The definitive guide to media streaming
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The definitive guide to media streaming
On an earlier thread there were questions posed regarding streaming tv shows/movies/sports. Rather than pollute that thread I thought I would start a new thread and discuss the options available. I’ll keep this relevant to Cambodia so I will not explore options for streaming in 4k UHD as that requires a stable internet speed of 25mb/s+.
With streaming there are two main considerations. They are, getting the streams from the legitimate source or on the other hand getting it from a pirate source. Obviously for better quality and reliability the legitimate sources are the way to go but there is usually a subscription to pay and/or the sources may be geoblocked. Some hardware is good for one and not the other. Unless of course you want to run a windows PC as your media player.
Legitimate media streamers
The Roku Player
This is considered the best media streamer on the market today. It is essentially useless for pirate content though. It can be configured for US OR UK content. It cannot do both and requires a factory reset and new account to change region. It is unmatched in ease of use (once setup) and number of channels. The setup is a little tricky as most of its content is geoblocked and it is hardwired to use Google DNS to get its location.
Apple TV
If you are already invested in the Apple ecosystem then the Apple TV is an option. Similar to the Roku it is an option for legitimate streams however the older ATV 2 can be jailbroken. The DNS can be changed on the device making it easier to setup than the Roku but has far less channels than the Roku. You can install apps from different regions but to do that you will reuire an iTunes account from each region.
Amazon Fire TV
The Amazon Fire TV is similar to the above but runs on Amazon’s fork of Android therefore most Android apps can be installed, including Kodi (we’ll get to that later). This is also one of the only three Android media players that can play Netflix in reslutions higher than 720p as well as having kodi installed. The other two are the nvidia shield tv and the Google Nexus Player. You can install apps from different regions but you’ll nbeed to reconfigure your amazon account to change country or sideload the app.
Now TV Box
The Now TV Box is actually a rebadged Roku with custom firmware. It is locked to UK content. It will require a tricky initial seteup to workaround the geoblocks and most, but not all content requires a subscription.
Getting around geoblocks
To do this you can either use a VPN or a smartDNS service. Of the above, only the Amazon Fire TV can have a VPN client installed on it. To use a VPN with the others will require a separate device as the gateway.
A better option is a smartDNS service. I’m not going to go into specifics on how they work but suffice to say they do. It will allow you to access different countries for different channels with ease as well as switching regions (for something like Netflix) very easy. There are many different providers but the leaders are:
unotelly.com
unblock-us.com
getflix.com.au
Illegitimate media streamers
Kodi (formally known as XBMC)
Kodi is an open source media streamer. It was initially designed to stream local content on the original xbox but has since evolved into its current self. It can be installed on Windows/Android/Mac/Linux. Through the use of addons just about every show and channel is accessible. There are live sport channels, Movie and TV show channels, Porn, music, you name it.
As for hardware to run it on, personal preference may vary. It’s getting better on Android but requires a reasonably powerful CPU as Android is a resource hog. In saying that, don’t expect it to run quickly or smoothly on your three year old tablet. The current crop of Android media players should do fine. It’s quite buggy on Windows as that only has a small user base. Linux is the optimum OS.
Given the rules regarding Google AdWords I’m not so sure if I can post links to the pirate addons. With some clarification from the mods I’ll add to this post to advise how to get the best out of Kodi.
Plex
Plex is a media server for sharing the content you already have. It is a closed source fork of the original XBMC. It can be installed on just about anything (PC, NAS, Raspberry Pi) and will deliver you content to multiple devices over LAN or WAN. It will even transcode your media to the desired resolution of the device you are viewing on, depending on the power of the server.
With streaming there are two main considerations. They are, getting the streams from the legitimate source or on the other hand getting it from a pirate source. Obviously for better quality and reliability the legitimate sources are the way to go but there is usually a subscription to pay and/or the sources may be geoblocked. Some hardware is good for one and not the other. Unless of course you want to run a windows PC as your media player.
Legitimate media streamers
The Roku Player
This is considered the best media streamer on the market today. It is essentially useless for pirate content though. It can be configured for US OR UK content. It cannot do both and requires a factory reset and new account to change region. It is unmatched in ease of use (once setup) and number of channels. The setup is a little tricky as most of its content is geoblocked and it is hardwired to use Google DNS to get its location.
Apple TV
If you are already invested in the Apple ecosystem then the Apple TV is an option. Similar to the Roku it is an option for legitimate streams however the older ATV 2 can be jailbroken. The DNS can be changed on the device making it easier to setup than the Roku but has far less channels than the Roku. You can install apps from different regions but to do that you will reuire an iTunes account from each region.
Amazon Fire TV
The Amazon Fire TV is similar to the above but runs on Amazon’s fork of Android therefore most Android apps can be installed, including Kodi (we’ll get to that later). This is also one of the only three Android media players that can play Netflix in reslutions higher than 720p as well as having kodi installed. The other two are the nvidia shield tv and the Google Nexus Player. You can install apps from different regions but you’ll nbeed to reconfigure your amazon account to change country or sideload the app.
