Welcome to the Info-Comp.ru website! In this material we will talk about IPTV, or rather, I will tell you how to watch IPTV on a computer , what an IPTV playlist is, where to download such a playlist, and how to use it to watch IPTV channels on a computer.
So let's get started. First, a little theory, for those who are new to IPTV.
Definition of IPTV player
IPTV player is a TV broadcast player that was created based on the VLC player. The IPTV player is specially unified for watching IP television.
Key features of the IPTV player:
- Function to record streaming video and audio to file
- Program support in JTV
- View unencrypted Http, Librtmp, rtmp, udp-multicast streams.
- LUA script support
- Search for multicast channels
- Background recording of unlimited number of channels
How to watch IPTV on TV
With the advent of the Smart TV function on TV, it became possible to watch TV programs via the Internet.
LG Smart
Algorithm of actions for viewing IPTV playlists via LG Smart:
- Go to the “App Store” menu by pressing the Home button (with the image of a house) on remote control B.
- Select “Search” (with a magnifying glass) and find the “SS IPTV” application by entering the name in the search bar.
- Download the program, wait for the installation to complete and click “Run”.
- Open the program and go to settings.
- Click “Get Code” and write down the code they give you.
- Download the playlist by following the link and entering the code (recorded) there.
- Select a file and upload a playlist.
- Restart the program.
Video instructions for installing and configuring the “SS IPTV” program.
In addition to the preset playlists, you can create your own, stored in the “Settings” section. Adding external playlists: in the “Content” section – find the one you need – “Add”.
Installing an IPTV player
So, you have downloaded the installer for the IPTV player “IpTvPlayer-setup”. Launch it. The “IPTV Player Installation Wizard” appears in front of you. Here I advise you to check the box next to the line “Select settings and installation folder.”
This will make it possible:
- directly select the location where the IPTV player will be installed,
- create a shortcut on the desktop
- allow all users to use the IPTV player
If you are not going to transmit IPTV over a local network, you don’t have to check the box next to “UDP-to-HTTP Proxy”.
Click next in the field and you will see the “Yandex Programs” window. If these programs are of no use to you, put a dot in front of the line “Setting parameters” and uncheck all the checkboxes that appear below.
Click the next button and again the “Yandex.Browser” window is a program for working on the Internet. If you do not need this program, uncheck the box “Download and install Yandex.Browser”
Afterwards, click the install button - and in a few seconds the program will be installed. You will see the corresponding “Completing the IP-TV Player Installation Wizard” window. Click Finish to exit the installer. The installation is complete and the following shortcut appears on the desktop:
Well-known Internet TV providers
In Russia, you can watch IPTV from the following providers without any problems.
Fun. Service from the national provider Rostelecom. By default, it is available as a bonus to Interactive TV clients, but non-subscribers of the operator can also gain access through the site. To do this, you will need to create a profile and pay for a package of services. Three packages are offered: Starter, Adult and HD. A browser is enough to view.
Torrent TV. The site is known as a torrent television provider. Both free and paid access is possible. Most of the channels are pirated and depend on the distributor, since the system works on the principle of peer-to-peer torrent networks. Channels are often blocked. A paid subscription provides additional features, such as higher priority access, as well as a playlist for IPTV. In this case, you do not have to install additional software, but use regular programs that play playlists. For example, VLC Player.
Homeland of TV. American IPTV provider available all over the world. Subscriptions are offered for a month, three months and a year. To watch on your computer, you can download the proprietary Rodina TV Player, ProgDVB or watch through an online browser. The provider broadcasts a huge number of channels, provides a TV program, allows viewing on several devices, has an archive of programs and a cinema hall.
Picture TV. Another foreign provider. Offers a large number of TV channels with the ability to watch on a computer through a browser or the proprietary KartinaTV Player. Offers a standard set of features: viewing on three devices simultaneously, trial access, parental controls, affiliate program, listening to radio stations, archive of films and TV shows. The Basic package is now available, providing 80 channels without sports and HD channels.
Setting up an IPTV player to watch IP television on a computer
In order to watch IP television using an IPTV player, you need to do the following:
Launch the program “IP-TV Player”. A window for selecting an Internet provider appears in front of you. I advise you to select an empty profile, since your provider may not be in the drop-down list and the IPTV player will not always find the data it needs on the network using the built-in link.
