Cutting off Subscription TV

2020-04-16   Technology

About two years ago, I embarked on a journey to get rid of having to pay excessive subscription fees to DSTV when I wasn’t exactly getting all I needed in terms of entertainment. When you add erratic power supply plus the fact that I was more on the internet reading stuff than vegging out in front of the TV it was a no brainer. Something had to give. I was paying a relative premium for internet and adding DSTV to that was like an overkill so I had to find a solution. Initially what I found was a work-around it was cheaper than DSTV but it still meant a monthly subscription.

I began a subscription to Netflix and a DNS service (I forget the name). The DNS service helped me cloak my IP like I was in the US so I could watch Netflix using my current bandwidth without degradation. (Using a regular VPN service would have degraded the service and possibly consume more bandwidth ). This worked for a while until Netflix finally open up its service to Nigeria so I didn’t have to use the DNS service again. Lest I forget I was using a 3rd Gen Apple TV device.

At about that time, I discovered free tv via KodiTV. With KodiTV and the right add-on I could watch virtually almost anything being offered on DSTV and more. Of course I needed good internet for this. So far I was using an evening subscription that worked quite well as long as I didn’t watch too many movies in the course of the month. This arrangement worked for a while but it had one catch. I couldn’t run it off my TV directly. I could only watch KodiTV off my computer. I search for way I could get KodiTV to run off my AppleTv. I ran tonnes of experiments before finally finding out that my generation of Apple TV didn’t react kindly to rooting. At that point I started looking for a device much like the Apple TV which I could run KodiTV off and it had to be cheap as well.

My research ended in the Amazon Fire Stick as the preferred device. I got the device and using a side loading app got KodiTV unto it. I had finally gotten my entertainment unto my TV this was achieved just over a year since leaving DSTV. Clearly I wasn’t going back even with having a kid in the process, I was worried about how I was going to provide her entertainment. This had solved the first stage of the problem.

Amazon Fire Stick comes with android but it still has a lot of short comings. Amazon runs its own proprietary app library so google play store doesn’t quite just run straight away. With Youtube having heavenly content these-days, it was a real shortcoming not being able to run Youtube on Fire Stick. Especially, with Youtube Kids the condensed youtube for kids. This sent me on a series of research trying to figure out a way to install Google Play and related services so I could have Youtube on the Fire Stick. My search landed me on this youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-3SWSD232U

Following the instructions to the letter didn’t quite solve my problem but it gave me a head start. I will describe what I did to finally get things to run well. I went through steps 1-3. At step 3 I couldn’t install Youtube so I went ahead to step 4 and installed the 1Mobile App. With this installed I ran a search for Youtube and installed it. I tried to run YouTube but it kept complaining about the Google Play Service not being updated. On a hunch, I ran a search on the 1Mobile App for this update and found it there. I installed it and Youtube ran smoothly. You tube running smoothly meant I could now install YouTube Kids so my little girl can get her edutainment straight up.

Nota Bien

For KodiTv Download : https://kodi.tv/ It appears they have rebranded into a new website that contains everything you may need including links to add-ons. Note that some add-ons are a grey area. Some add-ons will not be found on the Kodi TV website because the content may not be legal to broadcast free but you can find them by running specific searches.

To install KodiTV on Fire Stick : http://troypoint.com/how-to-install-kodi-on-fire-tv/ Amazon Fire Stick is not the only device you can use to achieve this. I picked the Fire Stick mainly for its affordability and other than Kodi TV I wasn’t planning on installing many other apps (the space is limited, buy you can get the Fire TV or any other device If you envision doing much more). The most important thing about any device you get is to check that it can rooted or side loaded (hence an android device is most recommended) I don’t know if there are add-ons yet for Africa Magic so I have a subscription running for IROKO TV. I found their raw app and side loaded on the fire stick so I have that option on the TV as well. It’s the only thing other the internet service I am paying for in this whole set up. If you are okay with the Nollywood movies off Youtube or you don’t do Nollywood at all then you won’t have a worry

On your Fire Stick you must get the ES File Explorer install on it. It’s the only way you will be able to run the guide in the Youtube video. Luckily, its one of the app that is in Amazon’s app library so you won’t have to crack your head.

Lastly, you need a touch of patience. I took me two years to get here.

You will find more information on kodi here : https://www.cloudwards.net/how-to-use-kodi/