START HERE: How to select an IPTV Provider Primer: Best practices and general guidelines to selecting an IPTV provider that works best for you

by vtpi

If you expect and want channels with 100% uptimes then IPTV is not for you. You are better off with Sling TV or PS Vue or something similar or sticking with your current cable or satellite service.

We are seeing many of the same kinds of posts show up here time and time again. For example: Find me one with US channels, find me one that has the sports I am looking for, or find me a specific channel in a specific language. Below is an attempt to consolidate the normal responses given to people who requests for assistance.

First and foremost, DO NOT BELIEVE ANYONE HERE. If you post a request for IPTV provider recommendations, you will surely get re sellers and providers pimping their warez. There are many providers and resellers shilling their product here. I do not have to name specific usernames but if you been here long enough you will see certain providers propped up here time and time again.

If you post a request for an IPTV providers, you will surely get re sellers and providers pimping their warez (repeating this again for emphasis)

My best advice is to do your own research. Start by reading here https://www.reddit.com/r/IPTVReviews/ Then Google research the provider you are interested in, then join the provider forums and a READ as much as you can.

IPTV has many variables affecting the stability of the channels

  • Source channels providers (content generators) <--- Your provider is only as good as the content generators. Not much you as a customer can do here.
  • IPTV provider this is who you are looking for
  • ISP <--- they might throttle you which might require a VPN. They might block the IPTV provider all together using something like. Sky Shield or BT websafe. You want to disable these blockers. I see people saying they have a gigabit link but still buffering.. Sorry it's most likely you. You have a gigabit link to the next hop and thats about it. A provider that buffers usually does not last long. Customers will leave in droves.... so chances are it is probably your issue.
  • Customer Network <---- Your home network might not be up to par. Do you have wifi/wired? Do you live in a apartment building with a lot of WIFI competition? Get a wired link.
  • Customer device <--- is your device underpowered? An old enigma or a cheap android box might not cut it for HD or FHD.
  • Customer application<--- is it updated or have known bugs? VLC is the best test application on a wired computer.

This means what works for someone may not work for you . A certain provider may work great for one person (most likely a shill) but it may not work well for you.

… which leads us to TRIALS

TRIALS TRIALS TRIALS

Do as many as you can.

Keep in mind, the larger and probably more established provider will not offer free trials since they do not have inventive to. Out of a hundred trials they get maybe 1 reals sub. So out of that free 100 trials is countless request for help and configuration help that yields to wasted effort. A nominal cost ($2 USD to $5 USD) for trial for the bigger more established providers is normal.

Resellers and newer providers do offer free trials but usually on the weekday since they are trying to establish their base.

WEEKEND TRIALS are usually never free due to the large amount of sporting events on.

As some many have mentioned, instead of doing trials, buy a month at one provider then go to another provider.and cycle through them .. after about 4 months or so you will be an expert.

What do I look for?

CHANNELS Definitely do not go with providers who got 5000 channels. Let me give you a hint, you will not watch all 5000 channels. You will not watch Disney JR in Greek. No provider will give you high uptimes on all channels if they have to maintain 5000 channels. Go for a provider more targeted for your needs and language (500-2000 channels) is optimal.

VOD

Do they offer VOD/ondemand as an additional service? Is the selection deep? Is the shows in your language? Can you request new VODs be added?

SD OPTIONS Wooo hoo my provider has all FHD channels! and you will buffer all day everyday until your subscription expires. Keep in mind if you watch on your mobile you want a provider with some SD options. If you have data transfer caps you will want SD channels. FHD/HD left on is a crap load of traffic. Ideally ones that have HD and SD options for your favorite channels.

SUPPORT How responsive is your provider? Do they respond quickly? Do they treat you fairly? Are they reasonable? Do they provide channel or VOD requests? Do they fulfill these requests? Do they help you configure your device and offers post purchase support help?

COMMUNITY Do they have a community of other users that can help each other with support and tips and tricks or does your IPTV provider leave you isolated on an island. I see people come here to ask question they should be asking their provider directly.

PRIVACY Are they protecting your privacy? Do they need your personal information Facebook Support group? AVOID if possible. Facebook requires you to request help with you real information. Do you want your Aunt Sally asking why you are posting to "HellonEarthHOSTINGSolutions"? Facebook tracks all your post to request help on IPTV. IMHO, it is plain lazy on the providers part to only have Facebook.

Can you pay with a prepaid card? How about crypto currency?

