Pecka.TV: we tested a service that lives up to its name

In the current market, we can find a decent number of online TV broadcasting providers (IPTV, if you will). Many of them differ surprisingly from each other. Significant differences can exist not only in the program offer and price, but also in the user-friendliness of the interface, support for individual platforms, or even the maximum number of simultaneous streams. Today, we will look at the Pecka.TV service, which celebrated its first anniversary a few days ago. What does it offer compared to its competition, and is it really that awesome in practice? Our test will show.

How does it all actually work?

If you are a more conservative user and have no experience with a similar service yet, I have good news for you. You don’t need to call anyone, arrange installation, or anything like that to set it up. Everything works similarly to Netflix. You simply register, choose a subscription plan, and you can start watching. Pecka.TV offers the option to try the aptly named “Golden Mean” tariff for 7 days for 1 CZK. This way, the user isn’t buying a pig in a poke and has enough time to test if everything works as it should and if the Pecka.TV services and interface suit them. It should be added that – just like with Netflix – you then pay a monthly subscription. Naturally, you are not bound by any contract or commitment, and you can cancel recurring monthly payments at any time. You can also seamlessly switch between tariffs in both directions, i.e., from a cheaper to a more expensive one, and vice versa.

You’ll enjoy Pecka on a wide range of platforms

Although Pecka.TV can still be considered a relatively young service, the range of supported platforms certainly doesn’t look like it. I must highlight the support for Hisense TVs, which are among the best-selling, but the general offering of apps for them is still rather modest. However, if you don’t have a smart TV at all, or if it’s an older model, you’ll need to equip it. There are many boxes with Google TV on the market, and usable pieces can be purchased for just over a thousand crowns. Currently, the service can be launched on the following devices:

• GoogleTV (AndroidTV)
• Android
• iOS & iPadOS
• most common web browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, etc.)
• Samsung TV (model year 2020 and newer)
• LG TV (model year 2017 and newer)
• Hisense TV (model year 2022 and newer)
• AppleTV
• Xbox Series game consoles

A clear offer also has minor pitfalls

Compared to most providers, Pecka.TV offers a relatively straightforward offer without various add-on packages and services. You won’t find the usual packages like Sports, Movies, Documentaries here, but if you want to expand your program portfolio, you simply choose a higher subscription level. On the one hand, this might mean less flexibility for some and the need to pay for programs they don’t require. On the other hand, the surcharges between individual Pecka.TV tariffs are reasonably tiered. Conversely, add-on packages often significantly increase the final price of the service. Personally, I am satisfied with the solution chosen by the tested service.

Specifically, the offer is divided into a total of six tariffs and three different channel lineups. Only the basic tariff with 103 channels is quite limited in terms of sports, children’s, and documentary channels – here, expect only the basics. The mid-range tariffs with 147 channels then already offer a relatively diverse selection in these categories, and the tariffs with 162 channels conclude everything. The current channel offer can be found on the Pecka.TV service website. For my part, I can say that no channel is fundamentally missing from the offer, and on the contrary, I appreciate the presence of Spektrum HD, which my wife loves and, surprisingly, not every similar service offers it. I conducted a small survey among family and friends, and besides the absence of HBO channels, which I can explain by their higher price, we only encountered one channel missing from the Pecka.TV offer, namely Warner TV. That’s a bit of a shame, given that many services offer it even with the lowest tariff.

Last but not least, I must not forget the tariffs extending services to multiple devices. By default, you have the option to play on one (in the case of the cheapest tariff) or two (in the case of the two more expensive tariffs) devices simultaneously. If you want to have the option to play on three, four, or even six devices simultaneously, you must choose from the tariffs designed for this. The single tariff for three then includes 147 channels, while the tariffs for 4 and 6 simultaneous viewers already include the “full package”, with the highest tariff offering a bonus in the form of ad skipping on Prima channels. Here I would have a minor technical complaint, as the automatic skipping is shifted by approximately one minute, so you miss a bit of the show to still see the last few commercials. In reality, however, I don’t see this as a major issue.

Pecka.TV Tariff Prices

Tariff Name	Number of Channels	Number of Concurrent Streams	Ad Skipping on Prima	Price
For the Undemanding	103	1	NO	149 Kč
Golden Mean	147	2	NO	249 Kč
Full Package	162	2	NO	299 Kč
For Three	147	3	NO	349 Kč
For Four	162	4	NO	399 Kč
For Six	162	6	YES	599 Kč

Interface, or how Pecka is used

No less important for any IPTV service is its interface. I myself have tried a fair number of similar services, and it really wasn’t easy to find one that combines a reasonable price, a sufficient program offering, and a user-friendly interface. However, without beating around the bush, I can confidently state that Pecka.TV is among such services. First and foremost, I must commend the speed with which the application works on all platforms. I tested it on a Hisense TV with VIDAA OS, a TCL TV with Android TV, Chromecast with Google TV, as an Android application on a Chromebook, on an iPad, and, last but not least, on an Android phone. Everywhere, it ran smoothly and without stability issues. And I must add that the Android TV is not the newest piece of hardware and is already struggling considerably.

However, before you can enjoy Pecka.TV on your chosen device, you must pair it. While you log into the mobile application and the web classically, using email and password, to pair a TV, you need a pairing code. You can find this after logging into the website in your account settings. Simply enter the name of the device and generate a code, which you then enter into the application on the TV. Then, you just need to select a profile (or create a new one) and go to the home page, which is mainly composed of card/poster strips. In these strips, you will find various content. Recently watched channels, unfinished shows, the most popular shows from the previous day, or thematically grouped shows or TV channels. Here you will find a strip dedicated to top-rated movies, Czech films, or action shows.

