How Aina compares with other IPTV players

At a glance

Compared with players that rely on the device’s own video player

Many IPTV apps hand each stream to the video player built into the phone or the television. It is the easy way to build one, and it works until your provider sends something that player turns down. On iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, Apple’s player takes HLS but not MKV films or plain MPEG-TS channels, and those are what many providers send. The stream is fine; the app cannot play it.

Aina plays every stream with libVLC, the engine of VideoLAN’s VLC, on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Android alike. A channel that plays on your phone plays on your television, in the same player with the same controls: audio tracks and subtitles, playback speed, a sleep timer, and reconnecting by itself when a stream drops.

Compared with TV players you set up on a website

A common kind of smart TV player shows a device code or a MAC address when it opens, and sends you to its website to upload your playlist there, often with a fee for each television. Your provider’s login then sits on that website’s servers, and every change goes back through it.

In Aina you add your subscription on the device itself: the Xtream Codes server, username and password, or the link of an M3U playlist. There is no code to register and no website in between. Your password is encrypted on the device, with a key kept in its keychain, and goes to nobody but your provider. On Google TV, the Google TV app on your phone has a keyboard that types into the television, so even a long link takes a moment.

Compared with free players with ads

A free player is paid for some other way, and usually that is advertising: a banner over the guide, a video before a channel, and the advertising code that comes with them. Aina shows no ads and needs no account. Browsing is free for good: signing in, your library, search and the guide. Playing needs the free seven-day trial, with every feature open, and then a plan: $3.99 a month, $19.99 a year, or $49.99 once for life.

Where some players charge for each device, a plan in Aina belongs to your Apple or Google account and restores on every device signed in to it: one purchase for your iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, or for your Android phone, tablet and television.

Compared with apps that come with channels

Some apps arrive with channels already inside, from sources they do not name. Aina comes with none and sells none: it plays the subscription you already have, from a provider of your choosing. To see it before you add anything, Try it without a subscription on the first screen fills the app with free, public channels from the iptv-org catalogue. Is IPTV legal? explains why the difference matters.

Compared with players made for one platform

Many IPTV players run only on Android, or only on Apple’s devices, and some are a phone app moved onto the television, with a remote left to steer a layout made for a finger. A home with an iPhone and an Android TV ends up with two apps and two ways of doing everything.

Aina is one app for iPhone and iPad, Android phones and tablets, Apple TV and Android TV and Google TV, built for each screen. On a phone it uses the system’s own buttons, menus, fields and alerts, and its text grows with the size you set on the device. On a television it has a focus rail down the side and ten-foot type, and every control is within reach of the remote.

Compared with players that struggle with big lines

Providers really do ship playlists with hundreds of thousands of entries, and a player that reads the whole file into memory each time it opens slows to a crawl on them, or closes. Aina reads a playlist in pieces and shows your library while the rest is still arriving, keeps it on the device so the next launch opens straight away, and reads the guide from storage rather than memory. A slow server is given time too: a download gives up only after three minutes without a byte, so a big list from a busy panel arrives whole. It is tested with a playlist of 300,000 entries.

Where another player may suit you better

No player does everything, and Aina does not do these yet. If one of them matters to you, it is better to know now than after the trial.

• Amazon Fire TV, or the apps of a Samsung or LG television. Aina runs on Android TV and Google TV, and not on those yet.
• A MAC (Stalker) portal. Aina takes Xtream Codes logins and M3U playlists; many providers will give you one of those instead.
• Recording live TV. Aina has catch-up, where your provider keeps an archive, and downloads of films and episodes on phones and tablets, but no recording.
• A profile for each person in the house. Any category can be locked behind a PIN with parental controls, but there are no separate viewer profiles.
• Subscriptions that follow you between devices. Aina needs no account, so each device keeps its own: add your line on each one. Your purchase does follow your Apple or Google account.
• An AirPlay button in the player. On iPhone and iPad, send the picture with Google Cast, or with the system’s Screen Mirroring.
• Playing for free for good. Browsing stays free, but after the seven-day trial, playing needs a plan.

How to compare IPTV players on your own line

A table only goes so far: the test that counts is your own subscription. Whatever players you are weighing, try each one with these.

1. A channel your current player struggles with, and a film in MKV, if your provider has one.
2. The guide: is it right, is it there for every channel, and does catch-up work where your provider keeps an archive?
3. How long your whole line takes to open the first time, and the second.
4. The television: can you do everything with the remote alone?
5. A stream that drops: does the player come back by itself?
6. Your password: does it stay on the device, or go to a website or an account?

Try Aina beside the player you have

There is no need to give up your current player to compare. Add the same Xtream Codes login or M3U playlist to Aina and watch the same channel in both; if your line allows one connection at a time, stop one before you play the other. Aina is free for seven days with every feature open. It is on Google Play now for Android phones and tablets, and coming soon to Android TV, Google TV and the App Store. See the plans, or read what makes the best IPTV player.