I hope I'm posting this in the correct place. I tried looking for a more appropriate place but this seemed like the best. First off, a little back story and what I've done so far. I pay a lot for cable, internet and phone ($250/month) through Optimum but don't spend a lot of time at home. I've been trying to figure out a way to be able to take my TV with me when I am not at home. Now I'm not going to lie and I will admit that I did try messing around with Kodi on an Amazon Fire Stick using third party addons that allowed me to get live TV for free. I was even able to get a TV guide working (sort of) that would show me what was on TV right now and when I clicked on it would automatically launch that channel from one of the addons. But I had to manually tell it what addon to use first which was painstakingly annoying. I was telling myself that I was technically ok doing that because I was still paying for my channels at home. But after thinking about it some more I just didn't feel comfortable with it, deleted my whole Kodi setup and started searching for a better way.
I then found out that Optimum has something called TV to Go (
https://www.optimum.net/tv/to-go/) where a lot of channels that I am already paying for are available for me to live stream if I log in with my optimum username and password. This is great when I am on my home desktop computer. But I have a pretty crappy laptop computer that I take with me when I travel and it's such a pain to watch streaming video on it. Plus I'd rather watch it on a big TV. So since I already have an Amazon Fire Stick I tried to download as many network apps that allow for the live streaming as I could on it. But not all the networks have apps for the Fire Stick. Plus I really did like that TV Guide addon I kinda got working before which let me see what was on before loading the live stream.
So now onto my questions. Is there a legal TV Guide addon that would be able to use the apps that I already downloaded onto my Fire Stick so that I could see what's on first and then after clicking on that channel on the guide have it load up the app? If I can't use the actual Fire Stick apps, then are there legal addons that I could use which would let me log into my Optimum account and be able to live stream those networks in Kodi and have those addons work on some kind of TV Guide. Are there any legal addons for Kodi for those networks that don't have Live Streaming apps for the Fire Stick?
I understand that Kodi is just a media player and doesn't actually offer up any content. But whenever I try to search for these kinds of questions I keep coming up with web pages or videos that explain how to set up and use those piracy addons that I am trying to stay away from. So I was hoping that if I asked these questions in the official Kodi forums that maybe I would get the best legal answers. Or maybe even point me to a better option where I could get rid of Optimum all together (minus internet) and still be able to pay for and legally watch the channels that I want. Thanks.
based on optimum I would assume you are in the tri-state area. you never suggested what your end goal is... specific channels? I had optimum until feb and switched to fios (much better rate) and channel selection. I use an hdhomerun prime with my fios subscription and Emby as my backend server. This with the hdhomerun and the annual cost of a ($25) schedules direct account gives me access to my NON drm channels anywhere I have an internet connection on many devices.
Yes I am in the Tri-State area. My ultimate end goal would be to only pay for the channels that I want to watch and nothing more. But that seems pretty impossible because it seems like each of the channels we watch are in some other package. So like if I want one channel then I need this package and if I want this other channel then I need this other package. It's so annoying. One of my other ideas was to again go with just internet but then get Playstation Vue with Showtime added, HBO Now, Hulu and Netflix. That would get my bill down to about $140/month but then there are still a few channels that I won't have that my wife watches (and we all know we need to keep the wife happy. lol). And the reason why I was asking about a TV guide was because my wife needs that because she would hate having to go into each app to see what's on. Like she needs the channel surfing experience.
While doing some more searching I did come across a guide called PseudoTV Live which I know is mainly for "Channel Surfing" content you already have. But I did see that it would let you link up Live Streaming addons to it. But again it comes down to what legal addons can I use to link to it so that my wife can get her live tv channel surfing and tv guide and I can get my bill lowered.
Never heard of hdhomerun or Emby. Is that strictly for streaming my cable content to other devices? Or would that allow me to pick and choose channels.
Sorry I'm all over the place. Still doing a lot of searching and coming up with ideas on how to save a buck and still be able to get my TV on the go. But if it really comes down to it I think ultimately I would rather have cheaper TV first and then the ability to watch on the go second. If you need me to I can list what channels are a must have if you think that would help. Thanks again for your help.
This is way off topic for the PVR thread, but is relevant to the OP's post.
If you want all the Optimum channels that you subscribe to, just add a router that supports a VPN (I use a cheap NetGear one) on the network that your Cable box is on. You can then run the Optimum app on a PC or Android phone (doesn't work on the Firestick) which is running the VPN client. The Android phone can cast to a TV with a Chromecast attached. I use this type of a setup all the time to do dev't on add-ons when I'm travelling overseas. The Optimum Android App will behave like it's on the home network with full EPG.
You can also make use of the Kodi TVGuide program add-on (there are a few different people maintaining versions, Google it) on the Firestick. You can setup the EPG for the Optimum channels and then setup .strm files to execute the Android App for the cable channel you want to watch. You might want to check on the cable apps available for the Firestick, there have been several (like HBO Go, Showtime, TBS, TNT, TCM and CNN) which have been recently added. You may need to navigate to the live channel once the app starts (some of the apps can open directly to the live channel, but you need to know/understand how to get Android flavor IDs to make that fly). I'm not sure if the Simple IPTV PVR can launch Android Apps from .strm files, may be worth a try.
I've tried both of the above and they both work reasonably well. I tend to use the VPN more when travelling, I use the Firestick with Android apps launching from Kodi in a vacation home when I want to watch NYC news or sports. BTW the YES channel is available on the Fox Sports GO android app and is an even better way to watch the Yankees than MLB.tv - and is free with the Optimum subscription, so you save $130 bucks a year assuming you're a Yankee fan (if not ignore the above altogether, you're not worthy :-).
