# Quickly Test a URL in PLEX **URL:** \ **Category:** Dev/API Corner\ **Tags:** plugin-dev\ **Created:** [January 29, 2014, 6:47pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/quickly-test-a-url-in-plex/55840 "2014-01-29T18:47:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jakesplex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a698b9/32.png) [@jakesplex](https://forums.plex.tv/u/jakesplex)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 6:47pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/quickly-test-a-url-in-plex/55840/1 "2014-01-29T18:47:11Z")
I am very new to plex. I have used XBMC and created channel of my own to work with a Indian TV site.    Currently the Indian TV site switched it's streaming to an encrypted HTTP Streaming (HLS) protocol using the JWPlayer flash player to play video in the browser. Currently the m3u8 is not playable in VLC and XBMC.    I hearing good things about plex. I am willing to make the switch and start my own channel development in plex. But I wanted to confirm that Plex can handle and play the m3u8 HLS URL first, before I make a jump.   So, how to quickly test a HLS streaming URL is supported and working in PLEX before starting a new channel development.     ---
**Author:** ![Gerk](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/gerk/32/81980_2.png) [@Gerk](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Gerk)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 4:02pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/quickly-test-a-url-in-plex/55840/2 "2014-02-05T16:02:12Z")
For these purposes I made myself a quick and dirty test channel where I just hard code in the URL in question and have it build a quick MediaObject with it to see if playback will work or not.  Hope this helps. ---
**Author:** ![jakesplex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a698b9/32.png) [@jakesplex](https://forums.plex.tv/u/jakesplex)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 12:18am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/quickly-test-a-url-in-plex/55840/3 "2014-02-10T00:18:17Z")
Great! suggestion.. Can point me to a reference URL which has contain ur sample code? ---
**Author:** ![Gerk](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/gerk/32/81980_2.png) [@Gerk](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Gerk)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 12:30am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/quickly-test-a-url-in-plex/55840/4 "2014-02-10T00:30:54Z")
I don't think I've ever posted it onto github and I don't have one handy on my machine right now to copy and paste, you just need a very basic channel and instead of doing all the work to find the title, url, etc, just hard code them as a test. ---
**Author:** ![jakesplex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a698b9/32.png) [@jakesplex](https://forums.plex.tv/u/jakesplex)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 3:21pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/quickly-test-a-url-in-plex/55840/5 "2014-02-11T15:21:50Z")
I did the hard way... Reading the beginner guide.. from    [https://plexapp.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201169747](https://plexapp.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201169747)   Please see my code and help me understand what's the error message? So I can fix it. ``` TITLE = 'Tamil ETV' RSS_FEED = 'http://askaninja.blip.tv/rss' NS = {'blip':'http://blip.tv/dtd/blip/1.0', 'media':'http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/'} ART = 'art-default.jpg' ICON = 'icon-default.png' ICON_SEARCH = 'icon-search.png' @handler('/video/tamiletv', TITLE) ##################################################################### # This (optional) function is initially called by the PMS framework to # initialize the plug-in. This includes setting up the Plug-in static # instance along with the displayed artwork. def Start(): # Initialize the plug-in Plugin.AddViewGroup("Details", viewMode="InfoList", mediaType="items") Plugin.AddViewGroup("List", viewMode="List", mediaType="items") # Setup the default attributes for the ObjectContainer ObjectContainer.title1 = TITLE ObjectContainer.view_group = 'List' ObjectContainer.art = R(ART) # Setup the default attributes for the other objects DirectoryObject.thumb = R(ICON) DirectoryObject.art = R(ART) VideoClipObject.thumb = R(ICON) VideoClipObject.art = R(ART) def MainMenu(): oc = ObjectContainer() oc.add(VideoClipObject(url=“[http://190.4.111.195:1911/test/testv/playlist.m3u8",title=“testTV”,summary="](http://190.4.111.195:1911/test/testv/playlist.m3u8%22,title=%22testTV%22,summary=%22)”)) return oc ``` I am getting error  > 014-02-10 21:09:01,411 (1860) :  CRITICAL (core:561) - Exception (most recent call last): > >   File "C:\Users\puppy\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server\Plug-ins\Framework.bundle\Contents\Resources\Versions\2\Python\Framework\components\runtime.py", line 840, in handle\_request > >     result = f(\*\*d) > >   File "C:\Users\puppy\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server\Plug-ins\Framework.bundle\Contents\Resources\Versions\2\Python\Framework\handlers\base.py", line 119, in call > >     result = self.func(\*args, \*\*kwargs) > > TypeError: Thumb() takes exactly 1 argument (0 given) > >   ---
**Author:** ![Gerk](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/gerk/32/81980_2.png) [@Gerk](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Gerk)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 3:40pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/quickly-test-a-url-in-plex/55840/6 "2014-02-11T15:40:01Z")
On a quick look unless something went really wrong with pasting the whitespace (tabs) are not correct.  Python is incredibly fussy about this. Also a couple of other things. 1.  Not positive of this but I think that most (if not all) m3u8's are HTTPLiveStream (HLS), so a standard VideoClipObject is probably not going to work, you have to tell the Framework that it's HLS. 2.  using the url= infers that your object is going to be using a URL service to setup all the metadata and media parts, etc (and in this case it's not).  You will need to use key= and rating\_key= in order to do this.  You can set them both to that url value you used above and it should work. I suggest you look at some of the docs that shopgirl has posted in this forum, some of them are going to help you get started in the channel framework. ---
**Author:** ![jakesplex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a698b9/32.png) [@jakesplex](https://forums.plex.tv/u/jakesplex)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 11:41pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/quickly-test-a-url-in-plex/55840/7 "2014-02-11T23:41:19Z")
incorrect tab is copy paste issue.  are you pointing to this post  [https://forums.plex.tv/topic/88056-httplivestreamurl/](https://forums.plex.tv/topic/88056-httplivestreamurl/) ? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2019, 1:11am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/quickly-test-a-url-in-plex/55840/8 "2019-12-21T01:11:00Z")
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