# Problems with @ in the m3u URL **URL:** \ **Category:** Live TV & DVR\ **Tags:** livetv-dvr, server-linux\ **Created:** [August 10, 2021, 4:40am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-with-in-the-m3u-url/735216 "2021-08-10T04:40:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The-Manager](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/the-manager/32/209465_2.png) [@The-Manager](https://forums.plex.tv/u/The-Manager)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 4:40am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-with-in-the-m3u-url/735216/1 "2021-08-10T04:40:42Z")
Server Version#: 1.23.6.4881 Player Version#: 1.33.0.2444 Tuner Make/Model: xteve Guide/Lineup name: PMS Using XMLTV?: No I’ve been using xteve with Plex for a while and it’s working great, I disable the buffer as I find channels work much better when not being passed through ffmpeg/vlc, I recently switched to a new provider so the m3u url has changed, the new provider uses your email address in the URL, eg… [https://tvxx.live/api/stream/example@gmail.com/password/livetv.epg/bbc.news.channel.uk.m3u8](https://tvxx.live/api/stream/example@gmail.com/password/livetv.epg/bbc.news.channel.uk.m3u8) This seems to break Plex, I get the error: Could not tune channel. Please check your tuner or antenna. In the logs, Aug 10, 2021 11:37:37.868 [0x7fa6c56eeb38] ERROR - [Grabber/5fc76e0aaa69a2002d8c4d9d-5fc705d7088e7d002d4c6a6c-q6ct4bxn7fn85xdpsygup90p] Unable to find title for item of type 5 Aug 10, 2021 11:37:37.868 [0x7fa6c56eeb38] ERROR - [Grabber/5fc76e0aaa69a2002d8c4d9d-5fc705d7088e7d002d4c6a6c-q6ct4bxn7fn85xdpsygup90p] Unable to find title for item of type 5 Aug 10, 2021 11:37:38.092 [0x7fa6c5496b38] ERROR - [Transcoder] [tcp @ 0x7fbacff25f00] Connection to tcp://gmail.com:443 failed: Connection refused Aug 10, 2021 11:37:38.092 [0x7fa6c5473b38] ERROR - [Transcoder] [http://127.0.0.1:34400/stream/4bfb3e6486761e0b47d5f880d8916048:](http://127.0.0.1:34400/stream/4bfb3e6486761e0b47d5f880d8916048:) Connection refused Aug 10, 2021 11:37:38.094 [0x7fa6c56eeb38] ERROR - [Grabber/5fc76e0aaa69a2002d8c4d9d-5fc705d7088e7d002d4c6a6c-q6ct4bxn7fn85xdpsygup90p] Failed to start session. Aug 10, 2021 11:37:38.094 [0x7fa6c56eeb38] ERROR - [Grabber/5fc76e0aaa69a2002d8c4d9d-5fc705d7088e7d002d4c6a6c-q6ct4bxn7fn85xdpsygup90p] Recorder: Unable to create transcode session or session failed to start. Aug 10, 2021 11:37:38.094 [0x7fa6c56eeb38] ERROR - [Grabber/5fc76e0aaa69a2002d8c4d9d-5fc705d7088e7d002d4c6a6c-q6ct4bxn7fn85xdpsygup90p] Recorder: Error 16 (Recording failed. Please check your tuner or antenna.) starting the record, shutting things down. Aug 10, 2021 11:37:38.094 [0x7fa6c5516b38] ERROR - Subscription: Rolling media grab failed to start. Aug 10, 2021 11:37:38.094 [0x7fa6c56eeb38] ERROR - [Grabber/5fc76e0aaa69a2002d8c4d9d-5fc705d7088e7d002d4c6a6c-q6ct4bxn7fn85xdpsygup90p] Starting media grab failed. Aug 10, 2021 11:37:38.095 [0x7fa6c56eeb38] ERROR - [Grabber/5fc76e0aaa69a2002d8c4d9d-5fc705d7088e7d002d4c6a6c-q6ct4bxn7fn85xdpsygup90p] Unknown metadata type: My previous provider had no special characters in the URL and everything was working fine so I wonder if that’s the problem here, this log line in-particular looks suspect, ERROR - [Transcoder] [tcp @ 0x7fbacff25f00] Connection to tcp://gmail.com:443 failed: Connection refused ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 7:17am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-with-in-the-m3u-url/735216/2 "2021-08-10T07:17:59Z")
> [@The-Manager](#): > > This seems to break Plex I can’t break Plex, because Plex doesn’t see the URL. It is xteve at fault. ---
**Author:** ![The-Manager](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/the-manager/32/209465_2.png) [@The-Manager](https://forums.plex.tv/u/The-Manager)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 7:31am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-with-in-the-m3u-url/735216/3 "2021-08-10T07:31:51Z")
If buffer is disabled, isn’t xteve just passing the URL to Plex? /var/log/xteve.log 2021/08/10 11:36:55 [xTeVe] Channel Name: BBC News 2021/08/10 11:36:55 [xTeVe] Client User-Agent: Lavf/58.27.104 2021/08/10 11:36:55 [xTeVe] Streaming URL: [https://tv4.xxx/api/stream/xxx@gmail.com/password/livetv.epg/bbc.news.channel.uk.m3u8](https://tv4.xxx/api/stream/xxx@gmail.com/password/livetv.epg/bbc.news.channel.uk.m3u8) 2021/08/10 11:36:55 [xTeVe] Streaming Info: URL was passed to the client. 2021/08/10 11:36:55 [xTeVe] Streaming Info: xTeVe is no longer involved, the client connects directly to the streaming server. ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 7:33am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-with-in-the-m3u-url/735216/4 "2021-08-10T07:33:50Z")
