M3U tuner: 403 Forbidden despite User-Agent and Referrer

[sa2000 695]

13 hours ago, sk222 said:

Not sure whether 1.0.36 should have also fixed the problem about the Referer header not being picked up by ffmpeg

It was 1.0.38 I wanted to know status of for you issues - not 1.0.36

With respect to the ffmpeg picking up the Referrer / Referer headers - a change has been made to the latest Emby Server beta 4.9.0.36 which has just been released

Please try it and let me know

Thanks

[sk222 5]

On 1/14/2025 at 5:34 PM, sa2000 said:

Thank You. I understand this is expected to be resolved in 4.9.0.36 beta. I have passed on the logs

My initial problem seems to be fixed in the latest beta build (I'm using 4.9.0.37 beta) of Emby, with M3U tuner 1.0.38.0. Thanks!

A lxs hispanohablantes en este hilo: Parece que mi problema inicial se solucionó en la última versión beta (estoy usando la versión 4.9.0.37 beta) de Emby, con M3U tuner 1.0.38.0. ¡Gracias!

[sa2000 695]

56 minutes ago, sk222 said:

My initial problem seems to be fixed in the latest beta build (I'm using 4.9.0.37 beta) of Emby, with M3U tuner 1.0.38.0.

Yes the change for ffmpeg to pick the Referer / Referrer came in 4.9.0.36 and we now send both Referrer and Referer as some providers are looking for Referrer.

Thanks for confirming the fix

 

[cchavagu 2]

Hello,

I've the same problem. My IPTV lis m3u works with all the programs like IPTV smarters and with Emby was working perfect, but yesterday suddenly it stops working and it appears the error of "forbidden". 

I prove to change the version of the M3uTurner to de 1.038 and it didn't works. I prove with de currenctly version 1.042 to and it didn't works. I prove adding the VLC/3.0.21 LibVLC/3.0.21 and it doesn't works to.

My emby server version is 4.9.1.90

I need help please!

[sa2000 695]

35 minutes ago, cchavagu said:

've the same problem. My IPTV lis m3u works with all the programs like IPTV smarters and with Emby was working perfect, but yesterday suddenly it stops working and it appears the error of "forbidden". 

I prove to change the version of the M3uTurner to de 1.038 and it didn't works. I prove with de currenctly version 1.042 to and it didn't works. I prove adding the VLC/3.0.21 LibVLC/3.0.21 and it doesn't works to.

If this is working on vlc with the same m3u file, I would suggest using wireshark or tcpdump to look at the http requests and responses and when finding the one the one that gets a 403 forbidden on emby, to look for the same request that goes out when using vlc and then compare the two requests checking the http headers

You can use wireshark filters like filter on http to make it easier to view the network requests going out and responses

With debug logging enabled on emby server (settings / Logs / settings) you should be able to see details of the request getting a 403 response

 

 

[cchavagu 2]

It doesn't work in VLC 

[sa2000 695]

3 minutes ago, cchavagu said:

It doesn't work in VLC

I am afraid you will need to troubleshoot this yourself initially. IPTV Smarters Pro may work very differently. Are you trying IPTV Smarters Pro with the same m3u file

Do you expect VLC to be working?

Best for troubleshooting is to use wireshark and see how the http requests are being made for the applications that work and those that do not 

Does vlc get a 403 as well or a different issue

 

[cchavagu 2]

Yes in IPTV smarters PRO it works if i upload the file of the m3u and if i paste the url of the m3u. In VLC appears "no se puede reproducir"
 

[sa2000 695]

11 minutes ago, cchavagu said:

In VLC appears "no se puede reproducir"

In VLC, what happens when you select Media / Open File / R:\Emby\TV-65430471_playlist.m3u

12 minutes ago, cchavagu said:

Yes in IPTV smarters PRO it works if i upload the file of the m3u

Best to compare the requests using tcpdump or wireshark between emby and IPTV Smarters when specifying the same m3u file

 

[xxtonixx 0]

Hi. 

I have the same problem with my M3U....

[cchavagu 2]

The error that appears in VLC is "Su entrada no puede abrirse:"

[dius 4]

Hi, you need to change the User agents setting and put this: IPTVSmartersPro

[cchavagu 2]

It works!!!! Thank you Dius

[BigIrn 10]

I hate to bring back a zombie thread but since the latest update, I cannot get IPTV to work even using thr VLC user agent headers.

