Q: A friend brought a product called a vSeeBox V3-PLUS to my house so we could watch a game my provider wasn’t televising. He can access nearly every televised sporting event, thousands of movies and more. Is this product unique, or are there others on the market? It seems too good to be true, is it legal?
A: I’ve been asked about vSeeBox quite a bit lately. A vSeeBox itself is not illegal. It is just a type of streaming device, like an Onn Streaming Device, Roku Express or Amazon Fire Stick.
However if a VSeeBox or other streaming device is modified or has a third-party application installed to watch Netflix, Disney+ or other pay channels or events without subscribing or paying for them, it is piracy and illegal. Sometimes the entities selling illegal boxes get shut down or disappear, and the people who bought them no longer can stream the previously viewable content and are left with a worthless device. If that’s the case, they got off easy. Pirating cable channels or pay TV can lead to criminal and civil penalties.
You can access lots of free content with legal streaming devices and smart TVs. There are many free channels that offer movies, sports, news and reruns of classic programming, and usually there is a channel guide listing the channels just like the on-screen guide of a cable box. Google TV calls it Freeplay, and Samsung calls their version Samsung TV Plus. There also are many legal apps you can install to access free content, which is usually ad-supported. I introduced my father to this with his TCL Google TV and he uses it often to watch classic movies.
The bottom line: It is possible to get lots of channels and content for free. But if you drift into the realm of unauthorized viewing without paying for a subscription, it is illegal. I would advise against purchasing or using such a product.
Send questions to Don Lindich at donlindich@gmail.com. Get recommendations and read past columns at soundadvicenews.com.
