When adding/updating HLS stream URLs, pick the network endpoint that is most likely to work reliably: - Prefer adaptive HLS entrypoints (e.g., `master.m3u8`, `playlist.m3u8`, `manifest.m3u8`, `index.m3u8`) instead of redirect chains or single-bitrate links. - If the origin requires request context, include the needed HTTP headers (commonly `http-user-agent` and/or `http-referrer`). - Prefer “main” endpoints/redirectors that perform load-balancing, rather than hard-coding a single backend host. Example (headers + adaptive): ```m3u #EXTINF:-1 tvg-id="Example",Example Channel (720p) #EXTVLCOPT:http-user-agent=Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:149.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/149.0 #EXTVLCOPT:http-referrer=https://www.example.com/ https://edge.example.net/livecast/ik:example/manifest.m3u8 ``` This reduces playback failures caused by redirects, missing headers, or non-load-balanced direct hosts.