Helo Android TV good by Satellite TV

If you have a INTERNET connection you can have android TV for free all you need to do is buy a Android TV box from eBay this will cost around £50.00 make sure you buy a fully loaded box this will be plug and play thousands of Channels for free no technical knowledge required .

Yes they are very good.  Have used one in the UK for a couple of years now - using XBMC (now kodi).  The only real problem is you need a good internet connection which is not always cheaply available in Spain.  

Hi,

Has anyone purchases a TV boc from AndroidTVSolutions?  If so what are you thoughts on equipment and service?

Thanks

Hi,

Search for droidsticks on the internet, they have their own set up wizard and programme interface which they update regularly, all for free if you purchase an android box from them, or they will jail break an Apple TV if you prefer.

Worth checking out their webiste and useful online videos.

kelju

I've been using XBMC/KODI for a few years now, but, for some of the very best addons to be able to watch live UK TV, and all US content, you need a VPN or a SmartDNS service. The ones I've used, and that work exceptionally well for everything are:

VPN: HMA service from hidemyiponline DOT com/hmasd (remove spaces around DOT and replace DOT with a...well...dot (.)!)

SmartDNS: Unlocator service from bit DOT do/unloc (remove spaces around DOT and replace DOT with a...well...dot (.)!)

The addons I use these for are the BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, TVCatchup (android app only, the XBMC addon not currently working), TVPlayer, USTV VOD, NBC Sports Extra, ZattooBox and a good few others I can't quite remember right now. Either the VPN or the SmartDNS service also work with Android native apps, and a particularly good one is Zattoo. Zattoo requires you to "appear" to be in Switzerland, and offers free accounts with UK Live TV. For a Premium account (65 Swiss Francs per year), you also get 250 online recordings and live Catchup TV, via their TV Guide which can go back up to a couple of weeks.

For anyone in the Costa del Sol I can offer setup assistance for your device, anyone not on this coast, I'm happy to answer questions on this forum.

As others have mentioned, you DO need an internet service for any of this to work, and the XBMC/Kodi setup can be a bit of a technical challenge but, even if not technically-minded, if you're happy to search for answers on Google and follow tutorials, it's not too difficult at all.

Have you tried Overplay smart DNS?  They have just changed their interface on the website and are in the process of changing their IOS and Android apps.  

With the new interface you can set different locations for different services e.g. zattoo set to Switzerland, Netflix to the USA, iPlayer to the UK etc.

Thought it might be worth mentioning.

Kelju

Apologies in advance for bit of a long-winded post but hope it stirs a response or two  ;o)

Some useful stuff in there 'Johnsonp' (thanks) which prompts me to ask a long-winded question about broadband provision in general (lower down), but first here's my own experience of android TV to date...

I've got an android (XMBC) box here in UK and although it's certainly possible to get just about anything on it, the general user interface (how the user has to physically communicate via keypad and/or on-screen prompts) is cumbersome in the extreme. I had 22 years in computer industry and still find it hard work if I'm honest and my family just haven't been able to embrace it at all, hence we still feel the need to subscribe to the likes of V/Media!... and so the 'benefit' of the android box becomes lost.

I say the above not to be a neg-head (honest!) but just to highlight that this type of setup wont appeal to everyone that's all...

So my general query relating to broadband provision is...

I need to get it installed in our place in Spain. We're in a community of 52 which was built approx 7 years back and the infrastrucure includes the provision of all cable types up to and including fibre-optic. As far as I'm aware, any property that subscribes to broadband, does so through the local TV shop, who's rates (in my opinion) are way over the top for the service provided. The punter chooses their package and the guy simply calls around and connects the property via a patch-panel in a cabinet which is housed in the same control room as Iberdrola electric meters.

In the panel are a couple of large routers (looks something similar to Cisco routers I'd have been familiar with in days of old) but I'm wondering how this TV shop guy seems to have gained the monopoly on the cable infastructure that comes into the building (of which he had no part in the installation of by the way).

How do I find out how the broadband hierarchy works so I can avoid the local 'cartel'?... or am I barking up the wrong tree altogether?

@kelju: Yes, OverPlay is also a good SmartDNS service, as is Unotelly and a few others. The reason I chose the Unlocator service (bit DOT do/unloc) is that they offer a free 30-day trial, and good pricing thereafter, with good support where they will tweak their service if any offering stops working. It is the same as Overplay, in that you can configure (and change as often as you wish), your preferred location for each service. So, for Netflix, you can choose to be in the UK or the US, same deal for Google Play, same for Zattoo (choose Switzerland), and so on. They all work at once, i.e. I'm currently in the UK if I access the iPlayer, but in Switzerland if I access Zatto, but I'm also currently in the US when I access NBC Sports Extra.

@growler: I hear you when you mention the complication in setting these boxes up. Easy enough for internet-savvy people, but I have older friends and family who phone me up every time they want to watch a match, or subscribe to a new TV show or watch a movie!

Personally, I use an OUYA, it's a small Android box, which was designed to be a gaming console, but which I find pretty easy to run. It does need to be rooted (done via a 1-click app) but, affter that, the quality is just excellent, and it's pretty easy to use, along with running anything and everything I've ever thrown at it!