I have no idea why you're paying $250/mo for Optimum. I have Silver with HBO, Starz & ShowTime, Phone and Internet for $139.99/mo. You should call them up and haggle, tell them you're paying too much and will change to FIOS, then ask for the "retention department" - they're the only ones who can cut you a deal - it should end up close to the "introductory" package they offer.
PseudoTV Live supports HDHomerun w/ free listings...
^^^ also check tvfool.com and antennaweb.org for your OTA report and get a hdhomerun extend. Ptvl will pull the guide data for free from the hdhr like lunatixz stated. I did what learningit suggested but had issues with the application over VPN occasionally.
(2016-09-06, 23:37)learningit Wrote: [ -> ]This is way off topic for the PVR thread, but is relevant to the OP's post.
Yeah, I kinda thought it was. But I didn't really know where to post this and thought that since I was looking for legal live TV that maybe this was the best spot. I think that Kodi is an amazing app and I'm just trying to learn how to best use it for what I want and not cross any legal lines. In the future, where should I be posting these beginner type questions? I originally thought in the General Support area but saw that that area was split up by operating systems. I didn't see just a general Kodi support thread. But anyway, enough of that.
@
learningit Thanks for the advice. That Kodi TV Guide that can open Fire Stick apps will be the next thing I will start searching for. Sounds like it may be a little tricky but I'll see what I can do. Also, thanks for telling me how to haggle my price. I'm going to try that tomorrow.
@
Lunatixz I actually came across PseudoTV Live while searching and it also sounds like what I am looking for. I tried registering on the web site so I could check out the forums but I never got that email that it said I needed to check to finish registering. If my searching is correct, PseudoTV Live is your program. If so, would you mind if I PMed you to figure out why I am not getting the email?
@
bry Thanks for the websites. I can't remember what the site was but I remember searching for what OTA channels I would get near me and it said I would get like 5 channels or something ridiculous like that but I will check again.
Anyway, I appreciate everyone's friendliness and willingness to help me out (even though I posted in the wrong place). You all have given me a lot of information to search for so I think I will start there and not post anymore here since it is in the wrong place. But should I come up with more questions where would the best place be for me to post? Thanks again.
(2016-09-07, 03:14)Clutz450 Wrote: [ -> ] (2016-09-06, 23:37)learningit Wrote: [ -> ]This is way off topic for the PVR thread, but is relevant to the OP's post.
@Lunatixz I actually came across PseudoTV Live while searching and it also sounds like what I am looking for. I tried registering on the web site so I could check out the forums but I never got that email that it said I needed to check to finish registering. If my searching is correct, PseudoTV Live is your program. If so, would you mind if I PMed you to figure out why I am not getting the email?
Email might be in your spam folder.. here is a link to the Kodi PseudoTV Live forum :
http://forum.kodi.tv/forumdisplay.php?fid=231
Talk it out. No need to apologize. Your first post was well thought out which is why you got the replies that you did. Thank you for that. Tomorrow ill move this thread and follow up.
@
Clutz450 I have removed the thread. I would advise you run a tvfool and antennaweb report and post the results to
https://www.reddit.com/r/cordcutters. they can advise you on an antenna that you can use to get the best out of the report. also seriously take a look at the
SiliconDust HDHomerun Extend that you can use with the OTA. you will get 4hrs of guide data for free and 3 days with the
DVR service.
If you want the familiarity of a tvguide within kodi you can use PseudoTV Live like @
Lunatixz stated. and be up and running in about 5 minutes if that once his add-on detects the hdhomerun through autotune. see video below
he has improved the performance since 3 weeks ago and this video has been posted.
there is also a collection of skins that you can apply within the add-on settings.:
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=260177
@byr Thank you for moving the thread and the link to the cord cutters reddit. I'll definitely check them out. I did download the Pseudo TV Live addon but didn't really know where to start. Like I am literally starting from a fresh install of Kodi and don't have any other addons installed yet. I'm assuming that's why I couldn't start it up. And @
Lunatixz I still never got that email and I searched all folders in my email. I'm thinking I may have mistyped my email or something.
But anyway, I'm not really worried about that right now. That's because through my searching I came across a program called PlayOn which claims to be able to stream all the channels I want from my PC to my Fire Stick and just about any other device. Which I think is going to work out well because I've noticed that there are quite a few networks that live stream on their website but not in their Fire Stick app and some don't have an app for the Fire Stick all together. Plus it looks really simple to set up.
Now I don't know how it's going to organize, display or present everything or if it will even have a TV Guide. But I did notice that there is a PlayOn addon for Kodi. I don't know how well it works or if it can be added into Pseudo TV so I can get my live tv guide but I will be looking into that tomorrow.
I am super excited to try out the free trial of PlayOn tomorrow and see if it's everything I hope it will be. And if it is then I may do their $2.50 monthly plan or even do their $60 lifetime plan. Then I'll start seeing how I can integrate that into Kodi so I can get all the bells and whistles of displaying my shows. I'll let you all know how I make out. Have a good night.
Just an update on what I've done so far. I downloaded PlayOn onto my computer and bought the lifetime membership. They have a 30 day money back guarantee so I thought why not. It took a while setting up every channel but I finally got it done. In the end it wasn't quite what I thought it would be but at least all my network streams were all in one place. I was also able to view all those videos from my fire stick using the official PlayOn app. I then installed the PlayOn addon on Kodi and got that working too. Now the part that is confusing me is how to setup a channel guide in Pseudotv Live with only live TV streams and have the channel numbers line up with what I'm used to. But it's really late now so I'll mess with that more tomorrow. I'll also post my specific questions in the appropriate threads. No need in having this thread getting too far off topic.