IPTV anyone?

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RegGuheert

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We've recently joined the 21st century and purchased a Smart TV. We didn't get an Android TV unit, but instead we purchased one with VEWD (formerly OperaTV). The built-in Apps are decent (VUDU's streaming works better than Netflix or YouTube, but they all work fine), but the other available apps are quite lacking. That is not a big deal, since I don't intend to play games on the TV, etc.

That said, by getting a developer account with VEWD, I can turn on a "URL Loader" app which allows me to load any HTML5 website, which apparently is the standard used for IPTV these days. Using OTT Player, I can create and run playlists from the TV. Most of the playlists out there are from so-called "Russian hacker sites" that have the main cable channels in Russian, etc., but I'm really not looking for pirated content.

What I'm wondering is whether or not there is any *free* content out there for Smart TVs that is worth watching. I have found that sites like apple.com work and there are sites like HTML5 Showcase that provide lists of high-quality HTML5 sites, some of which include video content.

What IPTV sites have you found that are free (not pirated) and high-quality? Conversely, have you looked and discovered that there is nothing decent that is not paid? TIA!
 
I have a cheap dongle from Google that lets me connect the TV to the internet via home Wi-fi, so if I wanted to I could watch youtube and I think Netflix if I was a subscriber. Amazon sells its version that connects to their video store and lets you take advantage of Prime membership or whatever subscription you may have with them.

Truth is though, the TV is rarely used in our home and can be off for months at a time. Video gets piped into our notebook computers.
 
The cheap dongle Sage I believe is referring to is a Chromecast.

There's obviously a ton of free stuff to watch on YouTube and of course, YouTube works great with the Chromecast. Crackle (owned by Sony) has some free content, and IIRC, it works with Chromecast.

Besides the various content from various YouTube stars and the hotbed of randomness that it is, I sometimes find recordings of Star Trek actors on stage at Star Trek conventions (just search on YouTube for star trek convention). There's a long running thread on Tivocommunity "Youtube is the greatest music repository on the net". Pretty much any song you can find a copy of on YouTube, most of it pirated but there are sometimes official (w/music video) like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um7pMggPnug

What's kinda cool about Chromecast is that you can use your phone, tablet or computer w/Chrome browser to make queries then cast the content to your TV.

https://store.google.com/us/product/chromecast_2015_apps?hl=en-US might give you some more ideas.

I believe the Vevo (for music videos)and PBS Video app also support Chromecast.

The Amazon device Sage is referring to is probably the Fire TV Stick.
 
Thanks! The TV already includes YouTube, Netflix, VUDU, Crackle and a few others. VUDU is great for free movies and TV, as they have much better content than Crackle.

I've always watched Vevo content from YouTube. Is there a benefit to getting it elsewhere?

I was really looking for interesting, off-the-beaten-path IPTV content outside of the major ones. I'll look at Chromecast and see what they have. Perhaps I can browse to it from the TV and the site will work directly...
 
Chromecast's model tends to be browse from a phone, tablet or less commonly, a computer then cast it to the TV. Chromecast is like a set top box with no remote control. The 3 devices I mentioned are the remote. This model tends to make it easier to browse than from what TV's often come with: a d-pad (LRUD, left right up down) that makes it very hard and slow to type anything.

The original (2 versions: a slower then faster one) Chromecast looked like a large USB flash drive. The current versions are round with a short cable.

If you subscribe to Amazon Prime, there's a ton of content included for free with that.
 
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