Not working channels

A check finds the dead channels, but they stay in your customers' lists until you act. M3UTool gives you two ways. Park the dead ones moves offline channels to Not working in the Bin after every check, and brings each one back by itself when it works again. Hide not working channels hides every channel that is offline right now, once. Follow these steps to deal with channels that do not work.

Step 1: Park the dead ones after every check

1. Open the Check window: On the Checker tab, click Check in the top bar. The window Check channels opens.
2. Switch it on: Under 2 Options, next to After checking, switch on Park the dead ones. It stays on for every check, also the automatic one.
3. Park them now (optional): Click Run now next to it to park the channels that are offline right now, without waiting for a check.
4. Close the window: Click Cancel if you do not want to start a check now. The setting is already saved.

From now on, every check moves the offline channels to Not working. They leave your customers' lists and the groups they came from.

Step 2: Look at the parked channels

1. Open the Bin: Click Bin in the row of tabs under the top bar, then click Not working.
2. Pick a group: The groups the channels came from are listed on the left, each with its count. Click one to see its channels with their Status, Last check and Original group.

3. Test them again: Click Check group to test every channel of that group, or Check whole bin to test them all. Each channel that is online again goes back to its group.
4. Act on a channel: Click a channel. Its details on the right offer Check, Restore to original, Move to group and Move to bin.

To act on many at once, tick channels, or hold Ctrl and click groups. A bar at the bottom offers Restore, Check, Move to group… and To bin.

Step 3: Let them come back by themselves

1. Open the settings: On the Not working tab, click the gear at the right end of the bar.
2. Switch it on: Switch on Regularly re-check not working channels.

3. Close: Click Close. The setting saves as you switch it. The same switch is in Playlist settings, under Checks & updates, in the Not working channels card: Re-check them now and then.

When this is on, M3UTool tests a small part of your parked channels in the background, again and again, behind your normal checks. A channel that works again goes back to its group by itself.

Hide not working channels instead

Sometimes you want dead channels out of sight without moving them. Hide not working channels hides every channel of the playlist that is offline right now from your customers. The channels stay in their groups, marked as hidden.

1. Show the offline channels: On the Checker tab, click Offline above the grid.
2. Hide them: Click Hide not working next to the status filters. The window Hide not working channels? says how many channels are offline. Click Hide them. The same action is under Tools, Careful, as Hide not working channels.

Note: Hidden channels do not come back by themselves when they work again. To show one again, open it in the Channel editor and switch off Hidden in its panel.

Good to know

• Important: When a group that worked well comes back almost entirely offline in one check, M3UTool parks nothing that time. A whole group dying at once is nearly always a problem at your provider. This is so that one bad evening does not empty your playlist.
• Not working and Deleted are two different tabs of the Bin. Move to bin sends a channel to Deleted, which is not re-checked any more. More in The Bin.
• Each customer has the option Include offline channels. When it is off, channels that failed their last check are left out of that customer's list until they work again. More in Add a customer.