Watching IPL ( & Live Indian TV) on Raspberry Pi 3 !

[Tags :indian tv on raspberry pi]
Indian Premiere League [IPL] is an international cricket event where different club bid and make teams with players from different countries. Its a big deal for any cricket lover, And for us @BabaHumor too. Unfortunately, I have DTH services, But its not connected to my TV. I only have my trutsy Pi3B and a sony LED screen.

Operation “Get I.P.L” !

• Easy Way : Thru Kodi+HotStar.
  Pros : Very Easy.
  Cons : Not very dependable.
• Hard Way : Thru Android+Chrome+TataSky Subscription.
  Pros : Very do-able. Always works.
  Cons : Requires TataSky Subscription. Android is barely workable at best.

Both method require Paid subscription, But you can ask for tatasky details from your friend, as it is free, One should not have any problems with it.

Method Uno : Get_Kodi !

You can download and Install LibreElec, Our recommended Kodi-based Operating System from the old team of OpenElec. Its a very trimmed down OS tailored for rpi, Only giving you access to multimedia tasks. We have posted some articles that will help you installing and tweaking LibreElec :

Raspberry Pi 3 : Easy multiple OS booting with PINN Tutorial. (Installation tutorial)
Sudo’ed : LibreElec On Raspberry Pi 3B. Review, Pros-cons, Functions. (Readme)
Best Overclock Settings for Raspberry Pi 3B for different purposes. (Overclocking)

After LibreElec is installed and running, We shall move on to installing HotStar plugin for kodi. This is a port of android version for HotStar app. HotStar provides 10 minutes of free streaming of every match, and requires 250 INR for the whole sports season. Alternatively there is a way for getting free Premium subscription for hotstar through MyJio App, I still need to wrap my head around how that will work.

Installing Plugin :

Download the zip file from Here. All credit for this plugin goes to YoColdRain, you can get his git profile here. 
After downloading the zip file, Put it on your rPi. Turn ON install from unknown sources, which is available in settings : 

Then return to home, Navigate to Addons :

Select Install From zip file and locate the file :

The addon will be installed along with its required components. You can now launch HotStar in the addons section of home. Due to the way kodi handles its media files, You can buffer upto 1080p60fps on it with some lag in the UI.

Method Duos : Android is the future !

Because we use PINN as our boot-loader, We are free to multiboot and switch between different OS’es installed on Pi. PINN has another great benefit : It can install Android on your RPi and create all the needed partition itself. While there are many android version available for RPI3, we recommend LineageOS 14.1. Its built on android version 7.1.1, you can install Gapps on it, And the best thing, It has a smooth multimedia performance, If you can let go of the mouse-icon render issue, its a killer.

The Steps :

• Select LineageOS to be installed in PINN first boot menu along with your OS’es.
• Boot into LineageOS.
• Download Chrome.apk from UpToDown (Official)
• Open Tatasky WebTv Portal from Tatasky.com.
• Click on chrome menu and select Request Desktop Site.
• Login And Navigate to channel 459 or 460, Or search Star Sports HD1 Hindi.
• Enjoy !!!

While this step works for only tatasky subscribers, It is available for No-Extra Charges ! I.e 0 INR per month every month, So you can ask your friends/relatives for their username/passwords.