Lined up before the first channel
- A MAG set-top box from the 3xx, 4xx or 5xx range, or any Formuler with MyTVOnline 2 or 3
- The MAC address on the sticker under the box; a MAG MAC begins 00:1A:79
- The IPTVSOSO portal URL, sent once the MAC is active, or the Xtream lines for a Formuler
- A phone with WhatsApp, to send a photo of the sticker
No login in hand yet? The free 24-hour IPTVSOSO trial arrives as the same three details a paid term uses. The full price list sets out every length and screen count.
From standby to a familiar channel
Choose the way in: portal, Xtream or an Android player
Three ways in exist, and the hardware narrows them. On a MAG there is only the portal: an address the box loads when it starts, accepted once its MAC has been switched on at our end. A Formuler has more room. MyTVOnline will load that same kind of portal, or it will sign in with the three Xtream Codes lines and skip the MAC business entirely; and because the Formuler is an Android box underneath, TiviMate or IPTV Smarters Pro can run on it as well. Pick Xtream on a Formuler if the house also watches on phones or a stick, so one set of details covers everything. The M3U link stays unused on both boxes.
Get the MAC to us before opening any menu
Before any setting is touched, the MAC has to reach the chat. You will find it on the sticker on the underside, and again on the box’s information screen; a MAG’s always opens with 00:1A:79, which helps tell it apart from the serial number printed nearby. A photo of the sticker, sent to the IPTVSOSO WhatsApp number, is safer than typing twelve characters by hand. Activation is done on our side and confirmed in the chat. Until that confirmation arrives, leave the portal settings alone: a box pointed at a portal that does not yet know its MAC shows an error that looks far worse than it is.
On a MAG, fill in Portal 1 and reboot
On a MAG, open Settings, then System settings, then Servers, and choose Portals. There, Portal 1 takes a label you like and the address from the chat, matching it character for character down to the final slash or letter. Save. The box reads its portal only while booting, so reboot it now, from the menu or by pulling the power for a moment. Expect that first boot to pause while it downloads the line-up and the guide; with a list this size the wait is normal, and later starts are quicker.
On a Formuler, add one account in MyTVOnline
MyTVOnline is where a Formuler keeps its accounts, and the model decides whether you see version 2 or version 3. Adding an account asks which kind. A portal account wants a label and the address from the chat; the Formuler reports its own MAC. An Xtream Codes account wants the server URL with its http:// and port, then the username, then the password. Add one or the other, not both. Anyone who prefers TiviMate’s grid can bypass MyTVOnline altogether: install TiviMate on the Formuler’s Android side and give it the Xtream lines.
Learn the numbers of the classics channels
A box with a remote rewards knowing channel numbers by heart, the way people once knew which button brought up which station. Browse the groups once and write down where the classics-format channels land: TCM for classic films; MoviePlex and Starz Encore, known for films from earlier decades; Hallmark Movies for TV movies; Gold and Dave for comedy repeats; ITV3 for drama repeats; ITV4; and Boomerang, known for older cartoons. Keep the list beside the sofa. Within a week, three digits on the remote beat any menu, and in most portals the numbers hold unless the line-up itself is reorganized.
Add favorites where the firmware lets you
Most portals, and MyTVOnline, keep a favorites list, usually reached from an options key while a channel is highlighted or from a colored button whose job is labeled at the bottom of the screen, if your version offers it. Put the same short set in it that you numbered: films first, then the comedy and drama repeats, then the cartoon channel. Seven or eight is the right size, because the list then opens straight onto what you came for instead of 25,000+ channels.
Look ahead in the guide, and back through catch-up
Press the guide or EPG key, or find the guide in the menu on remotes without one, and move along a channel’s row. A film shows as one long entry with its start time, so the evening film on TCM or a weekend film on Hallmark Movies is in view well before it begins. Moving the other way shows what has already aired. Where a channel keeps a catch-up archive, past programs may carry a replay marker in the portal or in MyTVOnline, if your version shows it, and opening one starts it from the beginning. A channel without an archive has nothing behind the present moment.