The following window appears in front of you:
As you can see in the upper right corner, “The channel list is empty.” In order to add channels to the IPTV player, you need to add the “M3U” (.m3u) file with a list of channels to the player or specify the address with the list of channels https://. To do this, go to the IPTV player settings (click on the gear).
A menu appears in front of you, in which we put a tick in the “All settings” line.
After which you see the full menu of the IPTV player. Select the “General” tab and the line “Channel list address (M3U file).
If you click on the arrow in this line, a submenu will appear in which we select “Select a file with a list of channels...”
Next, select the file (.m3u) that was previously saved on your computer.
If you click on the arrow in this line, a submenu will appear in which we select “Specify the address of the channel list...”
We enter the address manually or copy a previously saved link. It looks like this:
After you have done the above, your IP television will start
Internet connection diagram.
If your computer is connected directly to the Internet provider's cable, then you are not using intermediate network equipment in the form of a Wi-Fi router. You can immediately begin installing and configuring VLC player. But if you use a Wi-Fi router on your network, make sure that it supports Multicast (IGMP protocol). It should be said that transmitting IPTV via a router via a LAN cable or via Wi-Fi are completely different ways of organizing IP television.
Firstly, it is possible to distribute IPTV over the air without using a set-top box if the signal is not encrypted. Purely theoretically, quite a few routers can be used for wireless transmission of IPTV, but as experienced practitioners say, you can achieve stable operation from a Wi-Fi router with alternative firmware. This is due to the fact that multicast over the air (Wi-Fi) is unstable. I have not yet practiced transmitting IPTV over Wi-Fi, and if you can share your experience, then be sure to drop a few lines in the comments - those reading will be grateful.
From a theoretical point of view, in order to watch IPTV over a wireless Wi-Fi network, you need to activate the WMF (wireless multicast) function in the router. In other words, you need to enable the IGMP Snooping function on your network device, which monitors multicast traffic. Remove encryption from the wireless network, make it open, allocate it to an open group without access to the Internet... In addition, the network device must support udpxy or you will have to use a special UDP to HTTP application to convert the traffic.
One of the IT publications described a test conducted with IPTV over Wi-Fi and, in summing up the results, noted an unstable broadcast (freezing) at a distance of 3 meters with a “break” in the image. I think with the advent of new standards and protocols, this statement is in some ways outdated. Everything is in your hands and the choice between LAN (method and circuit for crimping twisted pair cables without pliers) and Wi-Fi is yours.
Secondly, you should remember that when transmitting IPTV over a wireless network from the source (router) to the client (computer), you may experience video or audio signal lag. However, the quality of transmission depends not only on the equipment, but also on the organization of the wireless network.
Usually, for normal operation of IPTV on a computer, no additional settings need to be made in the network device itself, but this is not always true. As you know, the router must support IPTV and in particular IGMP. This protocol is used to support video streaming and must be enabled in the IPTV router. That is, you must enable multicast routing (IGMP) for VLC player in your router.
During a small experiment, I found that the ASUS router with Asuswrt firmware stubbornly did not want to let IP television onto the computer with default settings, but activating the mentioned function put everything in its place. The same cannot be said about the budget model TP-Link TL-WR741ND, which I unlocked at one time and use to work with another provider. I didn’t enable any options in the control panel (everything is at factory settings), but IPTV and the notorious DLNA work like clockwork. I wrote about connecting a media server to a TV here, here and here.
It would be a good idea to make sure that the antivirus or firewall you use on your computer does not block the IGMP protocol. In some cases, to support IPTV on the router, you need to update the firmware. After the update process, support will be activated automatically. Depending on the router manufacturer, the tab responsible for configuration has different names. For example, in an ASUS router it may be called IPTV, and on a KEENETIC network device it may be called “IP-TV”.
Conclusions about using an IPTV player
IPTV Player, I would characterize as the best software for watching IP television. With IPTV Player the following is possible:
- For each channel, the aspect ratio of the video image (3×4, 16×10, 16×9, etc.) and the number of output audio channels (left channel, right channel, stereo, 5.1, etc.) are adjusted, as well as If there are several audio tracks, you can select the broadcast language
- It is possible to schedule the inclusion and disabling of IPTV Player to record or watch video
- Possibility of simultaneous display of several channels on the screen
- Control the player using keyboard shortcuts, here are some of them:
- F3 – background channel recording
- +/-/* — increase/decrease/original image size
- Enter channel list twice
- Arrows up/down/left/right – move through the player
- On the information window under the video window you can adjust the volume, stop/resume IPTV television playback
And all this is not all the advantages of IPTV Player, a free program that will allow you to comfortably watch TV channels on your computer.
