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Thread: Kodi & Sky

  1. #1
    Craftsman
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    Kodi & Sky

    Having read about Kodi and being a Sky subscriber, I'm interested to know has anyone replaced Sky completely?
    I have all the sports channels on Sky and watch a few movies and a few documentaries every month. Will Kodi be a complete replacement?
    Cheers all

  2. #2
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    I believe Kodi can be a replacement if you're willing to sacrifice the slick UI of Sky.

    Personally it's not for me. I have it installed on a firestick but haven't used it for an age. I read ISPs are clamping down on Kodi usage for streaming TV, what the punishment was I'm not sure.

  3. #3
    Grand Master
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    i'd like to know too! currently deciding whether to let the sky subscription, which i have given notice on, expire or give in and sign up to one of the discounted deals. i currently have the sky plus hd family pack but no sports or movies.
    ktmog6uk
    marchingontogether!



  4. #4
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    I'll also add most things we watch are on channels available via freeview anyway and Amazon prime covers the kids TV needs. I don't know why we bother with it

  5. #5
    Master thegoat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by PaulSim View Post
    Having read about Kodi and being a Sky subscriber, I'm interested to know has anyone replaced Sky completely?
    I have all the sports channels on Sky and watch a few movies and a few documentaries every month. Will Kodi be a complete replacement?
    Cheers all
    No, it's not a substitute for Sky. The sports are hit and miss . It does have its plus points but it's also a legal minefield.

  6. #6
    Grand Master TaketheCannoli's Avatar
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    Kodi's a ballache and I'd never use it to replace Sky. However, Super-Plex can easily replace Sky if you can live without record. If you can't then you need Super-Plex subscription with a zgemma box for the whole experience.

  7. #7
    Master subseastu's Avatar
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    There was a thread on this recently if you do a search. There are paid providers that stream sports.

    Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

  8. #8
    Grand Master JasonM's Avatar
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    NowTv Sky sports package would take care of that cheaply.
    Cheers..
    Jase

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by PaulSim View Post
    Having read about Kodi and being a Sky subscriber, I'm interested to know has anyone replaced Sky completely?
    I have all the sports channels on Sky and watch a few movies and a few documentaries every month. Will Kodi be a complete replacement?
    Cheers all
    Are you intending to use Kodi to access Sky channels? If you are you will be doing so illegally.

  10. #10
    Master -Ally-'s Avatar
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    I've no interest in sports but my partners dad ditched his Sky Sports sub for Kodi but is now wanting it back as the streams are either not reliable or poor quality. Unless anyone has any advice on this ?

  11. #11
    Grand Master TaketheCannoli's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by -Ally- View Post
    I've no interest in sports but my partners dad ditched his Sky Sports sub for Kodi but is now wanting it back as the streams are either not reliable or poor quality. Unless anyone has any advice on this ?
    That's the problem with Kodi.

    He needs a paid for service like Sportsmania or Super Plex, they're managed 24/7 and everything's on all the time and in the same place every time.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by TaketheCannoli View Post
    That's the problem with Kodi.

    He needs a paid for service like Sportsmania or Super Plex, they're managed 24/7 and everything's on all the time and in the same place every time.
    You mean to say there are services around which you can pay to help you to pirate subscription channels? That's just bizarre.

  13. #13
    Master Tony's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by -Ally- View Post
    I've no interest in sports but my partners dad ditched his Sky Sports sub for Kodi but is now wanting it back as the streams are either not reliable or poor quality. Unless anyone has any advice on this ?
    No advice - he's right. It's hit and miss.

    Unrelated, but I love the way a lot of people gets so self-righteous about copyright theft in regard to watches but think it's okay to steal telly, films and music.

  14. #14
    Master jimp's Avatar
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    Tried firestick with kodi twice, pain in the ass, i have fibre optic at very good speed, too much buffering and shit quality, wont try again.

  15. #15
    Master -Ally-'s Avatar
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    You must be doing something wrong Jimp, never once had a buffering issue with Firestick and Fibre.

  16. #16
    Grand Master Chris_in_the_UK's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tony View Post
    No advice - he's right. It's hit and miss.

