group
The folders your provider sorts channels into (“News”, “Sport”, “Kids”). With M3U this is called a “group” (group-title), with Xtream a “category”. You choose which ones to import during setup.
Ladder
Stepping down to a lower level of the same channel (4K → FHD → HD) when the connection cannot carry the high one. In 1.0.2 only when the reserve is empty and only after two unsuccessful reconnections. Up only via the “Back to 4K” button.
Near live
The smallest reserve setting: the picture stays closer to the live action, but short dropouts are more noticeable. For sport, when you don’t want your neighbour’s goal celebration to get ahead of you.
M3U
A file format for playlists: a text file with channel names, groups, logos and addresses. Your provider gives you an address (URL) to the file. M3U8 is the same in a different character encoding.
MKV
Matroska, a file format for video. Recordings are created as MKV; common media servers and players read it directly. Nothing is re-encoded; the quality is that of the channel.
NAS, WebDAV
NAS: a hard drive on your home network (Network Attached Storage). WebDAV: the language Neverlag uses to talk to it. Recording target for all devices; on the Apple TV there is no other.
Pairing
Transferring credentials from the iPhone or Mac to the Apple TV (or another Mac) without typing: code and QR code on the receiving device, transfer encrypted on the home network. See Getting started.
PiP (Picture in Picture)
The picture keeps playing as a small window while you do something else. Button in the control bar.
Buffer, reserve, head start, tank
Four words for the same thing: the seconds of programme already on the device before you see them. The picture keeps running from this buffer when the provider briefly delivers nothing. Setting Reserve against dropouts.
Quality window
The window behind the speedometer icon in the player: status sentence, reserve, behind live, speed, picture, bitrate, frame pacing, sources. See The quality window.
Source, level, channel family
If a provider carries the same channel several times (“Sportwelt 4K”, “Sportwelt FHD”, “Sportwelt HD”), Neverlag combines them into one channel family. Each variant is a source or level. Selectable in the quality window under “Sources”.
Behind live
How many seconds the picture lags behind the live broadcast. Roughly as large as the reserve plus whatever the provider itself is lagging.
Keychain
Your device’s protected storage for passwords. This is where your provider credentials, the NAS login and the checksum of the parental controls PIN are kept.
Substitute
The same channel from another of your lists, when the original provider is not delivering or refuses. The hint line tells you, with a button to go back.
Tag
A label of your own that you give to channels (“Kids”, “Evenings”), independent of the provider’s categories. Your private iCloud syncs tags between your devices.
Timeshift
Pausing and rewinding live TV. Default: a short buffer in memory; with Timeshift on disk up to 2 hours. See Recordings and Timeshift.
TS (MPEG-TS)
Transport Stream: a continuous data stream, the classic way of delivering channels. Neverlag always starts with TS. Recordings are first created as TS and then converted to MKV.
VOD
Video on Demand: movies and series to watch on demand, as opposed to live channels. See Movies and series.
Xtream (Xtream Codes)
A widespread interface through which providers deliver channels, programme guide, movies and account information. You enter server address, username and password; the app fetches the rest.
XMLTV
A file format for programme data (EPG), often used by M3U providers. Neverlag downloads and reads it; the assignment to channels happens automatically (tvg-id, name matching) or manually under EPG mapping.