FabSwingers.com forum: Sky box alternative

By *aucylad OP Man
over a year ago

Dublin

So I'm looking for a steer on what to do with Sky!I pay a costly enough package at present every month including HD subscription .

So my contract is nearly up and I'm strongly considering getting rid of Sky in favour of something cheaper.So the irony is I want the sky channels but don't wants the costly monthly subscriptions!

So my question is what kinda dodgy boxes should I be looking at getting to get free view and be able to watch these channels.I understand I'll need broadband but I have decent broadband as it so should be ok on that.

Ideally I'd also like any alternative to have a recording function on it much like the sky plus functions.Anyone able to help me?I fully understand the irony of wanting sky but not wanting sky bills!! I'm due to speak with their cancellation team this week anyhow so all advise welcome before then!!!Cheers

Also I've heard of kodi and dreamcast and stuff but I haven't a clue what they actually are or how they work.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

The dodgy boxes will stop working soon. The new sky encryption is rolling out and as of yet is unbreakable. Even key sharing will stop working if it hasnt already.

Everyone is moving to IPTV, thats streaming channels over the internet. It will cost you about 60 sterling a year to get every channel, most in hd, over IPTV.

However the channels do go on and off random.

I'd say just buy sky

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

when we rent private we just use our smart tv has built in adroid box etc. but we live with the folks now and they have changed too vodafone tv&broadband and its quite good €40 per month thats unlimitted internet and pretty much the same channels we had on sky which was a basic package think its the family package.. 40 euro a month aint bad so maybe have a look at vodafone an give them a ring they might offer u somwthing better

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Keep your sky box and you will still have free to air channels when you cancel and get a dream box which are supposed to be good if the broadband is

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By *hemainman22Man
over a year ago

arklow

if you have virgin iternet you can get all the stations on the dodgy box like it was on sky before

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By *aucylad OP Man
over a year ago

Dublin

Why only with virgin?

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By *hemainman22Man
over a year ago

arklow

you get all the channels through virgin broadband, just like it was through sky tv before but now its all the virgin tv channels

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By *aucylad OP Man
over a year ago

Dublin

Is that not virgin t.v. then?

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By *addy0Man
over a year ago

carlow town

I've got horizon from virgin has all the sky channels and the recording features with added box sets etc... only thing throwing me off is the lay out is complety different too sky,I've mine 6 months and still struggle...it's 15 euro a month for 4 months den 30 for the rest of the year that's just basic but still have near 300 channels

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

most smart tv's have an iptv app, you can buy a subscription for that, not legal, but works...

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By *aucylad OP Man
over a year ago

Dublin

Iptv so is effectively streaming?

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By *ohndunboyneMan
over a year ago

Dunboyne & Dublin

Get a preconfigured Android box. I got mine, an Abox, from Amazon for about 50e. I can watch any movie/TV series from Netflix/Amazon/wherever. I'm not a big sports fan but have watched live TV on it.

You can probably get the preconfigured ones on eBay but apparently Amazon have stopped selling them.

Or if you have pc connected to TV, you can install Kodi and then add Phoenix and Navi and that'll give you everything. Worth a try before you buy anything, if you have pc.

Instructions are all available through Google

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By *lutaxiMan
over a year ago

Dundalk

Kodi is simple enough to setup on laptop to try out. I use a raspberry pi with kodi and IPTV gives me all my tv ??. IPTV from 60 stag a year depending on where you get it

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By *orguyMan
over a year ago

Tuam

"Get a preconfigured Android box. I got mine, an Abox, from Amazon for about 50e. I can watch any movie/TV series from Netflix/Amazon/wherever. I'm not a big sports fan but have watched live TV on it.

You can probably get the preconfigured ones on eBay but apparently Amazon have stopped selling them.

Or if you have pc connected to TV, you can install Kodi and then add Phoenix and Navi and that'll give you everything. Worth a try before you buy anything, if you have pc.

Instructions are all available through Google"

John, does it have to be a pc or will a laptop do??

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Download mobdro!!!!

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By *kcoupleCouple
over a year ago

.....

For movies download an app called Terrarium.tv . Just Google it and follow the link instructions. Its the best laid out and most reliable site i have used.

As for sky, I rang about 6 weeks ago to cancel it but after the 20 minutes of questions the offered me 12 months of tv broadband and home phone for €55. Peanuts really for a the lot.

For sports I'm using Romaworks which runs a couple of different sites like smoothstreams (app) or the desktop version streaTVnow. It's €30 For 3 months but shows all us and European sports in HD streams with no pop ups or adverts

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By *aucylad OP Man
over a year ago

Dublin

I've mobdro on my mobile and it's great.i do like live tv esp sports so ideally whatever I get would have live tv and HD.

Sky are due to ring me today so will see what offer they can give me.

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By *kcoupleCouple
over a year ago

.....

"I've mobdro on my mobile and it's great.i do like live tv esp sports so ideally whatever I get would have live tv and HD.

