So, first off a little about my goal in purchasing IPTV. I'm NOT LOOKING for the cheapest way to watch TV... I'm willing to spend some money. My goal is to have access to [as close as possible to] perfect streams (50-60Hz / FHD) while getting every US sports event (particularly NCAAB, NCAAF, NFL and Boxing) that can be had. Seriously, last weekend I was watching 14 NCAAB games concurrently (switching back and forth). That's like heaven to me! So with that in mind...
Also, as anyone who spends any time around here knows, I have tried LOTS of IPTV services... expensive and cheap... and written about them here. This is a radical shift in strategy for me (away from the inexpensive services), but I am thrilled with the result.
A quick shout out to my reseller, u/jcast356... he is, without a doubt, the best reseller that I have found. Pleasant, knowledgable, patient, and fair. All qualities that are sorely lacking in this industry.
So onto the services...
Beast TV is currently my first choice. Streams are very stable, high quality (50-60/FHD for most of the sports), and cover everything that a sports nut needs. I've had next to zero problems with PPV, NFL, ESPN, Super Bowl, Golden Globes... basically anything I've wanted. In a month, I've had about two times where I needed to switch to another provider for technical difficulty reasons. If I were only buying one service, then this would be the one. The only reasons that I have other providers are 1) coverage of the 1% technical difficulty times, 2) better catch up (it's there, but not great), 3) better EPG... particularly for sports.
Vader is in the second position in my lineup. Their EPG (particularly Match Center) is spectacular! I wish that everyone would copy their proprietary APK as it just excels. Their streams, while not as consistently stable as Beast, are clear and HQ (50-60/FHD). Their coverage is not as extensive as Beast or Nitro, but tends to cover all of the major sports events. Their catch up is extensive, but the stability is less than stellar... I find myself having to use something else on a regular basis. They have a big VOD section, but I don't use it.
Nitro is my bottom of the list provider, and honestly I'm on the fence with it. Streams are plentiful (every channel I need) and clear (50-60/FHD), but they have more issues than Beast with buffering/stuttering. What makes Nitro a winner is the speed at which they get the catch up channels posted... sometimes in 15 minutes or less! This matters to me. To be fair, my reseller tells me that Nitro is being tweaked and should be much better very soon (and I have seen great improvements over the month). But, with it being the most expensive of the three services, I currently have it earmarked as "on the fence". I just re-upped my sub for another month, and we will see how that plays out.
If Nitro's stability doesn't get closer to perfect, I may drop it and re-subscribe (I just let it drop) to Helix for their catch up. I just haven't been thrilled with Helix and buffering for the last couple of months. But their price is much better than Nitro and their catch up is extensive and quick as well (though not as quick as Nitro). I'm also not happy that you can no longer use PayPal with Helix.
Other services that I have tried and dropped in favor of this current solution include: Helix, Eternal, Area51, TNT, TwistedTV, CrystalClear/XStreamz, GE, Gears/GearsReloaded, FAB, Flawless
Edit: due to confusion, I have replaced all instances of UHD with FHD. It means 1080p/50-60hz.
You know UHD is the same thing as 4k right? I seriously doubt any providers are doing anything over 1080p.