How to use Excalibur AI TV
Excalibur is a live TV player for Apple TV, iPhone, iPad and the foldable iPhone, with an assistant called Merlin built in. It plays the channels, guides and on-demand catalogs of accounts you already have. This manual covers every feature that ships in version 2.0: where to find it, how to use it, and how it works.
Platform chips
- Apple TV The tvOS app, with the Siri Remote.
- iPad TV interface The Apple TV screens on an iPad, by touch. An option in Settings.
- iPhone The iPhone app.
- iPad The iPad app in its standard interface, which matches the iPhone's.
- Duo The foldable iPhone: the iPhone app, with layouts that follow the fold.
- Mac Excalibur Recorder, a menu-bar app that records for your Apple TVs.
Remote words
- Select A click of the touch surface or the center button.
- Hold Select Press and hold it.
- Menu The Back button.
- Play/Pause The play and pause button.
- Up Down Left Right The arrows, or swipes on the touch surface.
How text is set
- Watch on A label exactly as it appears on screen.
- Settings › Playback Where a setting lives.
- “Playing on another of your devices.” A message the app shows.
Getting started
Choose a plan, add the accounts your provider gave you, and learn where everything lives.
Plans and the free trial
Excalibur has two plans. Yearly is a subscription that opens with a 7-day free trial when the App Store offers your Apple Account one. Lifetime is a single payment. In the US the prices are $24 a year and $89 once; the App Store shows the price in your own currency. One purchase covers Apple TV, iPhone and iPad.
How to use it
- Add your first provider account. The purchase screen appears once that account's channels have loaded. On Apple TV it waits until you press Open the guide at the end of setup.
- On Apple TV, under CHOOSE HOW TO PAY, choose 7-day free trial (“Then $24 a year. Cancel before it ends to pay nothing.”) or Purchase Lifetime (“Pay once. Yours for good.”).
- On iPhone and iPad, pick the Yearly or Lifetime card, then press the button under it. It reads Start 7-day free trial, Subscribe for $24 a year or Purchase Lifetime for $89.
- Confirm in Apple's purchase sheet. As the Apple TV footer says, “The App Store asks before anything is charged.”
How it works
Purchases are App Store purchases on your Apple Account. Lifetime outranks Yearly, so if you own both you keep access when the subscription lapses. Someone on the free week or on Yearly can still buy Lifetime. If the App Store has an outage and offers nothing for sale, Excalibur lets you watch instead of locking you out.
The purchase screen lists what a plan includes: one guide, Rewind, Multi-View, Sports, Home Hub, iPhone and Apple TV (“One purchase covers both”), Merlin, and Synced through iCloud.
LimitsThe free trial is once per Apple Account, and its length is set in the App Store. Channels play once a plan or the trial is active.
First-time setup on Apple TV
Five short screens on the first launch, before any provider is added.
How to use it
- Add a source. The screen asks “Where do your channels come from?” and reminds you: “Excalibur is a player. It includes no channels or subscriptions. Add only playlists and accounts you're authorized to use.” Choose Xtream Codes (a server, username and password) or M3U / M3U8 (a playlist address, with an optional guide address).
- Sign in. For Xtream Codes, fill in Server, Username and Password, then press Connect. For M3U, fill in Name (optional), Playlist address and Guide address (optional), then press Add playlist.
- Building your guide shows “Guide coverage: N of M channels have listings”, with tiles for channels found, channels with listings, channels that play without listings, and listings ahead. Press Continue.
- What do you watch? Pick genre tiles (Sports, Movies, News, Kids, Documentary, Drama, Comedy, Reality, Music, Lifestyle, Religion, Entertainment), then press Continue with N, or Skip.
- Your local stations. Choose your area. The app shows “N stations in” your area, with Star all or None. Press Open the guide.
Faster sign-in
Paste the whole account message your provider sent into Paste, or into any field. Every field fills in and you see “Filled in from what you pasted”. The pasted text is cleared about a second later. The easiest way: copy the message on your iPhone, choose Paste on the Apple TV, and paste with the iPhone keyboard that Apple TV offers for typing.
The Server field is forgiving. A port number, a trailing slash, a panel path or a full pasted address all come down to the same server.
How it works
Your sign-in details go to your provider and nowhere else. Excalibur matches channels to their listings and keeps about two days of listings. An M3U playlist without a guide address still plays, but the guide has no listings for it.
LimitsThere is no QR-code sign-in.
Adding a provider on iPhone, iPad and Duo
The phone has its own form for adding an account. You may not need it: accounts added on your Apple TV appear on your iPhone through iCloud.
How to use it
- Open Settings › Providers › Add a playlist. With no provider yet, the guide also offers Add a provider: “Add a provider to start watching, or sign in on your Apple TV and it will appear here.”
- Paste the whole account message into Paste the account your provider sent. Or fill in the form yourself: Account type (Xtream Codes or M3U playlist), Provider name (optional), then Server address with Username and Password, or Playlist URL with Guide URL (optional).
- Press Add provider or the checkmark. You see “Provider added”.
Several provider accounts
Add as many Xtream Codes or M3U accounts as you like and use them together.
How to use it
- Add one on Apple TV: Settings › Providers › Add a playlist (“Xtream Codes or an M3U URL”), then choose Xtream or M3U8.
- Account rooms on Apple TV: each switched-on account gets its own sidebar item, named with its short name. The room's header shows the channel count, N streams at once, and Expired when that applies. Its cards are Favorites, Home, Guide, Multi-View, Films and Series; each opens the usual screen showing only that account.
- Account rooms on iPad: the sidebar's Accounts section lists each account, with the same six rooms.
- On iPhone: Home lists Your providers.
How it works
Guides, Top 200, Sports and Multi-View use every account at once. When several accounts carry the same station, Excalibur plays the best copy. Each account gets its own block of channel numbers.
LimitsEach account has its own connection limit.
Managing an account
Each account has its own page in Settings. Open Settings › Providers and press the account.
How it works
On Apple TV each press of a row steps to its next value. On or Off is each device's own choice and does not sync. A removal, and Remove all providers, reach every device through iCloud.
Accounts follow you through iCloud
Your accounts, with their names and passwords, appear on every device signed in to the same Apple Account.
How to use it
There is nothing to set up. Settings › Providers › Synced through iCloud shows N accounts, or N arriving while some are on their way. Press it to adopt any accounts still waiting.
How it works
The account list travels in your private iCloud storage. It is not end-to-end encrypted unless Advanced Data Protection is turned on for your Apple Account. A removal is recorded in iCloud, and every other device deletes its own copy at its next sync. Adding the same login again by hand lifts the removal.
Your settings can travel too. Settings › Providers › Sync settings with iCloud, on to start, keeps captions, audio, commercial skipping, radio sync, channel numbers, your guide, the Best feed order and each provider's stream format and numbering the same on every device signed in to your iCloud. Playback engine, picture, buffer and recording settings stay with each device.
LimitsSwitching an account On or Off stays on that device.
Adding an extra program guide
Extra listings for channels your provider's guide does not cover.
How to use it
- Open Settings › Providers › Add a guide.
- Enter one or more guide (XMLTV) addresses, separated by spaces. Plain and compressed files both work, and https:// is assumed.
- Press Add. Each added guide gets an On/Off row and Remove <name>.
How it works
Your provider's own guide always wins. The extra guide fills in channels it says nothing about.
LimitsThere is no extra-guide form on iPhone, iPad or Duo. An M3U account can take a guide address when you add it, on any device.
Channel numbers
Every channel has its own number, even across several accounts.
How to use it
Numbers show on guide rows and cards while Settings › Guide › Show channel numbers is On, which is the default. On Apple TV, type a number with Go to channel.
How it works
The primary account keeps your provider's own numbers. Every other account moves into its own block of 10,000, with room to grow, so channel 405 becomes 30,405. Numbers never move once set, and an account switched on later takes the next free block. The account's Settings row says “numbered X to Y”.
LimitsThe primary account is chosen on each device, so one account can carry different numbers on different devices. If two accounts still share a number, Go to channel asks which one you mean.
Keeping channels and listings fresh
Excalibur refreshes each provider's channel list and program listings by itself. You can also refresh by hand.
How to use it
- Settings › Providers › Update channel list: 1h, 3h (the default), 6h, 12h or Daily. Apple TV and iPad TV interface.
- Refresh channel list re-reads every playlist now.
- Guide coverage shows the share of channels with listings. Press it to fetch listings again.
- In the guide, More › Refresh listings.
How it works
Listings refresh on their own once they are 6 hours old, and a failed refresh is retried after 30 minutes. The iPhone refreshes listings on the half hour. If the app closed unexpectedly during two refreshes in a row, automatic refresh pauses until you choose Refresh listings. An empty answer from a provider never wipes an account.
LimitsHow many channels have listings depends on your provider. Many channels have none.
Adult channels and the PIN
Adult channels stay hidden until you set a PIN and unlock them.
How to use it
- Open Settings › Adult channels › Set a PIN and enter four or more digits, twice.
- Use Show adult channels to switch between Locked and Unlocked. Unlocking lasts until the app closes.
- Change PIN and Remove the PIN ask for the current PIN first.
The same pane has Clear watch history, which clears Continue watching.
How it works
Adult channels are found from your provider's adult flag, or from words in category and channel names in several languages. Detection leans toward locking. Until a PIN exists they are hidden everywhere.
Even unlocked, they never appear in your last channel, Continue watching, On now, search, Multi-View, Top Shelf, widgets, previews, or the Live TV panel's saved pictures, and the Lock Screen names them only as Excalibur. Opening one from a link or from Siri asks for the PIN.
LimitsThe PIN stays on the device where you set it and never syncs, so set one on each device. Five wrong entries lock the pad for a minute, doubling each time up to 32 minutes (“Too many wrong entries. Try again in N minutes.”). The count survives a relaunch.
Getting around
What's new
The notes for the build you have installed.
- Apple TV: Settings › General › What's new in build N.
- iPhone and iPad: Settings › About & Legal.
LimitsNo pop-up appears after an update; open the notes from Settings.
Watching
The player, changing channels, sound and captions, pausing and rewinding live TV, films and series, and how Excalibur picks the best copy of a channel.
The Apple TV player screen
Full-screen live TV, with an information overlay that fades away.
How it works
The overlay fades after 4 seconds without a press, and any press brings it back. There is no separate Info button; the overlay is the information.
The control bar
One glass capsule of 16 controls under the picture. The name of the control you are on shows beneath it. From left to right:
Pause / Play (the only control with a written label), Audio, Subtitles (shown as CC Off or CC On), Favorite, What's on?, Watch on, Multi-View, Picture in Picture, Guide, Record, Stats, Timeline, From the beginning, Back 30s, Forward 30s and Jump to live.