Sky are due to ring me today so will see what offer they can give me."

I just said they gave it to my sister for €55 And if you don't give me the same I'll cancel the lot. Thankfully they did. Streaming is great if your net speed is good. I just about get by with 5mb download. The joys of living in the mountains

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

The android boxes are good alright. Kodi has been great over the last few years but new streaming laws have caused a lot of the developers using the kodi platform to pull their add ons. There has been a few pop up in their place but it's less and less developers are putting content online. IPTV seems to be a great option .

You cqn download some android apk's too such as mobdro, snappy streams and others. There is a lad on youtube asbyt who does tutprials on kodi and android boxes every few days. Makes the processes of installing stuff very easy. For 50 quid it's worth the gamble. I have mine over 2 years. Have had to reset the box once or twice but very very happy I lade the jump overall.

If are buying an android box consider you will need decent internet to run it as obviously it it streamed content you will be watching.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Iptv so is effectively streaming?"

Yes, iptv and all the apps suggested above are all streaming.

The old 'dodgy boxes' worked off a satellite dish and internet was only used to connect back to a server to check subscription. sky have eradicated this method by changing coding methods.

All systems now stream. Check out zgemma boxes.

Also, if your signing up to a service, check what channels they offer you, I've got one that offers on demand TV section, pretty much every movie or TV show

Also, some have a large range of porn channels...

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By *lutaxiMan
over a year ago

Dundalk

Most IPTV services seem to come from one service. Then the people that sell them then add extras like TV guide, on demand and catch-up as well. Some will also add movies, also be aware that if you have adult channels they will be 24/7 so if kids are about be careful or have separate system for them.

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By *obrayMan
over a year ago

Craigavon

The below is a setup of kodi if you want to go that direction.

spmc (kodi) and addons: halow live tv, ccloud tv, dc sports, covenant, Irishtv, duckpool,oblivion streams.

This can be used on anything android e.g firestick or mobile.

The above will give you mostly all sky sports and sky channels as well as your freeview ones and some American channels e.g HBO but as always these can go down until there replaced and quality can be lower than HD.

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By *ootsguyMan
over a year ago

Limavady

Get yourself a good iptv provider.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Ok there is an alternative as I been using my PC to stream PPV Channels from all over the world to my TV. It is a bit of a bitch to setup but once done you'll have Most of the sky package and nearly 90% of the UK and US channels with on demand Free movies etc.

Not promoting anything here but I use open source Kodi Home theatre software with a few extra plugins. There are a number of YouTube tuts that can guide you through on how to set it up etc..

If you are interested I can forward you a few links to get you started..

Been without a Sky/UPC box for the last 2 years.

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By *ohndunboyneMan
over a year ago

Dunboyne & Dublin

You can probably get the preconfigured ones on eBay but apparently Amazon have stopped selling them.

Or if you have pc connected to TV, you can install Kodi and then add Phoenix and Navi and that'll give you everything. Worth a try before you buy anything, if you have pc.

Instructions are all available through Google

John, does it have to be a pc or will a laptop do??"

Laptop will work equally as well Torguy

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By *orguyMan
over a year ago

Tuam

You can probably get the preconfigured ones on eBay but apparently Amazon have stopped selling them.

Or if you have pc connected to TV, you can install Kodi and then add Phoenix and Navi and that'll give you everything. Worth a try before you buy anything, if you have pc.

Instructions are all available through Google

John, does it have to be a pc or will a laptop do??

Laptop will work equally as well Torguy"

Thanks John.I might try it sometime

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"So I'm looking for a steer on what to do with Sky!I pay a costly enough package at present every month including HD subscription .

So my contract is nearly up and I'm strongly considering getting rid of Sky in favour of something cheaper.So the irony is I want the sky channels but don't wants the costly monthly subscriptions!

Also I've heard of kodi and dreamcast and stuff but I haven't a clue what they actually are or how they work."

IPTV is the way to go. If you have a smart TV your good to go. If not look on Facebook there are loads of good android boxes around and my suggestion is to pay for it monthly. Usually works out around 15 a month with a good service and you can record . hope this helps

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By *obrayMan
over a year ago

Craigavon

You can probably get the preconfigured ones on eBay but apparently Amazon have stopped selling them.

Or if you have pc connected to TV, you can install Kodi and then add Phoenix and Navi and that'll give you everything. Worth a try before you buy anything, if you have pc.

Instructions are all available through Google

John, does it have to be a pc or will a laptop do??

Laptop will work equally as well Torguy

Thanks John.I might try it sometime

Phoenix and navi have been shutdown. Your best using one of the above that I mentioned.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Buy a zgemma box with iptv so has all channels no dish just broadband required good quality 90 per year for subscription

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By *aucylad OP Man
over a year ago

Dublin

Does that have a recording and series link option?

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Pm me mate. I have boxes and link to 700 channels full hd sports and over 25,000 TV and films to watch. IPTV based NOT card sharing over 4500 users worldwide

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

If you sent me a pm chick you inbox

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