Kodi (Android) vs Dedicated box (T1, mag250, etc)

by sneaky1922

seeing alot of comments about people talking about how people are saying one is better than the other.

When the reality is you cannot compare the two and here is why. Kodi is used for multiple things. T1, mag250, etc are DEDICATED BOXES with software SPECIFICALLY for iptv. You cant really compare them. Does kodi have alot of great things? Absolutely. Does kodi do more than a dedicated box? Absolutely. Is a dedicated box better at iptv than kodi? Absolutely. But thats ONLY because its a dedicated software, kodi just isnt written to play well with iptv. End of story. There are some great streaming services that are kodi based. However, look at vue, slingtv, and directv now. All have buffering issues, and stability issues? Sound familiar to most kodi based services? thats because there isnt a perfect way to do it. Its close, but not there. Dedicated boxes are where iptv shines and shows promise. Dont hate one or the other. All progress is progress. Feel free to share your thoughts about them, and hopefully we can start more discussions like this and create a badass new FAQ. Cheers.

fr0-z3n

I agree with everything written here. In short:

Do you want the BEST experience from your IPTV Provider? Then consider a dedicated box. I highly recommend Dreamlink T1 or MAG 254.

This does not mean it will magically improve your IPTV providers server issues, it just means it will give you the best experience - faster channel switching, smoother experience and sometimes even better video quality.

It is not a magic pill, but it will give you the closest experience when compared to your regular Cable TV service.

whooope

I read somewhere that the Dreamlink and avivo have kodi as well. I had a feeling they were android boxes. Is this true? Is there anyway to have kodi on these boxes or are they dedicated only for iptv? Cheers.

Peacemaker130

Preeeeeech it dude, I for one learned this buying android boxes and attempting to setup live TV through KODI with it actually working can be a fckin nightmare. Even using android apps from providers on droid boxes is a hit or miss game Cough...IPTVExpress...Cough. I have come to the conclusion that IPTV is best suited for boxes made for it.

stokedcrf

I agree with everything here, but the only reason why we compare kodi to a stb is because this is an iptv subreddit, and kodi does iptv bad, or in my opinion not at all. Kodi=streaming/media player, iptv=set top box.

There are many legit companies such as Bell Canada (fibetv) and they are iptv. They most certainly don't use kodi. Lol! There's a reason why they use dedicated set top boxes.

One main thing that the original poster missed here are was support for time shifting/catchup/pvr is not available in kodi. Additionally there's no way to access all the videos on demand and tv collections that servers offer, and the epg is incomplete at best on kodi, u like the 7 day epg or more you'll find on a stb.

salamaja

In short - for iptv only a dedibox is better. If you want some flexibility and do other stuff as well then go with androidbox.

stacksmasher

I think the majority of playback issues are with ISP's throttling ANY video stream. They have the ability to identify the type of traffic and modify it so their traffic is given priority. This was verified by myself and several others using a very fast connection and a 4K YouTube and other HD video feeds over an SSL VPN which the IS cannot inspect. One was perfect, one buffered every time for multiple tests.

Blue-Thunder

It doesn't matter, as the same question is asked here almost every single week. No one reads the stickies in any of these forums because they aren't visible on mobile. Reddit needs to change the way it handles mobile first. Hell try hanging out in any of the "pirate" subreddits and you will see the same stupid mouth breathing questions asked almost daily because people don't see the "stickies", and they get offended when you tell them to read the "stickies".

Seriously, if you're going to ask a question while on mobile, sort the fucking sub first before you ask your dumb question. Odds are it's already been answered hundreds of times.

you think I'm annoyed now? Pfft this is nothing compared to the multitudes of "when are the oscar screeners being released" posts that we had to endure.

Cheers. btw OP good info, we just have a lot of bad users who expect to be spoon fed.