I was wasting time browsing Taobao last night and came across some interesting-looking IPTV boxes: apparently, you buy this box for about 2000RMB, hook it up to the internet, and you can stream a few hundred domestic/foreign TV channels in HD. I'm 99% sure these aren't strictly legal and they're just rebroadcasting satellite feeds over the internet somehow, which makes me suspicious as to how reliable/good quality the streams are.

Do any of you guys have experience with one of these things? Do they actually work? Seems like a good deal for streaming sports etc.

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=...cket=20#detail

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=...cket=20#detail

They work, sometimes the signal is not the best but in general it's worth the 2000 RMB if you're into sports and news from sources outside China.

I had a good one a few months ago (which is now in Shenzhen), and I have a not so good one now... but, it still works!

In both cases, the boxes dislike heavy internet surfing when they are in use.

TVPad, I've owned every version so far.
One in the Master room, ones in the living room.

They've been having issues with TVB going back and forth. Final conclusion was that they are just an online program streaming someone elses content.

I have 105 MBPS Comcast internet at home. TV pad has terrible wireless reception so try to get fully networked and it will solve the connection issue. Still w/ 105 Mbps, it lags up our whole houses internet. My family and I suspect that TVpad is selling our bandwidth to ISP providers in the area to make more revenue since it's "free".
I've been limiting my bandwidth using my Asus routers but it doesn't help much because than I just slow down the speed for me to watch TV......

Also the only reason I've owned every version is because these don't last more than 2 years each. There's almost no warranty on these so don't even try. Not because I'm trying to blow money and buy the new version when it comes out.

TVpad really improves in each version as TVPad 1 really sucked!

FYI Suppliers cost on these should be 880 RMB EXW

Ended up buying one called "MaigeTV" from here: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=...id=44403520448

Showed up the next day, has 471 live channels (most in HD and a nice mix of Chinese/US/Europe/Korea/Japan), and pretty much every movie and TV show ever made anywhere in the world. Found a bunch of stuff that's still in theaters in the US yet is HD-quality. Video quality is quite good, some of the audio seems off by maybe a tenth of a second, but it's usually perfect. Hardcoded Chinese subs on all the on-demand stuff.

There's also an iPad/iPhone app that works as either a remote or lets you stream any of the channels/content as long as you're on the same network as the box. (Also, this isn't from the app store... they somehow use a QR code to install outside the app store even though my phone isn't jailbroken... I would love to know how).

Had a minor problem getting it set up but their QQ support girl got it sorted out quickly.

Anyway, the whole thing is definitely sketchy as hell, but it works as advertised and is IMO well worth the money.

Have fun looking thru these Android TV boxes, most of the quad core ones are good to excellent, the major brands have online support & have recovery media and provide access to updated firmware released, so it can be easy to bring it current - procedures are different depending on the specific make & model.

http://www.gearbest.com/tv-box-c_11262/

Depending on what OP is looking for, these might be fun ... most of the live shows and/or programming being streamed for access are in the Chinese language.