Android box

Jeannie, a good place to start would be the Kodi.tv website, or the web support for whatever box you have. 

Btw this isn't really an "expat" related topic...

romaniac wrote:

Jeannie, a good place to start would be the Kodi.tv website, or the web support for whatever box you have. 

Btw this isn't really an "expat" related topic...

I would disagree, it is most certainly an Expat topic and has been discussed on the Malta forum several times before.
Trying to find the best source for TV from your own country or in your own language is just as important to many, to enjoy life in their new country, as how to import a car or how to find the best places to shop.

If you download Kodi (Latest version is Jarvis) from the website you will then need to install various add ons which will get you a very wide choice of films and IPTV.  Exodus is good for film and TV series and NTV or MBox are good for live TV (Subscription required) - NTV.mx from their website or MBox on Twitter or Facebook. Both have user groups for Expats on Facebook.

If you want TV to be much simpler you could buy a Mag box 250 or 254 which come with a proper remote and are generally easier to use with an NTV or MBox subscription or any other IPTV supplier.

If in doubt as to how to do these things just Google what you want and you will get many sites with instructions, many of them with YouTube videos.

Ray

Hey  Jeannie if you need help to set up yoru android box pm me - im used to doing it for people

Google best for kodi,if you want to do it yourself,it has lots of info and help.It will show you how to install a free wizard,that will put everything on your box.

Kodi is now available on the Google Play Store for easy download.

Happy to point anyone in the direction of some custom builds and or hints and tips.

Very simple once you get used to it and if you have the time, there is so much out there.

I see many people here and in the UK being charged extortionately for these things

Sorry as I think this has been answered before, but can you use the Android boxes (e.g. the Minix Neo U1) like a sky+ box to set live tv programmes to record? And if so, just onto USB/micro SD? TIA, Dan

Thank you Ray
Much appreciated.
Jeannie

kiwi dan wrote:

Sorry as I think this has been answered before, but can you use the Android boxes (e.g. the Minix Neo U1) like a sky+ box to set live tv programmes to record? And if so, just onto USB/micro SD? TIA, Dan

I have recorded live TV using my NTV subscription on an Android, on my laptop and through Kodi but have not tried it on the Mag box although you are supposed to be able to do this.
It seems to be down to which IPTV service you use rather than which box. You can set the download path so that the recording is put in to a specific folder on a stick, card or hard drive.
I tend to use catch up rather than record where you can watch programmes from up to 2 weeks before on the main channels

Ray

Hi, if I wanted the normal Bbc iplayer, itb Hun and 40d etc - how do I do that?

You might find a source through Kodi on an Android box or you could try them direct using a VPN on android or pc. Have not tried lately but used to get them through Hola which has both free and premium access.

Ray

SueSue17 wrote:

Hi, if I wanted the normal Bbc iplayer, itb Hun and 40d etc - how do I do that?

You would need the repo and have to install it,this will show you how.
http://tutorial-iptv-xbmc.blogspot.co.u … y1234.html

Pick what you need out of video add ons,both the bbc iplayer and itv catch up work very well.Hope this helps.

I am happy to pay someone to take care of this all for me and was wondering how much a fairly top-of-the-range box would cost me as well as any subscriptions.  I am mainly looking to get all UK channels.

I am in St Julians - are there any shops in particular that you would recommend?

Don't pay, pm me and I can give you some free advice. I am balluta area

I am not affiliated etc but the guys at Flutisat in San Gwan seem to know their stuff

Marcosse - I can order you a box or I can help you PM me and I'll send you my details - I help many people fix there boxes and set them up etc

Cheers mate (and also Volcane).

I've got a fella coming around to install mine tonight actually.  Says most of the top channels are free.  Can you advise if there are any subscriptions I need to be aware of?

Cheers.

There is plenty of free stuff, it depends what you want.