ISP BLOCKED AND TARGETED PROVIDERS Does the service require VPN during EPL matches? Are providers actively throttling the provider? If a provider has been on the news (of any kind) do you really want to sign up with them?

iamyogo

lol .. so this is awkward ... i'm looking for kids shows like Nick Jr in greek .. not messing with you, I actually need that option lmao

ariankombinatsi

Framerate is the most important part my provider added Sky News the other day and as the rest of UK channels horrible 25fps and that is noticeble on a fucking news channel when you read the highlights scrolling from right to left .

Sburwood123

I live in Belgium. I am seeking IPTV, if wise, with VPN and EPG at a reasonable monthly price.

English, French, Italian and Adult are the languages that interest me, with the last being more an option than a requirement.

Unlimited internet is what I have.

Any suggestions?

yerdunclelarry

I can see in Kodi what the fps are on a channel. I use nosleep but rarely watch UK channel s as there is nothing for me to watch

foshi22le

I just want a provider that streams US channels, I couldn't careless about other countries or having 5000 channels. I watch maybe 5 channels as it is. And as for VOD I have a NAS filled with 2000 movies and I have no idea how many TV episodes (I use Usenet (NZBGet) with Raddar and Sonarr). I want to try IPTV mainly for news/current affairs channels.

Edit: and maybe the odd NBA game, but no other sport. I'm generally not interested in sport.

BiscuitGannit

Just signed up with Ghost Webhost and was wondering if anyone as any experience. 15$ US and I’m in Canada so close to $20 a month. So far everything seems to work, mostly just needing Sports channels and BBC etc. Open to any suggestion and in the next week will have a T2. Very fast fiber op. I’m more interested in quality than quantity

foottuns

Great advice, you are right in all aspects. I just want to add one point.

I found out that the most easiest way to tackle buffering and throttle is by getting a cloud instance installed in aws, gcloud or azure, install emby server and add your provider URL with EPG in emby.

Then install emby client on your TV and point the client to your emby server from the cloud. No need for VPNs, you can even have the location of your instance in UK. It doesn't matter, the EPL block is only for ISPs like BT, Sky, Virgin etc, it won't block AWS, Microsoft or Google.

Another thing to remember; block access to your emby server from anywhere and allow access ONLY from your home client.

Since I went this way, the buffering is gone, EPG loads perfectly, almost 95%, depends on your provider.

Best-Peasant

Great post.

darentuta

I think the best choice for me is YouIPTV provider, I have tried many iptv providers, but the last one called YouIPTV is my favourite.

Why? Because they provide more channels and HQ, and that's what I love.

Ready97

Hi, I am looking for Indian IPTV Channels (mainly telugu and hindi channels). What is the best provider?

Demiserg

I wish I had seen this sooner, great help. Thanks

Nadon21

Does anyone know to which iptv provider belongs this: bb1.qat5.ru I found it on a free list shared on web and I liked their channel selection.

basement-thug

Is it just me or are none of these services very reliable? We are trying to cut the cord but it looks like I am better off cutting the bill in half and going with PS Vue or Slingbox than trying to go with illegally sourced IPTV.

skyderskynet

Any cheap usa channels?

TotesMessenger

I'm a bot, bleep , bloop . Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit:

^(If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads.) ^( Info ^/ ^ Contact )

Nonodxb

I would add that having someone streaming in h265 is really helpful! Particularly if you only have a 6-8mb connection at home !

psykal

CHANNELS Definitely do not go with providers who got 5000 channels. Let me give you a hint, you will not watch all 5000 channels. You will not watch Disney JR in Greek. No provider will give you high uptimes on all channels if they have to maintain 5000 channels. Go for a provider more targeted for your needs and language (500-2000 channels) is optimal.

Well, you won't watch 500 channels either. You don't have to watch them all. Sometimes you have to go for the 5000 channel package because the more specialised ones don't have everything you want.

THETEULARDVADER

Do I need to get a set top box like a MAG to access IPTV? Not sure where to begin...

ariankombinatsi

Who told you that? Terrestrial channels ( dont have sky or BT) are 50fps the same standart as the europian channels But somwhere they get choped on the main source for so many iptv providers Strange as freview channels the 4 big ones are full HD and 50fps on my provider Rapid The same thing with italian channels Rai 1-5 are full HD 50fps but moving on to other channels same chopiness as uk channels

sorinis

Does anybody know where can i subscribe to pure-iptv.com:8000? Been searching for a while now.

bingxuefly

I look for iptv service providers, usually try their services first, and then see if they are suitable for themselves.I recently subscribed to the AirTV IPTV service, which has a lot of high-definition sports channels and, most importantly, a free trial for three days before purchase, so I think it's reliable.

