AIS Playbox - experience ?

[regedit]

Interested to hear any experience of AIS Playbox - speed, service, reliability ? I'm thinking of trying it out when my truevisions sub finally expires next month. 

 

Also, anyone know if the box is tied to a particular location ? Interested to know if you could take it elsewhere in Thailand and use 'away from home', or what that would require at the second location (eg. an AIS internet line only ?)

 

Thanks.

[johng]

Yes it would be interesting to know if the box will work with other ISP's

[JaiMaai]

What I can say is that when I tried extracting the AIS applications and installing them on my own better Android box they didn't work.

This was still on the AIS connection.  

 

It would be interesting to know if the box itself works on another ISP because it would give some clues as to how the box authenticates.  There is no obvious login to the app, it doesn't seem to only go by IP either. 

 

If someone could try and see what happens on another ISP it would be an interesting exercise.  Perhaps even trying to use whilst connected to a VPN might simulate this.

[johng]

 
 
It would be interesting to know if the box itself works on another ISP because it would give some clues as to how the box authenticates.  There is no obvious login to the app, i
 

Did you try cloning the MAC address of AIS box to your Android box ?

[JaiMaai]

Not tried that yet.

 

The box isn't rooted so that might not be straightforward.

 

Another possibility is the Unique Android ID but I don't think it could be that since it changes on factory reset and the box still works. 

[JaiMaai]

Did you try cloning the MAC address of AIS box to your Android box ?

Tried that now.

No luck yet.

Sent from my SM-P555 using Tapatalk

[Pib]

My guess is your Playbox is married to "your AIS Fibre number (a.k.a., your specific AIS Fibre line)" and can't mess around with other lines (or ISPs) at other locations.

[JaiMaai]

There's the thing. I'm using it on my own AIS line. I just want to use the AIS Playbox app on my own, better, box.

Sent from my SM-J200GU using Tapatalk

[JaiMaai]

I did - very briefly - get it to run on my Beelink GT1 box after changing several settings in the box to match the playbox. The stream ran for about 10 - 20 seconds before cutting off and that was it. Probably going to give up now but it was an enjoyable little exercise.

Sent from my SM-P555 using Tapatalk

[SooKee]

Given the thread title - one aspect about the Playbox that REALLY pi55es me off!!

 

The Programme Guide is a total disaster, to such an extent I don't even know how they can call it a programme guide.  True might have it's problems but their programme guide is excellent and WAY more user friendly that the AIS botch job.  Channels just slung into a very long list at random with no grouping whatsoever.  Oddly (but not surprisingly given the pig's ear they've managed to make of it), when watching a channel, selecting the Programme Guide won't take you to that channel in the Guide, just to to the top of the list.  No ability to add favourites on the guide (or anywhere else) and thus avoid sifting through the loads of freebie crap channels you're not interested in.  This dog's breakfast of a channel guide is part of the reason I don't use the Playbox anywhere near as much as I might.  Finding what's on and on what channel is just SUCH a chore I simply can't be bothered.  About the only way is through the search function and even that is poor.  Once you DO find something, good luck with it reflecting what's actually playing!  Example: PG for 5pm for Cinemax shows 'Naked Gun 33 1/3' - what's playing?  'Dukes of Hazard!'  Way to go! 

 

They really need to do some work on this (any work would be an advantage).  As it stands now I use their box mainly for HBO Go, the various news channels, or maybe just flicking it on at random to see what's on before switching to another box and services where I can actually find what I want to watch easily and reliably.  Got their Platinum package on a deal that isn't costing me that much, but I won't be renewing unless the Guide improves dramatically.

[Kinnock]

Normal (not IT boffin) user review ......

 

I finally cancelled True Vision (been meaning to do it since they dropped HBO and upped the price, but not had the time) - as predicted on TV, True phoned me with all sports of special offers if I stayed - bit of a contrast to the 'up to you' attitude from the local True shop when I said I was planning to cancel.  I switched to the AIS Playbox and internet package.

 

I'm not into rooting, upgrading hardware of anything else - I just want news, some films and some TV shows with minimal hassle.  Also needed the Thai Lakorns for the long haired one.

 

Compared to the cost of my old True Platinum plus 3BB internet - I'm saving over half the monthly cost.  For me (in central Bangkok), the AIS internet seems fast enough - Youtube streams without any issues. 

 

Installation was smooth - two guys set it all up, including a second box for the 'Lakorn TV' in a second room - but this all happened via remote control as I left it to the TGF.

 

As mentioned in the post above, the Program Guide is a bit cumbersome, but the rest works pretty well.

