There are quite a few cheap IPTV subscriptions out there with 50k+ channels, but my question is, why do you still watch live TV? With piracy, you can grab any movie or TV show you want and watch it on demand with Jellyfin or Plex. Am I missing out by not watching TV channels myself?

  • MeowWeHaveAProblem@toast.ooo
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    1 year ago

    Hard to explain. I use iptv because I miss having something on that is:

    • something I might have not see before, channel flip and find something new.
    • something I don’t really care about and can be turned off at moments notice.
    • something just for background noise.
    • I sometimes dont want to think and pick a show.
    • Other??

    Some of those overlap a little.

  • willya@lemmyf.uk
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    1 year ago

    Usually free high dollar sports packages and free paper views like ufc fights are included.

  • RankWeis@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    I host my own iptv service to mimic a real channel but with my content. It’s amazing and we all love it.

      • RankWeis@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Yeah it is ersatztv, you basically need a gpu for the ffmpeg encodings though. It’s fun if you get it to work, I have my face appear every hour at the bottom of the screen like a network logo.

  • m-p{3}@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    I enjoy listening to the news once in a while in the evening while drinking a coffee after supper. I like just putting it on and not having to make a “choice”.

  • VikingHippie
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    1 year ago

    I use streams rather than IPTV, but I have an answer nonetheless: sports. It’s just about the only TV I ever watch live anymore because it’s the only kind that HAS to be live.

  • Sometimes you’re doing something like using your exercise bike, cooking, or doing housework and want something on just for the noise but don’t want to put any real effort into finding something since you aren’t paying much attention to it. Turning on a channel that does old shows or documentaries or whatever is perfect for that. I use Roku so I don’t pay for a subscription.

  • Xianshi@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I know someone who uses both. Some of it is for realtime sports and others is just for shows they dont want to have to download.

    Many others use some form of plex shares or real debrid

  • jodie@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I did the same thing at first. However, many times those free websites are very unstable, especially when I was in the middle of watching something exciting. It’s quite frustrating and makes you question life. On top of that, the constant ads were annoying. Later on, I went searching for a reliable IPTV service. Besides spending some money each month, I no longer had to deal with that annoyance.

  • yessikg@lemmy.film
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    1 year ago

    Sports and dvr mostly, the one I have lets me add or remove channel bundles whenever I want so it’s very flexible

  • GarbanzoBean@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    Mainly I’m a sports junkie but also I feel nerdy sometimes and like to keep up with local news. Plus sometimes I’ll be scrolling through channels and I’ll find something I wanna watch that I might not have found on my own.

  • ℛ𝒶𝓋ℯ𝓃@pawb.social
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    1 year ago

    The only reason I use HULU Live TV is for live sports - ESPN works too, but hulu isn’t that much more and I get the whole bundle with Disney+.

  • originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com
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    1 year ago

    i miss randomness.

    i really want a plugin for kodi that will give me a pseudo cable tv interface with all my tv shows laid out in their original airing channels, with weekly or daily episodes configurable. throw in a some movie networks, and a random movie of the day in the cable channels.

    there used to be a close plugin called pseudotv, but is now defunct.