    Unrelated, but I love the way a lot of people gets so self-righteous about copyright theft in regard to watches but think it's okay to steal telly, films and music.
    It's not (in my book).
    When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........

  17. #17
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    Finding a decent stream can be very hit and miss. Or it might vanish part way through. But that is the price you err... don't pay. Guy at work swears by Mobdro on his phone stream via Chromecast to his tv. From what he showed me it seems to be a lot more searchable for a specific event rather than a random channel hunt.

  18. #18
    Master alfat33's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Phil Lee View Post
    You mean to say there are services around which you can pay to help you to pirate subscription channels? That's just bizarre.
    Sadly that is the business model at the heart of these 'services'. They steal copyrighted content made/owned by someone else like Sky/Discovery/a film studio, then sell it (via subscription or advertising-funded) to people prepared to pay the criminals rather than the actual owners, because it's cheaper. A lot of money is being made.

    Platforms like Kodi are fine in themselves, and there are services available through Kodi that are completely legitimate and just convenient.

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by jimp View Post
    Tried firestick with kodi twice, pain in the ass, i have fibre optic at very good speed, too much buffering and shit quality, wont try again.
    It's generally the repository you've connected to which is laggy - normally due to too many people hitting that server at the same time.

  20. #20
    Grand Master Seamaster73's Avatar
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    What's our current thinking on fake watches, anyway?

  21. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by alfat33 View Post
    Platforms like Kodi are fine in themselves, and there are services available through Kodi that are completely legitimate and just convenient.
    Indeed, someone has probably used Pirate Bay for a legitimate purpose too.

  22. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Seamaster73 View Post
    What's our current thinking on fake watches, anyway?
    Indeed. It would be nice if all those asking how to avoid paying for subscription content go and ask their questions on a Kodi-related website rather than here. That way they can pick up advice, and hopefully some nice malware to knacker their PC.

  23. #23
    Grand Master hogthrob's Avatar
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    Damn you, copyright and intellectual property theft. Now I'm all conflicted about whether I should go and see Sarah Jayne's "The Dolly Parton Experience".

  24. #24
    Craftsman Gromdal's Avatar
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    Honestly, I had Kodi for a bit on a jailbroken Apple TV2 - streams were atrocious and between Amazon Prime and Netflix I've had no need to go back to it. As for films, never really watch them anyway and anything of interest I go to the cinema for. That said, I still have a TiVo box and Virgin's M package TV because it works out at about £3 a month more than just having broadband only given that I've been with them for so long now. Frankly the one thing pushing me away at the moment is the frankly ridiculous line rental charges - up nearly 100% in 7 years from a tenner a month to 19.

  25. #25
    Grand Master markrlondon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kingstepper View Post
    Indeed, someone has probably used Pirate Bay for a legitimate purpose too.
    If you're being sarcastic, let me say that XBMC/Kodi is entirely legitimate software. It's essentially just a media player. As I mentioned in another thread, as an example of the widespread legitimate use of Kodi, I and thousands of others legally use it as a front end for viewing and time shifting tv.

    What others do with it is entirely out of the control of the developers: They rigidly oppose misuse of their software but since it is free and open source software and not a service there is nothing they can do. There is nothing about Kodi that encourages intellectual property rights infringements; if it wasn't Kodi it would be some other software.

    And as for the The Pirate Bay, I seem to recall that more than one band has willingly distributed its music via TPB.

    For the absolute avoidance of doubt, I am not condoning intellectual property rights infringement. I am merely pointing out that Kodi is not the problem. It's just software that, like Windows or Linux, can be used for any purpose, legal or illegal, for good or ill.

  26. #26
    Master alfat33's Avatar
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    Yes, Kodi is legal software. It is some of the independently written plugins that support illegal activity.

    FWIW, some of the bands that make the most noise about giving music to the fans for free, are the most ardent when it comes to pursuing their record company for royalties.

  27. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by markrlondon View Post
    If you're being sarcastic, let me say that XBMC/Kodi is entirely legitimate software. It's essentially just a media player. As I mentioned in another thread, as an example of the widespread legitimate use of Kodi, I and thousands of others legally use it as a front end for viewing and time shifting tv.