zorlus

In my opinion, frame rate is the most important factor. Thousands of channels does not mean anything to me; as obviously you cannot watch all of them. I would rather have 50 quality channels than 5000 crappy channels tat :I will never watch. Next important thing is VOD; the more the merrier.

rocketstreams

This is a very informative message. Great post.

ariankombinatsi

this Myth 5000 channels is to much to mantain.. is bullshit my provider has around 5000 including VOD and works great for most part, yes of course is imposible to be perfect on every single channel but majority and the most watched channels work great I had Epicstream a trial with much less channels and half of them didnt work, Is interesting to note and something I will look up mys3lf how many live channels a provider has , 5000channels.. i guess include half of them VOD If the number of the channels was a real factor on the stability we could seen long time ago IPTV providers with 300-500 channels max Maybe some insiders with knowledge on IPTV science could have a answer to that

wilson2314

Has anyone had problem with setv thinking about getting but don’t know with them getting sued. If no recommendation do you guy have? From us

naoufallover

good

naoufallover

good

shobhits846

hii we are providing IPTV reseller panel with over 4000+ channels + vod Contact us for demo panel We support m3u playlist, mag boxes. Roku, all mobile, STB emulator. Channels -Arabic, France, Spanish, Canadian, USA, UK, Indian Pakistan, Bangladesh, African,Turkish, Itally, Polland and German Email id: mtvservicesuk@gmail.com 100euros unlimited credits 200euros unlimited subresellers with one month validity we have many 10 gig servers , so there is zero downtime no VPN required one credit means one month subscription we will first give you a demo panel please reply us back on email: mtvservicesuk@gmail.com whatsapp-+15186011048 this is the demo panel

digikaos

providers with 5000 channels do not and cannot possibly maintain all streams , they also use a ‘not all channels at once’ logic as if they did have 5000 streams running at once and 5000 customers they’d need about 500 dedicated servers

there are uk service providers that concentrate very hard on making 2/300 streams work well

i’ll never understand why the twats advertise 5000 channels when they could have packages on different servers / systems depending on which country it’s ridiculous

anyone want a recommendation for uk service feel free to pm

foottuns

Here's a guide on how to create an instance. Use Ubuntu OS.

https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/create-start-instance

For emby, you just need to download the package, based on your linux flavour and install it. Install Ubuntu because works very well.

And last think, create a firewall rule on emby port (forgot the port number), and allow only your home IP. Otherwise would be open to everyone.

Done!

Robek42

I'm just looking for the best provider with the best selection in sports and premium movie channels. Thanks!

Khodesh8

Hello I'm from New Zealand and want to know if there is a good iptv service provider which covers all NZ channels as well as the us and UK channels. Thank you :)

acertenay

Why would someone pay for iptv when you can find similar online streams for free? Whats the added benefit? If I want to pay something then I would expect something like an official provider.

I am not being an ass just curious to know.

NiagaraFalls716

First and foremost, I need an IPTV that works on the iPad Pro (12.9") that I will be getting in a couple weeks. I also need someone that will provide me with the most Canadian channels package. Please let me know if you can assist!

daserb21

hello all hope you can help. in need of a IPTV provider that can offer me channels from all channels from the EX-YU, US , UK.... in FHD,HD,SD. i have a dedicated VPN... also i NEED sports!!!!!!

stokedcrf

Great post!

However, I'd even go as far as saying 2000 stations for a provider to maintain is almost too much!

Also do note that advising people to go to Google and join forums isn't guaranteed either, because a lot of providers do not have forums, and it's just resellers running those forums.

Great advice otherwise!

billy_berou

Great overall post, but some of it just seems paranoid.

Agreed:

Trials , Trials, Trials! - I am completely new to the scene, but i literally spent all week trying out different trials.

CHANNELS Lot's of providers seem to have channels that they have no control over. This seems specially true for international streams. I agree that providers with 8000 channels usually have like 90% of the stuff down. Choose based on what you are looking for - targeted approach is the best approach.

I don't agree with:

Privacy , most people are paying with Credit Card. Since when is "Facebook" a true identity? You can easily create a fake fb account, but most people are paying with Paypal and CC, which is much harder to hide. I guess pick your poison, ofcourse Bitcoin/crypto is a way - but I bet 80-90% of people here use CC/Paypal.

SD OPTIONS I am sorry, but FHD and HD channels are amazing as compared to SD. No I don't want a 1000 SD channels which look like crap on my 55" TV. SD as backup is fine, but as primary it makes no sense. If you are in first world country and got a good Internet connection - you would always want HD & FHD. FHD is just gravy, but SD is a joke at this point, HD being the sweet spot.

Great post, good thoughts, but I don't agree with everything. Everyone needs to decide based on what is important to them.