Some n00b questions

[JaneyMac]

I'm really struggling to understand the overall thing. I get what IPTV is and that I could watch a stream of a public IPTV channel on my laptop. But I don't understand the wider process of paying a sub, setting up channels and watching them on various devices. Is there a guide? Some questions I have, that would be useful to see in one place are:


What's an m3u?
I know what an EPG is but is there special config to make it work?
Do all IPTV providers service work on new Samsung tvs?
Do they need to be reconfigured occasionally? If so, how?
Are the services all about as reliable as each other?
Are the EPL games always on the same channel or do they require a bit of config each time? etc.

[dara]

1. An m3u is a playlist. For IPTV, its usually a list of links that a player can find the channel
2. Some clients require configuration to get an EPG. Stand-alone boxes usually don't.
3. It depends on the smart TV whether it can be used for IPTV. The ones discussed here need a client that can work with the Stalker Middleware. Kodi and STB Emu run on Android.
4. All clients need a refresh occasionally, even though they might still work.
5. The servers discussed here are as reliable as each other.
6. EPL games are generally on the same channels. You could use the EPG to find them.

[JaneyMac]

Great, thanks Dara!