Aina IPTV

Guide

What is IPTV?

IPTV, short for Internet Protocol Television, is television delivered over an internet connection instead of an aerial, a satellite dish or a cable. Here is how it works, how it differs from what you may already watch, and what you need to start.

Updated · By the Aina IPTV team

How IPTV works

An IPTV provider takes each channel and turns it into a stream: a continuous flow of video sent over the internet, usually as HLS (small pieces listed in an .m3u8 file) or as a single MPEG-TS stream. A player app on your phone, tablet or television asks for a channel and plays it as it arrives.

Two more things make it television rather than a pile of links. A playlist tells the player which channels, films and series exist, as an M3U playlist or an Xtream Codes login. A guide, the EPG, tells it what is on each channel and when, usually as an XMLTV file.

What you can watch

  • Live TV: channels as they are broadcast.
  • Video on demand (VOD): films and series you start whenever you like.
  • Catch-up: programmes that have already aired, where the provider keeps an archive.

IPTV compared with cable, satellite and streaming apps

IPTV subscriptionCable or satelliteStreaming apps
How it arrivesYour internet connectionA cable or a dishYour internet connection
What you watch it withA player app of your choosingThe provider’s boxEach service’s own app
Live channelsYes, with a guideYes, with a guideSome, often none
Films and seriesOften includedSometimes, extraThe main offer
ScreensPhone, tablet, TV, anywhere onlineMostly the televisionPhone, tablet, TV

The big difference is the split between the service and the app. A streaming service makes its own app. An IPTV provider usually does not: it gives you a login, and you watch with a player such as Aina, the way a web browser opens any website.

What you need

  • A subscription from an IPTV provider, as an Xtream Codes login or an M3U playlist link. Choose a provider that holds the rights to what it sells: Is IPTV legal? explains why it matters.
  • A player app, on each device you watch on. What to look for in one.
  • A device: a phone, a tablet, or a television with an Apple TV or Android TV or Google TV.
  • A steady connection. As a rough guide, allow 10 Mbps or more for HD and 25 Mbps or more for 4K, for each stream playing at once. Steadiness matters as much as speed: a wired connection or 5 GHz Wi-Fi beats a faster but patchy one.

Players and providers are different things

This is the part that confuses people most. The provider sells access to channels. The player only plays them. A legitimate player comes with no channels at all, and one sold “loaded” with channels is a warning sign. Aina is a player: it sells no subscription and includes no content.

Getting started with Aina

  1. 1

    Get Aina

    On your phone, your tablet or your television.

  2. 2

    Add your subscription

    Your Xtream Codes login, or your M3U playlist link with a guide link if you have one.

  3. 3

    Watch

    Your channels, films and series, with the guide, on every screen you add it to.

No subscription yet? Tap Try it without a subscription on Aina’s first screen to see how IPTV works with free, public channels from the iptv-org catalogue.

Questions and answers

It is a kind of streaming. The word usually means live channels delivered over the internet with a guide, watched in a player app, rather than a single service’s own app.

No. A player app on a phone, a tablet, an Apple TV or an Android TV or Google TV device is enough.

As a rough guide, 10 Mbps or more for HD and 25 Mbps or more for 4K, for each stream at once. A steady connection matters as much as a fast one.

In Aina, Try it without a subscription shows free, public channels from the iptv-org catalogue, so you can see how it works before you pay anyone.

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