[easterncanuck]

Hi,

A friend of mine is looking to buy an android box that has xbmc on it and claims to have live tv content including all NHL games live.

She said the sales guy is claiming that the box will let her watch pretty much everything exactly the same as her cable provider plus it also has a ton of movies.

Is he trying to sell her a box that has been set up illegally? Is that even possible or is he just trying to sell? I know nothing about XBMC but i'm the most technical person she knows so she asked me haha!

It's a one person company run out of his house, he doesn't advertise openly that it can do this but tells it to you when you talk to him about wanting to replace your cable provider.

Thanks

ps. her sister's husband is a cop so she doesn't want to get into anything illegal

[JesusOnEez]

Sounds pretty illegal and is most likely set-up with the majority of the add-ons that must not be mentioned ( http://kodi.wiki/view/Banned_add-ons ).

It'll probably break as well, and your friend will likely get precious little support from where she bought it, and no support for piratey add-ons here.

[Hedda]

http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=211301

Probably illegal

[easterncanuck]

ok thanks, I'll inform her of this and recommend she ask him what add-ons are included. I'll check that banned list to see what she's getting into.

tks for quick reply folks!

[DJ_Izumi]

Not JUST illegal, but all that 'free streaming stuff' will probably break in the near future as the pirated services get shutdown or migrate.

[scott967]

Don't know if the box itself might be considered "illegal" (that would depend on where you live and how law treats a box which has the potential for both infringing and non-infringing use, or if the box contained technology designed to circumvent technical means of preventing infringement). That being said, if the box is used by a user to obtain content, then the potential exists that this action would constitute "infringement" of copyright depending on what content was obtained.

I see a deeper problem though -- in these days of pervasive streaming services, how does a user know if a stream is infringing or not particularly if using what amounts to a "black box" and the user doesn't really know how the box gets content?

scott s.
.

[Oli_Oops]

The little black will most likely be an Android box. They are often underpowered. Think shitty android tablet in a box. There are many reviews of various boxes and how they handle KODI. The better the specs on the box the better your experience. Since it's an Android box KODI can be side-loaded by anyone. What you add to KODI is up to you. Being a Canuck myself and having used XBMC since the Xbox I can tell you that there are some legit streams available in Canada but not many. Of course that has to do with the strangle hold our media production/distribution/station owners/cable, phone and internet providers (all the same company) have on Canadians. XBMC does have many legit addons for all over the world and many for the big online media providers (YouTube and it's kind). But the official Android apps for these sites run better and there is more of them. As far as watching Canadian TV stations goes forget about it, better of with an OTA antenna. With the use of a VPN you can access the US/World content that is region blocked. With so many ultra small computers abound and more on the way many are eschewing the Android boxes for the PC's due to faster specs and upgrade ability.

[negge]

Anything that has the word "free" in a sentence you don't usually see it is illegal.

[DJ_Izumi]

Kodi is free.

[negge]

Yes, but "free software" is not an unusual word combination. "free TV" is.

[emveepee]

I believe you can replace traditional cable in Canada with vmedia http://www.vmedia.ca/ and when I looked at it earlier it was an AMLogic Android box that could run XBMC. It's not free tv though.

Martin

[skylarking]

Even watching live over the air TV ain't as free as it used to be.
It seems the time spent watching commercials in a live program has become a substantial part of the viewing experiance.
So, considering such 'frustration costs', the end result is i mainly view recorded TV and fast forward the commercials since it's less frustrating.
But some 'industry experts' consider timeshifting on devices that allow fast forwarding commercials as illegal devices while others consider it OK.
Only once the courts have weigh in on such an issue will it be resolved.
I wont hold my breath...

Counter the above acitvity which has legal uncertainty with accessing streaming content that the copywrite owners have not authorized and any legal vagueness vanishes.
Streaming unauthorized content can land you in serious serious financial trouble, so it's best avoided.

And i doubt any company selling such cable replacement boxes are registered companies with deep pockets, nore have offices and showrooms across the nation.
They're more likely fly by nighters with a simple internet shop or selling out of swapmeets/ temporary locations, lots of promises and little substance - here today, gone tommorrow.

Even big outfits can run foul of the law - just look at aereo.
Luckily the broadcasters chose not to also go after aereo's customers...

Oh, and as a last note, if you need to rely on legal advice go see a real lawyer, a forum is no place for such due diligence.