How to use it
Left and Right move along the bar and Select presses. A hint line under the bar explains each control.
How it works
Controls never disappear. One you cannot use right now is dimmed, focus skips it, and the hint says why, for example “No other account carries this channel”, “This stream carries no subtitles”, “This channel has no rewind window” or “Wait for this live channel to connect, then choose Record”. Films and recordings dim Jump to live, What's on?, Watch on, Multi-View, Guide and Record.
Guide opens the guide over the channel you are watching, and one Back from the guide returns you to that channel.
LimitsOn the bar, Left and Right move between controls and never seek. With nothing on screen they go straight to the timeline; see The remote in the player.
The remote in the player
The hint line reads “Up and Down to browse channels · Timeline to scrub” when you can rewind, and “Up and Down to browse channels” otherwise. On the timeline it reads “◀ ▶ to move · ▼ Controls · ▲ Channels”, and on a film “▲ Timeline”, which Up opens.
NoteThe iPad TV interface maps these to touch; see iPad TV interface.
Changing channel: the Live TV panel
A strip of channels over the picture you are watching, with a large picture of the highlighted channel above it. Nothing changes until you choose.
How to use it
- In the player, press Up (or Down twice).
- Move along the channels with Left and Right.
- For more, press Up to reach the actions: Watch / Watching; Watch the better copy (for example Watch the 4K copy) when another account has a better picture; Sources N when there are several copies; Add to Multi-View / In Multi-View, window N; Add to Favorites / Remove from Favorites.
- Press Select to tune. Down returns to the row and Menu closes the panel. It also closes by itself after 10 seconds.
The key line reads “◀ ▶ Channels · ▲ Actions · Select to watch”.
How it works
Which channels it walks: the run you came from (search results, a Sports row), otherwise your favorites, otherwise the guide section.
The large picture is a fresh frame of the channel you are watching, marked WATCHING; or the last frame this Apple TV kept of that channel, with a pill showing its age; or the channel's logo if you have never watched it. A frame is kept once a minute while you watch, for your last 300 channels, never for adult channels.
Live preview: rest on a channel for 0.8 seconds and it plays silently on a spare connection (LOADING PREVIEW…, then LIVE PREVIEW).
Beside the picture are the name and number, LIVE or No listing from the provider, and the listing with minutes left. For a channel with no listing, Merlin describes the picture.
LimitsLive previews need a free connection to your provider. Without one the panel says “No spare connection for a live preview”.
Back to the previous channel
A one-press jump back to the last live channel you watched.
How to use it
In the player, hold Select for about 0.7 seconds, with the controls hidden or with Play/Pause focused.
LimitsIt does not work in a film, a replay, the Live TV panel or while scrubbing. With no earlier channel it says “Watch another live channel first to switch back.”
Watch on: other copies of a channel
Every copy of the current channel across your accounts, so you can move to a better one or one that works.
How to use it
- In the player, press Watch on. On iPhone it is in the bar, or under More.
- Pick a copy. Rows are tagged BEST, PLAYING or OFF AIR, with badges for resolution, frame rate, and 5.1 or Stereo.
- Optional: the 5.1 only switch (Copies in 5.1 surround / Every copy) hides copies not known to carry 5.1 sound. It is Off by default and each device keeps its own choice.
How it works
Solid badges were measured on this device; outlined badges are your provider's own label. The legend says so: “Solid: measured on this Apple TV · Outlined: the provider's label”. The list has two headings: Other copies of this channel, and Also showing <program> for other channels carrying the same program.
LimitsOnly switched-on accounts are listed, and only one account's copies while the guide shows that account (Account…). When no copy qualifies under 5.1 only, the sheet says “No copy here is known to carry 5.1 yet…”
Sound: tracks, language and mute
Choose the soundtrack, set a default language, or mute Excalibur.
How to use it
- Apple TV: press Audio in the bar and pick a track; a checkmark marks the current one. Done closes it. During a game with radio calls, a RADIO WITH THE PICTURE section appears here too (Radio with the picture).
- iPhone and iPad: the Audio sheet shows Playing on <output>, then SOUNDTRACK, RADIO CALLS (with TV sound) and SUBTITLES.
- Default language: Settings › Video & Audio › Audio language: Automatic (the device's language), English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese or Arabic. It applies from the next channel.
- Mute: Settings › Video & Audio › Audio: On or Muted. Muted lasts while the app stays open; Excalibur starts with sound On.
How it works
A track you pick is remembered for that channel and wins over the default language. Stats names the output, such as SURROUND 5.1, DOLBY 5.1 or DOLBY ATMOS. Dolby Digital plays when the channel carries it.
LimitsThere is no Off track. With nothing to choose, the list says “This stream has one soundtrack.” or “This stream has not reported selectable audio tracks.” Many channels come from the provider in stereo only.
Captions and subtitles
Captions carried in the stream, including closed captions inside the video.
How to use it
- Apple TV: press Subtitles (CC Off / CC On). Captions come on in the device's language, otherwise the first track.
- iPhone and iPad: Captions On / Captions Off in the bar, or the SUBTITLES list (with Off) in the Audio sheet.
- Captions when muted: Settings › Video & Audio › Captions when muted (default Off) shows captions while Excalibur's own Audio setting is Muted.
How it works
Turning captions off on a channel keeps them off on that channel. Turning captions on or off overall carries over to other channels.
LimitsOn Apple TV the button switches captions on or off; there is no list for choosing among several subtitle tracks. Muting the TV or receiver is not detected.
Stats and Diagnostics
Technical readouts of the stream you are watching.
- Apple TV: Stats in the bar opens a panel titled Stream, with VIDEO, AUDIO, PERFORMANCE, NETWORK and STREAM. Throughput is the rate your provider sends the stream, whichever decoder plays it. Menu closes it.
- iPhone: Stats in the bar, or More › Stats, shows Picture, Frames, Bitrate, Buffer, Dropped, Decoder and Engine.
- Diagnostics (Apple TV and iPad TV interface): Settings › Playback › Diagnostics › Open. It shows Frames on screen, BUFFER AHEAD and bitrate panels, a THE LAST 90 SECONDS chart with stalls marked, fact tiles, and Check this channel, which asks each account what it serves. Done closes it.
How it works
A row appears only when its value is actually known.
LimitsThe readouts cannot be exported.
Picture in Picture on Apple TV
The channel keeps playing in a small window while you browse.
How to use it
- In the player, press Picture in Picture. Excalibur goes to Home with the channel in a window in the corner.
- To go back, choose a channel, or open the guide, which takes the picture into its own window. In the iPad TV interface, select the window to return to full screen.
How it works
On Apple TV the window is tvOS's own Picture in Picture, the same one Keep playing while browsing uses, and leaving Excalibur closes it. In the iPad TV interface, Excalibur draws the window itself, badged LIVE, OFF AIR or NOT PLAYING.
LimitsIn the iPad TV interface, the window has no close button.
Keep playing while browsing
Back from a live channel keeps it playing in a corner window on screens with no room for the picture, such as Sports, Settings and Search.
How to use it
- In the player, press Menu and go on browsing. The channel carries on in the corner.
- Open the guide to take the channel back into the guide's window, or choose another channel or Multi-View to replace it.
- To turn it off: Settings › Playback › Keep playing while browsing (On by default).
How it works
Home Hub and Live TV keep the channel behind the page, and the guide keeps it in its window, so they need no corner window. Going back from full screen to the guide keeps the show playing in the guide's window. Films and replays stop when you leave them.
LimitsLeaving Excalibur closes the window and stops the channel. Not in the iPad TV interface.
The iPhone and iPad player
A touch player with a full-screen layout and an upright layout.
LimitsNo channel up and down buttons, no pinch to zoom, no From the beginning and no catch-up replays. The iPad always uses the full-screen layout.
Picture in Picture and background play
Keep watching, or keep listening, outside the app.
How to use it
While a channel plays, swipe up to the Home Screen. The system Picture in Picture window starts by itself once the stream has played steadily for 1.5 seconds.
How it works
Where Picture in Picture is not available, the picture is hidden and the sound keeps playing. That includes a radio call, and it plays even with the silent switch on. Closing the Picture in Picture window while the app is in the background pauses playback. Ten seconds after the app goes to the background, the guide trims itself to now and next to save memory, and fills in again when you return.
With sound, a channel plays where your other video apps play: on the HomePod or Apple TV you send video to, or on the device. Home, the guide and their previews stay on the device and never take a speaker another app is using.
LimitsThere is no Picture in Picture button and no AirPlay button in the app; choose a speaker or TV in Control Center as usual. There is no CarPlay app; the sound plays through the car. Not in the iPad TV interface.
Lock Screen and Control Center
Excalibur tells the system what is playing.
How it works
The program title, channel name and logo show on the Lock Screen and in Control Center. Live channels are marked live; films get a scrubber. Play/Pause always works, and 30-second skips and scrubbing work where you can rewind. On Apple TV, next and previous track change channel. Adult channels show only Excalibur.
LimitsYou cannot change channel from the iPhone's Lock Screen.
Pause and rewind live TV (Live buffer)
Excalibur records what you watch to the device, so you can pause and rewind live TV.
How to use it
- Turn it on: Settings › Playback › Live buffer. Choose 30 min, or 1 to 6 hr. It is Off by default.
- Watch a channel. Rewind becomes possible as the buffer fills.
- Apple TV: Play/Pause pauses. With nothing on screen, Left or Right goes straight to the timeline, 10 seconds a press and more as you keep pressing, and the picture goes there half a second after you stop. Down moves to the control bar and keeps where you went; Menu leaves the timeline. Timeline on the control bar opens it too. Back 30s, Forward 30s and Jump to live do what they say.
- iPhone, iPad and Duo: drag the timeline, or use Back 30 Seconds, Forward 30 Seconds and Jump to Live.
- Settings › Playback › Rewind window shows how far back the current channel can go.
How it works
The buffer fills from the moment you tune, at about 2.2 GB an hour for a 5 Mbps channel. Channels your provider sends in the .ts format also need Rewind on .ts. When rewind is not possible, the hint says why:
- “Live only · turn on Live buffer in Settings to rewind”
- “Live only · your provider refused the recording”
- “Live only · the recording did not start on this channel”
- “Live only so far · recording, rewind opens as it fills”
If your provider refuses, the Settings row shows Unavailable for 7 days; pressing it tries again.