 

When you select live TV films/shows there's a short 2-3 second delay while it shows 70% then 90% then it starts - this is just for the first time you access the show.  All channels then run smoothly.  There's Cinemax, Warner, Fox, HBO, National Geographic etc plus Sky News and Asian news channels. 

 

You can change the system menus to English, but the on-screen menu's stay in Thai.  Not a problem for me as I can read Thai (slowly) but as there's the channel logos on screen there's really no need to bother.

 

Tiny remote needs decent aim, then it works well.

 

I'd say HD quality is not quite as good as True, so it's far from the real HD quality I've seen in Korea or Europe, but it's good enough on my decent 46 inch screen.  Sound quality is odd, with music and sound effects being louder than voice, so even with a decent LG Sound Bar I need to have the volume on high to hear dialogue clearly, then any explosions or music is a tad too high.

 

HBO Go and the other on-demand services are very useful - and Game of Thrones comes in full "boobovision" with no censorship .  Movies on demand has a decent selection (similar to on a long haul flight - so recent, but not the latest), although the films start with some pixilation for the first 5 minutes or so, then settle down.  Some films seem to jump back and show the last scene again every now and then, which is odd.

 

I didn't go for the fastest connection speed option, so perhaps I need to upgrade the internet package, but it works well enough for me, and the next level of package was bringing total costs close to Truevision.

 

I think there's ways I could improve the experience with better hardware etc, but I just wanted a plug and play option, and it does what I want at less cost than True and with HBO included, so I'm happy.

[Pib]

9 minutes ago, Kinnock said:

You can change the system menus to English, but the on-screen menu's stay in Thai.  Not a problem for me as I can read Thai (slowly) but as there's the channel logos on screen there's really no need to bother.

Assuming you are talking the menu selections just over the channels bar/row, you can change that to English also. 

 

See this post on how to do it.

 

[Kinnock]

16 hours ago, Pib said:

Assuming you are talking the menu selections just over the channels bar/row, you can change that to English also. 

 

See this post on how to do it.

 

Thanks!   I'll try that.  Looking at the other thread, I think there's been upgrades to the system, as I have Thai and English options for most of the international channels, and as you mentioned, you can now have more than one box in the house.  Overall, I prefer it to True, and it costs less too.

[Pib]

Yea...those upgrades have been in place for months....many of the farang channels now appear with two icons....one is in Thai language and one is in English language.  And you can have up to 3 boxes now.   Each additional box past the first box costs an additional Bt100/month.

[The Fat Controller]

According to the AIS Fibre website, third party APPS will not be able to be installed on the Playbox from 20th November.

 

http://www.ais.co.th/playbox/en/

 

Not clear if this will be a retrospective change for existing boxes.

[Pib]

2 hours ago, The Fat Controller said:

According to the AIS Fibre website, third party APPS will not be able to be installed on the Playbox from 20th November.

 

http://www.ais.co.th/playbox/en/

 

Not clear if this will be a retrospective change for existing boxes.

Will have to wait and see....they simply may "push" an update to the boxes.

[Pib]

As of 7:30pm 20 Nov my AIS Playboxes still accept 3d party apps.  I even got brave and checked for any AIS launcher update or Android system update....each time the check came back as no update....you got the latest version.   See what 21 Nov brings.

 

[Pib]

A

13 hours ago, Pib said:

As of 7:30pm 20 Nov my AIS Playboxes still accept 3d party apps.  I even got brave and checked for any AIS launcher update or Android system update....each time the check came back as no update....you got the latest version.   See what 21 Nov brings.

 

And as of 9am 21 Nov ditto to above.

 

 

[Pib]

Ditto as of today/30 Dec 17. 

 

I also noticed that AIS Fibre now offers more TV channel package variations for their IPTV "premium" channels.  Before they just offered their Platinum and Gold premium packages (i.e., additional channels to their basic IPTV channels).  The Gold package was just a subset of the Platinum package. 

 

But now for AIS Fibre they offer a Platinum package at Bt599, Movies package (their previously named Gold package) at Bt399, Family package at Bt299, and Sports package at Bt199.  The Movies, Family, and Sports packages are just subsets of the Platinum package.  

 

And if not having AIS Fibre but using their AIS Play app instead then they have an even wider selection of various IPTV packages to watch on your mobile plan.   

 

Take a look at this AIS promotion talking the various IPTV packages as of today/30 Dec 17.    Partial snapshot below for AIS Fibre premium IPTV packages.  Even more packages at various prices if using the AIS Play IPTV app instead.