Ya, it just sounds like a Kodi box.

Maybe I’m missing something here, but I was researching ISTV after a friend recommended it. I’m trying to get away from the high cost of cable. What is the benefit of having an ISTV box? They’re very pricey and I’m wondering whether or not this, or a similar device, is necessary. If you have ROKU can’t you access any streaming tv? I realize most streaming tv apps have a monthly charge, but aren’t you also paying those charges with ISTV? Thanks for clarification in advance!

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.

A recent talk radio show up here were talking with someone about this. Apparently the big companies out there are starting to go after people "downloading" content.
I am pretty sure they made a distinction between downloading and streaming though. Sounded like at this time they were mostly going after torrent sites first.
My guess is people that use the Android boxes may not get a letter, but they will likely start to see fewer movies and shows as the sites that are hosting the streams will get shut down.
I think I mentioned this awhile ago, in the Toronto area there are a few retailers that sell the typical android boxes, some with subscriptions. Of course there are a ton of them on Ebay, but even at our very large and well known Home Show there are always a couple of companies with big expensive booths selling their own custom streaming boxes. And the line you hear at the booth is that it is not illegal to stream content.

From what I’ve read, streaming is harder to track and catch. But from what I’ve gathered from other people, it seems they are cracking down on the servers that distribute the software updates for the illegal content. I have a friend that bought 4 of these from a guy and was paying him something like $40 every 3 months for live tv content. But the feeds started dropping and requiring new updates every week or so to work. The guy that sold the boxes started dodging people and changed his number. It reminded me of when they started cracking down on illegal satellite boxes. People would pay to get them hacked, get home and maybe they would work for a day.

That is a great analogy.
Plus it really wouldn’t take much for the isp’s to stop this, which would be in their best interest since most isp’s are also tv providers.

How can the ISPs tell if what you are streaming is not legally licensed content?

Where are you guys getting that this is free or illegal? This is in the description:

"A paid subscription or other payments may be required to access some channel content. Channels are subject to change and vary by country."

​Basically this is just another version of a Roku or whatever box.

No, It’s not the same as Roku. There are illegal services on that android boxes reselling live tv networks. The one I saw was offering all 4 major networks, espn, HBO, and a mix of other channels for about $15 a month.

WHat you are talking about is a Kodi box, in the description of the box in the OP I don't see it being sold as a hacking device, they state in several places that you may need to pay a subscription. Here is the text of the product from the website:

"The ISTV Box is Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Roku on Steroids.
Featuring the most advance TV box processor and a whopping 16 Gigabytes of onboard memory, Buffering issues are part of the past,
The Ultimate 4K ISTV Computer TV Box Where Smart People Go For Entertainment.

Make your cable or satellite even better by streaming your favorite channels, including full libraries of seasons and series.
The ISTV box makes it easy to stream just about anything.
Movies, TV shows, live sports, news, and music. Blockbusters and broadcast TV, big entertainment brands and niche channels. Watch free or paid subscription content, or choose to rent or buy. It’s up to you.
All you need is a High Speed Internet Connection, and you can instantly start streaming everything to your HD Television from your favorite apps like YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Crackle and thousands of websites around the Internet. You can also surf the Internet, Check Email, Facebook, Skype, Sing Karaoke, play games and listen to music from the comfort of your couch.
Using the android platform, you can download thousands of apps from the Google Play Store.

The ISTV Box is a mini computer as well, now you can sit on your couch and use your TV as a large computer monitor.

A paid subscription or other payments may be required to access some channel content. Channels are subject to change and vary by country."

That sounds like they are just trying to cover their own butts because kodi actually started shutting down the questionable streaming plug ins.

cma, I don't think you grasp streaming boxes these days very well. At least it doesn't seem like it from what you post. "Kodi box" is not a box. You are referring to an Android TV box, that is running the Kodi app on it. And the Kodi app by itself is not an issue, it is some of the plugins for Kodi (and others now too) that allow people to do 'questionable' things.
AppleTV and Roku have nothing to do with Android TV boxes. Amazon FireTV however is a specialized Android TV box, that can be rooted just like other Android devices. The FireTVs have become popular the last few years, to use as hardware for the 'questionable' streaming market. Mostly due to the good hardware at low cost.

But you are correct in: Looking over the ISTV website, they are not promoting any apps to get otherwise paid programming for free.
I also looked closer at what specs they publish for their box and it is the exact same as the Chinese boxes all over ebay & Amazon for $50-$100. Someone would have to be a dumb arse to pay $500 for this box.
Unless there is an untold expectation, that this box will come preloaded with the questionable plugins and updates in the future. But $500 is still stupid for even that.

I used to think this until i saw the letter from Comcast one day at my clients home.
It literally said to cease and decease illegal downloading and even new what had been downloaded.
If they didn’t, Comcast would stop being their ISP.

Anyway a easy way for Comcast to know where most of the illegal servers are would be to buy a kodi box or twelve and track the ips of those servers and simply bam them.

My local Spectrum guy hooked me up with a modded Fire TV which runs "star" app that is loaded with locals and movie channels but with no guide. It works 99% of the time is much better than Kodi IMO. They are all DTV streams as on occasion I'll get the floating DirecTV screensaver and I'll have to hit him up to refresh the channel.