It does work on ios with UHF and IPTV Smarters Pro

Edited January 15 by BigIrn

[Luke 42223]

28 minutes ago, BigIrn said:

I hate to bring back a zombie thread but since the latest update, I cannot get IPTV to work even using thr VLC user agent headers.

It does work on ios with UHF and IPTV Smarters Pro

Hi there, please attach the Emby server log from when the problem occurred:

How to Report a Problem

Thanks!

 

[lorac 119]

I have S8K as an IPTV provider, if I use any server they provide I get the above error but if I use IPTV Editor to get a shortened URL emby will accept it. I still get the 403 forbidden error.

Tried with a beta server on VPN as well but no change.

I put IPTVSmartersPro in the user agent header first and then the referer as well but nothing changed.

The non shortened url work fine in other IPTV apps.

tv.7z

[Luke 42223]

On 2/5/2026 at 6:43 PM, lorac said:

 

I put IPTVSmartersPro in the user agent header first and then the referer as well but nothing changed.

 

tv.7z 43.22 kB · 0 downloads

Maybe you need to find specific values to make their hosting sites happy?

[lorac 119]

I suppose that's a possibility although it doesn't rank that high on my list. 

So for now since Live TV is of no use to me how do I remove it from the library list...

[sa2000 695]

On 07/02/2026 at 05:01, lorac said:

how do I remove it from the library list

Have you tried removing the TV sources ?

Emby Server Settings / Live TV / Setup tab - TV Sources, clicking the ... for each TV source and then selecting Delete

 

[AhmedNSane 1]

The exact same stream that works fine with the IPTV plugin throws a forbidden error when played via Live TV. No amount of tinkering with the User-Agent header field and/or the referer HTTP header field could fix this, it seems. Also, I noticed that when I downgrade M3U TV Tuner to 1.0.38.0, after a restart, while it shows in the activity log that 1.0.38.0 was installed, the plugin metadata in My Plugins page still shows 1.0.42.0 (see the partial screenshot below) even after I log in again or use an entirely different browser with no previous old cache (localhost or LAN IP or reverse proxy also makes no difference), which means I can never be certain whether 1.0.38.0 doesn't fix the forbidden error or it was never installed in the first place in spite of the success message (see the second partial screenshot):

A partial screenshot of the Activity log:

 

Side note: The exact same stream that triggers a forbidden error via Emby Live TV works fine on JF Live TV. 

I've tried both the stable release, and the beta release of Emby Server for Windows.

 

 

Edited Thursday at 09:01 AM by sa2000
removed unsanitized raw log

[sa2000 695]

6 hours ago, AhmedNSane said:

after a restart, while it shows in the activity log that 1.0.38.0 was installed, the plugin metadata in My Plugins page still shows 1.0.42.0 (see the partial screenshot below)

The embyserver log you provided which covered the time from 03:09:30 am shows 1.0.42.0 installed.

2026-03-26 03:09:30.389 Info App: File C:\Users\Ahmed\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\programdata\plugins\Emby.M3UTuner.dll has version 1.0.42.0

2026-03-26 03:09:30.389 Info App: File C:\Users\Ahmed\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\system\plugins\Emby.M3UTuner.dll has version 1.0.42.0

Your screenshot showing 1.0.38 was for earlier period and you have not uploaded the log for that.

I have actually removed the log as it was unsantized and included tokens

6 hours ago, AhmedNSane said:

The exact same stream that works fine with the IPTV plugin throws a forbidden error when played via Live TV

Lets try and compare the requests that are being made. So enable debug logging on emby server - dashbaord / settings / Logs / Settings - and tick enable debug logging

Restart the emby server to get fresh logs. Then try the same source with IPTV and noting down the time and then close that and try with m3utuner and livetv and 

Note down the time of the test and then send me the embyserver.txt log file by private message as I do want to see the actual raw unsanitized log for this

Thanks

 

[sa2000 695]

@AhmedNSane Unrelated .... I notice you have DB Cache set to 2Gb. Starting with Emby Server version 4.9, we have multiple db connections and the cache wiould apply to each, I would recommend reducing significantly. We currently have up to 5 db connections for the library.db which is what this cache setting applies to. The default is 128 Mb 

[Luke 42223]

On 3/25/2026 at 10:32 PM, AhmedNSane said:

