If they ask you the ways you know to watch television today, surely many of you list the antenna cable, the typical one of all life, satellite or streaming. But there is also the IPTV (IP television), a system that uses the Internet and playlists so that you can see our favorite channelseither on a television, computer, smartphone or tablet.
When the IPTV system began to become popular, it seemed that it would be a way of watching television that was going to expand and become a great alternative. However, these predictions did not materialize, even becoming a fraudulent business, since there is currently a black market for IPTV lists pretty wide pirate.
It was not as successful as expected, mainly due to the complex infrastructure it requires, both in terms of bandwidth and improvement of the streaming system itself. Most of the operators have dismissed this technology, remaining in some of those that have their own infrastructure, but only for exceptional cases.
Today it is difficult for this system to be operational again at a global level. since with OTT platforms such as Netflix, HBO or Amazon Prime Video it would be difficult to compete. In addition to that users would not be able to distinguish one system from another.
Currently, IPTV is dedicated more to individuals who know how the entire list system works and take advantage of it to their advantage. We really must distinguish between what is legal IPTV and what is paid, which can be found on the Internet, whose legality is, to say the least, debatable.
All about IPTV:
What is IPTV?
The IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) is a system by which we can watch our favorite television channels via an IPwhich means that we are using the Internet for it.
The way IPTV works is different from that used by streaming platforms such as Netflix or HBO Max. What this system does is reserve part of the bandwidth of the internet connection for its own operation.
This means that will have part of the network busy that we have contracted with our operator. This type of connection makes create a private and direct network between the operator and the userso now you will understand better why part of “our Internet” goes to this system.
What the operator is going to do is compress the video signal and send it to an IP address assigned. For his part, the user must have a decoder that is capable of decompressing and decoding the signal that is received, to be able, in this way, to see the resulting one on television.
The main advantage that the user will have with an IPTV system is that, by having part of his connection exclusively for this system, image quality will always be high and with little chance of signal failure, even if we have many devices connected to our network.
If we talk about the disadvantages, we must include them in practically the same reason. The fact of losing part of the connection that we have contracted will mean that, for the rest of the devices that use the Internet, there will be less speed.
On the other hand, as we have already mentioned, the maintenance cost is high, which means that the service is also more expensive than what we see on streaming platforms, for example.
Not the same as OTT
Although it may seem that we are talking about the same way of working as Amazon Prime Video or DAZN, one of the main OTT platforms today, the truth is that this is not the case.
Services OTT (Over The Top) broadcast all your audio, video and other content through the internet, without occupying exclusively any part of our network and without the intervention of the telephone operator.
These OTT services can be free, as is the case with YouTube, or pay a monthly fee, as is the case with Netflix. Whatever it is, all of these streaming TV services broadcast openly on the internet.
The IPTV lists
Everything we have just seen so far could be called official IPTV, but there is also a part of it that we can consider as non-official.
If you have entered this article to know what the IPTVsurely you have heard somewhere that this is a system that allows a television channel through streaming thanks to their lists.
Well, when we talk about these lists, we are referring to text files that have information to be able to watch different IPTV television channelsas long as we have software prepared for it, either on the computer, on television or on our mobile devices.
The main extensions of these files with IPTV content they are usually m3u, m3u8 or w3ualthough there are some more.
Kodi, the most used software
Although we will continue talking more ahead of the IPTV lists, we must stop at the section of the software we will need to be able to play this type of files.
There are extremely popular streaming software like VLC Media Player, which are compatible with IPTV lists. But there is also IPTV applications such as WisePlay, IPTV Smarters Lite or IPTV Extreme, which are also quite popular.
But if there is one that is above all due to its enormous possibilities for IPTV playback that is Kodi.
With this software we will be able to convert our television, computer or our mobile devices (even for Raspberry) into media centers where we will be able to manage everything that is the IPTV system.
Kodi comes to replace the classic application XBMC (Xbox Media Center) since 2014 and since then it has done nothing but grow in the number of users using this software.
One of the great advantages that Kodi has is that it is open source (GNU/GPL license) so that any knowledgeable user can manipulate it to offer new features or compatibility, something that, for example, Extreme IPTV does not have.
Also, we are talking about a application that is fully modular and that can be managed so that it adapts to our tastes and everything is placed as we want. they will be able change interface themes or place so-called add-onsthat is, new functionalities that we can incorporate to improve the program.
One of these add-ons will allow us to add IPTV television content and channels, incorporate services such as Plex or YouTube, listen to the radio and even use cloud storage systems.
Kodi Pre-Setup
To be able to use Kodi, the most widely used IPTV application today, we just have to download it from its official page.
At the time of entering the download website, two download options will be presented, some called Release, which are the official ones, while the Nightly ones are the ones that are still beta tests.
- Once installed, we open and configure it before seeing how we can incorporate the IPTV lists.
- As it comes in English, it is best to put it in Spanish and for that you have to click on the gear wheel icon that we have on the top left, in order to enter Setting.
- Then we must click on Settings interfacethen click on language and it is the moment in which we must select the Spanish to install it and to change it.
Add Playlists on Kodi
Now let’s see how they can add IPTV lists in m3u formatthe most used file type, in Kodi.
It is much simpler than you can imagine at first:
- The first thing is open kodi and click on the section Add-ons (left part of the screen)
- Let’s go to the section downloads and then to PVR clients.
- Now we must search PVR IPTV Simple Client and click on this option.
- We click on Install, When it has finished installing it will tell us. If we later want to add more lists, we won’t have to do this step.
- When it is installed we enter Setting.
- Here we need to configure our list. In Location we choose remote route (Internet address) and in urls we write the address of our IPTV list.
- After this, click on okay.
- At this time, we must restart kodi for the changes to take effect.
- Once it reopens, we would only have access to TV and then to Channels. When they have all been loaded, we will be able to see the different channels.
The best lists of free TV channels
The IPTV list system could be divided into two parts, those that are free or those provided to us different websites and for which we will have to pay.
Be one or the other, the truth is that the origin of all of them is at least doubtful, since in many cases there can be illegal reproductions of movies or series from streaming platforms or television channels that are paid and, therefore, , that retransmission is not legal.
Both those that are free and those that charge us to use them, usually have from time to time some kind of court or rulingalthough this is not really the most annoying of all, since it may be the case that we have paid for one of these lists, so that after a short time they disappear without prior notice.
Secondly, there are lists on the internet that are totally free and that we can use without having to pay a single euro. Some are well known and highly used by users of the IPTV system.
Several of the best free M3U lists for IPTV in Spain that we can find right now are:
You have to keep in mind that you are free iptv lists can stop working at any time, although being free channels in open (not paid) you should not have problems.
As you have seen, everything related to IPTV is easier to understand than you probably imagined at first.
If your operator still markets IPTV, it can be an excellent way to have television in your home, and if you are going to use it at a private level with lists, you already know how you can do it, in addition to some of the best ways to watch channels free.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism