IPTV???

Hazzah123 · February 17, 2019

Hey Everyone! Been Gone a while but its great to be back. So I've been hearing about IPTV (I know what it is but I don't know how it works, if its legal and all that other stuff which is what I'd like to inquire about) from a lot of family friends. I've seen some of these IPTV boxes but quite honestly I don't even know what I'm dealing with. Anyways I've been really curious as to whether or not if anyone could give me some info on these IPTV boxes. Are they any good? Are they legal in the U.S? Where can I get one? What channels can I expect? What boxes would you recommend? Can I get Asian Channels as that's what my parents watch?

Thanks for all your help everyone!

Antistatic12 · February 17, 2019

You mention you are in the US so why not check out YouTube's IPTV offering.
It mightn't have everything that you want, but it is a start I guess.

https://tv.youtube.com/welcome/

TheBean · February 17, 2019

iptv basucally streams "live tv" to your iptv box through the internet.

these are very rarely "live" and very often illegal.

its basically impossible to get legit asian channels in the US for free.

dzonidev · February 18, 2019

As @Saksham mentioned, IPTV is basically a way to deliver live TV over the internet (IP network). In most cases just buying an IPTV box won't get you far, as they usually come without an IPTV subscription.

Now you have forums where you can dig up "illegal" IPTV lists, and basically, those channels are either being rebroadcasted by someone privately or some ISP forgot to filter who has access to their IPTV streams... Those aren't usually very reliable.

And there's also the ability to buy a subscription, which is legal (when you're concerned), as you are paying and for that receiving a service. If you look on AliExpress you'll also come across some IPTV boxes that come with free 1/2 year subscriptions for some IPTV service.

TheBean · February 20, 2019

On 2/17/2019 at 6:42 PM, dzonidev said:

As @Saksham mentioned, IPTV is basically a way to deliver live TV over the internet (IP network). In most cases just buying an IPTV box won't get you far, as they usually come without an IPTV subscription.

Now you have forums where you can dig up "illegal" IPTV lists, and basically, those channels are either being rebroadcasted by someone privately or some ISP forgot to filter who has access to their IPTV streams... Those aren't usually very reliable.

And there's also the ability to buy a subscription, which is legal (when you're concerned), as you are paying and for that receiving a service. If you look on AliExpress you'll also come across some IPTV boxes that come with free 1/2 year subscriptions for some IPTV service.

if you are paying for a rebroadcast (which is illegal from my understanding), you are still committing a crime. example: you buy stolen credit cards on the internet. you are still committing a crome.

Donut417 · February 24, 2019

On 2/16/2019 at 10:16 PM, Hazzah123 said:

Hey Everyone! Been Gone a while but its great to be back. So I've been hearing about IPTV (I know what it is but I don't know how it works, if its legal and all that other stuff which is what I'd like to inquire about) from a lot of family friends. I've seen some of these IPTV boxes but quite honestly I don't even know what I'm dealing with. Anyways I've been really curious as to whether or not if anyone could give me some info on these IPTV boxes. Are they any good? Are they legal in the U.S? Where can I get one? What channels can I expect? What boxes would you recommend? Can I get Asian Channels as that's what my parents watch?

Thanks for all your help everyone!

IPTV is just delivering TV service over the same Internet protocol that we currently use. Hell back in the day Comcast was considering switching its network to IPTV. The fact is there are legal service and illegal service. Generally the illegal ones are the ones that offer free Live channels or a large amount of channels like 500+ for a cheap price. Your probably going to spend $30+ a month on Live TV services. Thats not to say there is not free content, but generally if a large amount is offered thru a service for a cheap price then its iffy on the legality scale. Free content would be the CW app, Crackle, stuff on PBS and such, none of these offer Live TV however, most of the content is delivered "On Demand".

Some options you can look at:

Youtube TV
PSVue
Hulu (Live TV and Non Live TV options)
Sling
CBS all Access
Comcast (They have a streaming bundle, though its only local channels)
DirecTV now
HBO Go (Requires a cable sub) HBO Now (stand alone)

A lot of those "Boxes" have Kodi installed with 3rd party addons that allow you to stream stuff for free. Kodi on its own is a fairly powerful media center software, it has lots of capabilities. The 3rd party addons give you access to pirated materials. Which technically are illegal under US Federal Law. Though, the FBI wont kick your door in unless your uploading the content to the internet. You safe bet is looking at devices like Amazon's Fire TV/Stick or some Roku box or stick.