Confirm everything on Gold
Type Gold’s number, or find it among the UK channels, and let it play until the picture holds; as a comedy-repeats channel it is recognizable within a minute or two. Add it to favorites if your firmware offers them, and check it appears there. Then open the guide on Gold and read the next program’s title and start time. Between them, the picture, the saved channel and the listing prove the portal, the box’s memory and the guide data, which is all a set-top box needs for everyday viewing.
MAG or Formuler box faults, traced back to the cause
An error screen straight after the reboot
Usually the portal went in before activation was confirmed, or the MAC that reached the chat had a character wrong. Compare the MAC on the box’s information screen with the one in the chat, one character at a time. If they match and activation was confirmed, reboot once more, since the portal is read only at start-up. If they differ, send a fresh photo of the sticker and the activation is moved to the right MAC.
Every film in the guide is an hour early
Here is a typical case: a box bought secondhand still carried its previous owner’s time zone, so the films on TCM appeared an hour away from where they really were. The guide is drawn against the time the box itself keeps. Open the system settings, find the date, time or time zone entry for your model, set your own zone and restart. If the box can take its time from the network automatically, switch that on so daylight saving changes look after themselves.
The Formuler lists every channel twice
Both a portal account and an Xtream Codes account were added in MyTVOnline, so the same line-up loaded twice. Delete one of them from the account list: keep Xtream if the household also watches on other devices, or the portal if this box is the only screen. Favorites saved under the deleted account leave with it, so add them again under the one you keep.
The portal starts loading, then stalls
Hold the Portal 1 entry up against the chat message. Many portal URLs carry a short path after the port number, and an address cut off before that path, or carrying a stray space, reaches the server but not the portal. Retype it in full, save and reboot. If the address is exact and the box still stalls, power the router and the box off and on, then send a photo of the stalled screen to the chat.
A fault that follows you from one screen to the next usually lives in the login or the connection rather than in this hardware, and the IPTVSOSO troubleshooting page works through those causes one at a time.
Player guides that go with the MAG or Formuler box
TiviMate
IPTVSOSO in TiviMate on Android: add the Xtream playlist, read a grid that shows every film slot across 25,000+ channels, and see what Premium adds.
Xtream Codes login
IPTVSOSO sends three Xtream Codes lines on WhatsApp: where each goes in Smarters, TiviMate or MyTVOnline, and what they bring besides 25,000+ channels.
Back to the setup index
Televisions, sticks, phones, computers and the login formats, listed together.
Put the classics back on this MAG or Formuler box
Twelve months cost $69, or start with one at $15. Either way you get 25,000+ live channels and 120,000+ films and series, with activation in under 15 minutes.
MAG or Formuler box and IPTVSOSO, answered briefly
Does IPTVSOSO work on a MAG box?
Yes. Send the MAC printed under the box, which on a MAG begins 00:1A:79, in the WhatsApp chat; once it is activated you receive a portal address to put in Portal 1 of the system settings. After a reboot the box loads the channel list and the guide by itself. Nothing is installed on a MAG, and no other login is involved.
Which is better for IPTVSOSO, a Formuler or a MAG?
A Formuler is more flexible: MyTVOnline accepts either a portal address or the Xtream lines, and the Android side runs TiviMate or IPTV Smarters Pro as well. A MAG is simpler, with one portal and nothing to choose. For one television where someone wants channel numbers and a guide, either works; for a household that also watches on phones, the Formuler’s Xtream option keeps one set of details everywhere.
Can one IPTVSOSO plan cover a MAG box and a phone?
Yes, if the plan has a connection for each screen playing at the same time. The MAG uses the portal tied to its MAC, the phone uses the Xtream Codes lines, and both draw on the same subscription. With one connection only one of them plays at a time; with two or more they play together. IPTVSOSO prices by number of connections are set out on one page.
Do MAG boxes show IPTVSOSO catch-up?
On channels that carry catch-up, many portals and MyTVOnline versions mark past programs in the guide and play them from the start, if your version offers it. The portal and the box firmware decide how that looks, and not every channel keeps an archive. How IPTVSOSO catch-up works is covered in more detail on its own page.