My first day using iptv66

[tito1982]

Hi,

Today I used iptv66 for the first time (Kodi with NFPS Stalker Client). I made the donation I received the email within 1 minute and I made the setup within less than 15 minutes.

As soon as I started using I was impressed by the the epg guide and how quicky you can switch between channels.

However I'm a bit dissapoined due to the poor image quality because most of the channels are 360p. Is it always like that?

Thank you

[Sandiver]

some channels are better than others and sometimes a crappy channel gets better and a better channel gets crappier.

just curious how do you know the channels are 360p?

[tito1982]

some channels are better than others and sometimes a crappy channel gets better and a better channel gets crappier.

just curious how do you know the channels are 360p?

I can't certify if it's 360p, but I have seen plenty of 480p videos (not only youtube but also another iptv provider that I have right now) and the quality of many of the channels of iptv66 is considerable worst... hence I suppose it must be 360p (or maybe something between 360p and 480p).


To be honest I was really impressed with how quickly you can switch between channels and the epg guide, but the quality of the image is a big downside. Let's see if they can, try and decide to improve the quality soon

[TVFan]

Tapping the letter "O" while streaming anything will tell you the resolution, and anything else anyone might want to know about the stream.

[assassinmunk]

also agree that channels work well, but quality is terrible.

Has anyone else tried any other provider that has better quality?

[crazed 9.6]

also agree that channels work well, but quality is terrible.

Has anyone else tried any other provider that has better quality?

this thread is not about other services !

[thegame15]

Hi,

Today I used iptv66 for the first time (Kodi with NFPS Stalker Client). I made the donation I received the email within 1 minute and I made the setup within less than 15 minutes.

As soon as I started using I was impressed by the the epg guide and how quicky you can switch between channels.

However I'm a bit dissapoined due to the poor image quality because most of the channels are 360p. Is it always like that?

Thank you

Most UK channels are currently set at 544x576, and most of the USA Channels are currently set at 720x480, there are a couple that are at either true 720 or 1080, and some of the ones in the past that were previously at 1080 (Indian channels) have dropped down to 720.

At one time all USA channels were at 1024x576, that was pretty good resolution, and may come back soon enough or something better once they have all there security issues worked out.

As TVFan said If ever someone wants to actually see what the screen resolution of a particular channel is in Kodi, all you have to do is press the letter "O".

[tito1982]

Most UK channels are currently set at 544x576, and most of the USA Channels are currently set at 720x480, there are a couple that are at either true 720 or 1080, and some of the ones in the past that were previously at 1080 (Indian channels) have dropped down to 720.

At one time all USA channels were at 1024x576, that was pretty good resolution, and may come back soon enough or something better once they have all there security issues worked out.

As TVFan said If ever someone wants to actually see what the screen resolution of a particular channel is in Kodi, all you have to do is press the letter "O".

I just read your comment and I tried two USA channels and made screenshots.

This screenshot is related to an USA channel, which resolution is indeed 720x480, (480p with 3:2 ratio): http://i.imgur.com/MgVwddK.jpg

This screenshot belongs to 704x576 which is suppose to be even better than 480p: http://i.imgur.com/WmSgsrl.jpg

I'm probably not the only one who thinks that despite how much the reescalate the video. The quality of the image is more similar to a real 360p than a real 480p...

[thegame15]

I just read your comment and I tried two USA channels and made screenshots.

This screenshot is related to an USA channel, which resolution is indeed 720x480, (480p with 3:2 ratio): http://i.imgur.com/MgVwddK.jpg

This screenshot belongs to 704x576 which is suppose to be even better than 480p: http://i.imgur.com/WmSgsrl.jpg

I'm probably not the only one who thinks that despite how much the reescalate the video. The quality of the image is more similar to a real 360p than a real 480p...

Now your mixing NTSC vs PAL video resolutions. They will always differ as the Frames per second are totally different. The other thing to take into consideration is what the source channel is actually displaying, an SD feed down sampled or HD feed down sampled. As I said in the past most channels were at a resolution of 1024x576 (Higher than SD but not quite HD (Micro HD)).

As for what your saying the video is as strong as your connection, you have 1 USA video at 0.83MB if you were at a higher like over 1.15MB you would greatly see a difference in picture.

If you were around during the free trial the quality of video was higher, and the output was at least 2.00MB, many things have changed since then and I'm sure they've been testing things out (a year). There have been at least 3 different resolutions used from the top of my head. Things will likely change over the new few weeks, but that is no guarantee. Just enjoy what you have and the ride that it entails.

