There are many uses that we can give to a Raspberry Pi and one of them is to turn it into a multimedia center in which to watch television, series, programs and all kinds of content. Therefore, we explain in the next few paragraphs how to open or view IPTV lists on a Raspberry Pi using several different methods.
What to keep in mind
Before knowing how to view IPTV lists in Raspberry, it is convenient to review a series of concepts such as what is IPTV or what is a Raspberry Pi or what it is for. IPTV stands for Internet Protocol Television and it is a technology used to distribute video signal over the Internet. For example, we can watch television from the computer. We can see it from the computer but it is not the only device capable of playing these lists … We can also do it from a Smart TV with specialized applications such as Kodi or VLC that are compatible. Or from a Raspberry Pi.
Although if you have come this far you will know very well what a Raspberry Pi is but it is a miniature computer, the size of a credit card and capable of performing all kinds of tasks although you need to connect different peripherals to make it work as well as equip it with a case that protects it (if you want) One of the most common uses of a Rasberry Pi is to have a multimedia center and this is what we should do if we want to be able to use IPTV lists.
How to view IPTV lists
There are several options to achieve this goal. The first is that we use LibreELEC as a distro for the microcomputer and it will automatically allow us to access Kodi, one of the most popular programs for this purpose. Or we can install Kodi on Raspbian, Raspberry’s official operating system. Or VLC, another of the most common programs if we want to see IPTV lists.
Use LibreELEC
The best option to view IPTV lists on the microcomputer is to use LibreELEC if this is going to be your mission or the main use of the small computer. The disk arises as a fork of OpenELEC and is one of the most recommended. LibreELEC is a Linux distro that we can use on the Raspberry Pi and that automatically “brings” Kodi. The only objective of this distro is that we can run Kodi. So much so that when we download, install and run LibreELEC on a device we see that it is Kodi after a few seconds and we have all the available options. We can have a multimedia center on the microcomputer if our only goal is to use it for this purpose and if we want to see an IPTV list on Rapsberry Pi.
It is downloaded automatically from its own website and we can find the most recent versions available whether you are looking for a beta phase or if you are looking for the stable version. In addition, from the LibreELEC website we find a file that will help us to do the manual download and start the process. We can also find a wiki where you can consult any questions about the step-by-step installation if you have chosen this option.
Download Kodi
We can use LibreELEC if we want to have Kodi on the Raspberry Pi automatically but it is not the only option. The plate also offers us other options. For example, if you have Raspbian (the official distribution and you don’t want to change the distro, you can install Kodi without any problem. Kodi is a multimedia center that allows us to play video, music or images from many devices and that has add- ons or extensions that offer us some extra services or tools. Kodi is one of the most complete or recommended options to view an IPTV list on your Smart TV or on your computer, but also if you want to see an IPTV list on Raspberry Pi.
- Run the command: sudo apt install kodi
Once you have it, do a configuration file edit so that the multimedia center software loads automatically every time your mini computer boots. The command is: sudo nano / etc / default / kodi
- Change the ENABLE setting to 1 by typing ENABLE = 1
- Check the changes
- Press the “Ctrl + z” key
- Apt package manager will download and install Kodi
We will have Kodi ready. Although if you don’t want to do it manually there are also other alternatives such as using Noobs, for example, or using OSMC that allows us to install on Raspberry Pi. Of course, we will need a microSD card that we will use on the computer and we will carry OSMC on that memory card. After this process we can take it to the microcomputer, insert it and the download and installation process will begin. Once you have OSMC we can open Kodi but it is a much longer process than the previous ones and perhaps unnecessary.
Download VLC
VLC is one of the fundamental tools to watch IPTV and it is compatible with any operating system so there is no problem if you want to use it on a Raspberry Pi because it will be compatible. We can go to their website and go to “· downloads” to see all available operating systems : Windows, Mac, iOS, Apple TV, Android, Debian GNU / Linux, Ubuntu, Mint, openSUSE, Gentoo Linux, Fedora, Arch Linux , Slackware Linux, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Plus DFreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, QNX, and many more.
VLC is compatible with almost all formats and allows us to import lists to watch IPTV but we can also give other uses to the Raspberry because you can open or use MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, MKV, WebM, WMV, MP3.
If you want to use lists we can go to ” Medium “. We can open VLC on our device, go to the top menu and choose “Open network location” where we can enter the link or url of the channel we want to play. We simply paste the URL of the video or television to watch.
Using VLC is completely legal as is using Kodi but it will depend on us what we use it for or what IPTV lists we use, taking into account that it can be a problem to use it for piracy and that not only will you not get the desired quality but also use Hacked IPTV can compromise your data in addition to exposing you to malware.