For many people, watching television on the computer with the Internet has become a habit. Many channels and platforms offer this service, generally paid, while almost all public television channels also transmit through the network so that their broadcasts can be viewed from a browser. All this is done through the IPTV protocol. In this post we are going to review the iptv windows applications that allow us to watch TV on a PC.
It is an online service designed so that the user can access television channels from all over the world from a single interface. And the advantages we obtain are greater if we know how to choose the correct applications.
What is the IPTV protocol
PTV is the acronym for Internet Protocol Television. This technology uses the TCP/IP protocol to video broadcasts over the Internet in almost real time and with a fairly good level of quality. For it to work, you need a sender and a receiver:
- El transmitter it can be a television channel or a platform.
- El receiver It is usually a user who has a suitable application to reproduce this content on the Internet.
There is a whole debate about the legality of IPTV platforms. Without getting lost in other considerations, we can affirm that it is a completely legal technology when used to watch channels that broadcast in the open. Instead, using it to watch private pay channels by skipping the subscription is illegal.
As almost always, the problem is not in the technology, but in the use we make of it.
Obviously, from Movilforum we always recommend using any type of technology from the strictest legality. Doing otherwise is not only ethically wrong and punishable by law, but (at least in this case) can lead to quite damaging consequences for us. Using platforms of dubious legality can lead to malware entering our computer and even data theft.
Best IPTV Players
This is a selection of the best IPTV Windows list playback programs. They are only a small sample of all that actually exist, but they are among the most popular. Also, and this is the most interesting thing, they are all free:
Kodi
Undoubtedly, Kodi It is one of the best Windows IPTV players that we can find, at least one of the most popular. Originally, it was conceived as a player for the Xbox console. Today, thanks to its multiple plugins, it can be used for many other things.
To use it the way we want, it is necessary to install the plugin PVR IPTV Simple Client. Afterwards, we can use your software in a simple way and completely free of charge.
Download link: Kodi
OTT Player
This is a magnificent program that allows us to create an IPTV playlist, with multiple functions such as ordering the channels, making settings, loading and editing lists, etc. OTT Player It is compatible with all operating systems, and of course also with Windows. In addition, it is completely free, although it is only available in two languages: English and Russian.
Download link: OTT Player
plex
plex It is one of the most complete programs to set up our own multimedia server. It reproduces almost any audiovisual format with an excellent level of quality and allows us to easily organize all our IPTV lists.
In addition to all this, Plex has its own streaming TV channels, free for us to play without having to pay anything from the program itself.
Download link: plex
Simple TV
Simple TV It was created as an alternative software to VLC and specifically oriented to play all kinds of IPTV channels. Although its aesthetic is not very friendly, the truth is that it has improved remarkably since it was launched. Despite its limitations, it is one of the best Windows IPTV players.
Download link: Simple TV
VLC Media Player
We could not leave out of this list the most popular and used player in the world: VLCMediaPlayer. One of the reasons that explain its success is its user interface, functional and simple, as well as its innumerable customization options.
Basically, it is a multimedia player that can play videos from the Internet through different protocols (also IPTV). To make it work, you just have to start it, go to the “Media” section and click on the “Open network location” option. Finally, we enter the URL of the channel that we want to play. That easy.
Download link: VLC Media Player
GSE Smart IPTV
To this list we could add some applications for mobile that we can find in the Play Store. With them, we can enjoy the experience of watching IPTV television channels from our phone. One of the most recommended is GSE SmartIPTV. Despite having a somewhat confusing interface, it's a great solution to play a multitude of online television channels (most of them live) on the screen of our smartphone.
Download link: GSE Smart IPTV