Am not mentioning any service. So do not put in the name of anything in this thread. Just in general.
Many services have poor EPG.
Many services have poor CATCH UP.
It’s easy to compare in five minutes when the EPG fails to load on most channels, with a limit of 48 hours in the future. And CATCH UP is missing for all the major channels.
Then you ask a contact via email and they have no idea what you are talking about and it works fine. But you are comparing EPG and CATCHUP and cab show theirs is missing. (Using tivimate )
It’s just weird. Again do not mention any provider please.
Catchup is fast becoming a thing of the past at least for iptv providers. Many reasons for this but mostly demand vs upkeep is a main factor. When you do find catchup its often very unreliable and to be honest I would not use that as a deciding factor in picking a service but rather look into recording as a means of catchup.
I’ve just never seen the need for catchup. If anything is that important then I make the time to watch a rerun for sports, better yet watch it live. Movies and TV series are flawless in Stremio and searching is easy. Honestly, I haven’t a clue how to even use catchup.
Actually catch up is pretty handy if it works, elliminates the need to record if all you want to do is go back and watch something you missed, like a news program that aired at 6 and you got home at 7…go back in time and catch up.
I guess it’s because I’m retired and have lots of time. Anything I want to watch, I watch when it airs. Honestly I’ve never used catchup and can’t see that will ever change. Nothing “in the past” is that important to me.
When you watch it live, you have to sit through the commercials. With Catchup you can FF through the commercials, that alone is worth it to me. Catchup is like having all the shows on a network automatically DVR’d for you. Catchup has nothing to do with tv series and movies, thats what kodi is for, but if you are a cable news junky like me, its a must have.
If you watch British TV through the free U.K. apps - BBCiPlayer, ITVX, all4, my5 - then all of these services offer catch-up for recent days and have vast libraries of their output of all types which are available for many months. As a service during the pandemic lock-downs the period for which shows could be accessed was greatly extended, to years in some cases. And UKTvPlay has a library of much older shows from the main tv stations above. I never record U.K. tv shows because tbey are always available later.
I know catchup doesn’t have anything to do with live tv.I only mentioned that as an aside, as many series are shown in IPTV and rather than use catchup to watch it at your conveniance, if it has it, you can watch it in Stremio.
The comments seem perfect. Issues as mentioned are exactly what am dealing with. We have low bandwidth that is better only in the morning. Can not record in the evenings. Sorry need to use CATCH UP in the morning when others are not using the bandwidth.
Have looked at a few services and only one has a multitude of CATCH UP that includes USA with ABC and NBC and PBS. Would have thought those would be a standard to include. Yes, I can use VOD but like to have CATCH UP immediately, as VOD takes hours to get.
Well at least am learning via trials. Prices are weirdly not competitive either.
After looking at four more provider tests last night they are getting more consistent at least. Some web pages for service look smart and make sense. That builds some trust. Reviews that state geolocation also help with the use of a VPN.
If they all truly are just ten companies with 100 resellers there sure are a lot of different plan variation.
You are quite correct. I have yet to find a provider that can keep up with updating the programming in these areas, particularly in view of all the channels (and VOD) most of them offer. It takes too much time and resources on a daily basis to get epgs and catch-up current and accurate. Like most of you, I would rather get reliable streams and fairly accurate listings on the major channels and sporting events and settle for that. If more accurate epgs and catch-up across the board are that important to you, biting the bullet and subscribing to a premium service, (at a much higher cost) is always an option.
Retired here too but can’t always stay awake to watch what I want to see. I find the TV Calendar in The Crew with RD to work perfectly and I can watch anything I want to after I’ve had my morning java.