LimitsThe buffer lives in the device's cache, which the system can clear. Channels in .ts format that use HEVC video, which includes most 4K channels, cannot rewind. Without the buffer you can rewind only as far as your provider allows.
Rewind on .ts channels
An account switch that lets channels sent in the .ts format use the Live buffer.
How to use it
Open Settings › Providers › <account> › Rewind on .ts for <name>. It is Off by default. It needs the Live buffer on; otherwise the row reads “On, but the Live buffer is off: turn it on to record”.
How it works
With it On, that account's .ts channels are recorded as you watch and played through Apple's player, so you can pause and rewind them. With it Off, they play on Excalibur's own player and cannot be rewound.
Limits.ts channels that use HEVC video cannot rewind.
From the beginning
Jump back to the start of the program on now, using the Live buffer.
How to use it
In the player, press From the beginning.
How it works
If the buffer does not reach back that far, the player says so: “The buffer starts at <time>, after <program> began at <time>”.
LimitsOnly as far back as the Live buffer holds. Not on iPhone.
Start Over: replays from your provider
Replays of programs that have finished, on channels where your provider keeps an archive.
How to use it
Choose it on a program that has ended:
- In the Prism guide's action strip, Start Over; in Prism's Details, From the Start.
How it works
The replay plays with a REPLAY badge on the program's own timeline. Jump to live leaves it. If your provider fails to send it, the app says “Your provider did not have this recording” and stops offering that channel for 7 days.
LimitsOnly programs that have ended, within the channel's archive, on channels that offer one. Many channels have no archive: “This program has finished. Your provider does not offer replays on this channel.” Not on iPhone.
Films and series
Your providers' on-demand catalogs.
LimitsOn iPhone, iPad and Duo there is no details page, no resume point and no watched marks. Adult collections appear only when unlocked.
Resume and watched marks
Excalibur remembers where you stopped in a film or episode, and what you finished.
How it works
A position is saved after 30 seconds of play. A title counts as watched at 95%, or with 2 minutes or less left (for titles of 4 minutes or more); the resume point is then cleared and the title shows Watched. Cards show Watched, 23m left, Almost done or a progress bar. A series opens on the episode you left part way, or the one after the last you finished.
Positions and watched marks sync between your Apple TVs through iCloud, and the newest wins. Mark as Unwatched is remembered for 90 days.
LimitsThe next episode never plays by itself.
Continue watching across devices
Pick up on one device the live channel you were watching on another.
How to use it
Look for From <device> cards, then press or tap one to watch:
- Apple TV: the Home Hub's Continue from row, Live TV's Jump back in, and a badge on Live TV's tiles.
- iPhone: the Home Hub's main card, the Continue from row, Live TV's Jump back in, and the Last Channel widget.
To stop sharing, switch off Settings › Playback › Continue watching across devices (On by default, set on each device). Off writes nothing and shows nothing from your other devices.
How it works
Each device writes its last live channel to iCloud, and your other devices offer it for 8 hours.
LimitsLive channels only. Adult channels are never shared.
Commercials: lower the sound during breaks
Excalibur can turn the sound down when a channel goes to commercials.
How to use it
- Open Settings › Video & Audio › Commercials and choose Down 20 dB or Muted. The default, Full volume, leaves the sound alone.
- Optional: set Break detection to Strict (the mark must be seen 90% of the show), Normal (80%, the default) or Relaxed (70%).
During a break a notice reads “Commercials · sound down 20 dB” or “Commercials · muted”.
How it works
For about 75 seconds the app learns the channel's own on-screen mark, such as a logo or scoreboard, and remembers it across launches. The sound goes down when the mark has been gone for 25 seconds, or 8 seconds after a black frame while it is gone. It comes back within about a second of the mark returning, and after 240 seconds it comes back regardless. On Apple TV, a sports channel also needs a fade to black. A halftime or studio look that stays on screen is learned as a second mark.
LimitsWorks in the single-channel player only, not on Home, in the guide or in Multi-View. Channels with no steady on-screen mark never lower. The first break on a new channel can play loud while the mark is being learned.
Commercial Escape
During a break, watch your last channel, and come back when the program returns.
How to use it
- Turn on Settings › Video & Audio › Commercial Escape (Off by default).
- Set Back to the program to Ask first or Automatically.
- About 8 seconds into a break, a prompt offers “Escape the break. Watch <your last channel> until <channel> is back” for 12 seconds. Press Select to take it.
How it works
The original channel keeps playing silently on a spare connection, and Excalibur watches it for up to 10 minutes. When the program is back, Ask first shows “Back to <channel>. The program is on again” for 20 seconds; Automatically takes you straight back.
LimitsNeeds a spare connection; otherwise “No spare connection to watch X. Staying here.” Sometimes it says “Couldn't tell if the program is back.”
Buffer profile
How much of the stream is held ahead of the picture.
How to use it
Settings › Playback › Buffer profile: Adaptive (the default, about 1.5 to 12 seconds, adjusting to your network), Minimal 1s, Balanced 3s, Stable 8s or Deep 16s (which starts once 4 seconds are in hand).
How it works
A bigger buffer rides out network hiccups. The cost is a slower start and more delay behind live.
Picture quality: resolution, Match Content and HDR
Best copy, Best feed order and Prefer 5.1 surround
When several accounts or feeds carry the same station, Excalibur ranks the copies and plays the best one.
How it works
Copies known to be off the air or busy are skipped. The rest are ranked in this order:
- Copies that recently dropped seconds of picture, or kept going quiet, go last.
- Your Best feed order. With Smoothest first, the default: 4K, 1080p and 720p at 50 to 60 frames a second, then copies never played, then 4K, 1080p and 720p at 25 to 30, then anything smaller than 720p.
- A taller picture.
- 5.1 sound before stereo.
- A clearly higher bitrate.
- A faster frame rate.
In the Apple TV player, a channel whose stream goes quiet for 6 seconds or more twice within 5 minutes moves to a steadier copy of the same channel. The quiet copy then ranks last for 6 hours, so Watch best feed does not send you back to it.
Connections and your provider's limits
How Excalibur stays within the number of streams your provider allows.
How it works
Each login allows the number of streams your provider states. Previews, Multi-View windows, radio calls and recordings each use one. Your devices tell each other through iCloud what they have open, so they do not knock each other off.
A provider plays a given channel to only one device per login. Excalibur avoids a copy another of your devices is playing and moves to another account's copy when there is one. Otherwise it says “Playing on another of your devices.” A recording's connection is never taken.
On Apple TV, a channel that had to move to another account's copy stays there unless your own copy is a clearly better picture, smoother or sharper, so the picture does not jump in the middle of a game.
On Apple TV, a game whose stream arrives in bursts stays on its copy: Excalibur moves to another copy only when the picture actually freezes.
A copy your provider refuses is remembered and not tried again right away. On Apple TV, on an account that allows more than one stream, a refusal moves you to another account, and a channel you leave lets go of its stream at once, even one still starting.
On Apple TV, a preview that cannot open says why: every stream that account allows is in use, one is kept free for your next channel, or you just left that channel.
LimitsAn account with one connection cannot show previews, play radio calls with the picture, or fill more than one Multi-View window from that login.
Advanced account playback
Options for an account whose channels misbehave. The defaults suit most accounts.
WhereDecoder and Stream format are on each account's page in Settings › Providers.
Screen saver held off while you watch
The tvOS screen saver, or the iPad's Auto-Lock, stays away while you watch.
How it works
It is held off in the full-screen player, in Multi-View and on the On watch tonight screen, and allowed again 3 seconds after you leave them. There is no setting.
Guides
Prism is the guide on every device: with the remote on Apple TV, and by touch on iPhone, iPad and Duo. Favorites, Top 200 and the guide sections work across all of them.
Prism, the only look
Prism is the only guide and the only look on Apple TV: smoked glass, cream type and a serif title face, in the guide, the pop-ups and the Home Hub. Spotlight, Live Canvas and the Classic look are gone, Settings no longer has a Look row, and an Apple TV that had one of them chosen now opens in Prism.
NoteThe iPad TV interface offers Prism only, always in the Prism look. iPhone, iPad and Duo have their own touch Prism guide.
The Prism guide on Apple TV
The channel under the cursor plays full screen behind the guide. Its program is written large in a smoked-glass panel, over a glass grid of three hours.
How it works
The highlighted channel starts playing behind the guide 1.5 seconds after you stop moving. Top 200 and Sports rows play the best copy. The large panel shows the title, the time, minutes left, a NEW badge, FOLLOWING, and a red dot when the program will record. The grid opens on the current half hour and pages an hour at a time. Going back from full screen to the guide keeps the show playing in the guide's window.
LimitsNo preview plays for adult channels while locked, for copies recently off the air, or when Preview while browsing is Off. Previews use a connection to your provider.
The action strip
The row of buttons that replaces a listing's description when you hold Select on it in the Prism guide.
- Watch Now (Watch live on a later listing).
- Start Over, where the channel offers replays.
- One record button whose label follows the state: Record, Record from the start, Schedule recording, Cancel recording, Skip this one, Stop & Save, Saving… (see Recording).
- Follow / Following (Follow a show).
- Favorite / Favorited.
- Multiview: adds the channel and opens Multi-View.
- Sources (N), when more than one copy exists.
- Details.
- More: Save what has played, Recordings, Go to channel… and Refresh listings.
How it works
A note can appear under the strip, such as Merlin's suggestion to follow a show or where a recording will happen. When space runs short, the less-used buttons shrink to icons. The iPad TV interface adds Close.
Details
A full panel about one listing.
How to use it
Press Play/Pause on a listing. Play/Pause or Menu closes it.
- The logo, number, title and subtitle.
- Watch Live, From the Start (where replays exist) and Record.
- WATCH ON: each account's copy, with its quality.
- ALSO SHOWING: other channels with the same program.
- NEXT ON: the next two programs.
Guide sections: the More panel
The sections the Prism guide can show.
How to use it
Select the More pill. The panel lists For You, Recents, All Channels, Your guide (once built), News, Local, Categories…, Go to channel…, Later today… (now, or any hour up to 5 hours ahead), Account… (with two or more accounts switched on), Ask Merlin (opens AI Search) and Refresh listings.
On iPhone, iPad and Duo, More sits at the end of the guide's bar and opens the same choices as a menu.
How it works
The last section you chose is remembered. Empty sections explain themselves: Recents says “Channels you watch will appear here.” and Favorites says “Favorite a channel to see it here.”
Account… shows one account's channels: choose All accounts, or an account by its short name. With one account chosen, the sources number and Watch on show only that account's copies.
LimitsInside a single account's room, or with one account chosen, For You and Recents are hidden.