[tuxen]

some channels are 360p mostly uk they switched many US and other channels switched from 1024x576p to 640x360p to 720x480i that's why many devices/players show artifacts. the reason is noted as above nearly all channels only take up 0.8Mbit. interlacing is a clever way to cut the bandwidth in half while retaining nearly same quality (if displayed correctly). i made another thread about it, and how you can improve it if your box supports the setting. http://iptvtalk.net/showthread.php?13108-dont-fancy-interlace-flickering some channels fall out of these two main resolutions as said, and has all kinds of different resolutions..

and yeah you can press 'o', or grab a piece of the stream and load it in mediainfo, a well known program that many use to report back on streams that does not play correctly in kodi and other players. that's the only way to see if its interlaced and all the properties, or well if you know the caveats its easy to see too, especially if the device tries to deinterlace it with a poor method like weave (shows lines or 'shadows').

the correct way for the box is obviously to play it interlaced and let the rest be up to the tv, not all devices can do this and it also has caveats such as flickering most noticeable with certain patterns, which leads me to the next paragraf.. zzZZZz

lcd tv's is also a factor if the signal is played interlaced, most tv's nowadays has functions to better this too. remember back in the days all the fuss about shadows on lcd screen esp. with football and stuff, back then nearly every signal was interlaced (i dont know about US but this was a big issue in Europe) nowadays most broadcasters use 720p or 1080i, progressive is of cause preferable, but as said interlace is a clever way for them to basically cut the bandwidth in half while retaining quality if displayed correctly and that is really only a issue with old lcd's screens nowadays. basically the signal will have to be deinterlaced at some point, unless using a plasma or old tube screen. highend lcd's mimicks this good also.

so lets hope we will at least see 1080i on the popular channels too.

i expect mag or avov boxes displays the signal correct btw.. and users with kodi on android will benefit upgrading to latest version, medicodec (surface) has been greatly improved over the old libstagefright 'hack' that is now gone.

[tito1982]

I dont want to make this a discussion about technical descriptions about resoutions, how strong or weak my internet connections is, etcetera.

My screenshots show that even if the resolution is 480p the quality of the image is very poor. I don't think anyone could deny that.

To be honest I wasn't expecting it to have very good image quality but I wasnt expecting it to be worst than the one of other iptv services.

Maybe today their servers were overloaded or maybe its just because there is too many people cloning macs, I don't know... but Im sure its not a problem caused by the users hardware or internet connecion.

Anyway, I just made the post to mention things I liked and things I didn't like I on my first day of use. I thought it would help users that never tried the service to get an idea of what they can expect.

I also posted to know if today was bad day in terms of quality image or its always like that.

I know how much I paid so I can't expect it to be as good as 720 YouTube video, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't express if we feel the image quality is subpar :)

[tito1982]

@tuxen the post that you opened, although its too technical is interesting. Howver I think that when the user has to try to fix then there is a clear problem..

Just hope that oncd they change the secuirty the quality increase.

[tuxen]

i could continue elaborating but i think i bored you enough by now with my fetish lol. zzzZZzz

[tuxen]

@tuxen the post that you opened, although its too technical is interesting. Howver I think that when the user has to try to fix then there is a clear problem..

Just hope that oncd they change the secuirty the quality increase.

the thread i linked is short(er) lol and meant as a how to actually help with the issues if using kodi. :)

[tuxen]

I dont want to make this a discussion about technical descriptions about resoutions, how strong or weak my internet connections is, etcetera.

My screenshots show that even if the resolution is 480p the quality of the image is very poor. I don't think anyone could deny that.

To be honest I wasn't expecting it to have very good image quality but I wasnt expecting it to be worst than the one of other iptv services.

Maybe today their servers were overloaded or maybe its just because there is too many people cloning macs, I don't know... but Im sure its not a problem caused by the users hardware or internet connecion.

Anyway, I just made the post to mention things I liked and things I didn't like I on my first day of use. I thought it would help users that never tried the service to get an idea of what they can expect.

I also posted to know if today was bad day in terms of quality image or its always like that.

I know how much I paid so I can't expect it to be as good as 720 YouTube video, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't express if we feel the image quality is subpar :)

i know the post kinda evolved to nerd talk, but basically it could be your box doing a bad job deinterlacing to 480p. i did post some pointers one is the thread i linked to which explains how to see if your box can deinterlace it better. the other tip is upgrading to kodi 16 because they use new decoding accelerators called mediacodec as opposed to previous versions that use libstagefright which is very old and started as a hack.

the channels look terrible with kodi 15 on my fire tv and the other android device i have compared to lastest kodi versions plus the deinterlacing method i linked to that i found looked better, i expect the same for at least some other ppl depending on their box's gpu. if you are on windows it comes down to you gfx card and direct-x, kodi should be updated at some of the same points for windows, so the same tips wont hurt to try.

the quality is not super no but its not terrible either if watched on the right device/player.
my picture looks very far from the screenshots you posted except maybe a very few odd channels, and its on a 55" tv.

