ThreeStarsTV

Project Overview

ThreeStarsTV is a live TV player for Windows, written with .NET 8 WinForms and a clean interface. Its core goal is simple: open it and watch TV, with no configuration needed. The app automatically plays the CCTV-1 HD live stream on startup. It is packaged by a .NET Framework 4.8 launcher into a single portable exe that embeds the .NET 8 runtime installer and the main program, so you can copy it to any machine and just double-click.

Key Features

• Instant playback: automatically plays CCTV-1 on launch via m3u8/HLS with an embedded hls.js player, so no online player download is needed.
• Automatic fallback: after three consecutive stream failures, it switches to the CCTV web player and auto-clicks full screen.
• Startup options: enable auto-unmute, launch on boot, always-on-top, and start maximized; all settings persist.
• Faster loading: background prewarming of DNS and TLS handshakes plus a shared WebView2 environment, with a loading mask showing elapsed time and progress.
• URL favorites: built-in web and stream URLs for CCTV-1 to CCTV-13, with double-click editing, copying, adding, and deleting, saved to UrlFavorites.json.
• Multi-cell grid: 1 to 16 playback cells, each accepting any web page or m3u8 URL, with notes, locking, refresh, maximize, and staggered loading.
• Custom UI: Chinese and English interface, light and dark themes, and minimize-to-tray on close.
• Portable mode: config is stored in %LOCALAPPDATA% by default; drop a portable.txt next to the exe to enable portable mode.

Target Audience

• Regular users who want to watch CCTV live on a PC with minimal fuss
• People who need to monitor several channels at once
• Users who prefer portable, install-free software

Quick Start

1. Download the single ThreeStarsTV_<timestamp>.exe file from the releases page.
2. Double-click it; the app detects and installs the embedded .NET 8 runtime.
3. It starts playing CCTV-1 automatically; just watch.
4. To adjust behavior, go to Settings → App Settings → Startup Settings.
5. To add custom channels, go to Settings → URL Favorites and edit or add entries.

Core Advantages

• Zero setup: open it and watch, with no source hunting or tuning.
• Single-file distribution: one exe embeds the runtime installer and main program.
• Reliable fallback: a failing stream switches to the CCTV web page instead of black-screening.
• Faster loading: prewarmed handshakes and a shared WebView2 environment cut waiting time.

One-line summary: Give it one exe and it gives you a TV that auto-plays CCTV-1.

System Requirements

Item	Requirement
OS	Windows 10 or later
Architecture	x86_64
Runtime	.NET 8 Desktop Runtime, WebView2 Runtime
Network	Access to the live stream and CCTV fallback domains

Notes

• The main program needs the WebView2 Runtime, which some slim Windows 10 builds lack; the first run may need a download or a manually deployed offline package.
• The launcher embeds the .NET 8 runtime installer, so setup works fully offline.
• Live streams come from third parties, so availability may change over time.