Ask Slashdot: IPTV Service In the UK? 78
New submitter OlivierB writes "I am moving to a new house in the UK. The house will have very fast broadband but there is only one TV/cable aerial to plug into which is also very inconveniently located in the property. The cable TV provider can move it (for a high fee), but the biggest issue is that their channel packages are just too expensive and not appealing to me. Ideally, I would like access to the UK Freeview channels, and maybe a few extras such as Discovery Channel, Eurosport etc. All of this content would be available via IPTV, which I could watch from an HTPC or simple set-top boxes. Do you have any ideas to share with me?"
tvcatchup.com (Score:5, Informative)
www.tvcatchup.com streams, I think, all Freeview channels as long as you access it from the UK with a UK ISP. HD for HD channels.
Doesn't work with AdBlock enabled.
Its legality is being challenged, unsuccessfully so far, according to wikipedia. As a side note, you're still supposed to pay for TV licence.
FreeSat and Elgato (Score:5, Informative)
Get a FreeSat package, put up the dish and cabling, and ditch the receiver, and get an Elgato Netstream Sat from http://www.elgato.com/elgato/int/mainmenu/products/tuner/netstreamsat/product1.en.html [elgato.com]
It'll do all the tuning, and basically takes a LNB on the input, and a network switch as the output. You pick your channels from the M3U playlist, and it does the rest - like magic. Works with MythTV, XBMC, VLC, etc. Fabulous kit
iPlayer (Score:4, Informative)
I don't think there's any parcticular need for a special package if you already have fast broadband. Most of the decent free TV is on iPlayer, which covers all the BBC channels and now has content from the major free to view commercial rivals:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/ [bbc.co.uk]
You might also want to check out the ITV Player, 4od and Demand 5 sites (I rarely bother).
You can grab BBC (only) programmes from iPlayer with get_iplayer, which generates standard mp4 files you can play anywhere (finally a use for that Apple TV!):
http://www.infradead.org/get_iplayer/html/get_iplayer.html [infradead.org]
Some US TV sites can be accessed by methods like this (or get a VPN):
http://xtremisreaction.wordpress.com/2011/01/08/how-to-watch-the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-in-the-uk/ [wordpress.com]
http://xtremisreaction.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/how-to-watch-hulu-and-us-television-in-the-uk/ [wordpress.com]
Avoiding the Murdock tax (Score:4, Informative)
You can still go Satellite without paying the Murdoch tax.
Install a motorised dish at £300 buy a DVB-S STB at anything from the Eagle-HD at £60 to the Dreambox DM800 £400 depending on features required.
You will get all FreeSat channels plus literally thousands of overseas channels and more with software cams.
These are both Internet enabled and can view BBC iPlayer, YouTube, etc and support CAS emulation.