NTV every cloud has a silver lining

[branscombe]

I like many subscribed to NTV. Being a swallow spending 3 months a year here I used to pay monthly. Nearly £30 a month.
Since NTV are no longer around I checked on EBay if there were alternatives. I have a mag250 box and by searching on eBay IPTV there are hundreds of options. I took a six month plan for £12 and now have a better service than I had with NTV. It has the same style menu but more options. Also has videos on demand with hundreds of movies. Watched the football last night with only a slight stutter at one point but appears to be very stable.

When you pay on eBay you have to give them the MAC address of your mag box or amazon stick and away you go. It works with other systems also.

Anyway, thought I’d post this and anyone interested can search IPTV on eBay and see what you think.

I’m delighted with mine.

[Jonnie]

I bought a firestick and a VPN package and have not looked back either!

[sally4670]

Can i ask - what is probably a silly Q, - how do you put it on a firestick ?

[iv_cyprus]

I like many subscribed to NTV. Being a swallow spending 3 months a year here I used to pay monthly. Nearly £30 a month.
Since NTV are no longer around I checked on EBay if there were alternatives. I have a mag250 box and by searching on eBay IPTV there are hundreds of options. I took a six month plan for £12 and now have a better service than I had with NTV. It has the same style menu but more options. Also has videos on demand with hundreds of movies. Watched the football last night with only a slight stutter at one point but appears to be very stable.

When you pay on eBay you have to give them the MAC address of your mag box or amazon stick and away you go. It works with other systems also.

Anyway, thought I’d post this and anyone interested can search IPTV on eBay and see what you think.

I’m delighted with mine.

On ebay you can never get an iptv service with the channel set which NTV was offering. Yeah, with a firestick, you can get the free-to-air channels such as BBC, ITV, Channel4, etc....but no Sky Movies or Sky Sports, simply because they are unlicensed and cannot be sold on ebay/amazon (since in TRNC there is no law against piracy - NTV was able to provide these channels for its subscribers). Best of luck though.

[Jonnie]

Can i ask - what is probably a silly Q, - how do you put it on a firestick ?

Not sure what "It" is.

Look up amazon fire stick

Look at them on ebay with Mobdro and Kodi on them

Subscribe to stream via (Google) This is a vpn which will allow you to watch BBC player

[Groucho]

Two men selling fully load Mag boxes just got 2 years in chokey and several big APK lists have ceased to exist.

[sally4670]

"it" is the IPTV that the OP was talking about. Being a non teccy i do not know how to put things onto my amazon firestick (which i have not used for some time). I do not know if i need to put a program on the stick so that the "it" (IPTV) works or if i just sign up to one of the links on ebay. I understand about VPN as i already have one on my PC/TV (not same TV as will be used for Firestick) do i also need to put one on the Firestick,
Sorry questions questions !!!!
TIA

[branscombe]

I’ve Cyprus, the IPTV package I got of EBay is almost identical to what I had with NTV It has all the sky channels, 3pm football and much much more. For the equivalent of £2 a month I’m well pleased. Watched the England match last night with no issues.

May not be for everyone but up to now I’m delighted.

[Sallywebstersnipples]

I’ve Cyprus, the IPTV package I got of EBay is almost identical to what I had with NTV It has all the sky channels, 3pm football and much much more. For the equivalent of £2 a month I’m well pleased. Watched the England match last night with no issues.

May not be for everyone but up to now I’m delighted.

Hi, can you please msg details of the company you use.

Thanks.

[Jonnie]

"it" is the IPTV that the OP was talking about. Being a non teccy i do not know how to put things onto my amazon firestick (which i have not used for some time). I do not know if i need to put a program on the stick so that the "it" (IPTV) works or if i just sign up to one of the links on ebay. I understand about VPN as i already have one on my PC/TV (not same TV as will be used for Firestick) do i also need to put one on the Firestick,
Sorry questions questions !!!!
TIA

In my answer I explained what comes with the firestick and all I required to make all the channels including BBC work here ie stream via.

Buy firestick on ebay with Kodi and Mobdro on it. Get it here and add stream via sign up for that on stream via.

This is if you are going the firestick route, I do not speak for other systems.

[waddo]

Branscombe, I sent you a PM.

[branscombe]

Hi Waddo

I have replied, hope it helps.

[cmorris242]

Hi all,

NTV is no more but there are dozens of alternatives - I know because I've tried about 6 of them complete with VPNs over the past 8 weeks and now I'm at the end of my tether.

