hi bro,
reading this, i was in same situation 3 mths ago, now closer to objective. astro will be terminated very soon.

how to get what u want... "download" usally means stored for playback. streaming is probably what u r looking for, i.e. online watching, no storing.

there r now many boxes/sticks u can buy rm100-rm1000 a piece. many brands, many threads here. a popular one is himedia, so u may want to read these and other threads as the suppliers are active there. my bet is if u want only english movies and tv series (n probably news and sports), one of thse androidtv boxes installed with xbmc and good broadband speed will do for you. i'm a user, not seller, sharing with u what i discovered 3 months ago.

https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2598907
https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2594654
https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1849024

tough... i do not know if there is a simple way (like in astro - plug in, turn on and press channel no., and pay of course) but i find this androidtv thingy isn't idiot proof, needs a lot of understanding, diy, trial and error to set it all up to work nicely. so, i dare not recommend u anything specific. perhaps, if u know of someone who already has it running, best wud b to visit him and see how it works. i can only say it is a whole new big world waiting for u to explore!

"download" = collect files from www to playback, many formats, some small like 100mb, some 50gb, may be playedback on pc, dvd player, bd player, media player via usb connection.

"streaming" = online buffering, can be live tv or on demand. done with smart tvs, androids, ios devices, pcs/notebooks. some foc, some paid apps.

dwnld/playback can get you the highest quality video/audio available but streaming is pretty limited to lower grade video and audio for mass users.

if objective is to do away with astro but want only tv series and movies, u r better off downloading, playback with a media player or equivalent.
if objective is to watch mid grade stuff anytime, no storage, android is more convenient way.
can do both - there are machines that serve as androidtv box as well as media player.

it will be nice if there is a super machine that is all ready for everything to roll just by plugging in unifi, but there isn't. also, not everything u look for exist, they come in various shades and grades, some unstable, some need ip prioxies, some dun even work!

ya, bro, need to read up, ask questions, then buy the stuff, spend time messing with it! a lot of fun too.

hmmm... not true.
cloudtv is stable.
during the free trial, i had all channels working good.
hd ones come out good, close to 720p but audio is just 2.0
after free trial, i continue to get all free channels.
but these free channels are just sd, nothing great.
free channels like channel news asia, cnn, cartoon network, axn, etc. - they come out better, almost 480p on some xbmc channels.
why pay astro?!

i am using unifi 10mbps, lan connection.
take note sd streaming only takes 200-300kbps, hd video (with 2.0 audio) maybe 800kbps?

this is something i hv been wondering...

if the required streaming speed is not that high and the problem really is the internet traffic and blockages, wudn't 5mbps be good enough for all cloudtv sd or free channels?

and that leads to another question - will 20mbps improve the streaming of all content, incl hd ones from the most popular apps and addons?

i really like to know if 20 mbps unifi or maxis can stream 720-1080p dd5.1 nicely and consistently. if yes, wudn;t mind upgrading after dumping astro altogether!

yes, surely. but just wondering a user in sg or seoul with 100 or 500mbps speed and a good box, will he be able to get all hd nicely? anyone witnessed such a performance?

interesting to note huluplus n netflix on yr unit. they both come out very well on my android, with better video resolution for huluplus.

about china channels, this one is my top choice - always smooth, incl hd stuuf!
http://v.qq.com/

+100.

i potong 2 months ago. that alone paid for the cost of an adroidtv box!

seriously, if you have unifi or good broadband, astro is obsolete. there is a whole new world out there to explore.

at this time, there is already a lot to discover and enjoy. i expect a lot more to come in the near future. best to start now, whatever box or stick u like.

i'll share with u what i experienced in the last 3 months with himedia q5ii emmc on unifi 10mbps.

dumped astro a month ago, waiting for refund of partial month since they bill in advance.

with the latest 1.0.6 firmware, i am very satisfied:

.. comes with mangotv, a comprehensive china package with live tv stations, movies, tv series, some in hd. not everything work. i notice it works better in the day and after midnight, not so good in the evening.
.. comes with hitv - youku, vqq, qiyi, pptv, can install pps too. vqq, pptv, pps work good, the rest don't.
.. xbmc now works very well, 720, 1080 hd movies 24/7.
.. free content cloudtv is edgy - some channels get mixed up with others, some dun work. discovery hd world, fox sports work.


note1: i do not know the complexity of ip's, dns', proxies, vpn's.... i just google for tips and do what is recommended and viola!

note2: not advertising for any brand/model/seller - pls read the threads on whatever box is for sale and decide. i am only an enthusiastic user.