Searching the guide
A search inside the guide that moves the cursor to what you find.
How to use it
- Select the magnifier in the guide's bar. The Search your guide panel opens with the field What would you like to watch?
- Type. The line under the field shows where you are searching: “Channels, teams and programs across all channels”, “in Favorites” or “in <account>”.
- Choose a result. The guide moves to that channel and time.
Type a team and its game comes first, with the channel it is on. Find an upcoming game across my feeds opens Find a game.
LimitsUp to 40 results, live first, then upcoming.
Go to channel
A number pad for jumping straight to a channel.
How to use it
- In the guide, open More › Go to channel… GO TO CHANNEL appears, with keys 0 to 9, delete and close.
- Type a number. It matches as you type, and offers the nearest number that starts with your digits (marked · nearest).
- Press Watch.
How it works
When nothing matches: “No channel numbered N”. When two accounts share the number: “N is on 2 accounts. Choose one below.”, with one button for each account.
LimitsAvailable in the guide, not in the player. On iPhone, iPad and Duo, Go to channel… is in the guide's More menu.
The Prism guide on iPhone, iPad and Duo
The touch version of Prism.
How to use it
- The bar holds Top 200, Sports, Favorites and, at its end, More: For You, Recents, All Channels, News, Local, Categories…, Go to channel…, Later today, Account, Ask Merlin and Refresh listings (Guide sections).
- Tap a listing to light it and play its channel behind the title. Tap the lit listing to watch full screen.
- Touch and hold a listing for about half a second to open its details: “Listings from <station>”, the time and minutes left, the description, Watch / Watch live, Favorite / Favorited, Watch on (N), and LATER ON <CHANNEL>.
- Swipe sideways to move an hour at a time, up to 5 hours ahead. Now / Back returns to now.
- The magnifier searches all visible channels by name and by what is on (Search N channels). Type a team and its game comes first. A chosen result plays.
How it works
The preview is silent unless Settings › Home Hub › Preview sound is On. On its side, the iPhone hides the tab bar.
LimitsThe details window has no Record, Follow or Multiview.
Favorites
Your starred channels.
How to use it
- Star a channel with Favorite in the Prism action strip, the player's bar or the Live TV panel; with Add to Favorites when you hold a Live TV tile; or from the iPhone details window, or the heart in the iPhone guide.
- See them with the Favorites pill, the Favorites sidebar item, or an account's Favorites room.
How it works
Favorites sync between your devices through iCloud. Removing a favorite removes every copy of that station. Favorites also steer the player's channel panel, Siri's channel matching and Top Shelf.
Recents and All Channels
On iPhone, both are under More in the guide.
Top 200 and the Sports pill
Top 200 is a built-in list of 200 popular US channels, one row per station, whichever account or spelling carries it. Broadcast networks come first (shown as your local stations when Your area is set), then news, sports, entertainment, lifestyle, kids, films, premium, music and Spanish-language channels. The Sports pill shows sports channels the same way.
How to use it
Select the Top 200 or Sports pill in the guide.
How it works
Choosing a row plays the best copy across all your accounts. Copies recently off the air come last and copies from another country are left out. Smooth beats sharp, and measured beats claimed. The East feed comes before the West feed, and a copy with listings before one without.
LimitsTop 200 is built for a US lineup. A station your accounts do not carry simply does not appear.
For You
A guide section of up to 40 channels Merlin picks for you.
How to use it
In the guide, More › For You.
How it works
Only channels from your own country are considered, and other towns' local stations are removed before Merlin sees the list. Merlin ranks them from your recent viewing, your taste, and What you follow. An answer is reused for 30 minutes unless your lineup, area or country changes.
The status line reads “For You • N channels picked by Merlin from what you watch”. On an Apple TV without a key it reads “For You • from what you watch • Add your OpenAI key in Settings for Merlin's picks”, and when Merlin cannot answer, “Merlin unavailable • Showing what you watch”. Without Merlin, Excalibur ranks the list itself: things you follow, then channels you watched, then starred ones, then your top genre.
LimitsNot inside a single account's room, or while the guide shows one account. On iPhone, iPad and Duo, For You is in the guide's More menu.
Your guide
Your own guide section, built from the categories you choose.
How to use it
- Open Categories… and choose Build your guide.
- Pick categories. The counter shows N chosen.
- Press Done. A Your guide section appears in More.
Edit your guide changes it and Clear your guide removes it.
How it works
Choices are kept for each account, and for all accounts together. Your guide never narrows anything else: “All Channels still shows every channel.”
Categories
Your provider's own channel groups, as guide sections.
How to use it
Open More › Categories… A searchable list (“Sports, news, USA…”) shows each category with its channel count. Your standing choices are pinned at the top.
Country and your area
Filter the lineup by country, and put your town's stations first.
How to use it
- Settings › Guide › Show channels from: your country (set on first run from the device) or All countries.
- Settings › Guide › Your area: on Apple TV, a list of towns found in your lineup's channel names, each with a channel count; on iPhone, a searchable sheet (Find your town). Choose Not set to clear it.
How it works
Your area puts your local stations first, fills the Local section, shows broadcast networks in Top 200 as your local stations, and helps pick a game's best feed.
Some provider sections carry no country label. On an Apple TV with a Merlin key, Merlin works out which country each of those sections serves. Without a key, those sections show to everyone.
LimitsThe town list comes only from what your lineup carries.
Guide display options
All four are in Settings › Guide.
Home and Live TV
Home Hub is a dashboard: the clock, weather, what you are watching, your other devices and your home. Live TV is a wall of your channels as they last looked, with rows of things to watch.
The opening screen
Choose which screen Excalibur opens on.
How to use it
Settings › Home Hub › Open on: Home Hub, Live TV or Guide. A new install opens on Home Hub.
NoteThe iPhone always opens on Home.
Home Hub on Apple TV
A home dashboard: clock, weather, what you are watching, your other devices, your home and your recordings.
How to use it
Select Home Hub in the sidebar. Settings › Home Hub › Hub layout chooses Scrolling (the default) or At a glance.
The scrolling page, from the top (cards with nothing to show are left out):
- The date, a large clock, the item beside the clock, and a weather chip with the week ahead.
- The Watching card: the program, or “Choose a channel to start watching”, with LIVE, minutes left, and Watch, Guide and Multi-View.
- Continue from: what your other devices last played (Continue watching across devices).
- For you, which shows On now until What you like is set.
- A row of cards: Recordings, a music card while the Music app is playing, and your calendar.
- Your home: Cameras, Climate, then each room's lights, fans and locks (Home control).
LimitsWeather is shown in Fahrenheit only.
At a glance layout
The whole Home Hub on one screen instead of a scrolling page: the time, the weather, WATCHING, Calendar, DVR · Recordings, For you / On now, Climate, House and Cameras.
How to use it
Settings › Home Hub › Hub layout › At a glance. Each device keeps its own choice.
LimitsThis layout does not use Beside the clock.
Beside the clock
One live item next to the Home Hub's clock.
How to use it
Choose it in Settings › Home Hub › Beside the clock. The row appears with the Scrolling layout.
Weather, and rain, snow and leaves
LimitsFahrenheit only.
Preview sound, and the channel behind Home
Music on the hub
A card showing what this device's Music app is playing (NOW PLAYING or PAUSED), with Play/Pause and Skip.
How to use it
Settings › Home Hub › Music on the hub reads Not allowed until you press it. Pressing it asks for access to Apple Music.
LimitsMusic sent to a HomePod straight from a phone is not shown.
Calendar
A Home Hub card with your next four appointments in the coming seven days.
How to use it
- Open Settings › Home Hub › Calendar. The Your calendar sheet opens.
- Paste a published (subscription) calendar link into Address.
- Press Use it. The sheet also has Remove and Cancel.
How it works
The calendar is read again every 30 minutes. The address syncs to your other Apple TVs.
LimitsOnly a published calendar link works. You cannot sign in to a calendar account.
Heart rate and Stocks
Two Beside the clock items for Apple TV whose data comes from your iPhone.
How to use it
- On your iPhone, open Settings › Home Hub and find Beside the clock on your Apple TVs.
- For heart rate, switch on Share heart rate (Off by default). Health asks once to read your heart rate and resting heart rate. The footer then shows “Your Apple TVs show N BPM, measured …”
- For stocks, open Stocks, enter a stock-data key (the field asks for a free Finnhub key) and up to six symbols separated by commas, then press Save and check.
- On each Apple TV, choose Settings › Home Hub › Beside the clock › Heart rate or Stocks.
How it works
Readings travel through iCloud. Health wakes the iPhone app in the background when new readings arrive. Excalibur only reads from Health and never writes to it. Turning sharing off removes what was shared.
LimitsHeart rate needs an Apple Watch.
Live TV on Apple TV
A wall of your channels as they last looked, with rows of things to watch below. The hint reads “Your channels as they last looked · Select to watch, hold for more”.
How to use it
Select Live TV in the sidebar. At the top is Live now:
- The lead tile shows what is playing, or the best thing on the air. It plays silently when Play the channel behind Home is On. Hold Select on it for Watch, Add to Multi-View, Ask Merlin and Open Guide.
- Four tiles beside it: your last channel (here, or from another device, with a device badge), then your channels. Hold Select on one for Add to Multi-View and Add to Favorites / Remove from Favorites.
The rows below, from the top:
- Your teams, live: up to 4 games. Select goes to Sports.
- Jump back in: films and episodes to resume, plus your other devices' channels. Hold for Start From Beginning or Remove.
- Recordings, with a Library button.
- PICKED FOR YOU, with Your interests and Refresh picks (or Enable Merlin picks).
- Your channels: your local stations and main networks, with All channels to open the guide (Channels on Home).
- On now.
How it works
The small tiles show saved still frames; no streams are opened to fill them. A channel listing several games shows the games and their scores.
Channels on Home
Merlin chooses your local stations and the main networks for Live TV's Your channels row.
How to use it
Open Settings › Guide › Channels on Home. The row shows its state: Not set up, Choose, Working, Curated or Retry.
LimitsNeeds Merlin. Without it, the row keeps its usual order.
Home on iPhone, iPad and Duo
A Home Hub, followed by your channels. Open the Home tab.
Live TV on iPhone, iPad and Duo
The Live wall by touch. Open the Live TV tab, headed Live now (“Your channels as they last looked · Tap to watch, hold for more”).
- The wall: one lead tile and two columns of saved pictures, each with an age or LIVE pill. Hold the lead for Watch, Add to Multi-View or Open Guide. Hold a tile for Add to Multi-View or Favorites.
