Thanks for that.

The vast majority of us are not tech savvy and will just have to put up with the poorer service that is currently internet TV as a replacement for that which we got via our sat dishes.

I'd be interested to know what plugins for XBMC people are using with the android boxes. I've already got a PC with XBMC installed and connected to my TV, I've got Iplayer and filmon, are any of the other plugins worth installing?

ES file explorer app for android gives it access to virtually any storage device on the network (e.g. your PC or a network hard disk) or in the cloud - such as dropbox.

Yes, was more thinking about which other plugins (I suppose you'd think of them like xbmc apps, but they call them plugins) like iplayer, filmon etc. I've used XBMC for donkeys years to stream live TV and films around the house, it's a good piece of software.

Go to the google play store and search for XBMC.

Sorry, I meant which add-ons, not plugins. Should have checked before I typed.

There are literally thousands of add-ons you can use with XBMC, I was interested to know which ones were installed by default on the android box being suggested above.

I'm confused. Virtually anything on an android device is an "app" or "add on". Even the user interface is an "app". Some come pre-loaded, others you download per your preference.

XBMC has add ons as well, nothing to do with google or the play store. That's what the iplayer, tvcatchup, 5od, filmon etc are, just add ons to XBMC.

OK... but it's even more confusing now, because all of those "add ons" you mention are "added on" as "apps" downloaded from the play store.

Thank you very much for all your comments. I am to modern technology what paul gasgoine is to mensa and I cant get my head round vpn. I know I can subscribe to a vpn service which allows me to access for example "iplayer" onto my laptop from my wifi router.The android box recieves a signal from that router but would I need a seperate vpn on the router itself because the existing vpn only "covers" my laptop. Again apologies for what to most of you is a very silly question.Thanks

You don't need XBMC at all. All those are apps available from the Google Play store. You only need XBMC if you want to delve further than what is available in the Play Store.

I admit we don't use any such thing, as we do not need iPlayer or any of the others, but if you do;

IF your router provides a VPN or proxy function, then you need only set it up on your router, and then ALL devices connected to it will use it.

Otherwise, setting it up on each device individually may require a separate account for each of them.

You can, however, perform some sort of magic to route other devices through your laptop, but then your laptop must be ON and awake for other devices to use the VPN...

Which is why, unless you need the extra facilities that a VPN can offer, a SmartDNS solution is much better as it can be installed on almost any device and all at the same time for the same single subscription.

For what she said why would you advise the earlier poster to put it on each device rather than just the router, unless they don't have as in EMR's case access to change the router settings.

Yes, you could put it in the router, but I have never tried that as I wish to keep control of which of my 13 internet connected devices are doing what.

It also made it easier to check the performance of various DNS services at the same time.

Once I have finally decided which VPN and or DNS service I am going to use I will simplify the setup.