If I use my MAG256 stb at my friends house it works perfectly - he is not on Multimax. When I use the box at my house on a Multimax network, it is totally 'flaky' with buffering and stuttering all over the place until ....... perfect. Alas no, it fails again within an hour and becomes completely unwatchable.

I also proved that the default Multimax Domain Name Server (DNS) had lost it's entry for my current tv system of EZIPTV making it impossible to connect to the EZIPTV portal. This situation occurred if the stb was rebooted for some reason as it then had to visit the DNS to obtain the real address of EZIPTV. I circumvented this problem by using the Google DNS server to resolve the IP address and - all good. Alas this has very little to do with the fact that my TV streams are breaking up all over the place.

You may conclude that the issue is obviously within my house or within MMAX however, the problem occurs even when the broadband connection is straight into the stb so I think I can eliminate anything that I'm responsible for.

So far, Multimax have tested my 'on-net' speed and find it acceptable - I'm currently in discussions with them as to what more they can do to help. Curiously, whenever I have problems (which is most of the time) and I conduct both on-net and off-net speed tests I find that the speed is way down low with ping times being equally poor.

I'd be grateful for any advice from anyone but Is anyone else having similar problems (I'm in the Esentepe area).

Side request - can anyone recommend an IPTV provider who are at least as good as and as comprehensive as NTV?

Thanks in anticipation.

[Geoff1131]

Hi cmorris242 i also live in the Esentepe area, am also with MM and also use Eziptv. And guess what?? i also have the same problems that you have. The only time during the day that the tv is watchable is first thing in the morning when i have BBC news on. After that it is buffering and turning itself off all day long. Football is unwatchable. Tv is unwatchable as half the program is missed.NTV was bad but never this bad. I am thinking that the problem is with the internet as my computer is also not as fast to do things as it was. But i dont expect MM will agree.


Geoff.

[Groucho]

Our speeds in Esentepe are rubbish, they have been for days - and I can't raise a ticket with MM because upon submission the site just goes "Error 500" - "Multimax can't handle your request"

[Navek]

Hi cmorris242 & Geoff1131,

You'll never guess what.
We're in Esentepe, with MM and got a new IPTV supplier.
We have got exactly the same problems as you've described.

After NTV, which ran fine for us,
we subscribed to another IPTV supplier,
https://www.premiumiptvco.com
Free Trial...
Premiumiptvco.com IPTV
https://www.premiumiptvco.com/request-a-trial-account/
which has a better quality picture and more TV channels.
With lots of channels with catch up too.
At first all was OK, then BUFFERING etc.

No doubt there are others out there with the same problems,
being told their Internet is OK.
Then buying new equipment, to try to eliminate their problems.

As far as I can see, this is an ISP problem.
They do tests, then tell you all is OK, OK for what?
Certainly not for what we want to use it for.
We have reported this problem, 3 weeks ago, no change here
Was advised to get paid for VPN.
Bought VPN, Only for BBC & ITV not much better.
Speed Test at 09:13 today.

https://www.nperf.com/en/

Until the "NEW" faster & cheaper internet arrives,
it would appear that we're up the creek without a paddle

I don't know why, when we have problems,
we or our ISP can't run a test of some sort,
that will show exactly where the problem is?
Then fix it, once and for all.
How much would this TEST cost Us or the ISP?

Does anyone out there have ANY better options?
If so, please post.

[potash]

Good morning
i have been supplying iptv for 6 years i have had 2 customer in cyprus for 2 years and they have recommended me to others there since NTV closed. your internet there is to say the least not to good but will allow you to view sd channels you have no chance of getting HD.The trouble you have there is your internet supplier could be throttling you back as they know you have a mag box plugged in. if you connect your box to wifi instead of ethernet it could solve some of your problems for mag box you need a usb wifi RT5370 chipset as normal usb wont work you can get them of ebay or amazon they are cheap. you don't need a vpn my portal works on mag box, android tv. android box. fire stick . if you would like any more information please pm me .

potash

[erol]

Was advised to get paid for VPN.
Bought VPN, Only for BBC & ITV not much better.

Hi Navek. As you know I spent considerable time working with you to try and get to the bottom of your problems.

My understanding was that when you were watching the world cup football, using the vpn / bbc or itv direct setup the result were vastly better than watching the same via your IPTV service ? It seems now you are saying something different from when I last spoke with you ? If it is the case that now itv / bbc direct via vpn service is also performing as badly as your IPTV service then you do need to let me know this is the case if I am to have any chance of establishing if there is anything MM can do to rectify this for you.