- Rows below: Your teams, live; Jump back in (hold for Start From Beginning or Remove); PICKED FOR YOU (Refresh picks / Enable Merlin picks); Your channels with All channels; and ON NOW ACROSS YOUR LINEUP.
- On an open Duo: Live TV puts your live channels beside the one you pick, playing, with Watch on and its Sound. Stood up like a laptop, the lower screen becomes a deck (Duo layouts).
LimitsNo Recordings row.
Wide Home on iPad and the open Duo
A two-column Home Hub when the screen is wide enough (a window 800 points wide or more).
How it works
The clock and weather sit at the left and the week at the right. The Watching card puts its words on the left and its picture on the right. Below, the cards (radar, Continue from, Your teams today, cameras, climate, each room, Picked for you, On now) go into whichever column is shorter, so the columns stay balanced.
On an open Duo the two columns split exactly at the fold, with a 40-point gap. Folding the Duo returns to one column.
LimitsYour teams today, Picked for you and On now appear on the hub only in this wide layout.
Sports
Today's scores and races, with every game matched to the channels you have. Follow your teams, hear about their big moments, play the best feed in one press, and keep the score on your iPhone's Lock Screen.
The Sports screen
Scores for the day, with each game matched to your channels.
How to use it
Open Sports in the Apple TV sidebar, or the Sports tab on iPhone. With no teams chosen, Scores fills the screen. Once you follow teams, a Your teams page sits above Scores. A line at the top notes that Excalibur is not affiliated with any league or team.
The leagues are the NFL, college football, MLB, the NBA, the WNBA and the NHL, and in soccer MLS, the Premier League, the Champions League, La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga, Ligue 1, the Eredivisie, Primeira Liga, Liga MX and the Europa League. A soccer league is listed once one of its games is found in your channels, so a league your lineup doesn't carry stays off the page.
Scores on Apple TV
Game cards for each sport and league, with live games first.
How to use it
- Move to a card. Focus alone chooses the game and fills the box above.
- Press Select on a live or upcoming card to reach Watch best feed, Sources N and Pick for Multi-View.
- Press Watch best feed. The player opens with the whole league row as its channel list: Up brings the channel panel, Left and Right walk the other games, and the panel's actions include Watch, Sources N, Add to Multi-View and Favorites.
How it works
Today's scores update every 30 seconds from a free public scoreboard, with no sign-in. Where your lineup carries a league's whip-around channel, a card for it leads that league's row on game days.
Racing
Formula 1, IndyCar, NASCAR and dirt racing, each race with its laps, the leader while it runs and the winner once it ends.
How to use it
- Apple TV: choose Racing from the sport menu at the top right. Watch best feed, Sources N and Pick for Multi-View work as they do for games.
- iPhone, iPad and Duo: tap the Racing chip, then a race for Watch best feed and its FEEDS list.
How it works
Formula 1, IndyCar and NASCAR come from a free public racing scoreboard, like the day's scores. Dirt racing comes from your own lineup: event channels and listings that name a race.
Horse racing
The day's races and big race days, and the 24/7 horse racing channels in your lineup.
How to use it
- Apple TV: choose Horse racing from the sport menu at the top right.
- iPhone, iPad and Duo: tap the Horse racing chip.
- Choose a race to watch it on its best feed. A horse racing channel's card plays that channel at once.
How it works
Races are found in your own lineup, from listings and event channels that name them, so what you see depends on what your accounts carry. Each 24/7 horse racing channel gets one card, however many accounts and qualities carry it.
Watch best feed, and Sources
One press plays the best channel showing the game. Sources lists every feed that carries it.
How to use it
Press Watch best feed. Or press Sources N: on Apple TV the game stays at the left with its score and clock, and the Sources panel at the right lists its feeds. When the game is on more than one broadcast, the panel lists the broadcasts: a team you follow first, marked Your team, then each team's own broadcast, the network's, alternate broadcasts, other languages, studio shows, the mobile view, radio calls, and Not labeled for feeds named for the game but not for whose broadcast they are. Each shows its best copy's quality and how many copies it has. Select plays a broadcast's best working copy (a radio call plays with the best picture), Right lists its copies, best first, and Left or Menu goes back.
Each copy shows the feed's name; why it was found (“In its listings”, “Named for this game”, “Your <network> station”, “Carries <network>”, or “Named for the <team>” for a radio feed); its quality, such as 1080p · 60 fps · 5.1; and badges such as Best feed, IN YOUR GUIDE, or LISTEN WITH THE PICTURE on radio rows. A copy that just failed or is off the air says “Not answering”. A game on one broadcast, a race and RedZone list their copies straight away. Select plays a feed and Menu closes the list. Best feed order… at the foot of the panel opens the same order as Settings › Video & Audio.
With more than one account switched on, each feed names its account, so the same channel on two accounts is easy to tell apart.
How it works
Feeds that failed during this visit, or are off the air or busy, are skipped. The rest are ordered like this:
- TV pictures before radio.
- Feeds whose listing shows the game. With Smoothest first, the default, anything measured below 50 frames a second goes last; then 4K comes first, then the game's own network, then HD before SD. With Sharpest first or Custom, the rows of your Best feed order decide, then the game's own network.
- Your own town's station.
- The general best-copy ranking.
Your team's own broadcast
For a team in Your teams, a game's first button plays that team's own broadcast, with its own announcers, from the copy that plays best.
How to use it
- In Scores, choose the game. The first button reads Watch the <team> broadcast, with Watch best feed beside it. Select on the game's card goes there, and the card and the status line name the broadcast.
- On Your teams, Watch plays the team's broadcast too, and the big card's tile reads BROADCAST.
How it works
Excalibur reads whose broadcast a feed is from the label your provider puts in its name, such as Home Feed, Road Feed, or a team's name before In-Arena or Feed. A network's feed, a mobile view, a studio show and a name with no label are nobody's team broadcast.
LimitsOnly where your provider labels a team's own feed. Without one, Watch best feed comes first.
How Excalibur finds a game in your channels
The matching behind “Finding it in your channels…”
How it works
Where it looks: only your switched-on accounts. Adult channels are left out.
What counts as a match: a guide listing near the start time that names both teams; a radio feed named for a team; a channel whose own name names the game; or the game's network (any copy, or your local station of a broadcast network).
Team names: pro teams match by city or nickname, and European soccer clubs by their short names too, such as Bayern or PSG. College teams match by school only, because many colleges share nicknames. A match is rejected if the listing names a different sport.
Left out: channels marked for another country, paid streaming-service slots, free streaming channels unless they name the game, and any channel whose listing shows something else at game time.
LimitsA game that no channel lists or names shows “not found in your channels”.
Picking several games for Multi-View
Choose several games in Scores and open them side by side.
How to use it
- Hold Select on a card for half a second, or press Pick for Multi-View. A numbered badge shows the order of your picks.
- Select more cards to add or remove them (“Select a game to add or remove it”).
- Press Watch N in Multi-View. Clear, or Menu, clears the picks.
On iPhone, iPad and Duo, touch and hold a game for about half a second. While games are picked, a tap picks another. Then press Watch N in Multi-View, or the X to clear the picks.
How it works
One or two games open in 2 up, three or four in 2 × 2, and five to eight in 4 × 2. The first pick gets window 1 and the sound. Each game gets a feed that suits the grid, and only one window plays 4K at a time (Multi-View limits). A game with no usable feed is left out, and the grid says “No channel carries …”
On Apple TV, a league's whip-around channel can go in Multi-View with the games: hold its card, press Pick for Multi-View above it, or select it while you are picking. On iPhone, iPad and Duo, if two picks are on the same channel, Multi-View says which game it left out.
LimitsUp to 8 games (“Multi-View shows 8 at most”). Finished games cannot be picked (“<away> at <home> is over”). An iPhone or a folded Duo shows two windows at a time (Multi-View on iPhone).
Find a game
Search your feeds for upcoming football games over the next seven days.
How to use it
- Open Find a game from Scores, or from the guide's search.
- Type a team or a matchup.
- Optional: switch on 4K candidates only.
- On a feed, choose Open channel now, or Favorite / Unfavorite.
LimitsCollege and pro football only. On iPhone, the Scores magnifier opens the general channel search instead.
Your teams
A page for the teams you follow, with each one's next game, radio call and recording.
How to use it
- Choose teams with Your teams in Scores, the gear (Choose your teams), or Add a team. On Apple TV the editor shows leagues on the left and teams on the right; Select toggles a team (a check means followed) and Done closes. On iPhone a Your teams sheet opens. Every team in each league is listed, playing this week or not, and college football lists every Division I school. A soccer club you follow in its league brings its Champions League and Europa League games too. Search all teams finds a team, a school or a city.
- Team pills: up to 8, each in the team's colors with its nickname, ordered by soonest game. A radio icon means you saved a radio sync for its call. More teams show as N more.
- Select a pill: a live game plays (with the radio call, if it is ready); an upcoming game fills the big card; a team with no game this week opens the editor.
- On Apple TV: Right moves from team to team, and holding Select on a team opens its next game. The page says so: “Hold to select team”.
- The big card shows a status (“Your radio call is ready.”, “Finding the radio call…”, “Not found in your channels.” or “No radio call in your lineup for this game.”), tiles for BEST FEED, RADIO SYNC and NEXT, and buttons: Watch with the radio and Watch with TV sound, or Watch, or Look again. On Apple TV it also has Save every game.
- Coming up lists your teams' games over the next several days.
How it works
The first time, your teams are filled in from Merlin's What you follow, for teams that play this week. Scores refresh every 30 seconds. Your teams also appear in Live TV's Your teams, live, in Your teams today on the wide iPad and Duo Home, and under Teams in the Library. They follow you through iCloud between your Apple TVs, iPhone and iPad: choose them once, and a team you remove on one device goes from the others too.
Never Miss a Moment
When one of your teams scores, a game reaches its final minutes, or a game starts, Excalibur says so over whatever is on.
How to use it
- Apple TV, in the player: press Select to switch to the game. Any other press lets it go.
- Apple TV, anywhere else: a notice at the top right. Press Play/Pause to watch.
- iPhone, iPad and Duo: a banner over every screen, the player and Multi-View included. Watch switches to the game.
- To turn it off: Settings › Playback › Never Miss a Moment (On by default, set on each device).
How it works
Only your teams count, and never a game you can already see on any screen, so a score never shows up before the picture does. Streams run about a minute behind the scoreboard. Each notice stays up for 12 seconds.
