Anybody using Kodi?

General Discussion
1

Any Kodi users on the forum?

The talk of the imminent demise of the Astra 28.2E cluster and switch to Freely made me turn my thoughts to open source alternatives, probably the best known of which would be Kodi/xbmc.

Anyone got any experience.

From what it can see getting UK live channels would be challenging, I think there is an iPlayer plug in and perhaps an unofficial ITV one but not sure about C4 or Five.

I am aware it has a, shall we say, certain reputation for piracy. I’m not necessarily looking to avoid paying for commercial channels.

1 Like
2

I think you need to edit the title of this thread. I think that you probably meant ‘Anybody’ rather than ‘Antibody’.
As a satellite TV user I try to follow the threads relevant to this subject, but my trouble is that I quickly become totally lost due to the acronyms unknown to me which are frequently used.
For example ; What on earth is Kodi/xbmc ?

3 Likes
3

Thanks, yes.

It’s an open source streaming media player, originally known as xbmc it later changed its name to Kodi.

4

D’osés it need a vpn to watch Uk international tv?

5

Ish, I suspect the iPlayer plugin would, some of the other IPTV sources don’t.

1 Like
6

I’ve used it in the past, on and off, but not recently. I never used it to watch UK TV though, as satellite was simply easier to use.

7

I’ve been using Freesat for the last 20 years together with a Humax tuner so we can record and replay UK TV programmes at will , skipping all the adds

If the Freesat satellites are not renewed as expected in 2029, what options for UK TV will e available - and which can be recorded for our convenience to playback?

8

Freely will replace Freeview/Freesat, it will either be integrated into your TV (obviously UK sets only) or you will need a separate decoder box.

Devices which are decode only as well as decode/record are already on the market.

If you are in France you wll almost certainly need a UK VPN.

9

I have Expat TV which has a rewatch system and also records anything you wish to keep. Subscription but has all the current UK, Irish,US and other channels including some that repeat bygone years of programmes we had probably forgotten but lovely to watch again. Not sure how much it costs because my daughter in US deals with it as they like to watch stuff from across the pond.

10

I have at various times played with it .. not for BBC etc as these are readily available even from my terrestrial antenna in the south of Ireland ,and of course on Astra 28. Kodi can be put on any Linux or Android devices and on PCs as well .. I don’t do Apple but there is probably a version for it … . I put up and then play with it for a while and then just give up .. So am not in any sense an expert. ..and anyway I have sorted of alternatives …

I have a Linux Satellite box loaded with the Enigma 2 Software .. I have a movable dish and can acquire any satellite from 28.2 E to about 15 W . My model of Satellite receiver is an Edison mio+ . Which is one of the cheaper models ,but there are plenty others . There are downloads of viewing software or images . I use Open PLi and with a network cable this software can get revised maybe twice a month … .It also has the ability to read not only from the satellite but also to stream from the internet and there is a file of about 6500 stations..IPTV .org available from one or other of the addins which are available ..

11

Computeractive used to do good uptodate coverage of Kodi. They may have an updated recent article. You can probably work out how to check for free eg Pressreader trial if it’s still on there or emagazine sub from UK library

12

I’m literally sitting here looking at 2 of those and wondering if I’ll ever use them again. We had a dish in Yvelines with 4 LNBs on it for different satellites but, since moving southward, I’ve never really seen the need to put it back up.

13

My point was that even without a dish but with a network connection those IPTV channels are available .. .

An even earlier version was when satellite TV cards were available for PCs .. Hauppauge was a prolific producer of them .. there was software available which was used to do control those cards tune stations and select satellites ..and there are still some suppliers of the software ..in particular a package called ProgDVB is available and it also has the same functionality .. including web surfing of thousands of IPTV ..and is in fact free.

14

I remember making smart cards with an RS232 connector that would connect to a PC and decrypt Sky satellite channels. Simpler times :blush:

15

.. I never did that but all the modern encryption methods are variants on that ..with the programming for the decryption on the CI module and the smart card giving a key..