[dshorrosh]

Greetings.  Because Cox has encrypted non-local channels I cannot use Kodi as my 'cable box'.  I'm using WMC on the main server for the family room but obviously that doesn't help the Raspberry Pi units in other rooms.  I am planning to replace the Ceton InfiniTV card and Cox Cable Card with an OTA card / HD antenna for local channels and need to select an IPTV provider for the cable channels.  My search for IPTV providers has found an eye-popping list of 'questionable' providers with thousands of channels - anybody have a quasi-reputable source with a simple channel lineup I can subscribe to?  I understand I'm not going to have the same Channel Guide and PVR (record, skip back) functions but it'd be great to have a simple list of channels to scroll thru.

Thanks!

[izprtxqkft]

so many offers...

matthuisman is the leading addon guy - https://www.matthuisman.nz/2020/02/slygu...itory.html
from there you can get:
hulu+live
samsung tv plus has live channels for free
disney+,paramount+,hbomax for ondemand

also iptvmerge but ive never used it

then theres plutotv

outside kodi...
youtube has live now, questionable if it has the normal abc,cbs,nbc
roku tv
fubo
tubi

personally i ditched cable in favor of on demand offers and regular youtube since most news can be had for free on youtube

i expect you can go in quite a few directions

[emveepee]

You won't find a legal IPTV source that replaces cable in Canada or the US and probably not in most other countries either.   Checkout Channels DVR though for TV Everywhere support in the US.  It has a Kodi PVR plugin.

Personally I use capture devices on 3 STB here in Canada.  I got the STB's cheap on kijiiji and it worked out cheaper than cable card or Channels DVR (which we can't use here anyway)

Martin

[kcook_shield]

I second "Channels DVR" as an option. You can configure it to use an HDHomerun to get OTA , and add/remove (as you change providers) for Hulu, Philo, etc that in turn gives you many Tv Everywhere channels, and most of those also offer some local TV stations.

In addition, you can add Pluto as a source to get all of the free Pluto channels ( 361 currently in my setup), and it then can combine all these sources into one TV guide, complete with DVR functionality, and you can then use the Kodi Addon to pull in this lineup directly into the Kodi EPG grid.

You can not, however, access any DRM channels, and PBS has recently moved to DRM for all the providers (except OTA).

Anyway, it is a great setup and allow much customization, and best of all, any recordings made are yours to keep and view as long as you have enough storage space!

I've been using and happy with this setup for several years now.

[dshorrosh]

Thanks for the replies!  I get the point about legit US providers, and to be clear I'm wanting to use the IPTV Simple solution to view those channels via Kodi.

I'll check those out.

[emveepee]

Out of curiosity why must it be IPTV Simple, you don't want to run a backend anymore?  No matter which PVR addon you use they look the same and some offer recording.

Martin

[dshorrosh]

It doesn't have to be IPTV Simple, that's my default starting point for transitioning away from ServerWMC / WMC.pvr / CableCard.  I know just enough to find and implement a solution that works, and to get myself in trouble.

I'm definitely wanting to use Kodi the way I'm used to and be able to support it with backends.

[dshorrosh]

It looks like SlyGuy's repo with Hulu or Sling are the way to go.  I would still like to use my OTA tuner card and an HDTV antenna for additional local channels, how do I use both sources into a single EPG?  I planned on using ServerWMC / WMC.pvr for those channels, but again I'm not a Kodi expert.

[dshorrosh]

Circling back to this - thanks for the suggestion, I've got Matt's Hulu addon but am having issues with Live TV freezing.  Some local channels play fine along with NASA TV, but A&E will freeze after around 20mins and Bravo freezes about 3mins in.  Matt wasn't able to provide a fix -but- curious if you 'users' ran into this but found a fix -OR- were successfully using?

Thanks for any replies.