Now TV Box
The Now TV Box is actually a rebadged Roku with custom firmware. It is locked to UK content. It will require a tricky initial seteup to workaround the geoblocks and most, but not all content requires a subscription.
Getting around geoblocks
To do this you can either use a VPN or a smartDNS service. Of the above, only the Amazon Fire TV can have a VPN client installed on it. To use a VPN with the others will require a separate device as the gateway.
A better option is a smartDNS service. I’m not going to go into specifics on how they work but suffice to say they do. It will allow you to access different countries for different channels with ease as well as switching regions (for something like Netflix) very easy. There are many different providers but the leaders are:
unotelly.com
unblock-us.com
getflix.com.au
Illegitimate media streamers
Kodi (formally known as XBMC)
Kodi is an open source media streamer. It was initially designed to stream local content on the original xbox but has since evolved into its current self. It can be installed on Windows/Android/Mac/Linux. Through the use of addons just about every show and channel is accessible. There are live sport channels, Movie and TV show channels, Porn, music, you name it.
As for hardware to run it on, personal preference may vary. It’s getting better on Android but requires a reasonably powerful CPU as Android is a resource hog. In saying that, don’t expect it to run quickly or smoothly on your three year old tablet. The current crop of Android media players should do fine. It’s quite buggy on Windows as that only has a small user base. Linux is the optimum OS.
Given the rules regarding Google AdWords I’m not so sure if I can post links to the pirate addons. With some clarification from the mods I’ll add to this post to advise how to get the best out of Kodi.
Plex
Plex is a media server for sharing the content you already have. It is a closed source fork of the original XBMC. It can be installed on just about anything (PC, NAS, Raspberry Pi) and will deliver you content to multiple devices over LAN or WAN. It will even transcode your media to the desired resolution of the device you are viewing on, depending on the power of the server.
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Agreed. But as per the other thread, where does the GBox fit into the picture?
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- violet
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I personally don't use any of the above, however this might be of interest to someone (in relation to Kodi)
https://superrepo.org/kodi/addon/plugin.video.movie4k/
Movie4K.to
Movie4K is one of the best and easiest free movies websites to watch movies on the internet. Simply select the movie of your choice for free and without registration
How to install Movie4K.to?
You can install Movie4K.to in Kodi using the SuperRepo repository, the repository of the developer or by installing a single zip-file.
The easiest way is to install SuperRepo repositories, which contains over 2.200 Kodi addons for free.
About SuperRepo and Movie4K.to
SuperRepo does not maintain Movie4K.to. We only provide an automated index for Kodi users to have easy access to Movie4K.to and other addons for Kodi. We are not affiliated with the developers (nickat, eleazarcoding) and do not provide help for this particular addon.
https://superrepo.org/kodi/addon/plugin.video.movie4k/
Movie4K.to
Movie4K is one of the best and easiest free movies websites to watch movies on the internet. Simply select the movie of your choice for free and without registration
How to install Movie4K.to?
You can install Movie4K.to in Kodi using the SuperRepo repository, the repository of the developer or by installing a single zip-file.
The easiest way is to install SuperRepo repositories, which contains over 2.200 Kodi addons for free.
About SuperRepo and Movie4K.to
SuperRepo does not maintain Movie4K.to. We only provide an automated index for Kodi users to have easy access to Movie4K.to and other addons for Kodi. We are not affiliated with the developers (nickat, eleazarcoding) and do not provide help for this particular addon.
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Does that one access British TV channels including Sky?104 wrote:I use Kodi as well as this one below, a lot more straightforward to use
https://www.mobdro.com/
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That's a good add-on but I it is nut advisable to install from the super repo as that often carries outdated and possibly broken add-ons. Get them from the official source so they will update when needed.violet wrote:I personally don't use any of the above, however this might be of interest to someone (in relation to Kodi)
https://superrepo.org/kodi/addon/plugin.video.movie4k/
I forgot to mention the Chromecast. It's possibly the cheapest streaming device on the market. It's limited in that it had no UI so must be controlled via apps on a phone/tablet or a browser on a pc but it's a great gadget especially for the price.
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I've bought that TV Box. Got the British channels, the live footie and gazillions more like a belly-dancing channel, dozens of bikini babe channels and others it'll take me months to find. Fantastic investment for $58.
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Try:andyinasia wrote:I've bought that TV Box. Got the British channels, the live footie and gazillions more like a belly-dancing channel, dozens of bikini babe channels and others it'll take me months to find. Fantastic investment for $58.
SALTS (for Video on demand) https://seo-michael.co.uk/how-to-instal ... xbmc-kodi/
Sportsdevil (Live Sport) https://seo-michael.co.uk/how-to-manual ... l-on-xbmc/
DexterTV (UK and USA TV channels) https://seo-michael.co.uk/tutorial-how- ... -for-kodi/
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