Anyone use IPTV?

Having cut the cord on cable recently, we're left with Amazon and Prime which are fine, but you can't get live TV or other world channels on them, so I started to look around.

I'd better say here that I've just written a DCT article on this subject which is awaiting publication, so I won't cover everything here, in case I repeat myself.

Anyway, IPTV is TV over Internet protocol - in other words, all TV channels nowadays broadcast over the net, so it's possible to watch those channels by using an app on your smart TV or other device, such as Android, Apple or PC.

Our TV has an app called Smart IPTV which gives you a 7 day trial, you input a playlist URL or upload a .m3u playlist and then you can watch TV online from whichever IPTV service you subscribe to. Smart IPTV has a one-off fee of €5, after the 7 day trial is over, by the way.

Now, this is a very grey area, legally speaking, so I'm NOT going to post links here for anything illegal. I did however try a 24 hour trial with one IPTV service yesterday and enjoyed hopping around about 80 UK TV channels in HD, which was great fun.

Again, I'm not entirely sure about the legality of grey hat IPTV providers, so anyone following this may need to consider using a VPN.

I'd also recommend anyone considering signing up to a service, not to go longer than 30 days, as many appear to vanish overnight, unless it's an established service and comes by recommendation.

If you have any Android devices:

https://play.google.com/store/…d=app.siptv.android&hl=en

For Apple devices here's an article. It appears that you can install an app on your Apple TV.

https://www.techfollows.com/ip…for-iphone-ipad-apple-tv/

We've paid for a month's subscription ($14) to an IPTV service to watch the World Cup, now that we've cut the cable and I must say, the picture is excellent in full HD.

I don't know how they do it, but we now have 12,000 channels available, including all UK live to air - BBC, ITV, C4, C5, Sky etc.

Quote from Rice

Splinter , could you please look at your lineup to see if there are any channels that cover US college football?

For example, ESPN, ABC, NBC, CBS ?

Semigoodlooking, do you know why the major IPTV service you referenced was shut down? Are they illegal?

I'll check for you Rice

The one I use is down for maintenance (their site) bu the service is still running.

Semigoodlooking yes, XStream Codes were taken down.

https://streamtrendz.com/iptv-…by-xtream-codes-takedown/

But this hasn't affected the service that I'm using for now, although their site maintenance message is a little worrying.

Legality is a grey area, so I can't really say.

There are other alternatives. Friends of mine who live in Spain use TV Player (free version) over Cactus VPN ($6 per month)

If our IPTV setup goes sideways, I'll probably try that.

Here's a handy guide to the alternatives

https://alternativeto.net/software/tvplayer/

Our IPTV service has now gone down or our sub ran out. Either way, their website is also down.

However, I've tried TVPlayer with SetupVPN (you must choose a UK IP address on the VPN for this to work) and it's pretty good, so it's a good backup for the Rugby World Cup games.

You have to sign in to both by the way.

I've also found a few free IPTV M3U links which can be used on a smart TV or VLC on your PC, so if one system doesn't work I'm hoping to have a back up.

I wouldn't want to get up at 0400 only to find that I can't watch the rugby.

It's always good to have a back up, or as my dad used to say, it's a 'seaman-like' precaution.

Ooh, not for a while now, but I'm tempted to give it another crack. My previous provider disappeared some months ago during the European raid, but I'm sure there are more.

Welcome to the forum floraa

What do you think of the app?

Good find. I should have looked at their signature