The ISTV is just an Android TV box. It has a lot better specs than the crappy $50 boxes on ebay & Amazon but it still just an Android TV box.

I haven't read this thread but I can't imagine the hardware being worth $500. Not when an NVIDIA Shield TV is only $180 and runs Android TV as smooth as it can be. And a Pro version with a 500GB HD is only $300.

As far as programming goes. A lot of people use the Android TV platform (and the Amazon FireTV version) to get normally paid stuff for free. It is still technically not illegal for the end user yet. They are starting to go after the people distributing these boxes now. But it is theft non the less and immoral (not to mention the quality is a crap shoot).
I would assume it is only a matter of time before they finally get around to going after individuals using pirated streams. Have no idea why it is taking them so long to do so. I image it is the legal cost of going after so many people, with very little recovery of money and hard to get them jail time. Music industry learned this 20 years ago in the online pirating days.