There are stable addon equivalent to freeview uk.
Addon with hundreds of tv boxsets tv catchup and movies.
There are free sources to premium tv channels, but not always stable and some do elect to subscribe to these as more stable, but I find freeview equivalent and catchup more than enough and you don't need to keep to a tv schedule

If it is not too late and you want a dedicated STB for IPTV I would go for a Mag Box 254 which is a Linux based box designed purely for the job from around €80 - 90.


The services which you can use on this are usually subscription based, such as NTV ( this can be accessed on laptop/android as well) you could always contact forum member 'Toon' the Cyprus expert and very knowledgeable on all things IPTV.

Otherwise an Octa Core android box with 2G ram/16G memory will do a good job from around €50-60
The alternative sources can all be accessed via laptop, tablet or android STB either with a stand alone App or an Addon through KODI.

Ray

One other thing to consider with an IPTV service is whether your ISP might throttle your broadband if you are continually streaming, I have a feeling that GO in Malta do this on occasions and it can be targeted by the ISP for specific streams like Netflix or an IPTV provider.

To stop this, it might be worth investing in a VPN either on individual box/laptop (Not possible as far as I know on Mag Box) or better still on the router (Again won't work on a combo Modem/Router as supplied by most ISP's).
This means the ISP can't identify particular usage on you broadband and so does not slow it down.

Ray

Get a minix z64 with windows 10 from amazon. It's a mini pc that runs cool and quiet. You can use kodi and a vpn very easily. I gave up on android.

jimmy_better wrote:

Get a minix z64 with windows 10 from amazon. It's a mini pc that runs cool and quiet. You can use kodi and a vpn very easily. I gave up on android.

That sounds good, I have a Mag 254 (Linux) and a Z4 Octa Core Android 5.1 and both work very well but I think most people who are not familiar with these boxes would find a Windows based box easier. (A bit pricey at £110 / €140 )
  One downside is that many of the subscription based services are designed for Mag or Android, a few, such as NTV can be run on any of those boxes or on windows laptop.
The big plus with the Mag Box is that you have a box that is designed purely for IPTV and it has a proper, fully functional remote so it is far easier to use.

One other thing to keep in mind is that any box is only as good as the iptv stream and this can be affected by many things and you will suffer buffering or channel drop out on occasions.
I have tried 4 different services from €30 a month down to €9 for the one I am trying at the moment and all have their problems.

Ray

For me, the problem with the Mag is that it only has 512mb of ram & it can take 5 mins to reboot. The minix will boot into kodi in 1 minute (kodi I setup to start with windows) and there are lots of small usb keyboards that aren't that much different from a remote. Plus it's easy to run a vpn within windows and you can teamviewer in to work on it remotely. I only have kodi on the minix so it's like a set top box.

jimmy_better wrote:

For me, the problem with the Mag is that it only has 512mb of ram & it can take 5 mins to reboot. The minix will boot into kodi in 1 minute (kodi I setup to start with windows) and there are lots of small usb keyboards that aren't that much different from a remote. Plus it's easy to run a vpn within windows and you can teamviewer in to work on it remotely. I only have kodi on the minix so it's like a set top box.

If I need to reboot my Mag it takes about 1 minute, my android around 30 secs but I do not know about Windows box. The 512 K on Mag is ample because it is using Linux which is a resource friendly system and the box is dedicated to IPTV so nothing else interferes with it.

I have Kodi on Android and have a mini keyboard, I also have NTV set up on it through Matrix TV Browser which is a lot easier than going through Kodi,  but if I passed the keyboard to my wife and said put the TV on she would be totally lost, pass a proper remote and all is well!  Using the Mag Box is just like using an ordinary TV

You would be able to have NTV direct on your Windows box which would be even easier.

I am not saying any one system is better than another as they are all at the mercy of the IPTV providers servers and your ISP.

Ray

on this forum people usually ask about British channels on Android Boxes but what about Belgian/French channels? How do you 'add' channels to a box and what determines whether you can watch them for free or not?