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Which IPTV box is best?

IPTV Box Selection

There are quite a few options available on the market, choosing a good IPTV box is not so difficult anymore. Companies such as Informir and TVIP produce some of the best dedicated IPTV boxes on the market, other manufacturers such as Formuler emerged later on and also have done well for themselves.

A brief history about IPTV box origins


Initially the world of IPTV was dominated by Mag boxes, Malta was flooded with them, these decoders are still produced till today and are manufactured in Ukraine by Informir. Mag boxes proved to be versatile and reliable, competition was weak and often viewed as non existent, the Mag250 was the first IPTV box by Informir and was an instant hit. Advances in compresion formats mean tat the Mag250 was quickly starting to struggle and left its users with movie or audio content which cant be opened, we then saw the introduction of the Mag254.

Why users keep their IPTV box for so long

In this post you will see many different models of IPTV boxes. These IPTV boxes continue to work for many years after being purchased, this is simply due to the fact that they are extremely simple in design, their operating system is basic and they are built to serve 1 purpose. Unlike an Android TV box, IPTV boxes ‘in most cases’ use the linux operating system. The Linux operating system is kept simple for these boxes and thu doesnt load the hardware too much, on the otherhand, Android TV boxes are more demanding on the hardware and overtime degrade overall much faster than an IPTV box would. IPTV servers do most of the work and processing power so the box imply needs to display the servers content.

Mag 254 IPTV Box

The Mag 254 was the first successful dedicated IPTV box to hit the market and dominate the Maltese and foreign market. IPTV systems got more popular and as their poularity increased so did the number of IPTV providers. Increasing providers also started to accelerate the introduction of newer formats which also meant the Mag254 would start to struggle.

Below are specifications related to the Mag254 / Mag255
Processor / CPU = STiH207
RAM = 512 mb
Flash memory ‘internal storage’ = 256 mb

The Mag 254 doesn’t boast large specs however due to its simple Linux based operating system doest exceptionally well when processing video and sound.
One drawback with the Mg254 is its inability to decode files compressed using H265 also known as HEVC.

The Mag 254 is still working till today and many users still refuse to upgrade, this proves that even 5 years on, the Mag 254 still works and is definitely a reliable product.

Along came the Mag256 and Mag 322

The Mag 256 was introduced after the Mag 250 and Mag 254. The Mag256 is extremely similar to the Mag 254, it is faster thanks to its more powerful CPU and increased RAM, The Mag 256 also comes with H265 decoding capabilities which is the main and most important upgrade over the Mag 254, 250.

Mag 322 IPTV Box

The Mag 322 is a slight upgrade on the previous models. The Mag 322 is still popular and works great. Available from our store, click the left to add to cart.

Informir start to feel the pinch

Competition

As time progressed, IPTV systems became extremely popular, Informir’s parade was about to get rained on! Competitors had a good system to base their own version onto, TVIP from Russia introduced thier first IPTV boxes and were an instant hit! The TVIP 410 was the first box to hit the Maltese market and was priced slightly cheaper than the Mag. Then came the TVIP412, TVIP 415, 600 and 605. Each version of TVIP was more and more powerful and included added features.

Pressure on Informir!

Informir start to ban certain IPTV server addresses on their operating system. Mag users started to have trouble logging onto their IPTV server, this is due to Informir including server addresses onto their database of banned servers. Upon a Firmware update, the Mag IPTV box will no longer allow the user to access his/her server. This decision didn’t sit well with service providers and instantly stopped recommending Mag boxes, rather TVIP became the next big thing.

Poor firmware upgrades

Informir stop listening to customers requests to include certain missing codecs from their boxes, The Mag 254 cant open very common audio codecs such as AAC2. Many IPTV providers have included content which contains Audio files with this sound format due to its clarity. Informir refuse to add this codec to the next Firmware upgrade for the 254, maybe in hope that customers will upgrade to the 256 ? what ever the reason, the mag 254’s inability to open this format is not good!

TVIP Box

TVIP start to kreep up on Informir

TVIP quickly started to introduce very powerful inexpensive dedicated IPTV boxes, whilst most Chinese companies kept focusing on Android TV boxes, TVIP focused their attention on dedicated IPTV boxes, with the option to boot onto an Android OS.

TVIP start to do it better than Informir!

TVIP’s fast response to market trends and also generosity towards their customers meant that IPTV service providers started to swing towards TVIP products and slowly stop promoting Mag boxes. With Mag boxes 1 main issue is that they DO NOT include certain codecs with firmware updates. The Mag 254 wouldn’t include AAC2 audio format with any update, this meant that many IPTV service users would often watch content with no sound at all. Informir’s inability to provide a solution did not help them at all.

On the whole, TVIP boxes open almost any codec, especially when Mag boxes will not.

Formuler Z7+

The Formuler Z7+ is another strong contender, it comes from Formuler. The Z7+ incorporates the Android operating system, this allows the user to install Apps such as Kodi, Facebook, Netflix and more.

Formuler Z7+

The Formuler range of boxes work well and offer the versatility of the Android Operating system, this is important for those who wish to use their box for more than Just watching TV via an IPTV provider.

Our opinion on which box to buy

From experience we suggest a box which doesn’t try to d o too much! If you are after an IPTV box you should go for one which keeps things as simple as possible. A box which can switch between channels quickly, a box which is smooth and doesn’t lag and a box which offers the simplest user interface possible.

Some users may want to have the Android operating system available, in this case you can not go for most Informir boxes, the Formuler Z7+ will be a good choice.

If you wish to use your box to watch IPTV channels and IPTV content then keep it simple, go for a box which does just that. The TVIP 605 ‘as of January 2020’ is still one of the best options available. It is reliable, can open practically any file format, both video and audio and also opens 4K content. Its at a good price point and will give you the maximum bang for buck!

If you are still using a Mag 250 or Mag 254 we suggest upgrading to a newer TVIP 605 model, this will ensure you can open a wider selection of content and switching between channels is definitely faster and smoother. It also comes with inbuilt WI-FI.