M3U tuner: 403 Forbidden despite User-Agent and Referrer

[AhmedNSane 2]

For those who are still having the Forbidden issue, I highly recommend you self-host Dispatcharr via Docker. It makes everything a breeze. Just make sure you don't check the Direct Stream box, and you don't even have to to fill out the user-agent and referrer fields during M3U Tuner setup.  See the screenshots below:

If anyone needs more details about how to achieve this, I'll be happy to help. Take care, y'all!

[xxtonixx 2]

1 hour ago, AhmedNSane said:

For those who are still having the Forbidden issue, I highly recommend you self-host Dispatcharr via Docker. It makes everything a breeze. Just make sure you don't check the Direct Stream box, and you don't even have to to fill out the user-agent and referrer fields during M3U Tuner setup.  See the screenshots below:

If anyone needs more details about how to achieve this, I'll be happy to help. Take care, y'all!

I've installed it, but when I enter the URL in the dispatcharr, it doesn't retrieve the channels. I get the following error:

"Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 111] Connection refused"

I've entered the settings in my mobile IPTV app, and it works fine, but of course, I want to use Emby, which is more convenient.

[Apotropaic 60]

13 hours ago, xxtonixx said:

I've installed it, but when I enter the URL in the dispatcharr, it doesn't retrieve the channels. I get the following error:

"Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 111] Connection refused"

I've entered the settings in my mobile IPTV app, and it works fine, but of course, I want to use Emby, which is more convenient.

This sometimes happens when providers are using some sort of geo-IP or user agent block, or you’ve not entered the right port details etc.

Make sure you’re if you’re using a proxy on your mobile app that you’re using the same one where your installation is.

[AhmedNSane 2]

On 3/30/2026 at 11:21 PM, xxtonixx said:

I've installed it, but when I enter the URL in the dispatcharr, it doesn't retrieve the channels. I get the following error:

"Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 111] Connection refused"

Have you tried messing around with the Stream profiles when adding a new stream?

[AhmedNSane 2]

On 3/30/2026 at 11:21 PM, xxtonixx said:

I've entered the settings in my mobile IPTV app, and it works fine, but of course, I want to use Emby, which is more convenient.

You can also try that IPTV app on an Android emulator, and then intercept those requests using a tool like Fiddler, so you'll know what kind of request headers your IPTV streams accept. Once you do that, you can tweak the streams you added through Dispatcharr accordingly. Good luck!  

[xxtonixx 2]

On 31/03/2026 at 14:10, Apotropaic said:

This sometimes happens when providers are using some sort of geo-IP or user agent block, or you’ve not entered the right port details etc.

Make sure you’re if you’re using a proxy on your mobile app that you’re using the same one where your installation is.

 

19 hours ago, AhmedNSane said:

Have you tried messing around with the Stream profiles when adding a new stream?

 

19 hours ago, AhmedNSane said:

You can also try that IPTV app on an Android emulator, and then intercept those requests using a tool like Fiddler, so you'll know what kind of request headers your IPTV streams accept. Once you do that, you can tweak the streams you added through Dispatcharr accordingly. Good luck!  

i solvented. The problem was the Adguard. 

[AhmedNSane 2]

17 hours ago, xxtonixx said:

i solvented. The problem was the Adguard. 

Nice! That makes sense. I have it disabled via my router settings, too, because it keeps messing with my stuff, and I get tired of whitelisting domains/subdomains manually.

[sa2000 697]

On 26/03/2026 at 03:32, 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):

Thanks for letting me have a test m3u file. I have identified the cause of the problem when using the m3utuner plugin and have referred it to the development team