My TOT IPTV Review

[muratremix]

Today we changed 10/0.5 Mbit for 590 baht package to 10/1 Mbit + TOT IPTV (Free IPTV Box) for 650 baht package in our village house in Buriram. My only reason to do so was 1Mbit upload speed for 60 baht extra. I got the free choice package as I never watch TV.

Android box works out of the box, no need to enter any username/password. They also give you a web username/password to watch provided channels on totiptv.com and it works on other ISPS within Thailand. It means, your missus can watch Thai TV while you two are in your homecountry using a Thai VPN (No more Thai Global Network - TGN). I have tested this using my True Ultra connection in Bangkok via VPN (I have VPN server in my Synology Nas device and I used it to test) and I can stream TV from totiptv.com with it.

I'm familiar with android tv boxes/sticks so it was pretty easy for me to setup. I still haven't sideloaded cpu-z or antutu benchmark, but performance of android tv is perfectly fine. It does have ethernet and wifi, but you have to enable one of them first. Wifi doesn't auto-reconnect after turning off and turning on the device. This is a known problem of some android tv devices. I haven't tried ethernet cable yet, but I'm assuming it will reconnect faster. Device supports various resolutions and analog composite output for older TVs, however, because android kernel is set to 720p, it should give best picture quality in 720p, not in 1080p mode.

Once device is connected via wifi/ethernet, it automatically opens TV application so you know it is ready to use. Picture quality is different in each channel. Unfortunately channel 3/5/7 is 800 Kbit and quality is low. Some other channels have 1200 to 1750 kbit bitrate. HD channels have 1200 to 1750 kbit bitrate (same as SD) which doesn't offer a perfect image quality. You can pause, rewind, play in realtime, play previously aired programs up to 3 days earlier, which is a great feature of IPTV tech. Oh, there is also a small bug with Audio. Every time you open a channel, audio is mono for 5-10 seconds, and then it become stereo. Bundled HDMI cable also did not transfer audio to 42" plasma tv (that is in village house of course) so I replaced hdmi cable with another one.

I tested free movies on demand, some of them looks like copied from VCD and re-encoded. Quality is terrible and SD picture quality was 4:3 aspect ratio (which confirms my theory on vcd imports). Good thing is movies are either subbed in Thai or dubbed in Thai, but I would never watch them at this quality, but your mother-in-law wouldn't understand the difference.

Provided remote controller can control TV application quite good. You may need to use a usb mouse to setup wifi once, then you don't need anymore. I have an airmouse (from china, TSM 01 Tronsmart Airmouse/keyboard) and it works pretty well. It can turn on/off the device, but actually it keeps device in standby/wake up. It doesn't completely cut the power to the device.

I have an HDMI recorder in Bangkok and I plan to make a recording (full screen 1:1 capture from tot iptv boxes HDMI output) next time I come to village. That way you can see channel quality yourself in 720p quality.

Do I recommend TOT IPTV?

Sure I do. It is almost free of charge, watching tv uses less than 2Mbit bandwidth which will not slowdown your internet connection and you get a free account to watch TV online. By using a Thai proxy / vpn, you can watch channels out of Thailand (Not you of course!).

[schondie]

Agreed on the recommendation. My wife likes to watch the Nation News channel and not much else, thank Buddha she doesn't like the soap operas!

I think she watches more English language stuff on XBMC than the Thai TV. It's certainly worth the near free cost.

[Digitalbanana]

Enjoyed the review thanks.

My MIL was watching the IPTV on a TOT 10/1mbps line (connected directly by ethernet line as wifi was hit/miss) we had in Bangkok but she found the buffering interfered with her ability to enjoy evening soaps. She has since resorted to a free PSI dish and given all the bandwidth she was hogging back to us thankfully!

** Question - I enjoy TOT IPTV free android box from time to time (using XBMC mostly on it), and could do with another Android stick or box for another net connection I have in another house. Can you suggest a good model to buy in Bangkok? I was looking in Zeer last month and saw little on offer, but there were a few.

[worgeordie]

Hi Muratemix,Thanks for the review, as I have the box, just waiting for TOT

to get around to bringing the fibre cable to the house,ordered it

4 weeks ago,

So your review lets me know what to expect,so you can install XBMC

on the box?, might go for the S package as well ,about 14 watchable

channels in English and only B290 ,will see what the picture is like

first.

Thank you regards Worgeordie

[Turkleton]

I have this box too, it's at least a "Geniatech Enjoy-TV" and it works well, considering the low specs.

Picture quality with TOT-IPTV is ok, better than with my cable-TV from Sophon.

So your review lets me know what to expect,so you can install XBMC

on the box?

I would suggest, to install XBMC from "Pivos", since it is a optimized version for this device, with full hardware-acceleration.

So far, nothing to complain.

You can even install Google Play and a "real" launcher, so no need to tinker with the crappy slowly TOT gui.

I'm using a Logitech K400 keyboard additionally to the remote control.

will see what the picture is like first.

For everybody, who want's to check the picture quality....

Open the links in VLC and watch try "NAT-GEO-WILD-HD"

http://fw01.livem3u8.me.totiptv.com/live//607fa33938bc4a3ea6c43ce47ddb8ed8.m3u8?bitrate=800
http://fw01.livem3u8.me.totiptv.com/live//607fa33938bc4a3ea6c43ce47ddb8ed8.m3u8?bitrate=1500   <<<HD

Edited September 18, 2013 by Turkleton

[muratremix]

Enjoyed the review thanks.