youku for sure does not work well, whether built into firmware or separate apk. i gave up on it.
qiyi and a few others work sometimes
in my experience, vqq is best, work 95% of the time. but i have to say the built in version works better than separate apk, so cud be vpn at work...?
pptv and pps work well too, 90% of the time.
himedia also comes wit mangotv - the livetv channels work 50% of the time, streaming on demand 80% of the time, incl hd.
between those 4 sites, i have more than enough chinese stuff to watch.

cloudtv - i only watch a few of them - bloomberg, tlc, discovery hd, natgeo. the free contents are sometimes edgy but from the trials, i believe if u subscribe, the full package works well. but i don't need it as i prefer to stream on demand vs "live" like astro. also, i can get my fav channels foc elsewhere.

the mother of all of them is xbmc. this one offers a whole bunch of stuff for all in the family incl hd, a must to have working well. open source and foc. discussed in dedicated xbmc thread.

i dun think himedia q5ii considered high end... rm3xx isn't too costly given ac ryan veolo is rm7xx, astro monhtly charge rm1xx!
sure, it has great features - 3d, airplay, digital audio output, 3 usb ports - all very useful.

i think for a box/stick to work well, it is a combination of hardware, firmware, settings, broadband speed and the sites u access.
having tried couldtv premium, huluplus and nextflix, i can attest paid sites work better than free ones.
it is those free sites that you want working well too. that seems inconsistent across diff sticks, boxes and models.
i hv no idea what other free apps boxes/sticks come with, but himedia does a good job with mangtv and hitv chinese stuff - foc, which i think is the big benefit.
but if u dun care about chinese stuff, that wud not be appealing.

a fren of mine is looking a box can offers live tv channels from uk. not just bbc but the rest too. xbmc does not offer much.
anyone got a recommendation to look at?

i doubt it. it is built into the firmware of the unit.

i also can get 720, 1080 dd5.1/dts5.1 movies on xbmc...

but, if u r willing to share, any way i can get food network asia? tq.

it was in mashup ilive for a while but now gone....

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Apr 2 2014, 07:30 PM

will pm you. tq.

it shows all skysports1, 2,3, etc. tried a couple of times, none of them work properly.

i think u can get such watchable live tv only via vpns/subscriptions. think paid cloudtv offer some good sports channels, there must be many others that offer same or more.

most live tv on xbmc is either poor resolution or don't work at all. but xbmc is very good for video on demand, ok for live news channels.

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Apr 4 2014, 03:56 PM

i just tried again....
live streams....buzzy sports...buzzy streams 1-40... link 1, link2.... link 5...,
then buzzy channels... sky f1, sky's ports 1,2,3... NBA.... Nothing works...

maybe there is some kind of tweak reqd?

yep, think that explains it. will try changing dns/vpn.... tq.

i just tried it on pc, 12.3... yes, can get skysports1,2,3,4, f1.
can get many others too.
but all in sd, 1.0/2.0... ok for tablet, not good for big tv, too blur...
anyway, all free, can do!

i failed to get it on my android, think becos it is on 12.2 or unsuitable dns. will muck around later and see if i can get it to work somehow.

thanks for the tip, now i now buzzy sports!

managed to get all of mashup working well now. ilive, buzzy sports all good.

i now have skysports1234, bt sports, foodnetworkasia.

only sd but still acceptable. waiting for worldcup brazil!

tq to u again.

anyone who doesn't know buzzy sports, pls try!

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Apr 5 2014, 06:00 PM

the ones i mentioned r live tv sports channels, i doubt they do Epl only. think u got to know which btssportsx, eurosportsx or skyportsx will broadcast at wat time, what cup, wat match. tot I saw a schedule of sorts.
i m not big sports fan...
maybe ctvtec can. Help.

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Apr 5 2014, 07:13 PM

now on xbmc mashup buzzsports....

sky f1 is not smooth.

but sky 1 is ok, am I right I am now watching live west ham vs liverpool, 19th min, score 0-0?

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Apr 6 2014, 11:20 PM

agree..! i dun even utilize my androids half the way u use it. just xbmc, cloudtv, in-house movies/tv apps and browser - that's enough to forget astro, put hypptvbox in the drawer!

the box u have is a little old but can still do much. u just need to spend some time reading the tips in some other threads to fix it.
cloudtv - you can find the apk and other info here:
https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2970945/all

xbmc - download amd install latest xbmc 13.1, android, arm version:
http://xbmc.org/download/
then, do this impt setting described in post# 932:
https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1849024/+920
read the first few pages of this xbmc thread to get instructions to get and enable addons, it shud work well:
https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/3139601