Regarding your "cartel", sounds awful, tbh, but I reckon they probably signed some sort of agreement with your Community for the provision of a communal service, which owners can then join, or not. Those routers you mention are probably attached to a broadband line owned by that TV shop, which doesn't mean, theoretically, that you couldn't have your own line and broadband service. You "should" be able to go it alone, just visit sites such as Movistar, or Jazztel, or Vodafone, look for ADSL, and insert your address to check coverage. The downside of the mainstream Spanish ISP's is that you need to contract year-round, so, if you don't live here, that can be expensive. There are also 3G/4G Mifi (mobile broadband) services which you can get, if you don't want to have a phone line in your property (or are unable to arrange to get one).

Thanks again 'Johnsonp' some more useful stuff there for me to lookup and chew over...

Yes you're right I guess I'm like plenty more of 'part-time spaniard brits' in being stuck in the middle of "do I pay for annual subscription and waste so much?" or else "do I pay more for payg to switch on/off when needed?".

I get a fair volume of holiday renters so I suppose I'd prefer the annual thing as then I wont have to keep chopping and changing between rentals. I just begrudge paying this one man band for p*** poor service (from what I can gather off otheres).

Thanks again anyway, nice to be nice  ;o)

Agree; buy the Android TV box off eBay. Avoid Chinese sellers as you may get a copy (you can tell as the copies do not come with scart leads, they come with the old fashioned leads only). Make sure it has the TV hub loaded. It is a bit fiddly to start, and you may want to have the browser section's homepage fixed on some channel information site (so you can see what is on in advance - the system on the actual TV hub is not great). Some Android boxes will give you navigation problems going from channel to channel but use the arrow left and right keys and wait for any on screen icons to go and then you should be able to navigate the different channels. You will see what I mean when you get one. And do not pay more than 50GBP delivered (again make sure it is from the Uk and has a hdmi cable with it).

After reading this thread i have looekd at amazon and itis a minefield!!!

Can anyone offer advise on the best fully loaded android tv box and do they all hide your Spanish IP number

The box you want is model number cs918+ android 4.4 it will cost around £50 hope that help's

Riomino.

Mine was ordered from UK (Amazon). However it was sent from Singapor (with "gift" on the package so I didn't have to pay import tax) and it came with a HDMI cable. I would assume anything you bought from UK would come from Korea, Japan, China or wherever and not built on an industrial estate near Halesowen.

Sorry Tadd, mine's a couple of year old now so probably out of date and there will more than likely be better on the market. However, with my internet speed swinging from 5Mbs to 0.5 Mbs depending on weather, how many people are using it or if there is an R in the month, I hardly ever use it. Impossible for HD even on good days and buffers even on SD channels. Much prefer the super HD quality on my satellite dish but we're lucky here as a 1.4 dish is fine.

I bought a XMBC box, fully loaded by the seller, he buys them in and as we know everything is from China, to be honest it's a real struggle to buy anything thats not from China these days.  He is in the UK and has a very good helpline which I used once no problem.

He loaded it up with just about everything you could want, I really only bought it for the films, hate coming in late to watch a film on TV with a thousand advert breaks in it, I did tinker a little with it and watched some live cam stuff from the USA, but films only really. Watching a 2015 film in HD now, when I go back to it.

The seller did warn me / tell me you do need a decent stable internet, I get 17 of those things with BT here in the UK, would think you might struggle with 5/6 even 7, I found out how to stop buffering and it worked for the best part, a little on HD now and again, but let it buffer to 100%  for about 7/8 minutes and can watch the film all the way through with no problems, SD don't buffer at all now. Picture quality on SD don't seem to differ that  much to HD, suppose that might depend on your TV perhaps

It gets automatically updated from the seller, if this will go on for ever I have no idea, bought it from E-bay so suppose thats as good as anywhere, my friend bought one direct from China and played around with it and lost everything, so he reloaded it (Somehow) and got the best set up going..Most in Chinese.

Hello All

just a simple question re the Android Tv boxes with XMBC - if in Spain can I stream UK TV channels without having to resort to  VPN  - I know they are needed for iPlayer etc, but would only be using that occasionally.

Thanks..

Before you buy the box it will be best to thoroughly check your internet speed and stability, any good seller should explain what the box they are selling needs in the way of internet speeds before you buy, my seller told me his XMBC worked good / best on no less then 8-10.

If the seller says it will work on any speed even a low one be wary.

Windtalker thanks for the model numebr

any others that can be recommended

a good question from Durkingr - do you need to hide IP line tec. so you can get iplayer?

Tadd1966

This is the box I have it is the latest model with a 16gig hard drive built it it works very well comes fully loaded with apps and can be bought from E.bay U.K for around £50.00 it is plug and play when you have had it up and running for a couple of days go on to the google browser and down load the SHOW BOX movie app it is a orange box with a eye in the middel this app will also give you all the latest movies and all the latest tv shows for free.also down load the UKIPTV app this app will give you all known free to air tv.

Good Luck.

windtalker

thank you much appreciated

search google for droidsticks, their boxes come fully loaded and programmed plus they have an excellent 'Wizard' that keeps updating the box with the latest links, they also have excellent customer service, I ran into a bit of a problem with mine last night and their tech support answered my email and sotrted it, not bad for a Sunday evening.

kelju