v4.8.0 introduces one of the biggest feature additions to RetroIPTVGuide so far: Virtual Channels. These channels appear directly inside your guide alongside your normal IPTV streams, bringing dynamic content like news and weather into the same retro TV-style experience.

🛰 Virtual Channels

RetroIPTVGuide can now generate its own channels inside the guide:

• News Now — headlines powered by configurable RSS feeds
• Weather Now — local forecasts using ZIP code or latitude/longitude
• Traffic Now — simulated retro-style traffic reports
• System Status — display system or server information

These behave like real channels in the guide and can include overlays, looping backgrounds, and optional background music.

📡 Guide + IPTV Together

Virtual channels are injected directly into the guide alongside live IPTV channels, so they appear as part of the same channel lineup.

🎛 Virtual Channel Management

A new admin interface allows you to:

• enable or disable virtual channels
• configure RSS feeds for news
• set weather location using ZIP or coordinates
• preview channel layouts

🔧 System Improvements

• database schema migration system
• improved tuner validation
• safer URL validation for tuner sources
• expanded automated test coverage

🧠 Reminder

Traffic reports are simulated and designed to recreate a retro TV traffic channel experience.

Feedback

This release lays the foundation for expanding the Virtual Channels platform, including additional layouts, more data sources, and new channel types.