What working live TV already proves
Before changing anything, note how much this symptom rules out.
- Your credentials are valid. Live playback required them.
- Your connection reaches the service. Data is arriving.
- Your device can decode video. It is doing so.
- The player is functioning. It is playing something.
So re-entering your details, moving the device, restarting the router or reinstalling the player are all unlikely to help — and are what most people try first. The cause is in the narrower set below.
The library is fetched differently
Live channels and the on-demand library are delivered by different mechanisms, explained in live TV and on-demand. The practical consequence is that a player asks for them separately, and one request can fail while the other succeeds.
This is why the two halves fail independently, and why a problem with one says almost nothing about the other.
Cause 1: the player is not requesting it
The most common cause, and the easiest to miss.
A player set up with an M3U URL may receive only live channels, depending on how the playlist is built. An Xtream Codes login lets the player request live, films and series as separate categories.
So a completely empty library, with no error, frequently means the player was set up in a way that never asked for it. If you have Xtream Codes details, re-adding the account that way is the single most likely fix.
Cause 2: it is loading, slowly
On-demand catalogues are large. A player fetching thousands of entries with artwork takes noticeably longer than fetching a channel list, and on a modest device it can look frozen.
Leave it for a few minutes on first run before concluding it has failed. If it populates eventually and is sluggish thereafter, that is the device rather than the service — the territory of clearing cache and freeing space.
Cause 3: it browses but will not play
A different problem from an empty library, and it narrows things further: the catalogue arrived, so the request worked, and only playback is failing.
Two usual explanations. On-demand files are often encoded at higher bitrates than live channels, so a marginal connection can carry live and stumble on a film. And they may use a different codec — a device without hardware support decodes it in software and stutters, as described in H.264 vs H.265.
Test by starting a film and seeking a few minutes in. If it plays after seeking, it was buffering. If it fails immediately every time, suspect the format.
Cause 4: stale cached data
Players cache the library to avoid re-fetching it. When that cache is stale or partly written, the result can be a library that shows entries which will not play, or refuses to refresh.
Clearing the player's cache — not its data, which would remove your login — forces a fresh fetch. This is the right fix when the library looks wrong rather than absent.
What to do, in order
- Confirm live channels genuinely work, on more than one channel.
- Is the library empty, slow, or present but unplayable? Each points elsewhere.
- If empty: check whether you are using an M3U where Xtream Codes details are available.
- If slow: wait several minutes on first load.
- If present but unplayable: try another title, then seek within one.
- If it looks wrong: clear the player's cache.
- If none of that helps, report it — and mention that live works, which tells us a great deal.
Our movies and series page covers how the library is organised when it is working.
Frequently asked questions
My IPTV live channels work but movies will not load. Why?
The library is requested separately from live channels, so one can fail while the other works. The most common cause is a setup that never asks for it, which happens with some M3U playlists where Xtream Codes details would fetch the library too.
Why is my on-demand library empty?
Either the player is not requesting it, most often because it was added as an M3U rather than an Xtream Codes login, or it is still loading. Large catalogues take several minutes on first run.
Films buffer but live TV is fine. What causes that?
On-demand content is often encoded at a higher bitrate than live channels, so a marginal connection manages live and struggles with films. A codec the device cannot decode in hardware produces the same pattern.
Should I re-enter my details if on-demand does not work?
Not first. Working live channels prove your details are valid, so re-entering them rarely helps. Check how the account was added, and whether Xtream Codes details are available instead.