LimitsNeeds teams chosen in Your teams. On iPhone, iPad and Duo, Settings › Playback › Moment notifications (Off by default) sends moments as notifications while Excalibur plays out of sight, in Picture in Picture or with the radio. Once Excalibur is closed, none come.
Sports on iPhone, iPad and Duo
Your teams, then Scores, on one page.
How to use it
- The Scores tools: a day picker (3 days back to 6 ahead), sport chips (Racing and Horse racing among them) and a magnifier.
- Tap a game to open a sheet, or a side panel on wide screens, with the line score, Watch best feed, a FEEDS list marked Best feed and Listen with the picture, Best feed order… under the feeds, Open in Multi-View (one game) and Done.
- Finished games show “Aired on …”
- Wide screens (an open Duo, a phone on its side, an iPad) use two columns.
- A game or race with nothing left to play says “Off the air” instead of offering a Watch button that does nothing. A copy that is only busy is never called off the air.
NoteTouch and hold a game to pick several for Multi-View (Picking several games).
Live Activity: the score on your Lock Screen
A live scoreboard on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island.
How to use it
Watch a game from Sports or Scores with Watch, Watch best feed, a feed row, or a radio-call button. The Live Activity starts by itself.
- It shows the league, team marks in team colors, and the score with the leader in bold.
- Below: the status (for example ● LIVE · 2ND 4:44 or FINAL), a line about the last play, and Updated h:mm.
- The Dynamic Island has compact, minimal and expanded layouts. On a Duo, each team sits over its score.
How it works
The score refreshes every 30 seconds while Excalibur is running, including while it plays in the background. After 90 seconds without an update the card offers Refresh the score. It ends 30 minutes after the final.
LimitsOne game at a time, with no sound. Open in Multi-View does not start one. To turn Live Activities off, use the iPhone's own Live Activities setting. iPads do not show Live Activities.
Multi-View
Several channels at once: up to 8 windows on Apple TV and in the iPad TV interface, 2 on iPhone, and more on an iPad or an open Duo.
Multi-View on Apple TV
Up to 8 channels on screen together.
How it works
A new grid fills with the channel you were watching plus its neighbors in the lineup, skipping extra 4K channels and channels known to be off the air. Saved Sets keep their own layout. A window that keeps freezing while the others play moves to a steadier copy of the same channel, and says so.
Sets, Add channel and Build with Merlin
The tools in the Multi-View header. The header shows when the grid opens; Up from a top-row window brings it back.
LimitsWith all 8 windows in use: “The grid is full. Hold Select on a window to change its channel.” A channel you choose for a window stays there until Follow the guide again.
Multi-View sound
Which window you hear.
How it works
Play/Pause moves the sound: to the full-screen window if there is one, otherwise to the focused window, otherwise to the next window.
Settings › Multi-View › Background audio is On by default: the selected window plays at full volume and the others at 18%. Off plays only the selected window.
NoteOn iPhone, iPad and Duo each window has its own volume (Multi-View on iPhone).
Ghost Screen
The window you hear fills the screen while a see-through second channel floats in a corner.
How to use it
- Apple TV: in Multi-View, choose Ghost, or hold Select on a window and choose Float over the sound. Select swaps the two, a swipe moves the floating one to another corner, and holding Select opens See-through, Size, Corner, Swap screens and Back to Multi-View.
- Duo, opened flat: in Multi-View, tap Ghost. Drag the floating picture to a corner, tap a channel in the row to float it, and use Transparency, Size, Position, Swap screens and Restore.
How it works
The floating picture can be 20 to 80% see-through, in three sizes, in any corner. Swapping keeps both pictures playing.
LimitsOn Apple TV, Ghost needs at least two windows. On the Duo, folding it or standing it half open closes Ghost Screen.
Multi-View limits: 4K and connections
The rules that keep the grid within your provider's limits.
How it works
4K: only one 4K window plays at a time. A second one shows “4K needs a screen to itself. Choose an HD channel for this tile”. Where your provider offers several sizes of a channel, each window takes the largest that suits it: 1080p in 2 up, 720p in the four-window layouts, SD in 4 × 2.
Connections: each login allows its stated number of streams, and streams open on your other devices count against it (they report through iCloud every minute). The whole grid is planned at once, so a window can move to another account's copy of the channel, or to another account's feed of the same game. When nothing fits: “Waiting for a connection. <account> allows N stream(s) at once and M are in use somewhere else.” A recording's connection is never taken.
Start-up: each window builds a 3-second reserve before its first frame, and windows on the same provider start 2 seconds apart.
On Apple TV, Settings › Multi-View › Concurrent streams shows how many windows are open.
Multi-View on iPhone, iPad and Duo
Multi-View by touch.
LimitsNo Build with Merlin and no Multi-View settings on these devices. Saved sets, Freeform Studio and Ghost Screen need the Duo opened flat (Duo layouts).
Radio with the picture
Watch a game's TV picture with a radio broadcast's call as the sound. Excalibur lines the two up, by hand or by itself.
Radio with the picture
The game's TV picture, with the home or away radio call as the sound.
How to use it
- Apple TV player: press Audio. Under RADIO WITH THE PICTURE, choose Home radio call or Away radio call. The TV sound goes off and Radio sync opens. While a call plays, a chip with its name and offset shows when the controls are up, and the Audio panel shows Radio sync ±X.X s to reopen the sync.
- From Sports: Sources rows marked LISTEN WITH THE PICTURE, or Your teams' Watch with the radio.
- iPhone, iPad and Duo: the player's Radio call button, the Audio sheet's RADIO CALLS, Scores' Listen with the picture, or Your teams' Watch with the radio. A radio chip at the top of the player opens the sync.
- Back to TV sound: choose TV sound.
How it works
Radio calls are found when Sports matches the game: a feed whose name says radio and names a team. For college football, each school's own station's call is offered too, for both teams and for over 80 schools, from the station's own internet stream. Calls are remembered across restarts and offered from an hour before the start to four hours after. The radio plays as a second, sound-only stream.
Limits
- A second stream is needed. On a one-stream account: “Your provider plays one stream at a time, and the picture is using it. The radio call needs a second stream, so it cannot play with this picture.” When no stream is free: “No connection is free for the radio right now. Try again in a minute or two.”
- Changing channel ends the call. If it fails: “The radio did not start. The TV sound is back.”
- On iPhone the button is dimmed when there is no call: “This channel has no radio call for its game”.
Lining up the call by hand
Radio and TV rarely arrive at the same moment. Radio sync lines them up.
How to use it
- Apple TV: the RADIO SYNC panel sits low over the picture. Left holds the radio back and Right holds the picture back, half a second per press, up to 60 seconds either way. The hint reads “Left and Right line up the call with the play · Select when done”. Select or Menu closes the panel, and it closes itself after 10 seconds untouched.
- iPhone, iPad and Duo: the RADIO SYNC bar. − and + move half a second; dragging the track moves up to 30 seconds either way. Done closes it.
How it works
One side pauses for the difference while its buffer keeps filling, so nothing is skipped or reopened. The panel explains the state: “Radio held back X seconds behind the picture”, “Picture held back X seconds behind the radio”, or “Radio and picture as they arrive”.
Automatic radio sync
Excalibur lines up the call by itself, usually within two to four minutes of play, to a tenth of a second.
How to use it
Leave Settings › Video & Audio › Automatic radio sync On (the default) and start a radio call.
How it works
Every 15 seconds, the app compares sounds both broadcasts carry, such as horns, whistles and buzzers, over a 60-second window. It trusts a result only when three matches in a row agree within a tenth of a second, and moves the sync only for a change of 0.4 seconds or more.
When a call starts, a notice at the top reads “Lining up the radio” for six seconds. In Radio sync, the panel shows “Automatic sync is listening for sounds heard on both”, then “Synced automatically to +X.X s by sounds heard on both”. When it moves the call, a notice says how far: “Picture held X.X s so the call catches up” or “Radio held X.X s so it matches the picture”. If the two already match, a short notice says “The radio and the picture already match”.
Your presses win. Once you press Left or Right, automatic sync stops for that call: “Automatic sync is off for this call: you set it”. It also waits while Excalibur is off the screen, so the call is not moved while you are away. Automatic radio sync is patent pending.
LimitsIf it cannot hear the picture, it says so on screen: “Automatic sync cannot hear this picture. Left and Right still line it up.” When one of the picture's soundtracks is silent, it listens to the next. If none has any sound for 30 seconds, a notice reads “Can't line up the radio” with “This feed has no sound to match · set the sync by hand, or choose another feed”, and it keeps listening. Lining up by hand works at any time.
Stadium surround
While a game's radio call plays, the TV broadcast's crowd plays quietly in your rear speakers, lined up with the picture: the call up front, the stadium around you.
How to use it
- Settings › Video & Audio › Stadium surround, On by default.
- Rear speakers level, shown while it is On, sets how loud the crowd plays: Standard by default, up to 12 dB quieter or louder in 2 dB steps.
- Test rear speakers plays a rushing sound in the left rear speaker, then the right, so you can check your sound system plays them.
- In the player, open Audio while a radio call plays. Stadium surround is under Radio sync and changes at once, there and in Settings.
How it works
The crowd comes from the TV broadcast's own sound, with the announcers kept out. On a 5.1 broadcast, the crowd behind you is fuller.
LimitsNeeds a 5.1 sound system and Automatic radio sync. Apple TV only.
Sync memory and reconnects
What Excalibur remembers about a sync.
How it works
The sync you set is kept for that game only: the same call with the same picture, for 4 hours. Another broadcast or another game starts from zero. If the radio drops, it rides out up to 45 seconds of silence before reconnecting, and a reconnect does not knock the sync off.
Recording
Record single programs, follow whole shows, save every game of a team, and keep recordings in your iCloud so any of your Apple TVs can play them.
Where recording works
LimitsEach device records one program at a time. Recording a channel you are not watching uses an extra connection to your provider.
Record a program
Save one program.
How to use it
- In the Prism guide, hold Select on a listing to open the action strip.
- Press the record button. Its label follows the state: Record, Record from the start, Schedule recording, Cancel recording, Skip this one (an airing of a followed show), Stop & Save / Saving…
Other ways in: Record in the Details panel; Record in the player, which starts at once and opens the Recordings panel; and Record on AI Search's COMING UP cards.
How it works
Listings that will record get a red outline and dot. Programs record until 2 minutes past their listed end. A note under the action strip says where the recording will happen: “Records only if Excalibur is open on an Apple TV at <time>.” or, with a Mac recorder, “Records <time> on <Mac> and saves to your iCloud.”
Record from the start, and Save what has played
LimitsBoth need the Live buffer turned on.
Follow a show
New episodes of a show record by themselves.
