iCNTV on Xiaomi TV Box and MiTV 2

About iCNTV

iCNTV is the first internet television platform approved by China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT).

iCNTV has formed a partnership with Xiaomi, maker of devices that allows people to put streamed Internet video content on their TVs. The deal will allow Xiaomi to stream some of the state broadcaster's popular content on the platform of iCNTV. It provides licensed contents to both Xiaomi's TV Box and their Mi TV.

Since their content are only licensed for distribution for Xiaomi devices within China, any access to their content from IP outside China will be blocked.

When your Xiaomi TV Box or MiTV is connected to Internet, it will first try to establish a session with iCNTV servers, to verify from where you are access their content; if you are access from outside China, you will like get "'unable to connect to iCNTV' (无法连接到iCNTV认证服务器) message, barring you from access their content.

To overcome this, you can use some VPN service from China, which basically establish a connection session to the VPN servers in China, and assign you a "Chinese IP", so that you can bypass the IP verification required by iCNTV.

You can try using some VPN services from China.

We can access the iCNTV content using the VPN on Xiaomi's MiTV 2. However, for Xiaomi TV Box 2 and 4K version, you will need to start the the VPN service and stay in the app for 5 minutes, after that press back button from remote control and check to see if the verification error still there or not. if no more verification error, then you have successfully bypassed the iCNTV verification, if still have error, then you may need to stay in VPN app 10 minutes.

iCNTV's Launcher App
When you first boot up the Xiaomi TV Box, the default iCNTV launcher app will first appear, and this launcher app will basically control where and what you can access with the TV Box, you can only use their approved contents licensed to Xiaomi from iCNTV, access to Xiaomi's own App Store, and can only install Apps from this store, no other third party apps can be installed to the TV Box, everything is controlled within Xiaomi's own ecosystems.

Since everything is controlled within iCNTV's launcher program, and if we cannot even get iCNTV launcher app to verify against their server if access from outside China, this will basically make the TV Box useless, apart from streaming movies from your own USB drives.

Why you cannot view content on your XiaoMi TV Box?
If you have purchased the Xiaomi TV Box (both Generation 2 & 4K version)  from China or any vendor on an "AS-IS" basis, i.e. shipping directly unopened, it will only be having the iCNTV launcher App installed, but iCNTV cannot be used outside of China, as they are imposing Geo-blocking for IPs outside of China.

ABOUT JAILBREAK & ENHANCING SERVICE

What is this Jailbreak and Enhancing Service?
To jailbreak , we simply install another third party Launcher App, so that upon booting up, you will have a choice to choose between the existing iCNTV Launcher App OR the new third party Launcher App.

If you access through the third party Launcher App, you can install other third party Apps, and these apps can be access directly within the new Launcher App.

The “enhancing service” is the installation of a separate launcher program, and another 20 popular IPTV apps currently available on the Market. With the new launcher app, there is no need to use iCNTV anymore, as we will install other third party apps that offer a lot more content.

What does the Launcher Program do?
With this new launcher program, you can select all the third party Apps, including access to a whole lot of Apps in the new Marketplace, where you can pick and choose to install the apps of your choice.

What Can I watch after the Jailbreak and Enhancing service?
Most of the popular China Apps like Togic, iQIYI, HDPfans, VST, TV 2.0, 兔子视频, 布丁电視, 电视直播 and others will be installed so you can watch movies, TV shows, Dramas, and around 600+ Live China TV channels.

Please Note : The apps are third party apps, the speed of streaming and availability of content will be subjected to change, we cannot guarantee all movies or channels will always be available.
For TVB, you can watch it through Cloudtv, they have free member access and subscription service. Paid subscription will have fast connection and higher quality streaming.
You can also install XBMC, which offer a host of western contents like live sports, US TV Shows etc, together with some of the popular repositories.

What do I need to watch these online content?
To watch online streaming Videos, you must have a decent and fast Internet connection. Preferably 4MB and above. Please consider this factor before you make a purchase a TV Box.

Can the Language Interface be change to English?
Xiaomi TV Box originally came in Chinese interface, however, after the Jailbreak and new launcher, you can change the interface to English, so that the Android menu will now be in English.  However, as most Apps are written in Chinese, once you run these Apps, the App interface is still in Chinese.