![\"shutterstock](\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/uploads\/cc-images\/shutterstock_235741219-100894876-orig.jpg\")
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As an Advisorator member, you have access to ad-free, uncluttered versions of every cord cutting column I’ve written, dating back to 2014. View the full archives here<\/a>, and see all your membership benefits here<\/a>. Thanks, and enjoy!<\/em><\/p>\n Every so often, readers will ask me about some streaming service that sounds too good to be true.<\/p>\n These so-called \u201cIPTV\u201d services claim to offer dozens or even hundreds of cable channels, along with practically any sporting event you can imagine. They tend to cost around $20 per month, far less than popular live TV streaming services<\/a> like YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV (which both cost $65 per month). In some cases, they even come pre-loaded on streaming boxes with no extra setup required.<\/p>\n Until now, I\u2019ve mostly avoided writing about these services, which, if you haven\u2019t guessed, are flagrant examples of media piracy<\/a>. I\u2019m wary of condoning potentially illegal activity and don\u2019t have much interest in reviewing specific IPTV services in depth.<\/p>\n [ Further reading: The best streaming TV services ]<\/a><\/p>\n But because the topic comes up with such regularity\u2014especially as the cost of live sports spirals out of control<\/a>\u2014I think it\u2019s worth addressing. Yes, these services can save you more money than legitimate cord-cutting options, but they also have significant downsides beyond the obvious legal risks and moral quandaries. Before going down that path, be aware of the potential pitfalls:<\/p>\n Peruse the websites of various IPTV services, and you\u2019ll notice they seldom show off their actual apps. That\u2019s because most of them look like they\u2019ve been thrown together with duct tape.<\/p>\n Caption: UzzuTV\u2019s channel guide may be charitably-described as \u201crudimentary.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Jared Newman \/ IDG<\/p>\n Pictured above is the Fire TV app for a service called UzzuTV, which promises dozens of news, sports, and entertainment channels for $20 per month. While the streams themselves work well enough, the interface consists of a sloppily-formatted channel list, with no filtering options or programming guide. The app also doesn\u2019t offer any pause or rewind capabilities, let alone a full DVR.<\/p>\n I also tried another service called MyWiFi TV, whose Fire TV app is equally crude. I could not figure out how to get back to full-screen playback after clicking to a different part of the guide, and while the service does offer a DVR, it\u2019s limited to whatever storage is built into your device, which likely isn\u2019t much. (It also only offers manual scheduling, rather than series recordings.)<\/p>\n Caption: In the MyWiFi TV app, moving to any channel other than the current one prevents you from returning to full-screen mode.<\/em><\/p>\n Jared Newman \/ IDG<\/p>\n That\u2019s assuming you can download an app at all. Both Uzzu and MyWiFi TV require you to sideload their Fire TV or Android TV apps\u2014you can\u2019t just install them from Amazon\u2019s or Google\u2019s app stores\u2014and using their services on other devices requires more elaborate workarounds. Uzzu, for instance, expects you to buy a third-party IPTV player app on Apple TV, and to use clunky screen-mirroring methods on Roku.<\/p>\n While I have plenty of nits to pick with apps like Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV, they\u2019re miles ahead of these shady IPTV providers in terms of features, polish, and app support, which makes sense because their services are actually legitimate.<\/p>\n In addition to the above paid IPTV services, I also checked out a free app called Cyberflix, which promises a practically limitless catalog of movies and shows by scouring the web for pirated video sources. It seemed to work as advertised until my show of choice stopped to buffer every 10 seconds. This was in the same room as my Wi-Fi router on a 200Mbps broadband connection, where I otherwise never experience such problems.<\/p>\n Caption: Cyberflix presents a list of sources for a given show in hopes that at least one of them will work properly.<\/em><\/p>\n Jared Newman \/ IDG<\/p>\n Judging from some of the emails I\u2019ve received from other IPTV users, buffering can be a problem with these services even when Wi-Fi connections are otherwise stable. That\u2019s not to say legitimate streaming services never have their own issues, but at least in those cases you can try to get support from an actual company.