How to use it
- Press Follow on the action strip. It becomes Following.
- Optional: on the show's Library page, Keeps the last N / Keeps all cycles through 5, 10, all and 3, and New episodes / Every airing chooses which airings record.
How it works
By default a followed show records new episodes only and keeps the last 5. Plans look 36 hours ahead. Merlin may suggest a show you keep watching.
LimitsNeeds listings for the show. What you follow in Merlin's settings is for recommendations and does not record.
Save every game
Record every game of a team you follow.
How to use it
Press Save every game on the Your teams card, or in Library › Teams. It becomes Saving every game.
How it works
A game records until the score says Final, plus 2 minutes, for at most 4 hours.
Limits“Each game saves only if Excalibur is open on an Apple TV when it starts”, unless a Mac recorder is running.
Library
Your recordings, followed shows, teams, and tonight's plan.
How to use it
Open it from the guide's Library pill, Settings › Playback › Library, Live TV's Recordings › Library, the Hub's Recordings card, or search.
How it works
A recording kept only in iCloud plays while it downloads (“Downloading from iCloud… N%”). Its timeline shows the whole length from the start, with the part that is ready shaded and “<time> ready, the rest coming from iCloud” under the title. Recordings made on a Mac read FROM <MAC> or “Recorded on <device>”.
CarefulDelete acts at once and also removes the recording from iCloud, so it is gone from every Apple TV.
The Recordings panel and storage limit
A panel for the recording in progress and the space on this device.
How to use it
It opens from the player's Record, or the guide's More › Recordings. It has Stop & Save, Done, and Storage limit: 1, 2 (the default), 4 or 8 GB.
How it works
On Apple TV, recordings waiting on the device sit in its cache (“Apple TV may clear saved videos when it needs space.”). With iCloud storage off, reaching the limit stops recording: “Recording storage is full…”
Store recordings in iCloud
Recordings live in your private iCloud instead of on the device, and play on any of your Apple TVs.
How to use it
Settings › Playback › Store recordings in iCloud, On by default. The same switch is in Library › All recordings.
How it works
Each recording uploads in parts. The copy on the device is deleted once iCloud has it, except recordings played in the last 24 hours. Recordings count against your iCloud storage plan. When iCloud is full, the Library shows “Your iCloud is full”, and waiting uploads try again after you delete something.
LimitsOn Apple TV, uploads run only while Excalibur is open.
Stay on to record
Keeps Excalibur open so tonight's recordings happen.
How to use it
Settings › Playback › Stay on to record, On by default.
How it works
After 8 minutes without a press, while a recording runs or one is due within the hour, a dim clock screen appears with tonight's timeline and “Press any button to come back.” The screen saver is held off while it shows.
LimitsIt does not appear while a Mac recorder is running.
Excalibur Recorder for Mac
A separate menu-bar app for a Mac running macOS 26. It records for your Apple TVs and saves to your iCloud, so your shows record even when no Apple TV has Excalibur open. It is installed separately; it is not part of the App Store app.
How to use it
- Install Excalibur Recorder on a Mac signed in to the same Apple Account as your Apple TVs.
- Open Excalibur on an Apple TV now and then. Each time, it shares the recording plan.
- Check the menu-bar window. It shows Recording <title> with Stop and save, Next: … and Coming up (up to 6), an iCloud status line, “Plan from <Apple TV>, N min ago” (or “Waiting for an Apple TV to share the plan. Open Excalibur on one.”), Open at login and Quit Excalibur Recorder.
How it works
The plan travels through iCloud, so the Mac needs no pairing and does not have to be on the same network.
What it records: shows you follow, games you save, and single programs. A recording of the channel an Apple TV is playing, and Record from the start, stay on that Apple TV, because one login cannot play the same channel on two devices.
Timing: recordings start a minute early and run 2 minutes late. Games run to the final plus 2 minutes, at most 4 hours. If the stream drops, the recorder reconnects and carries on in the same recording, marking any gap.
Files: each recording uploads to your iCloud and the Mac's copy is then deleted. Your Apple TVs play them from iCloud.
Protected connection: while the Mac records a copy, no other device takes that login's copy of the channel. The player says “This channel is being recorded on that account, and no other account's copy is free.”
Limits
- “Records only while this Mac is awake and on the network.” Closing a laptop's lid stops it. The Mac stays awake while recording, or when a recording is due within 10 minutes.
- One recording at a time. Encrypted streams cannot be recorded.
- Space on the Mac is capped at 60 GB, or its free space minus 4 GB. When iCloud is full: “Recordings wait on this Mac until there's room.”
Break marks and Skip break
Commercial breaks in a recording are found after it finishes.
How to use it
While playing a recording, press Skip break · m:ss.
How it works
Breaks are marked automatically once a recording finishes (“N breaks marked”).
Heat strip: where the action is
A recording's timeline drawn as a heat strip of 240 segments: red where the most is happening, then orange and gold, down to cream where it is quiet.
How to use it
Play a recording. The part already played is bright, and breaks are marked on top. While scrubbing, a magnifier above the thumb shows the picture plus six minutes of heat around it.
How it works
Apple's on-device video analysis scores the recording after it finishes, or about 10 seconds after an unscored recording starts playing. The scores are saved with the recording and travel with it in iCloud.
LimitsNeeds tvOS 27 or iPadOS 27. Recordings only, not live TV or films. Where the analysis is unavailable, no strip is drawn. There is no switch.
Merlin
Merlin is Excalibur's assistant. It finds things to watch, answers questions in plain words, describes what is on screen, and picks channels for you.
How Merlin answers on each device
Setting up Merlin on Apple TV
How to use it
- Open Settings › Merlin › OpenAI API key. The sheet Add your OpenAI key explains how to create one at platform.openai.com. Once saved, only the key's last four characters are shown.
- Optional: Model lists the models your key can use (Show N dated builds reveals more). Until you choose, Merlin uses the least expensive model that answers well.
- Leave Personalized picks On (the default) for Picked for you.
Last request shows the latest status; pressing it asks again. What is sent to OpenAI explains what leaves the Apple TV (see What leaves the device).
AI Search
One search page that changes shape with what you type or say.
How to use it
Open AI Search in the Apple TV sidebar, under More on iPhone, or with the search buttons on Home and Live TV. The field reads Type a name, or ask Merlin. Hold the remote's microphone button to speak, or use dictation on iPhone.
LimitsOn Apple TV, Merlin's answers need a key in Settings › Merlin. On iPhone without Apple Intelligence: “Merlin needs Apple Intelligence. Turn it on in Settings › Apple Intelligence & Siri.” No Record and no Library results on iPhone.
Ask Merlin
Describe what you want, and Merlin turns it into a filter over your whole lineup.
How to use it
- Open it with Ask Merlin in the Live TV lead tile's hold menu, Ask Merlin in your own words in AI Search, or Build with Merlin in Multi-View.
- The prompt reads “What do you feel like?”, with the example “Show me sports channels in the USA”. Your last 10 phrases are listed (with Clear), along with suggested phrases.
- From Multi-View: “Name the things you want side by side and Merlin fills the tiles.”
How it works
Merlin turns your words into a filter, and the filter runs on the device over your lineup. A phrase you have asked before reuses its earlier answer.
Describe what you want: the film finder
Describe a film or series, and Merlin names titles. Excalibur then checks which of them your accounts carry.
How to use it
- Apple TV: Describe what you want in Movies or Series.
- iPhone: the sparkles button in Films or Series, or Settings › Merlin › Ask Merlin.
How it works
Results are split into N IN YOUR CATALOG and MERLIN ALSO NAMED, NOT IN YOUR ACCOUNTS. A plain title search runs alongside.
LimitsOn iPhone the results are a list to read. Play a title from Films or Series.
What's on? Merlin reads the screen
Merlin describes what is on screen right now: scoreboards, logos and captions.
How to use it
Press What's on? in the player's bar. The panel shows What's on, then “Reading the screen…”, then the answer. Menu closes it.
How it works
It sends one still frame, with the channel, program and region.
LimitsIt never identifies people. It needs Merlin.
Merlin describes channels with no listings
In the Live TV panel, a channel with no listing gets a one-line description read from its picture.
How it works
While it works the panel shows “Reading the picture…”, then the line, headed MERLIN, FROM THE PICTURE or MERLIN, FROM THE LAST PICTURE.
LimitsOn an Apple TV without a key: “Add your OpenAI key in Settings, under Merlin, and Merlin reads the picture here.” With no picture to read: “You can still watch this channel”.
Picked for you
A row of programs Merlin picks for you.
How to use it
Look for PICKED FOR YOU on Live TV, and Picked for you on the wide iPad and Duo Home. Refresh picks asks again, and Enable Merlin picks turns them on. On Apple TV, the switch is Settings › Merlin › Personalized picks.
How it works
Picks come from your taste profile: genres, time of day, the sections you watch, and what is on now.
LimitsWithout Merlin the row falls back to your viewing history.
What you follow, What you like, and Forget what you watch
Follow suggestions
Merlin notices a show you keep watching and offers to follow it.
How it works
A line appears under the guide's action strip: “Merlin: you've watched <show> on N days lately. Follow it?”
What leaves the device
Home control
Excalibur shows and controls the accessories in your Home app: lights, fans, thermostats, locks, plugs, HomePods, Apple TVs and cameras. It can also run a scene when you start or stop watching.
Connecting HomeKit
How to use it
- Apple TV: open Settings › HomeKit, or a home card on the Hub. The Home permission prompt appears the first time.
- iPhone, iPad and Duo: press Connect HomeKit on the Home Hub.
How it works
If you turned permission down, the app explains how to allow it.
NoteThe HomeKit settings pane is on Apple TV and in the iPad TV interface.
Choose what the Home Hub shows
Hide rooms, cameras, lights and other devices from Excalibur on one device. The Home app and your other devices don't change.
How to use it
- Open Settings › Home Hub › Show in Excalibur. Your rooms are listed with their cameras, lights, fans, plugs, speakers and locks, and your thermostats, each with a switch.
- Switch off what this device should not show. A room switched off takes everything in it along, its cameras too. On iPhone, iPad and Duo, Show this room switches a whole room.
- On Apple TV you can also hold a light, a camera or a thermostat on the Home Hub, then choose Hide <name> from the Home Hub, Hide all of <room> or Choose what the Home Hub shows…
How it works
Hidden things leave the Home Hub, the camera wall and Multi-View on that device only, and they are not synced. Ask for the PIN to show what is hidden uses the PIN for adult channels, set in Settings › Adult channels. It never unlocks adult channels.
