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Legalities of IPTV?

Legalities of IPTV?

Postby fuzzygirl » Sat Dec 03, 2016 7:58 pm

Hello!

New to the forum today!

I was just wondering...what are the legalities surrounding IPTV and streaming of UK / European TV?

I have seen posts about people using Android boxes etc., but is it actually OK (from a legal standpoint) to do it?

There seem to be lots of companies out there advertising "free" English TV in the Costa Blanca...but are they legit, and what are the differences between them?
fuzzygirl
 

Re: Legalities of IPTV?

Postby PeteKnight » Sat Dec 03, 2016 9:18 pm

There's lots of useful info on this website:
http://www.satandpcguy.com/2015/08/14/is-watching-uk-tv-in-spain-legal/

If you have the option then a satellite dish, with a twin LNB and two cables down to your living room, connected to a Freesat box such as a Humax with twin tuners and a built-in hard drive is by far the best option. This will allow you to receive all of the free to air channels (BBC, ITV and lots more).
The twin LNB, two satellite cables and box with twin tuners will allow you to watch one channel while you record another.
You'll also be able to pause live TV with this setup.

Once you've paid for your initial dish and box purchase and the installation there are no ongoing costs.

Pete.
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Re: Legalities of IPTV?

Postby Paul - TV Techie » Mon Dec 05, 2016 1:44 pm

New to the forum today!

I was just wondering...what are the legalities surrounding IPTV and streaming of UK / European TV?

I have seen posts about people using Android boxes etc., but is it actually OK (from a legal standpoint) to do it?

There seem to be lots of companies out there advertising "free" English TV in the Costa Blanca...but are they legit, and what are the differences between them?


Hi Fuzzygirl - i'm the resident techie & work for a local TV / telecoms company.

IPTV is a generic term, so it is technically not possible to have a single clearly defined answer as there is different types of IPTV, some more legal than others!

1. Kodi (free)

Kodi is legal - content on it (aside from Filmon) often is not. However you are not hosting the content, nor liable for it. What is the worst that could happen? An application could be stopped / shut down - some have received legal notices previously. However one goes...another comes.


2. Subscription based services - MAG / Blademedia / Opus etc

Does get a little muddier - as in the realms of international law. Many countries broadcasting law is not the same as EU / USA and allow retransmission of overseas content. As an example, if a server was in Russia - on the Russian side (it complies with their law), it is ok for them to transmit. Ask Sky in the UK and you will have a different answer.

Depends where is transmitted from.....


As Pete mentions above - if you want FTA TV, BBC etc, a satellite system is most cost effective, pay once, original service. If you want Sky, you can use either satellite or an IPTV solution. If you want catch up (in Spain), then you can also do that with IPTV.

A few words of caution - companies promises of you can get 'everything' on an Android box should be taken with a pinch of salt, as you are not paying for a hosted service, there can be no guarantee of anything at all! Companies promising 100% of football games, are a little optimistic, need to be a little wary of over enthusiastic marketing. For sports or guaranteed stability for live content, hosted solutions are better (though you pay appropriately).


More info on IPTV services and hardware. Downloadable PDF help guide.
http://tvtech.sharepoint.com/Documents/ ... 0guide.pdf


Paul
http://www.televisiontechnology.eu
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Re: Legalities of IPTV?

Postby fuzzygirl » Mon Dec 05, 2016 8:35 pm

Thank you for the replies Paul and Pete - clears up quite a minefield!

:text-thankyouyellow:

What sort of download speed would be required for a "stable" IPTV stream over in Spain then? I have a Kodi box in the UK, and there's LOTS of buffering and 'glitching', even with a 50Mbps download speed! Presumably that's more down to the number of people trying to access the feed than a problem with my fibre broadband?!!!
fuzzygirl
 

Re: Legalities of IPTV?

Postby Paul - TV Techie » Tue Dec 06, 2016 1:16 pm

Thank you for the replies Paul and Pete - clears up quite a minefield!

:text-thankyouyellow:

What sort of download speed would be required for a "stable" IPTV stream over in Spain then? I have a Kodi box in the UK, and there's LOTS of buffering and 'glitching', even with a 50Mbps download speed! Presumably that's more down to the number of people trying to access the feed than a problem with my fibre broadband?!!!
fuzzygirl



Minefield is the word :D

You are correct - reason why you have a lot of glitching / buffering is not down to your internet speed, but the nature of Kodi itself.

Speeds 2-2.5Mbps SD and around 5Mbps stable for HD. So your 50Mbps should be more than fine.

Issue with Kodi is the content is being posted up on someones server (a free one) and there are limitations in terms of how many people can connect. For example the server you may be connecting to, to watch a program on Kodi, perhaps has a capacity (varies) of up to 1000 people watching. As is a 'free stream' on Kodi and can be accessed by anyone, what does happen is too many people try to watch at the same time - so you have 3000 people trying to stream from a server with 1000 odd capacity and then you get buffering problems.

Bottom line is as Kodi content is free, is on various servers with no standardised format - it won't matter if you have 300Mbps download speed on fibre, as if the server you are streaming from can't cope - then the problems begin. This does happen with Kodi and worst affected generally are live sports - as these are very popular and a lot of people jump on the streams.

The hosted IPTV solutions are completely different. As the servers / content is hosted and the provider you are dealing with officially - they know how many people are connecting to the system and (a good provider) will have the balance of clients who have the service, along with the amount of server space / bandwidth needed for stability - as they have more customers, they add more servers (or at least they should do) - this is not the case with Kodi.

In summary - Kodi is ok for free, but stability is not always great (or picture quality can vary). A decent hosted solution, is completely different to use (more like a Sky box), does the catch up services properly (and TV guide) and the key point is you get a defined channel list with a lot more stability, as you are paying for a privately hosted service - rather than with Kodi - hoping the free streams don't get over subscribed (which they do). Something like this is how to do the job properly - https://tvtech.sharepoint.com/Pages/britishiptv.aspx
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