    What others do with it is entirely out of the control of the developers: They rigidly oppose misuse of their software but since it is free and open source software and not a service there is nothing they can do. There is nothing about Kodi that encourages intellectual property rights infringements; if it wasn't Kodi it would be some other software.

    And as for the The Pirate Bay, I seem to recall that more than one band has willingly distributed its music via TPB.

    For the absolute avoidance of doubt, I am not condoning intellectual property rights infringement. I am merely pointing out that Kodi is not the problem. It's just software that, like Windows or Linux, can be used for any purpose, legal or illegal, for good or ill.
    Yes, sarcastic!

    I dare say you use it for legitimate purpose but imagine you are in the minority (like the band on Pirate Bay) and the developers will no doubt say what they do.

    Just seems whenever it crops up on TZ it's in relation to someone getting free Sky or sport or whatever.

  28. #28
    Grand Master markrlondon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kingstepper View Post
    I dare say you use it for legitimate purpose but imagine you are in the minority
    So what, even if true? That doesn't change the nature of Kodi. It's used for whatever people use it for. The problem is the people.

    Quote Originally Posted by Kingstepper View Post
    the developers will no doubt say what they do.
    Are you actually familiar with Kodi and the community around it (not the community of illegal plugin developers but the actual Kodi community)? The devs are telling the truth.

    Quote Originally Posted by Kingstepper View Post
    Just seems whenever it crops up on TZ it's in relation to someone getting free Sky or sport or whatever.
    That's the nature of people. Kodi itself is still not the problem.

    Kodi was hugely popular before it was used for illegal streaming. The streaming plugins were developed because Kodi was hugely (and legitimately) popular, not the other way round.


    Those people who have only heard of Kodi more recently because it and certain plugins are used for illegal streaming are seeing things from a distorted, limited and misleading angle. There is far more to it than misuse and there always was.

    Your sarcasm is not warranted when the situation is more fully understood. You might as well make the same comments about Windows itself.
    Last edited by markrlondon; 2nd February 2017 at 16:50.

  29. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by -Ally- View Post
    You must be doing something wrong Jimp, never once had a buffering issue with Firestick and Fibre.

    You need to take in to account that the reception won't be great from inside an 8 man tactical tent.

  30. #30
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    Wasn't it originally for XBox to use as an interface to watch TV etc? XBOX Media Centre?

  31. #31
    Grand Master markrlondon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SteveR View Post
    Wasn't it originally for XBox to use as an interface to watch TV etc? XBOX Media Centre?
    Yes, a long time ago.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodi_%...are%29#History

  32. #32
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    Kodi's worth depends a lot on what your viewing habits are and the hardware you use to run it.
    Underpowered 'android boxes' seem to cause more problems than they solve with the exception of the nvidia shield.
    If you want to watch live tv (sports, specialist news, etc.) then traditional subscription style services would be a better bet. If you want to watch TV that is either not brought to the UK or brought here far later than it's country of origin then it's really rather good.

    Certain things also make the experience run smoother, a debrid service (no idea what this actually does just that buffering and dead streams happen far less), trakt for keeping track of what you want to watch (a bit like sky planner) and a VPN if you are paranoid about your usage. I doubt you'd actually save much money over a full on sky subscription but if you want to watch an old tv series like automan, the bionic man or threshold you can.

  33. #33
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    Mark, forgive the dumb question but what do you mean by time shifting TV?!

  34. #34
    Craftsman Gromdal's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SteveR View Post
    Mark, forgive the dumb question but what do you mean by time shifting TV?!
    Recording on a box and watching it back later, or catch up services such as iplayer etc.

  35. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gromdal View Post
    Recording on a box and watching it back later, or catch up services such as iplayer etc.
    So do you link that to your proper account to prove it's not illegally streaming? eg. you may not have a TV license etc? or is the fact you're doing nothing wrong enough?

  36. #36
    Quote Originally Posted by Phil Lee View Post
    Are you intending to use Kodi to access Sky channels? If you are you will be doing so illegally.
    Yawn

  37. #37
    Quote Originally Posted by ktmog6uk View Post
    i'd like to know too! currently deciding whether to let the sky subscription, which i have given notice on, expire or give in and sign up to one of the discounted deals. i currently have the sky plus hd family pack but no sports or movies.