[crazed 9.6]

i could continue elaborating but i think i bored you enough by now with my fetish lol. zzzZZzz

never.... :)

[crazed 9.6]

Well almost never

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcZBm9_9j2E

[thegame15]

I dont want to make this a discussion about technical descriptions about resoutions, how strong or weak my internet connections is, etcetera.

My screenshots show that even if the resolution is 480p the quality of the image is very poor. I don't think anyone could deny that.

To be honest I wasn't expecting it to have very good image quality but I wasnt expecting it to be worst than the one of other iptv services.

Maybe today their servers were overloaded or maybe its just because there is too many people cloning macs, I don't know... but Im sure its not a problem caused by the users hardware or internet connecion.

Anyway, I just made the post to mention things I liked and things I didn't like I on my first day of use. I thought it would help users that never tried the service to get an idea of what they can expect.

I also posted to know if today was bad day in terms of quality image or its always like that.

I know how much I paid so I can't expect it to be as good as 720 YouTube video, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't express if we feel the image quality is subpar :)

No one is denying that the current quality is low, but also keep in mind that this service was never intended for use with Kodi, some kind developers are the ones that made it happen. Also the service could go to the 720/1080p if they choose to do so in the future.




@tuxen the post that you opened, although its too technical is interesting. Howver I think that when the user has to try to fix then there is a clear problem..

Just hope that oncd they change the secuirty the quality increase.

That is what everyone is hoping for :)

[tuxen]

Well almost never

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcZBm9_9j2E

funny I could swear your avatar was dancing in coordination to the music. :)

[HandiManCann]

The quality really sucks guys, no offense but there's others out there same everything and 90% channels are HD. We paid for the service so your aim should be to better the service, not stick it to us. I only keep this sub as it has A few Caribbean channels but trust me you need to get better servers and provide some more HD content.

[crazed 9.6]

funny I could swear your avatar was dancing in coordination to the music. :)

it was
I was waiting for thegame :)

[tuxen]

also as mentioned elsewhere some channels already are 1080p, look in the 'anonymous' sports starting at 437 for example.

[crazed 9.6]

The quality really sucks guys, no offense but there's others out there same everything and 90% channels are HD. We paid for the service so your aim should be to better the service, not stick it to us. I only keep this sub as it has A few Caribbean channels but trust me you need to get better servers and provide some more HD content.

did you see the video?

[thegame15]

also as mentioned elsewhere some channels already are 1080p, look in the 'anonymous' sports starting at 437 for example.

They aren't anonymous to me lol, I'm told they are the Pac 12 Networks, and I believe NFL Now HD is a new one on Sports 7.

[crazed 9.6]

They aren't anonymous to me lol, I'm told they are the Pac 12 Networks, and I believe NFL Now HD is a new one on Sports 7.

one more game in NFL season and it is all over.
Go Panthers !

[tuxen]

They aren't anonymous to me lol, I'm told they are the Pac 12 Networks, and I believe NFL Now HD is a new one on Sports 7.
sorry.. sport has just started to bite on to me i'm a real novice (still) in this area. old seasons of f1, boxing and mma was my gateway drug lol.

[crazed 9.6]

tuxen, you may need to see the video too, again

[tuxen]

tuxen, you may need to see the video too, again
I am lol..

edit: btw <- thanks for being able to keep me around so long.. (;

[tito1982]

i know the post kinda evolved to nerd talk, but basically it could be your box doing a bad job deinterlacing to 480p. i did post some pointers one is the thread i linked to which explains how to see if your box can deinterlace it better. the other tip is upgrading to kodi 16 because they use new decoding accelerators called mediacodec as opposed to previous versions that use libstagefright which is very old and started as a hack.

the channels look terrible with kodi 15 on my fire tv and the other android device i have compared to lastest kodi versions plus the deinterlacing method i linked to that i found looked better, i expect the same for at least some other ppl depending on their box's gpu. if you are on windows it comes down to you gfx card and direct-x, kodi should be updated at some of the same points for windows, so the same tips wont hurt to try.

the quality is not super no but its not terrible either if watched on the right device/player.
my picture looks very far from the screenshots you posted except maybe a very few odd channels, and its on a 55" tv.
I'm already on Kodi 16 and my boxes are 2 different windows computers (core i5 laptop & core is htpc) with 2 different graphic cards.

I don't see really with I would need to change the settings for iptv66 when I don't need to do it with other iptv providers or stream sources that I use on Kodi. But as you said it won't hurt trying ;)


The quality really sucks guys, no offense but there's others out there same everything and 90% channels are HD. We paid for the service so your aim should be to better the service, not stick it to us. I only keep this sub as it has A few Caribbean channels but trust me you need to get better servers and provide some more HD content.

Unfortunately I agree with you... even if I consider that the HD channels of "others" don't look like really like HD, they do have considerable better image quality.

On top of that you need to have the ratio of some channels showing black band in the sides (i.e: History channels).

