Free tv

[NeverHome2]

We went to the Hershey show this past weekend and stopped at a vendor claiming to be able to provide free tv (no cable, no satellite). Of course it was streaming via the internet. They had a box similar to Roku. The vendor was called HEVC Box. One of the big differences was that all the sports channels were absolutely free. Even though the name was HEVC the quality did not seem to be even as good as HD.

We were wondering if anyone has heard of this company and is this legal???

[Bumpyroad]

az99 wrote:
But if you are already paying for it thru your satellite or cable provider and watch it with a different source while you are away, is that illegal or morally wrong?

if it was, why would HBO have HBOgo?
bumpy

[az99]

But if you are already paying for it thru your satellite or cable provider and watch it with a different source while you are away, is that illegal or morally wrong?

[NeverHome2]

Thanks everyone who has posted. It is all very informative but the question was one of legality. We am aware of the abilities of Roku, Amazaon Fire TV, etc. As creeper said, it is not a KODI issue. Software is only a medium. The issue is that broadcasting sports shows on some devices may or may NOT be free. There are copyrighted laws and other infringements that HEVC Box seems to be in violation of. In simple terms, it is almost like copying a book and then selling the copy as an original.

[8_1_Van]

quartzster wrote:
This is a 4k box like dozens of others only way more expensive. It runs Kodi like the previous poster said.

There is nothing special about this box than dozens of others.

The only 4K box I know of is the Nvidia SHIELD and the new Amazon Fire TV.


top TV boxes comparison chart



Amazon Fire TV with 4K

[az99]

Kodi is not the bad guy. It is actually a very nice media center for all your music,pictures and video files.

There are also a ton of addons that have all types of shows concerts etc.

If you believe it is illegal to watch HBO,new movies,networks etc. with an IPTV addon, don't load that addon. Or delete it if you mistakenly load it.

It will be interesting to see where this new technology goes legally. This is worldwide now.

[bwanshoom]

creeper wrote:

Running Kodi is not the problem, there is no content from Kodi. The add ons from repositories it where it gets illegal and channels will often disappear. The sports add on was hammered. You can still find all the games, but it's not near clear enough.

I just put Kodi on an Amazon TV stick. $40.

Oh, I'm not complaining about the fact that they run Kodi. I'm complaining about the fact that they're running it on an old version of Android on a set top box and charging $300 for it. Jeez, the top end Apple TV only costs $200 and Rokus can be had for 1/3 that price.

[hawkeye-08]

qtla9111 wrote:
If you're talking about live-stream, there is free television. I have been watching television via UsTvnow.com I get five channels; ABC, CBS, NBD, PBS, and CW. You can upgrade but they have never asked me to or forced me to sign up for more. We haven't had cable at home for a couple of years as we watch local Mexican and national news.

Only for US citizens outside US. I just signed up and it does not let me watch TV because it detected I am in US

[OutdoorPhotogra]

Dish has sling service now for about $20/month with a decent selection of channels but you won't get NFL games. Do think you get Golf Channel. I have FIOS and can validate that subscription on a Roku to stream a good selection of channels including the ESPN channels.

[wa8yxm]

Yes you can stream TV via a box, or your laptop or your cell phone.

For reasonable picture quality you are generally looking at about 1 GIG of bandwidth every hour.. Ok, AT&T now offers a 15 Gig (per month) plan for the cost of a 10 Gig plan... Now think about this.

Park Wi-Fi is overloaded already and mostly because of video streamers.

So.. I would avoid such thing as that box.

[creeper]

bwanshoom wrote:
They should be prosecuted just for selling an Android STB running Kodi for $300. That's criminal.

Running Kodi is not the problem, there is no content from Kodi. The add ons from repositories it where it gets illegal and channels will often disappear. The sports add on was hammered. You can still find all the games, but it's not near clear enough.

I just put Kodi on an Amazon TV stick. $40.

[Bumpyroad]

I can watch HBO Go on my roku, since I have that programming at my S&B.
bumpy

[NeverHome2]

Thanks everyone. This is exactly what we thought. Thanks for the AEREO example. I read thru some of the Supreme Court's decision. With technology advancing sometimes there is a delay for the laws and legal definitions to catch up.

We are still planning to cut the proverbial cable soon but undecided when. Hopefully Nascar and other sports will see the trend and provide a low cost way for us to stream the games live (or close to live).

[bwanshoom]

They should be prosecuted just for selling an Android STB running Kodi for $300. That's criminal.

[SCVJeff]

bwanshoom wrote:
There is no free stream or broadcast available of every NFL football game. There are complicated rules on which games are available over the air in certain markets and out of town games are only available via the Sunday Ticket package which is an exclusive offering of DirectTv and is most certainly *not* free.

The HEVC people are selling you a bill of goods regarding the availability of free content via the Internet, at least legal content.

Exactly... They just haven't been caught yet. There was another company recently shut down called AEREO that was providing OTA streaming in certain markets for fee, but were not paying retrans fees to the broadcasters as well as violating copyrights. They were high profile (Barry Diller was involved), easy to find, and when the broadcasters filed on them the courts ruled shut them down. These guys are flying under the radar and its just a matter of time before they're done as well.

[bwanshoom]

There is no free stream or broadcast available of every NFL football game. There are complicated rules on which games are available over the air in certain markets and out of town games are only available via the Sunday Ticket package which is an exclusive offering of DirectTv and is most certainly *not* free.

The HEVC people are selling you a bill of goods regarding the availability of free content via the Internet, at least legal content.