Lights
On the Hub's House section, room by room, with the lights you use most first.
- Apple TV: click a light to open its panel. Left and Right change brightness by 10%. Turn on / Turn off, and Done. A light without a dimmer says “On. This light has no dimmer.”
- iPhone, iPad and Duo: tap to switch a light on or off; touch and hold for a Brightness slider.
LimitsNo color or color-temperature control.
Fans
- Apple TV: Turn on / Turn off, speed with Left and Right, and Auto / Manual where the fan supports it.
- iPhone, iPad and Duo: tap to switch on or off; touch and hold for a Speed slider.
LimitsNo direction control.
Thermostats
The target temperature, with Lower and Raise. Find it on the Hub's Climate card, as Climate beside the clock (up to three thermostats), and on the iPhone Hub.
LimitsFahrenheit only. The heating or cooling mode is shown; change it in the Home app.
Plugs, HomePods and Apple TVs
- Plugs: a click or tap switches the power.
- HomePods and Apple TVs: play or pause, where HomeKit allows it.
- A device that does not answer reads Not responding.
Locks
Your HomeKit door locks, in their rooms on the Hub.
- Each lock reads Locked, Unlocked or Jammed.
- A click or tap on an unlocked or jammed door locks it at once.
- A locked door asks first: “Unlock <name>?”, with Unlock and Cancel.
Cameras and the camera wall
Your HomeKit cameras, live or as stills.
How to use it
- Apple TV: the Cameras sidebar item opens a wall. Click a camera for full screen; Menu goes back.
- Settings: Settings › HomeKit › Cameras (On by default; Off hides cameras everywhere), and Live pictures on the camera wall: Live (the default) or Stills, refreshed every 10 seconds.
- Elsewhere: a camera can fill a Multi-View window (cameras are listed first in the picker) or sit beside the clock.
- iPhone, iPad and Duo: Cameras on the Hub, then All N › for a wall two across.
How it works
The wall uses 2 columns for up to 4 cameras and 3 above that, and scrolls. Up to 3 live streams start at a time. If HomeKit drops the streams twice in a row, the wall switches to stills, keeps the focused camera live, and says so on screen.
LimitsCameras have no player controls.
Scenes when you watch
Excalibur runs one of your HomeKit scenes when watching starts, stops, pauses or resumes. For example, lights down when a film starts and back up when it ends.
How to use it
In Settings › HomeKit, set When something starts, When it stops, When paused and When resumed to None or one of your scenes.
How it works
Make the scenes in Apple's Home app; Excalibur runs them. A Home automation can also run Excalibur's Shortcuts.
LimitsExcalibur cannot appear as a tile in the Home app. A scene that would unlock a door is not run from Excalibur: “Scenes that unlock doors must be run in the Home app.”
Siri, widgets and Top Shelf
Ways to reach Excalibur from outside the app.
Siri and Shortcuts
Six actions for Siri, the Shortcuts app and Home automations.
How it works
Channel names are matched against your favorites, then your recent channels, then the whole lineup, ignoring accents and punctuation. The Shortcuts app suggests your top 12 channels. Adult channels are left out. Settings › HomeKit › Automations and Shortcuts lists these actions.
LimitsAll six actions are for Apple TV and the iPad TV interface. On iPhone, iPad and Duo, use What's On.
Top Shelf
When Excalibur sits in the top row of the Apple TV Home Screen, a carousel shows up to 4 Merlin's pick items (a title and a reason), then up to 8 of your recent channels with what is on now: 12 items at most.
How to use it
Select an item to open Excalibur straight to that channel. Resting on an item can play a short live clip.
How it works
Merlin's picks need a Merlin key and Personalized picks. Clear watch history clears the channel items.
LimitsAdult channels never appear. The live clip needs a suitable stream format and an account with more than one connection, and has no setting.
Last Channel widget
A Home Screen and Lock Screen widget for your last channel: “Plays the channel you were last watching, with what is on now.”
How to use it
Add it from the widget gallery: small, medium, large, or a rectangular Lock Screen widget. A tap opens Excalibur on Home's player, playing that channel. The adult PIN still applies.
- Every size shows LAST WATCHED or FROM <DEVICE> (whichever device watched more recently), a recent still with a LIVE badge, the show, and the channel number and name.
- Medium adds a countdown bar and Watch.
- Large adds a rainbow ring that empties as the show runs, and tiles for CHANNEL, ENDS and NEXT.
- Before you have watched anything, it reads Watch a channel.
How it works
It updates every minute for an hour, then every 5 minutes.
LimitsWidgets cannot play video themselves. It never shows adult channels or films. An iPad in the TV interface does not update it.
Your devices
What each device can do, the iPad's TV interface, and how the foldable iPhone uses its fold.
Which device does what
The iPad TV interface
The Apple TV's own screens on an iPad, used by touch. It is off by default; the iPad normally uses the iPhone-style interface.
How to use it
- In the iPad's Excalibur Settings, find iPad interface (it sits under About & Legal) and choose TV.
- Close Excalibur and open it again. The change takes effect at the next launch.
- To go back, open Settings › General › iPad interface, choose iPhone, and reopen the app.
LimitsPrism is the only guide. No system Picture in Picture, no background play and no Live Activity. The Last Channel widget does not update. Recordings stay on the iPad.
Duo layouts
On the foldable iPhone, Excalibur reads the fold and lays screens out around it. Reading the hinge needs iOS 27.1.
Requirements
- Merlin on iPhone and iPad: iOS or iPadOS 27 with Apple Intelligence turned on.
- Heat strip: tvOS 27 or iPadOS 27.
- Duo fold layouts: iOS 27.1.
- Excalibur Recorder: macOS 26.
- Weather is shown in Fahrenheit. Radar and the National Weather Service fallback cover the US only.
Settings reference
Every setting, where it lives, what it does and its default.
In the tables below, All means Apple TV, the iPad TV interface, iPhone, iPad and Duo.
General
Shows your plan; opens the purchase screen
Restores a purchase on this Apple Account
Which interface the iPad opens with, from the next launch. In the standard iPad interface it sits under About & Legal
Build and device
This build's notes (under About & Legal on iPhone and iPad)
Apple TV shows a QR code; iPhone and iPad open the page
Contact details, and credits for weather, Merlin, program listings, MPEG-2 decoding and trademarks
Which tabs are on the bar, and in what order; its own section, after Home Hub
Home Hub
The screen Excalibur opens on
What the Home Hub, the camera wall and Multi-View show on this device
Published calendar for the Hub's calendar card
Shows what the Music app is playing
Sound on the Watching card and guide previews
Genres for the Hub's For you and for Merlin
The Hub's page style, per device
The item beside the clock (Scrolling layout)
Weather or seasonal effect behind the Hub
Weather and the week; asks for your location
Sends your Apple Watch heart rate to your Apple TVs
Stock quotes for your Apple TVs
Playback
How much stream is held ahead of the picture
Optional reconnect helper for some .ts channels
Playback charts and channel checks
Back from a live channel keeps it playing in a corner window
Silent live picture on Live TV's lead tile
Shares your last channel and shows other devices' channels
Pause and rewind live TV
How far back the current channel can go
Opens the Library
Recordings live in your iCloud
Shows the On watch tonight screen so recordings happen
Your teams' scores, final minutes and starts, said over whatever is on
Moments as notifications while Excalibur plays out of sight
Video & Audio
Caps the resolution
Which copy plays first when a channel or a game is on more than one feed
The TV stays in HDR after an HDR channel
Captions while Audio is Muted
Mutes Excalibur while the app stays open; each launch starts On
The soundtrack a channel starts with
A smooth 5.1 copy beats a sharper stereo one
Lines up radio calls by itself
The TV crowd in the rear speakers under a radio call
How loud the crowd plays; shown while Stadium surround is On
A rushing sound in the left rear speaker, then the right
Lowers the sound during breaks
How sure detection must be
Offers your last channel during breaks
Shown when Commercial Escape is On
Not in SettingsCaptions on or off is the player's own button. 5.1 only is inside the Watch on sheet. Match Content follows the Apple TV's own setting.
Guide
Merlin picks local stations for Live TV
Country filter for the lineup
Local stations first
Numbers on rows and cards
One row per station, or every copy
Removes provider tags from names
Plays the highlighted channel
Multi-View
The layout new grids open in while the app stays open; each launch starts at 2 × 2
Other windows play at 18%
How many windows are open
Providers
Channel count
Share of channels with listings; press to fetch again
Opens the account's page
Adopts accounts waiting in iCloud
Captions, audio, commercial skipping, radio sync, channel numbers, your guide, the Best feed order and each provider's stream format and numbering match on every device; playback engine, picture, buffer and recording settings stay with each device
Extra guide, with Remove <guide>
How often playlists refresh
The name the app gives your provider
Re-reads every playlist now
Adds extra guides
Adds an account
Removes every account here and in iCloud
An account's page
Switches the account on this device
Expiry date and connections in use (Xtream Codes)
Channels open on this account first (two or more accounts)
A different guide for this account
Which player decodes this account
Which stream format to ask for
Lets .ts channels use the Live buffer
A short name that travels to your devices
Removes the account everywhere
Merlin
Things you follow, for recommendations
The key Merlin uses on Apple TV
Until chosen, the least expensive model that answers well
Turns on Picked for you and Top Shelf picks
The latest answer's status; press to ask again
About what leaves the Apple TV (see What leaves the device)
Genres for Merlin and the Hub
Clears your viewing profile
Whether Merlin can answer on this device
Opens the film finder
HomeKit
Live video, or stills every 10 seconds
Off hides cameras everywhere
Lock Screen and Control Center details
Lists the Siri and Shortcuts actions
How many scenes your home has
Runs a scene when watching changes
Adult channels
The PIN that unlocks adult channels on this device
Unlocks until the app closes; shown once a PIN exists
Removes the PIN; adult channels hide again
Clears Continue watching and Top Shelf's channels
Adult channels are kept out of history
Features with no setting
The heat strip, Picture in Picture and background play on iPhone and iPad, Live Activities (use the iPhone's own setting), the Top Shelf clip, radio with the picture (apart from Automatic radio sync and Stadium surround), Ghost Screen, the Duo layouts, and the screen-saver hold.
Legal note
Excalibur is a player. It plays the playlists, accounts and program guides that you add and are authorized to use. It does not provide, sell or host channels, streams or other content, and it is not affiliated with any provider, network, league or team. Channel names, logos and listings shown in the app come from your own accounts and guides.
Merlin on Apple TV uses your own OpenAI account and key. On iPhone and iPad, Merlin uses Apple Intelligence on the device.
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