Six steps
- Check what your device can do. Does the TV have an app store, and does it still receive updates? Sets older than roughly 2018 often have no working app at all, and then a box is the answer.
- Measure your connection at the TV. Where the device sits, not at the router. Allow around 8 Mbit/s per Full HD stream and 25 Mbit/s for 4K.
- Install a player. From the TV's own app store, from Google Play on an Android device, or from the App Store on Apple TV. See choosing a player.
- Enter your details. Either an M3U URL, or a server address, username and password if the service uses the Xtream Codes API.
- Wait out the first load. The channel list and the programme guide are fetched once and can take a minute or more. After that it takes seconds.
- Check the clock and the channels. Compare the guide against a clock and confirm the channels you expected are there. A guide that is an hour out now will still be an hour out in March.
Step 6 is the one people skip
A picture appearing does not mean the installation is finished. A programme guide an hour out only shows up when a recording misses the start — by which time the trial is over. Check immediately.
What the credentials actually mean
| You were given | It is called | Looks roughly like | Refreshes itself |
|---|---|---|---|
| One long URL | M3U or M3U8 | http://example.com:8080/get.php?username=… | Not always |
| Three separate items | Xtream Codes | Server http://example.com:8080, username, password | Yes |
| A file to download | M3U file | A text file with one entry per channel | No |
If you were given three items, use the Xtream Codes option even if the app also offers an M3U field. The difference shows up weeks later, when the line-up changes.
The M3U URL contains your password
Look at the example above: the username and password sit in plain text inside the address. It should never be pasted into a forum, shared in a chat, or forwarded — whoever has the URL has your subscription.
Where the app comes from, by device
| Device | Where apps come from | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Android TV / Google TV | Google Play | Widest choice of players. Easiest to troubleshoot |
| Samsung (Tizen) | The TV's own store | Fewer apps. Some require registering the set's MAC address on a web page |
| LG (webOS) | The TV's own store | As Samsung. Availability differs between model years |
| Apple TV | App Store | Few apps, but the ones there are stable. Several cost a one-off fee |
| Fire TV | Amazon Appstore | Good choice. The remote makes entering long addresses slow |
| Computer | Direct download | VLC or similar. Best used for diagnosis — see Kodi, VLC and Plex |
| Smart TV older than ~2018 | Often no working app at all | A cheap box is far less expensive than a new TV |
The five errors behind almost every failed installation
| Error | How it presents | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Trailing space | The remote or phone adds an invisible character after the last one | Press backspace once more in each field |
| http versus https | The address works in a browser but not in the app | Use exactly the protocol you were given |
| Missing port number | example.com instead of example.com:8080 | The colon and port are part of the server address |
| Trailing slash | …:8080/ where the app expects …:8080 | Remove the final slash |
| Wrong field | Three items typed into the M3U box | Use the Xtream Codes option instead |
Enter the details from a phone if the app allows it. Typing an 80-character address with the arrow keys on a remote is the single biggest source of the errors above, and several apps have a pairing feature precisely to avoid it.
Final check before paying for a longer term
- Does a channel start in under five seconds?
- Does the programme guide show the right time, compared with your phone?
- Are all five channels from your list there?
- Does the picture hold during a fast camera pan, not just during a news reader?
- Does it work at 8 pm on a Saturday, not only on a Tuesday afternoon?
Five yeses is a reasonable basis for committing longer. Fewer than five is not.
Stuck on step 4? Describe the app and the exact error message and we will help you read it. We never need — and never want — your credentials.
Frequently asked questions
How do I install IPTV?
Install a player app on the TV or box, enter either an M3U URL or a server address with username and password, and wait for the first load of the channel list and guide. The whole thing takes ten to fifteen minutes.
Why does the app say "invalid credentials" when I typed them correctly?
Nine times in ten it is one character too many or too few: a missing colon before the port number, http instead of https, a trailing slash, or a space automatically added after the last character. Paste the address rather than typing it with a remote control.
Should I use M3U or Xtream Codes?
Whichever your service gave you. One long URL is M3U. Three separate items — a server address, a username and a password — is Xtream Codes. Xtream Codes refreshes the channel list automatically; a static M3U file does not.
The channels loaded but the guide is empty. Why?
They are often fetched from two different sources, and the guide is the one that tends to lag. Give it a few hours. If it is still empty after a day, the service probably supplies no guide for that channel group.
Do I have to reinstall when I change TV?
You install the app again, but the credentials are the same. The number of simultaneous streams limits how many people can watch at once, not how many devices you set up.