Home screen in the form of card strips

The home screen thus largely resembles the main menu of streaming platforms. The main difference here is that you are not directly streaming the film or show itself, but a recording of the broadcast using catch-up TV. Typically, shows remain available for up to two weeks after they were broadcast on television. The interface for TVs also includes a menu strip that takes you to the live broadcast of the last launched channel, search, TV guide, recordings, notifications, and channel groups. The latter, channel groups, work by displaying only channels included in that group after switching to them in the program. Furthermore, you can freely rearrange the order of channels within each group.

Don’t expect any major innovations in the program guide. Vertically, you browse individual channels, and horizontally, you move through time. Don’t expect any extra novelties in the player itself either. Besides playback controls and the timeline, there’s only a bottom strip with recommended shows. The transition from catch-up playback to live broadcast seems a bit confusing to me. There is no dedicated button for this in the interface; you reach the live broadcast by pressing the back button and confirming the contextual option. When controlling the interface, a remote with colored buttons will come in handy, serving as shortcuts to some functions. You can manage without them, but individual actions will take a few more clicks.

Show recording is a must-have

Similar to most IPTV services, Pecka.TV must also include show recording. However, don’t imagine this as downloading the given show to local storage. In essence, it’s an online archive where you can save a show for later playback. This way, you can record a show available via catch-up viewing, currently broadcasting, or set up recording for a show that will only air on TV later. The maximum storage duration is 30 days, and the number of recordings is also limited to a total duration of 100 hours. The recurring recording function is also handy, which you can set up, for example, so you don’t miss any episode of your favorite series. You can simultaneously have recurring recordings set for up to 5 shows.

You’ll find everything you need in the settings

Naturally, detailed settings must also be present. These are accessible either on the web or directly on the TV. If you plan to frequently watch Pecka.TV via mobile devices with Android or iOS / iPadOS, be aware that virtually no options for setting adjustments and personalization are available in the mobile application. However, for the remaining platforms, I have practically nothing to complain about, as everything essential is in the settings. Besides the mentioned setting of channel order and creating custom lists, you can also create your own strips according to your defined conditions.

These not only have a user-defined appearance (portrait, landscape, or large image) but also recommend shows based on your specified key. This key can consist of format, genre, rating, or even the channel on which the show was broadcast. This is a clever feature that has several times recommended a show that interested me but would otherwise likely have slipped my attention, for example, because it was broadcast on a channel I don’t usually watch. The timer settings offered by Pecka.TV can also be useful. From the time to hide the player, through the delay when selecting a channel, to the duration a show must be watched for it to subsequently appear in the “Your unfinished shows” menu after premature interruption of viewing. Naturally, parental lock is also available for user-defined channels in the settings. It then applies that individual settings are always tied to the selected profile.

Image quality settings can be found in the player, with a choice of 540p, 720p, and 1080p resolutions. According to the service creators, a 6Mbit/s internet connection should be sufficient for 720p. Personally, I tested the service on a TV at the very edge of the Wi-Fi network’s range, where I measured not only high ping but also a low download speed of 15 Mbit/s, and I did not experience a single problem with live broadcasting in full quality. In the case of catch-up viewing, I observed longer loading times, and once during an hour, there was a freeze of about 5 seconds. The stream quality then corresponds to the given resolution. I certainly did not notice any deviations from the standards offered by similar services. Moreover, the data flow is stable, and with a quality internet connection, there is no reduction in image quality, artifacts, or slow loading to full resolution.

Pecka.TV is truly awesome in many respects

Personally, over the past few years, I have tried a whole host of IPTV services, both for reviews and purely privately. I have several reasons for choosing IPTV services. First and foremost, I don’t want to have another extra box next to the TV purely for television broadcasting these days, and at the same time, I want to be able to occasionally watch TV on my laptop or tablet. Last but not least, I am only an occasional TV viewer, and in the vast majority of cases, TV is just background noise while I work, so, not surprisingly, I don’t want to pay more for the service than I have to.

These are also some of the reasons why I am ultimately extremely satisfied with the Pecka.TV service. First and foremost, I must commend the clear offer without any catches. Someone might argue that they would prefer to have expanding packages available, both for programs and, for example, for increasing the number of concurrent streams – so as not to unnecessarily pay for something they don’t use. In the end, however, you will find that these expansions from most competitors cost more than a higher Pecka.TV tariff. Personally, I would perhaps only appreciate ad skipping on Prima as a separate package – so that the user doesn’t have to pay for the highest tariff, or conversely, pays less for it if they need playback on 6 devices simultaneously. Whether the program offer is sufficient or not, I must leave to potential users and their preferences.

I must commend the service’s interface. As I already mentioned, I have tried most IPTV services in our country, and only very few of them offer an interface that I could confidently declare as user-friendly. Moreover, these are services from the higher end of the price spectrum. Even considering its short time on the market and the fact that Pecka.TV is among the cheapest IPTV services in our country, the quality and user-friendliness of the user interface pleasantly surprised me. Certainly, some minor improvements could be made, but in no case is it anything fundamental. And the broad platform support, which puts even much larger players to shame, is the perfect icing on the “awesome” cake. Perhaps only the mobile versions of the application could still use a bit more attention from the developers.

Editor’s rating: 90 %

Do you have experience with any IPTV service?