My MIL was watching the IPTV on a TOT 10/1mbps line (connected directly by ethernet line as wifi was hit/miss) we had in Bangkok but she found the buffering interfered with her ability to enjoy evening soaps. She has since resorted to a free PSI dish and given all the bandwidth she was hogging back to us thankfully!

** Question - I enjoy TOT IPTV free android box from time to time (using XBMC mostly on it), and could do with another Android stick or box for another net connection I have in another house. Can you suggest a good model to buy in Bangkok? I was looking in Zeer last month and saw little on offer, but there were a few.

I don't recommend buying android tv sticks from Bangkok. Order them from China, much cheaper and delivered to your home for free in 7-14 days (Choose singapore post shipping method).

I haven't tried exporting TOT IPTV APK from TOT IPTV Box (root necessary) and running it on other android device. Although it should work, I am not sure if it can work in more than one device at the same time. Because everytime you open software, it verifies user/password which is embedded in software.

I never encountered a buffering problem here in Buriram. TOT works very good here (low farang population) both in-Thailand and international.

If you want a cheap stick, you can look for dualcore rk3066 models. If you need XBMC with hardware decoding, you need amlogic boxes but not all of them are compatible with pivos build. I sold all my previous sticks and now I use quad core RK3188 stick (iMito QX1). However, rk3188 has several problems that are being fixed at the moment so I can't really recommend it.

[worgeordie]

I have this box too, it's at least a "Geniatech Enjoy-TV" and it works well, considering the low specs.

Picture quality with TOT-IPTV is ok, better than with my cable-TV from Sophon.

So your review lets me know what to expect,so you can install XBMC

on the box?

I would suggest, to install XBMC from "Pivos", since it is a optimized version for this device, with full hardware-acceleration.

So far, nothing to complain.

You can even install Google Play and a "real" launcher, so no need to tinker with the crappy slowly TOT gui.

I'm using a Logitech K400 keyboard additionally to the remote control.

will see what the picture is like first.

For everybody, who want's to check the picture quality....

Open the links in VLC and watch try "NAT-GEO-WILD-HD"

http://fw01.livem3u8.me.totiptv.com/live//607fa33938bc4a3ea6c43ce47ddb8ed8.m3u8?bitrate=800
http://fw01.livem3u8.me.totiptv.com/live//607fa33938bc4a3ea6c43ce47ddb8ed8.m3u8?bitrate=1500   <<<HD

Hi Turkleton, So you can stream TOT iptv through a box that is not supplied by TOT, how do you do that?,

as I don't really want to use their box,only reason because its white !, I would rather use a Minix 7 which is

a much better box than the TOT one, and is Black, yes I know its only colour,.but

regards Worgeordie

[Turkleton]

I would rather use a Minix 7 which is a much better box than the TOT one

Yes, the hardware specs are far superior, BUT there is no optimized XBMC app for these devices yet.

Quote:

It is Gotham 13 Alpha6, we have tesetd, no problem to play 720p file with the XBMC, however, still can’t do hardware decoding for 1080p vidoes

At the moment, I would only buy an Android box which is supported by the Pivos XBMC builds.

Everything else is just bad tinkering.

If you don't use XBMC, the Minix should be fine

Hi Turkleton, So you can stream TOT iptv through a box that is not supplied by TOT, how do you do that?

You tried my links with VLC?

If you have the streaming links from TOT, you can play them in XBMC too, with the "Livestreams Plugin"

[Digitalbanana]

Hi Turkleton, So you can stream TOT iptv through a box that is not supplied by TOT, how do you do that?

If you have the streaming links

There's more links than the two you listed are there? Last time I looked I notice quite a few channels using TOT streaming links?

[johng]

I tried some TOT IPTV streaming links on my TOT "upto 10 Mbps" ADSL connection

with XBMC Livestreams Plugin , SimpleTV and VLC for windows

they work but seem to need a lot of bandwidth 6-7 Mbps ( not constant but peaking )

and from late afternoon untill about 9pm I get lots of buffering and dropped streams so not really usable

on my current internet package

Had much more succes with BBC iplayer at lowest bandwidth setting and the Filmon plugin but still some buffering.

[Turkleton]

^^

Yes, the crappy mainstream thai channels (3, 5, 7, 9) seem to work always, independent from the daytime

Whereas the other ones are buffering a lot at peak times.

Channel 7 (1200 kbits) at 21.00 o'clock, always sufficient bandwidth.

Nat Geo (800kbits), same time: lots of buffering because of missing bandwidth.

[muratremix]

It seems there are new tot internet packages with iptv.

http://www.totiptv.com/images/highlight/promotion/HiSpeedTV_b.jpg

I just got 10/1 for 650 baht and now it is 590 baht. However I'm planning to get 13/1 for 690 baht.

Btw Channel 3 buffers too many times during prime time, it is basicly unbearable. I would understand those problems if I were on a oversaturated internet area such as sukhumvit or silom, but in here we have no such problem so I believe problem lies with the servers (perhaps due to the free leechers via links? )

[mominsana78]

Turkleton sir I sent your message please help me /guide me to watch tot tv on xmbc player / VLC

thank you.

[muratremix]

I just tried pivos build XBMC on TOT IP TV box. It plays 720p fine but 1080p videos are greatly out of sync and not so smooth.

Of course I was playing videos off the Samba / NAS device via wifi, I haven't tried playing from USB yet but if it decodes videos via hardware decoder, playing via network shouldn't be a problem.