Let's just wait for this to improve soon. Hopefully it will while my monthly subscription lasts :)

[ftawizzards]

I'm already on Kodi 16 and my boxes are 2 different windows computers (core i5 laptop & core is htpc) with 2 different graphic cards.

I don't see really with I would need to change the settings for iptv66 when I don't need to do it with other iptv providers or stream sources that I use on Kodi. But as you said it won't hurt trying ;)



Unfortunately I agree with you... even if I consider that the HD channels of "others" don't look like really like HD, they do have considerable better image quality.

On top of that you need to have the ratio of some channels showing black band in the sides (i.e: History channels).

Let's just wait for this to improve soon. Hopefully it will while my monthly subscription lasts :)


hence , why I argued in another thread why doesnt the enduser have the choice of trying out a rocket or nfps don for a month at least compare quality..i know i know, im gonna hear about it - "they are all the same" - and my reply is, hogwash - dont see the same complaint with nfps and/or rocket quality - not sure about other services but i know they are out there and most stress HD quality and pricing is almost on par with others...who knows what we may see down the road..BUT peeps have been screaming HD for a long while even with their IKS and its always the same song and dance we will once we upgrade the hardware (words to that effect)...such is life

[ilan]

@ftawizzards: i know i know, im gonna hear about it - "they are all the same" - and my reply is, hogwash

I doubt they're going to change their business model just to prove to you the streams are the same.

[tuxen]

I'm already on Kodi 16 and my boxes are 2 different windows computers (core i5 laptop & core is htpc) with 2 different graphic cards.

I don't see really with I would need to change the settings for iptv66 when I don't need to do it with other iptv providers or stream sources that I use on Kodi. But as you said it won't hurt trying ;)


Unfortunately I agree with you... even if I consider that the HD channels of "others" don't look like really like HD, they do have considerable better image quality.

On top of that you need to have the ratio of some channels showing black band in the sides (i.e: History channels).

Let's just wait for this to improve soon. Hopefully it will while my monthly subscription lasts :)

i'm not saying you need to change settings, what i'm saying is the method they currently use for encoding is handled bad by some devices that cant show the picture as intended.
the eco system nfps use is designed for mag and avov boxes that have a license with infomir that developed both the middleware server software and mag boxes.

why they likely tried this method is because some parts of the world or for other odd reasons ppl where experiencing buffering, as I said interlacing is a somewhat clever way to cut the bandwidth in half. and I think they tried this to satisfy more customers. instead now everybody is complaining about weird artifacts and we do not see many complain about buffering anymore. again I know it sounds silly but their model has no obligation with 3rd party clients. we are just lucky that someone has developed clients for kodi, and that the pvr client has login/password, as you probably know iptv stalker is not maintained by anyone anymore and does not have this option.

updating kodi is not really a setting, but the player handles the streams better. if you read around the net this format has always been very hard to output properly with kodi, especially with other pvr clients that take the signal from a digital tuner, that is because digital broadcasters use this widely too. 1080i is probably the most used, but it usually goes to a sat box or straight to the tv and not through a pc. ppl using kodi pvr constantly grab parts of their stream and send back to the kodi devs. to better this, and it has significantly improved in kodi 16, the changelog also mentions this.

the setting I mentioned dont really do much, and is a personal preference if your box can show the stream correctly. as I said I have iks66 (and rocket mr. handicapman) and the picture on the most popular channels looks very far from the screen shots.

interlace does not really exist in the pc/computer world everything is progressive, it was tried with early computers such as the amiga but a desktop shows way to much flicker for it to be used in the computer world and it was skipped early on. as said read around the net and you will see kodi is constantly updating their player to be able to show pvr content properly and this is not from stalker or nfps, they just followed a broadcast standard that is hard to display for some devices especially pc's. contrary some (android) boxes like mag and avov and others are designed to output interlaced streams.

that being said I too hope they switch back to progressive, I hope all do. interlace is old not all can display it and it has caveats in the picture quality even if shown properly.

[tito1982]

Thanks tuxen for replying with an explanation and not just a one-line-rude-comment :)

Then I understand thst you use a mag/avov box, right? I thought it would work better using Kodi from a computer because the computers are more powerful but now you just explained why it won't.

Buying a mag/avov box is not an option for me as I don't want to invest on a device that could be obsolete soon or a service that could be shutdown... so I just have to wait and see if they slowly increase the resolution or try a different service.

Again thanks for the explanations. I really appreciate it

[tuxen]

tito nope i'm using a fire tv as primary device, I knew the chipset could output interlace but it has not been without issues, and as said only kodi 16 shows it correctly I had odd panning issues with kodi 15. as I also mentioned they re-coded the whole gpu accelerator library for android and introduced mediacodec surface for redering, the one previously used was started as a hack and had lots of bugs. I also have a noname box in the bedroom btw. and a old rpi for my gf's kids.