The exact same stream that works fine with the IPTV plugin throws a forbidden error when played via Live TV. No amount of tinkering with the User-Agent header field and/or the referer HTTP header field could fix this, it seems. Also, I noticed that when I downgrade M3U TV Tuner to 1.0.38.0, after a restart, while it shows in the activity log that 1.0.38.0 was installed, the plugin metadata in My Plugins page still shows 1.0.42.0 (see the partial screenshot below) even after I log in again or use an entirely different browser with no previous old cache (localhost or LAN IP or reverse proxy also makes no difference), which means I can never be certain whether 1.0.38.0 doesn't fix the forbidden error or it was never installed in the first place in spite of the success message (see the second partial screenshot):

A partial screenshot of the Activity log:

 

Side note: The exact same stream that triggers a forbidden error via Emby Live TV works fine on JF Live TV. 

I've tried both the stable release, and the beta release of Emby Server for Windows.

 

 

 

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks!

 

[AhmedNSane 1]

On 3/26/2026 at 10:10 AM, sa2000 said:

The embyserver log you provided which covered the time from 03:09:30 am shows 1.0.42.0 installed.

I appreciate the support. Sadly, that's exactly what happens after I downgrade the plugin, and restart the server.

 

On 3/26/2026 at 10:10 AM, sa2000 said:

Your screenshot showing 1.0.38 was for earlier period and you have not uploaded the log for that.

As I mentioned above, downgrading the plugin + restarting makes it seem like I did not, and so if I had copied the log before restarting, it would've most likely mentioned that the downgrade was successful. I will send you a fresh debug log after the downgrade, and one after a restart, then. Thanks. 

 

On 3/26/2026 at 10:10 AM, sa2000 said:

I have actually removed the log as it was unsantized and included tokens

I appreciate it. I did realize that, and so I invalidated those tokens within minutes of the incident. Also, I tried to remove the log, but no matter how many times I tried editing my reply, the log would multiply, and deleting the reply completely isn't possible, unfortunately. In other words, I couldn't fix my mistake even if I wanted to, which is kinda embarrassing for someone who's been tinkering with all kinds of IT stuff since 2006.

 

On 3/26/2026 at 10:10 AM, sa2000 said:

Lets try and compare the requests that are being made. So enable debug logging on emby server - dashbaord / settings / Logs / Settings - and tick enable debug logging

Restart the emby server to get fresh logs. Then try the same source with IPTV and noting down the time and then close that and try with m3utuner and livetv and 

Note down the time of the test and then send me the embyserver.txt log file by private message as I do want to see the actual raw unsanitized log for this

Will do.

Cheers,

 

On 3/27/2026 at 2:33 PM, Luke said:

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks!

I did read that before posting that reply, but I missed the note written in italic ("rookie" mistake, I guess), hence the unsanitized log incident. I can easily locate stuff on the log, but when I read  that the whole log had to be included, I decided to just follow those instructions. Speaking of locating relevant stuff on the log, I just noticed that the Emby app from MS Store (for some friends and family) throws this error `Playback error: there was an error processing the request....` while it works fine on my PC. I tried to update dependencies manually by getting them from what I call the Adguard Store (Microsoft Store - Generation Project), but to no avail. Firefox triggers a "No compatible streams are currently available", while Chromium-based browsers like Brave, Chrome, and even the UnGoogled Chromium work great.

 

 

On 3/26/2026 at 10:16 AM, sa2000 said:

Unrelated .... I notice you have DB Cache set to 2Gb. Starting with Emby Server version 4.9, we have multiple db connections and the cache wiould apply to each, I would recommend reducing significantly. We currently have up to 5 db connections for the library.db which is what this cache setting applies to. The default is 128 Mb

I also am not sure if this is relevant in terms of performance, but I have 128GB of DDR4 RAM (3200 MT/s CL16)  (managed to grab another 64GB kit for $170 days before the current scary situation, which felt like I had foresight ), and metadata + transcode cache is stored on my Samsung 970 Pro (1TB). I figured the more the merrier, and if you could please explain in technical details why 128MB (default) would be more optimal, I would appreciate it. It's just that I have a "traumatizing" experience with Jellyfin when it comes to the loading animation, and that's the main reason I switched to Emby in hopes that the latter handles database operations better. So far so good. 

[sa2000 695]

7 hours ago, AhmedNSane said:

I appreciate the support. Sadly, that's exactly what happens after I downgrade the plugin, and restart the server

Yes plugins are automatically updated 

 

7 hours ago, AhmedNSane said:

Will do.

thanks