Advantages of IPTV television and types of technology
IPTV technology offers viewing of TV channels via an Internet connection. Among the advantages are the following:
- excellent signal quality, especially in HD quality;
- absence of any interference;
- viewing the desired TV channels, the ability to select them almost individually;
- the ability to pause, repeat and record programs;
- selection of audio track and subtitles;
- regulating access through parental controls;
- the ability to view the program after it ends.
You experience TV on a whole new level. You have the opportunity to independently create a package of your favorite TV channels. In addition, you are not tied to the broadcast time.
There are also several technologies that IPTV operates on. Nowadays, the practice of providing a service by an Internet provider, when you had to download additional software and most often buy a set-top box, has practically disappeared.
Today, teleoperators make life much easier for their clients. To use, you often only need a browser or a proprietary player with the settings already made. You simply enter your account details, select a channel and enjoy watching. Also on specialized forums you can find pirated playlists with a set of TV channels that can be viewed on most video players.
conclusions
IPTV Player is a convenient application for playing media files of any type and format.
Speed of operation, fully Russified menu, convenient location of the navigation panel and settings tabs are the main advantages of the program.
In addition to the standard playback option, the player can perform a huge number of interesting functions.
In particular, in IPTV Player you can:
- Watch any TV channels from all over the world;
- Watch streaming videos or create your own broadcasts;
- Record broadcasts from the Internet.
The player has a lot of worthy analogs that are also worthy of your attention.
One of the most functional is VLC Player.
In addition to the broadcast viewing function, this program will even allow you to edit video, configure your computer as a broadcast server, or apply visual effects to the image on the screen.
Thematic videos:
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About IPTV Player
The IPTV Player application is a convenient player whose main function is to play live broadcasts of channels using the Internet.
Also, the program can play regular videos that are stored on your PC.
IPTV Player is one of the most powerful players for PC and has a built-in codec package. This allows it to support all kinds of formats and encryption/decryption algorithms for media files.
More features:
- Mode for viewing unencrypted protocols. Among them are UDP, HLS HTTP. When receiving video from such servers, the program will continue to work and will not show an error message, as happens with similar players;
- Reading damaged objects. The program easily restores damaged components and allows you to view their contents;
- Listening to lossless audio formats;
- Creation of a server for broadcasting and retransmission of television broadcasts.
Where can I download the player?
We recommend downloading the IPTV player installer exclusively from the BORPAS developer website at https://borpas.info/iptvplayer.
Downloading an installer file from third-party resources may cause your computer to become infected with viruses and other types of malware. Also, on the developer’s website you can always find out the latest information about version history, innovations, support service, or read reviews from other users.
Note that user reviews about the player are positive.
Many note the simple interface, the presence of the Russian language and the display of television broadcast plans for each channel.
The application size is minimal - only 5.8 MB . At the same time, you will not have to download any additional elements other than a list of custom channels.
Downloaded playlists of TV channels are stored in one file and take up no more than a few megabytes of disk space.
Fig.3 – download page
Latest version and innovations
IPTV Player version 49.1 is the newest build of the program to date.
Unlike previous versions of the application, it now has even more functions that make it easier for the user to work with TV channels:
- Simple basic setup;
- Possibility of rapid deployment within any type of home network;
- The ability to configure each TV channel or set general playback parameters for all broadcast stations;
- Record a video stream to a file on your computer without stopping playback;
- Scheduler option. You can create your own lists with queues for watching TV channels, record reminders about your favorite shows or series, and customize their display in the program.
One of the most interesting innovations in build 49.5 was the use of a smartphone as a remote control for broadcasting.
If your phone supports the function of working as a television remote control, you can easily apply this option to the IPTV player. This will allow you to turn your computer into a full-fledged TV or switch channels on your SMART TV if you have created a home network with video playback via IPTV.
Fig.4 – main player window in version 49.1
VLC - analogue of IPTV Player
In addition to IPTV Player, there is another useful program for working with IPTV - this is VLC Player.
It is also distributed free of charge and allows you not only to play any list of channels, but also works as a universal player for any file formats and images that are on your computer.
Using the application, you can record streams, edit videos, trim fragments of the broadcast, and much more.