[waddo]

OK, time to share. Maybe this will help and maybe not but it is all information and bits maybe helpful. No apologies for the length of the post - it is what it is! I am an ex RAF Communicator and ex MOD IT Network Manager, been doing this stuff since I was 17 and packed it all in for good when I was 60 so have learnt and forgotten quite a lot. To make it plain to those in the know, I was a Peanut/Tape Ape/Monkey (RAF speak for operator) and not a Nail bender (RAF Speak for technician), thing is I was a Telegraphist which entailed a minimum of 18 months of training to start with and we learnt everything - from generators to HF Transmitters to morse code to Murray Code (what? - 5 Unit Tape) to aerials and then onwards to things like Chirp Sounders and Satellite systems - touched a bit of everything! As MOD IT Network Manager I took all the exams and collected the paperwork to prove I had the knowledge (to pass the tests) and therefore to be classed as an IT Expert in Novell, Microsoft, Cobal and Unix - I have chucked them all away now and could not program in Cobal if my life depended on it - who cares? Nobody cares but it is just background info so you can be aware that I am not just a dim key presser!

Here, in glorious retirement, I run two Acer Revo RL80's, an Apple Mac Mini 4 and a very old PC that I built out of spare bits - it still works but like me it is very slow and aged. I run, on my home network, Linux Mint 17, Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Mac OS High Sierra Ver 10.13.5, obviously not all at the same time. My systems have SSD drives in some and RAM variants of between 4 and 8Gb - my favourite is the Mac. I do have other things attached to my network like a NAS (WD My Cloud) for storage and backup and a neat and cheap HP Deskjet 2545 which allows me to print wirelessly from any of my devices.

My ISP is MM and my IPTV is provided by IPTV Shop, a company I found on the Internet that seemed to me to tick all the boxes that I required. Firstly it did not require me to have a minimum download speed of 10 or 20 Mbps like most of them do, it required 4 Mbps only, which as we all know is "adequate" for IPTV but that if you have faster it will reduce buffering etc. Like everyone else I mourned the loss of NTV - primarily because I lost Sky Sports F1 - and started to search for alternatives. Kodi, I already had but it was very hit and miss. I loaded the Android emulator on to my kit and installed Mobdro, again hit and miss but easier than Kodi. I had previously tried Android boxes and never had any success - old age was my excuse to not want to learn how to use them properly - lol. Then I researched IPTV a bit more deeply and decided that was the way to go, more research led me to my IPTV supplier and further research has also led me to a MAG Box 256 w2 (which arrives next month along with an Amazon Fire Stick- don't ask about the Fire Stick, ordered after a beer too far!

6 days ago I purchased IPTV for 3 months at a cost of 30 Euros - 60 Euros would have given me a 12 month contract but I wanted a good long test first. 5 days ago I received my M3U subscription URL and setup my IPTV on my Win 7 box, easy to do but not very good with stuttering and buffering and jumping from program to program - not happy but be like Percy and veare!!! First check the download speed = 7 Mbps most of the time - hmmmm. Got onto MM help desk and asked what speeds should I normally see. Surprise, help desk said MM only guarantee 4 Mbps download but it can be higher. Explained what I was doing to the VERY helpful lady on the desk and that I normally received between 10 and 25 Mbps where I live. She said they would look into it and I said I would keep in touch. Within 30 minutes my download speed had hit 21 Mbps and by and large has not dropped below 10 Mbps since then! I do understand that lots of things effect download speeds and my best advice is to keep an eye on your own download speed, should it suddenly drop and stay down, be nice about it and ask if there are any problems either with the network or that are visible to the help desk from your end. Put yourself in the help desk seat, it is the worst job in the world and treat them with respect and humour as well!

Anyway, things started to improve a little but not much. Got onto IPTV Shop Help Desk (it's in the USA) and talked to them, we went back and forwards for about two hours till I suggested that maybe the 6000 channels they had given me access to was a little to much. No problems they said, tell us what you want and we will tailor the channels to your requirements. I did, they did, now I have all UK channels - too many - all USA channels - too many - and a good handful of Turkish channels only. My system works fine but could still do with a trim down of channels to make it work better.

Bottom line here is that I feel - I think - that a lot of IPTV suppliers sell their wares by the quantity of channels you are getting! I don't need 6000 nor even 2000, probably around 200 would fit the bill. Having reduced the channels my system worked very well - why? Not being a Nail Bender I do not know the technical reason but suspect that if you view the ISP supplied internet connection as a 25cm pipe and you try to stuff 75cm worth of data down it, then it is not going to work too well - whereas, if you only stuff 20cm worth of data down it then you should live a much easier life.

