diff --git a/openlp/core/lib/db.py b/openlp/core/lib/db.py
index 6eff984c3..436ea82de 100644
--- a/openlp/core/lib/db.py
+++ b/openlp/core/lib/db.py
@@ -201,8 +201,8 @@ class Manager(object):
                 urlquote(unicode(settings.value(u'db database').toString())))
             if db_type == u'mysql':
                 db_encoding = unicode(
-                    settings.value(u'db encoding', QtCore.QVariant(u'utf8')).toString())
-                self.db_url += u'?charset=%s' % (urlquote(db_encoding))
+                    settings.value(u'db encoding', u'utf8').toString())
+                self.db_url += u'?charset=%s' % urlquote(db_encoding)
         settings.endGroup()
         if upgrade_mod:
             db_ver, up_ver = upgrade_db(self.db_url, upgrade_mod)