    Let it expire
    Tell them you can't afford it
    I told them I hardly watch it
    They let me have everything except movies for £14-60 a month

    Yep
    No had which doesn't bother me


    I have a fire stick it's ok for what I need at times

  38. #38
    Grand Master TaketheCannoli's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sweepinghand View Post
    Yawn
    Yep, super-yawn.

  39. #39
    Quote Originally Posted by Seamaster73 View Post
    What's our current thinking on fake watches, anyway?
    Anything with a "TV" dial will be fine.

  40. #40
    Craftsman Gestarp's Avatar
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    If you're living in the European Union there is nothing illegal about streaming movies or tv shows though Kodi

  41. #41
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gestarp View Post
    If you're living in the European Union there is nothing illegal about streaming movies or tv shows though Kodi

    Hmmmm...

  42. #42
    Craftsman Gestarp's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SteveR View Post
    Hmmmm...

    http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/feature/p...es-tv-3640854/

  43. #43
    Master alfat33's Avatar
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    Indeed. To quote from the article (which is regularly cited in these discussions):

    'Of course, the owners and operators of the streaming services which make this copyright protected content available are breaking the law and can be prosecuted, but as a viewer and streamer you are not breaking any European law.'

    So you aren't breaking the law. Only the people providing the service you are watching are.

  44. #44
    Master -Ally-'s Avatar
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    Good to know. Perhaps the "Kodi is illegal,copyright theft" mob will give it a rest now.

  45. #45
    Doesn't make it right.

  46. #46
    Grand Master markrlondon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SteveR View Post
    Mark, forgive the dumb question but what do you mean by time shifting TV?!
    As Gromdal said, recording to view later as with a PVR (time shifting is what a PVR does), catch up tv, or what we used to do with VCRs.

    Quote Originally Posted by SteveR View Post
    So do you link that to your proper account to prove it's not illegally streaming? eg. you may not have a TV license etc? or is the fact you're doing nothing wrong enough?
    It's exactly the same in principle as using a PVR. There is nothing to prove to anyone. I don't have any account with Freeview. ;-)

    Technically I use Kodi as the front end for viewing, for accessing EPG and for managing PVR aspects, then TVheadend as the back end on a server, and two USB DVB-T decoders to get the signal into the server. I could add more USB decoders to be able to handle more concurrent channels.
    Last edited by markrlondon; 2nd February 2017 at 23:01.

  47. #47
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    Ah cool. So I could essentially get freeview with EPG etc on Kodi as I have it installed on a firestick on the kitchen TV?

  48. #48
    Grand Master markrlondon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SteveR View Post
    Ah cool. So I could essentially get freeview with EPG etc on Kodi as I have it installed on a firestick on the kitchen TV?
    No and yes.

    "No" because, as far as I can see in that configuration, the Fire Stick has no way to access the Freeview EPG. The Freeview signal will be going into the tv, not into the Fire Stick.

    "Yes" because you could probably do it with extra hardware. Since you can't add a tv decoder directly to the Fire Stick, you'd need to set up a Linux PC somewhere else running TVHeadend with one or more Freeview decoders attached to it. Kodi on the Fire Stick would then stream from the TVHeaded server. If the tv already has a Freeview decoder then there'd be no point doing all this as you'd just be duplicating the tv's Freeview functionality, unless the tv lacks a built in PVR and you want to use the PVR functionality of Kodi/TVHeadend.

  49. #49
    Grand Master Seamaster73's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by -Ally- View Post
    Good to know. Perhaps the "Kodi is illegal,copyright theft" mob will give it a rest now.
    Like buying a fake watch, I suppose. The maker of the watch broke the law, not the purchaser. The purchaser's still a shabby chancer, though.

  50. #50
    I installed it and had a play and was massively underwhelmed. I couldn't find a decent quality stream for anything.

    I just use the usual on demand stuff now - watching Kodi was like watching through treacle. I'd rather not bother than watch something so compromised.

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