I know this is all opinion based, but I was wondering what people thought was the best IPTV service as far as the stream quality is concerned? I'd mainly be interested in a service that offers mostly USA channels, but U.K.is fine as well. I've only tried a couple of providers, but most who claim HD their quality is lack luster and not really HD... Any suggestions would be appreciated
You won't find many providers, if any, that offer HD without large amounts of compression.
You have to remember there are a couple things that come into play. First off, if they were broadcasted in HD, the cost would go up dramatically. As a rough idea, Amazon CDN charges about $4/usd for 50GB of data transfer, not including other fees.
Last month, I have a friend that used 110GB worth of compressed IPTV, meaning potentially the cost to operate that box was actually $8. Of course, not everyone will have similar usage, but as you can see from that example alone companies would LOSE money if they broadcast in HD.
On top of that, by broadcasting in HD, you now cut your client base in HALF.
We see people in here posting everyday, can my internet run this? Is it fast enough? In most cases the answer is yes. This would not be the case if providers were pushing HD.
If you combine these 2 factors in alone, doubling or tripling your server expenses and cut your userbase in half, you'll quickly understand why this will never happen.
If it's HD content you want for your shows or movies, consider Couch Potato or Sonarr for a perfect PVR type experience. For about 5 bucks a month you can get every show, every network, and every movie in any quality you want, including remuxes if that's what you desire. Keep in mind though, some of these movies can be 30GB+!!
But there's nothing like watching you favorite tv shows in 1080p and movies with dolby atmos :D
IPTV should only be used for news and live sporting events, alongside a proper htpc setup in my opinion. (if HD is that important to you)