Apparently I am wrong. Sorry, I don’t know enough about xteve. Looks like you’ll have to activate the buffer then. ---
**Author:** ![The-Manager](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/the-manager/32/209465_2.png) [@The-Manager](https://forums.plex.tv/u/The-Manager)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 7:35am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-with-in-the-m3u-url/735216/5 "2021-08-10T07:35:31Z")
Thanks, I’ll do that for now but is it possible to raise a bug for this? ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 7:37am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-with-in-the-m3u-url/735216/6 "2021-08-10T07:37:40Z")
Possible, yes. But it will be very low priority, because a regular tuner device doesn’t require a password in the URL. ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 8:07am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-with-in-the-m3u-url/735216/7 "2021-08-10T08:07:29Z")
I was reminded that the @ character is supposed to be URL-encoded in a URL. So try out if your stream is still working if you supply `%40` instead of `@`. ---
**Author:** ![The-Manager](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/the-manager/32/209465_2.png) [@The-Manager](https://forums.plex.tv/u/The-Manager)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 8:45am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-with-in-the-m3u-url/735216/8 "2021-08-10T08:45:33Z")
Thanks for the pointer, I’ve made some progress here, downloaded the providers m3u file and modified the URLs with, `sed -i 's/xxx@gmail.com/xxx%40gmail.com/g' livetv.m3u` Now xteve is passing the modified URL correctly and that works when I test it in VLC. But I have a different error in Plex, Aug 10, 2021 15:37:44.253 [0x7fc86287fb38] ERROR - [Transcoder] Option scan\_all\_pmts not found. ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 8:47am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-with-in-the-m3u-url/735216/9 "2021-08-10T08:47:00Z")
> [@The-Manager](#): > > `sed -i 's/xxx@gmail.com/xxx%40gmail.com/g' livetv.m3u` The mail address still has the @ in it. Or is this already decoded by something? Actually, it looks like you are supplying the mail address twice – first with @ and then again with %40 ---
**Author:** ![The-Manager](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/the-manager/32/209465_2.png) [@The-Manager](https://forums.plex.tv/u/The-Manager)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 9:00am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-with-in-the-m3u-url/735216/11 "2021-08-10T09:00:52Z")
That was just a find and replace with sed, the URL looks correct now, 2021/08/10 15:37:41 [xTeVe] Streaming URL: [https://tv4.live/api/stream/xxx%40gmail.com/password/livetv.epg/bbc.one.uk.m3u8](https://tv4.live/api/stream/xxx%40gmail.com/password/livetv.epg/bbc.one.uk.m3u8) 2021/08/10 15:37:41 [xTeVe] Streaming Info: URL was passed to the client. 2021/08/10 15:37:41 [xTeVe] Streaming Info: xTeVe is no longer involved, the client connects directly to the streaming server. I confirmed the URL with %40 is working with VLC, not sure about that new error from Plex though, Aug 10, 2021 15:37:44.253 [0x7fc86287fb38] ERROR - [Transcoder] Option scan\_all\_pmts not found. ---
**Author:** ![The-Manager](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/the-manager/32/209465_2.png) [@The-Manager](https://forums.plex.tv/u/The-Manager)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 9:11am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-with-in-the-m3u-url/735216/12 "2021-08-10T09:11:08Z")
I’m guessing Plex is expecting a .ts input and doesn’t have support for m3u8? ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 9:12am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-with-in-the-m3u-url/735216/13 "2021-08-10T09:12:21Z")
I guess so. It is written for tuners after all. So you will have to continue to use the xteve buffer. ---
**Author:** ![The-Manager](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/the-manager/32/209465_2.png) [@The-Manager](https://forums.plex.tv/u/The-Manager)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 9:12am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-with-in-the-m3u-url/735216/14 "2021-08-10T09:12:50Z")
Appreciate the help ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 9:13am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/problems-with-in-the-m3u-url/735216/15 "2021-11-08T09:13:04Z")
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