<\/p>\n While researching this column, I started looking up all the specific IPTV services that folks have asked me about over the years. Most of them don\u2019t exist anymore, or at the very least have vanished off the open web.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not a big surprise. Copyright groups and law enforcement agencies are engaged in a never-ending game of whack-a-mole against these services<\/a>. That means you might have to find a new IPTV provider if they one you\u2019re relying on gets shut down or is sued into oblivion.<\/p>\n While looking up one of the IPTV services that a reader had asked me about in late 2019, I was promptly whisked away to another site with all the telltale signs of scareware. Bogus McAfee antivirus scans started appearing on the screen, followed by a warning that implored me to \u201crun the Virus removal procedure immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n Caption: Say what you will about Netflix; at least it won\u2019t try to hit you with malware.<\/em><\/p>\n Jared Newman \/ IDG<\/p>\n While I was able to close the browser window and didn\u2019t turn up any malware with my (real) virus-scanning software, a less savvy user could be duped into following those warnings and installing a malicious program. Simply by wading into this dark side of streaming, you\u2019re putting your computer at risk.<\/p>\n While it\u2019s hard to find preloaded piracy boxes online these days, people continue to peddle them out in the real world. I\u2019ve even heard from folks who say they\u2019ve found fully-loaded streaming boxes at flea markets and gun shows, selling for a hefty markup.<\/p>\n Caption: Resellers that pre-load streaming boxes with IPTV service may not stick around to help if that service fails.<\/em><\/p>\n Jared Newman \/ IDG<\/p>\n While these devices promise to make piracy easy, they can also become expensive paperweights when the underlying service shuts down. That\u2019s what happened to one reader I heard from in 2019, after service stopped working on a pair of pre-loaded ThorStream boxes she\u2019d bought for $300 each. Good luck getting tech support from your flea-market vendor when that happens.<\/p>\n While the odds are slim that you\u2019ll get in legal trouble for using a sketchy IPTV service, the risk is still there. Dish Network, for instance, has previously partnered with a digital security group to threaten IPTV users with lawsuits<\/a>, and law enforcement groups in the United Kingdom have recorded users\u2019 IP addresses<\/a> on at least one service after shutting it down.<\/p>\n Granted, you can minimize the risks with a VPN service<\/a>, a spoofed email address<\/a>, and a private credit card<\/a>, but that\u2019s just another set of hoops to jump through.<\/p>\n At this point, you might think I\u2019m trying to dissuade you from using these services, in which case you\u2019d be right.<\/p>\n If you know what you\u2019re doing and have no qualms about relying on pirated video sources, that\u2019s your prerogative. But cord-cutting is no longer just the domain of tech-savvy geeks, and a lot of folks are stumbling on cheap solutions that they don\u2019t fully understand. For those who are unsatisfied with cord-cutting\u2019s many legal options, my advice is simply to know what you\u2019re getting into.<\/p>\n Sign up for Jared\u2019s Cord Cutter Weekly newsletter<\/a> to get this column and other cord-cutting news, insights, and deals delivered to your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n Considering piracy to score TV entertainment on the cheap? At least know what you’re bargaining for. Published: Jul 8, 2021 3:00 am PDT As an Advisorator member, you have access to ad-free, uncluttered versions of every cord cutting column I’ve …<\/p>\nTheir apps are uniformly terrible<\/h2>\n
![\"uzzuchannels\"](\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/uploads\/cc-images\/uzzuchannels-100894873-large.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"mywifitvmenu\"](\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/uploads\/cc-images\/mywifitvmenu-100894872-large.jpg\")
<\/p>\nReliability can be an issue<\/h2>\n
![\"cyberflix\"](\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/uploads\/cc-images\/cyberflix-100894870-large.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThey could be gone tomorrow<\/h2>\n
You might run into malware<\/h2>\n
![\"allaccesstvvirus\"](\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/uploads\/cc-images\/allaccesstvvirus-100894874-large.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFully-loaded hardware is a bigger gamble<\/h2>\n
![\"thorstream\"](\"https:\/\/advisorator.com\/members\/uploads\/cc-images\/thorstream-100894869-large.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThere\u2019s a slight legal risk<\/h2>\n
Read more cord cutting columns<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"