There it is, happy to discuss, technical or not, don't fix peoples PC's, Laptops or printers anymore so don't ask but always around to try to be helpful. Oh, I sometimes use the MM VPN but mainly don't bother as I - as in the TRNC - don't exist anyway - lol. Have a great life people.

[waddo]

Branscombe,

Sorry I forgot to reply, thank you for the information. I contacted them and asked them questions, but they did not really wish to reply with answers so I never took it any further. Went with a different supplier in the end. Thanks again.

[branscombe]

No problem waddo, I am still delighted with the service I have and to be honest for £12.99 for six months it isn't taking much of a risk.

[waddo]

branscombe, I think a lot depends upon the quality and amount of servers the IPTV supplier uses and of course the number of subscribers they have, maybe the larger suppliers will fade due to over subscription where the smaller ones will thrive if they do not become greedy - who really knows? Once I have my MAG Box up and running and tested I will post again with results whilst I search the Internet for other suppliers. Like you I did not think that £26 for even 3 months service was much of a risk as I had been paying £33 for similar service with NTV, it is a growth industry for sure and I will always go for one that provides fast and efficient help desk facilities. Much better to find out how and why there are problems and to be able to fix them or not quickly than to sit and steam because it won't work and you can't contact the supplier - the main reason I looked elsewhere. Thanks for the help and good luck with your service, pleased you found one you are happy with.

[Navek]

"Hi Navek. As you know I spent considerable time working with you to try and get to the bottom of your problems."

Hi Erol,
Yes you did help us a lot with the VPN/Streamvia set up
for BBC & ITV player.
Thank you for your time and effort.
I only needed it for the World Cup.
As you can appreciate, that was only a short term fix for our long term problem, not a solution.

We watch, Sky Living, Sky Sports, BT Sports, Eurosport etc.
The VPN/Streamvia does not cover them, so when the World Cup finished,
it was back to normal viewing, Documentaries, Soaps, F1, Moto GP, Speedway, Darts, Pool etc,
and trying to use catch up.

We now have to watch these channels via "FREE" Mobdro, Terrarium and Kodi,
as we have not renewed our €18 per month IPTV subscription,
which was very good, when it did run,
as it was unwatchable, even the catch up was unwatchable,
day and night, intermittently.

After reading waddo's post above, there may be a solution,
but that means subscribing to an IPTV that I know will not run under the present settings!

It also appears that other Esentepe residents are suffering similar problems as us.
This tells me it is less likely to be an internal problem at my end.
Which affected all streaming options, IPTV, Mobdro, Terrarium TV & Kodi,
running on Windows 10 PC, MAG254, Icecube 2 Android Box and Nvidia Shield TV.
All of which appear to have the latest software updates.

Our speed Test @ 10:25 today 7.5Mbps is OK'ish
http://mmcyp.speedtestcustom.com/result ... 5d36844207
MM not available at time of test.

[Groucho]

http://mmcyp.speedtestcustom.com/result ... bbe346cb92

still rubbish for us....

[waddo]

Just completed three separate speed tests, all of which came out around 9.5Mbps down speed. Went straight to my IPTV (running on Linus Mint 17) on my lounge TV/PC setup and watched replay of Sunday's Hockenhiem F1 race with the odd stutter but really good! I never try to get the HD versions by the way, my old eyes and out of date TV are not worth the effort but will give it a go on Friday for FP1/2 to see if there is a difference in quality for you.

[IPA]

Hello, I just read your posts. Really do the ISPs here throttle Magboxes? I have a Mag 322 box works fine except between 5 - 7 PM

[Ferguson]

Hello, I just read your posts. Really do the ISPs here throttle Magboxes? I have a Mag 322 box works fine except between 5 - 7 PM

I have an old MAG250, and my supplier works 24/7

Just need a good internet supplier and a good IPTV. It's taken me four years to find both.

[Keithcaley]

...Just need a good internet supplier and a good IPTV. It's taken me four years to find both.

Would you like to share their names?

[Ferguson]

...Just need a good internet supplier and a good IPTV. It's taken me four years to find both.

Would you like to share their names?

I didn't think I was allowed to advertise companies. New to the forum so I'll watch from the sidelines to start.

[jofra]

I'm guessing it's "advertising" only if you own (or work for?) the company; if you're not, then it's "recommending", and that's OK........

[Hammerhead]

Names please

[Ferguson]

Names please

I've replied to your PM....

[desih]

Can you please mail me details of IPTV provider you recommend.