I was speaking to my neighbour and it turns out he just taken delivery of one of those android tv boxes from a firm and it comes fully loaded all tv, movie, sports for a one off payment yep I got the guided tour!. So my neighbour was saying that he knows lots of people are doing it this way and the one he got gets updates and support! Well I've had a look on e*ay and its full of them all advertising full packages Is this the way, how reliable and sustainable can these be?
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I'm assuming this is basically illegally hacking into paid for channels using illegally cracked/unlocked codes?

If so that is highly illegal and we really can't discuss it here. Sorry.

How do you expect those running the channels on these devices to survive if everyone watching them were using illegal unlock codes and therefore not paying to watch?

I also expect, as with things like early BSS and OnDigital, such hacked codes will suddenly get blocked and you will need to obtain new ones to get the devices working again.
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Thats what I was thinking, I was just surprised to see all these for sale.
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Selling hardware based on the fact it uses illegal access codes is surely a serious fraud from the start?

@ Harrison

What about this one?

http://www.droidsticks.co.uk/

Shop front looks almost as sketchy as it sounds. (Watch animated front end)
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I think they would be illegal, although they could get around with a loop hole if they sold the hardware with default factory OS/firmware and supplied a link to obtain the "upgrade" software.

Are they shipped from the UK or are they coming from China/HK? That would instantly flag it up for me as very dodgy.

Looking at your link, and similar links these are all feeling like Chinese copies using Android KitKat 4.4 OS. As soon as the first TV boxes using Android were legally released I'm sure they got to work cloning the hardware. After all it must basically be the same phone components they manufacture over there anyway, and Android is free. So all it then needed was the unlock codes cracked so unlock the paid for apps installed under Android.
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Yeah H. I saw the KitKat-piss take logo earlier & thought wtf?

Reading around though, there is quite a following for this kind of thing.

I did hear that SmartTV's were actually spying on you. Using their inbuilt webcams & mic's to record stuff in folks front rooms without the punter/s being aware!
You could only imagine some of the funky crap going on eh!
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