What to have in the room with you
- A MAG 3xx, 4xx or 5xx box, or a Formuler Z8, Z10 or Z11
- The MAC address printed on the label underneath the box
- The portal address we send once that MAC is registered
- A wired Ethernet run to the box if you want 4K without argument
No login in hand yet? Take the free 24-hour line, or read the price table first.
From a blank screen to live television
Work out which of the two routes your box takes
The two families look alike on a shelf and set up quite differently. A MAG has no app store and no login screen: it asks for a portal address, and that address only answers for the MAC we registered. A Formuler runs MyTVOnline, which accepts a portal in the same way but will also take an ordinary Xtream Codes login, and on top of that a Formuler is an Android box, so it can run players such as TiViMate if you would rather. Decide now, because the rest of this guide splits here. If the box is a Formuler and you already know your way around Android players, the Xtream route may suit you better than the portal.
Read the MAC off the label and photograph it
Turn the box over. The MAC is on the label underneath, and the box also shows it on its own information screen if the label has worn off. On a MAG it begins 00:1A:79, which is how you know you are looking at the right twelve characters rather than a serial number. Send us a photograph of that label on WhatsApp rather than typing it out. Every character matters, several of them look like other characters on a small label, and a photograph removes the whole class of mistake. Wait for us to confirm the portal is open before you touch the box again - entering an address early simply produces an error you will then try to fix.
MAG: enter the portal, then restart the box
Go into the system settings, find the section for servers and portals, and open the first portal slot. Give it any name you like - the room it stands in is more useful than a brand - and paste in the portal address exactly as we sent it. Save. Then restart the box properly, from the menu or by pulling the power, because a MAG does not pick up a new portal until it boots again and a great many people conclude it has failed while sitting one restart away from working. The channel list arrives during that first boot.
Formuler: add the portal in MyTVOnline, or sign in instead
Open MyTVOnline and choose to add a portal, giving it a name and the address we sent. That is the direct equivalent of the MAG route and behaves the same way. The alternative is to pick the Xtream Codes option and enter the server address with its port, the username and the password from your activation message, which has one practical advantage worth weighing: those three values also work on a phone, a laptop and any television you meet later, while a portal works only on the box it was registered to.
Spend ten minutes on favorites and the guide
The box comes up with the full line-up and its own guide. This is the moment to do the tidying, because a box in a main room is used by people who will not read instructions: put the channels the household actually watches into favorites using the colored buttons on the remote, and open the guide once so you know which button reaches it. If the box sits beside the router, run a cable to it. Wi-Fi is fine for HD, but a 4K stream wants a steady 25 Mbps and Ethernet removes the evening argument about whether it is the box or the house.
Check it, then think about the day the box moves
Leave a channel playing for a few minutes, open the guide, and switch between two channels in different groups - that catches the faults that a ten-second glance does not. Then consider the portable case, because it is not obvious: the portal follows the MAC, and the MAC is in the box, so the box works at the coast, at your mother's house or in a rented cottage with no notice to us at all. Pack the power supply and an HDMI lead. What does not travel is the arrangement itself - a different box means a different MAC and a fresh registration.
Where it tends to stall, and the fix
The screen says the box is blocked, or the portal stays blank
Two causes, and they feel identical. Either the MAC has not been switched on at our end yet, or one character went astray on the way to us. Photograph the label and send the picture on WhatsApp instead of retyping the address, and we can usually tell within a minute which of the two it is. While you wait, resist the urge to change other settings: a second, unrelated problem invented at this point is the usual reason a five-minute fix turns into an evening.
The box worked at home and shows nothing at the other house
It is almost never the account. The box remembers the network it last used, so put it on the new Wi-Fi first and confirm it genuinely has internet before anything else. Then look at the line itself: a shared connection in a holiday let behaves quite differently at nine in the evening than it did when you tested it at noon. Drop a 4K channel to a lower quality if the connection will not hold it, rather than assuming the box has broken on the journey.
The network shows a sign-in page and the box cannot get past it
Hotels, campsites, marinas and some rentals hold new devices at a sign-in page before granting internet. A phone gets through because it has a browser. A MAG or a Formuler does not, so it reports a connection and loads nothing. The realistic answers are a phone hotspot for the evening, or a small travel router that signs in once and then hands out its own network to everything you brought. Where a connection blocks streaming outright, that is the owner's rule and theirs to explain - ask them, or use your own mobile data.
You bought a second box and it will not load the portal
A portal is registered against one MAC, so a new box is a new registration rather than a setting to copy across. Send us the new label on WhatsApp and it is a short job at our end. The same applies if a box is repaired, swapped under warranty or factory reset into a different identity: the address stays the same, the machine it answers for does not. If you want two boxes running in two houses, tell us both and check your plan carries enough simultaneous streams for the evenings when both are on.
The app to use on this one
TiViMate
TiViMate is Android only, which makes it the player for the box that stays home. Add the Xtream login, fill the guide and weigh up the Premium license.
Xtream Codes login
Three values, one account: a server address with its port, a username and a password. What each part does, where to type it and how to keep it safe.
Every other guide
The rest of the devices and players, listed on one page for whatever you find at the other end.
A login for that MAG or Formuler box, before the evening goes
The shortest term costs $15 and opens 25,000+ channels. Ask on WhatsApp and the details come back in under 15 minutes, ready for the MAG or Formuler box in front of you.
MAG or Formuler box IPTV questions people ask
Can I take the box to my other house?
Yes, and nothing needs telling in advance. The portal is tied to the MAC inside the box, not to an address, a router or a broadband account, so it works wherever it is plugged in and has internet. Pack the power supply and an HDMI lead; most boxes are lighter than the remote makes them look. The only connections that defeat it are the ones that put a sign-in page in front of the internet, which a box with no browser cannot answer.
What happens if the box dies or I replace it?
Send the new MAC on WhatsApp and we move the portal onto it. There is no charge for that and nothing to return, because your plan is an account rather than a piece of equipment on loan. The remaining time on your subscription stays where it was: it runs on its own dates, not on which hardware happens to be pointing at it this week.
Is a dedicated box better than a streaming stick?
On the television used every night, usually yes: a remote built for live television, a guide that opens faster, and no sideloading. A stick wins on two things that matter to anyone with a second place - it fits in a bag with a short HDMI extender, and it works on any television with a spare socket. Many households end up with a box in the main room and a stick that travels.
Do I still need the username and password if I use a portal?
You do not need them for the box, but keep them anyway. They are the same account seen from a different angle, and they are what sets up a phone in a hotel room, a laptop on a train table or the television in a place you have rented for a fortnight. A portal address will not do any of that. Store all of it somewhere you can reach when you are not at home.