Watching UK telly via VPN, minor issue, anyone else?

[Crossy]

OK, this thread is about using VPN to watch UK TV, not about Kodi or any of the subscription providers, so let's not go off down that route please.

 

A while back I subscribed to a VPN from Ivacy, at US$50 for two years it was very competitively priced. At the time I wasn't going to use it for streaming, just for geo-sensitive sites.

 

Now I find I have to use it for UK telly, I think we all know why.

 

Our internet is provided by ToT fibre, 200Mbs package.

 

Access to BBC iPlayer works well, all functionality is there, streaming pretty well stutter free. I think the BBC uses some form of adaptive technology because the resolution seems to go down if the net is congested.

 

Ditto for ITV Hub, no issues watching live or catch-up.

 

Channel 4 is interesting. Catch-up works flawlessly, but live TV comes up with the "not available in your area" message. I've been talking to the Ivacy chaps and they are (currently) stumped.

 

Is anyone else having similar problems (either with Ivacy or another VPN provider)? It's not a major issue as I invariably use catch-up to time-shift anyway, but it would be nice if it all worked properly.

 

 

Interestingly, if I use the "All 4" Android app over the same VPN live TV works without issue, evidently my PC (and I've tried 3 in different locations) is giving a clue to Ch4 that I'm not in the UK.

 

Any and all ideas welcomed.

 

 

[digitalchromakey]

Had exactly the same problem when I tried to watch the Formula 1 on Sunday PM - tried different UK servers - same problem.

 

Suspect they are using some kind of Cookie to check if you really are in the UK or not.

[KittenKong]

13 hours ago, Crossy said:

Channel 4 is interesting. Catch-up works flawlessly, but live TV comes up with the "not available in your area" message. I've been talking to the Ivacy chaps and they are (currently) stumped.

Interestingly, if I use the "All 4" Android app over the same VPN live TV works without issue, evidently my PC (and I've tried 3 in different locations) is giving a clue to Ch4 that I'm not in the UK.

 

Set Windows to UK time zone.

 

You owe me a beer.

[Crossy]

7 hours ago, KittenKong said:

Set Windows to UK time zone.

You owe me a beer.

 

Bingo!!

 

Why the **** did I not think of that?

 

You may collect your beer(s) any Sunday, barbie too provided you like pork or chicken

 

Task B - Work out how to stop Edge (or any other browser) from sending timezone information to websites.

[KittenKong]

2 hours ago, Crossy said:

Task B - Work out how to stop Edge (or any other browser) from sending timezone information to websites.

 

In Firefox you can use this add-on:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/random-agent-spoofer/

 

and in Chrome you can create a user profile with a specified TZ variable:

https://stackoverflow.com/a/39533934

 

Not tested the latter but it should still work. There's no Chrome extension that I know of but it would not be very hard to create one.

 

Nothing so simple in Edge that I know of but there are several ways of changing the Windows system time quickly.

 

I'm not sure that C4 does in fact check the time zone at all. It may be that it is just getting confused by being presented a future real time for live TV by browsers in UTC+ zones. Easy to check.

 

 

 

[Jeffrey346]

Use this for Chrome. It really should not matter if you are using a VPN..

 

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/location-guard/cfohepagpmnodfdmjliccbbigdkfcgia

[AjarnMartin]

I've been using Hot Spot Shield (HSS) for some years, predominantly to download BBC programmes from iPlayer. Since January, accessing BBC has been firstly impossible and now just annoying. I reported the issue to HSS and they told me that the BBC was effectively jamming VPN signals. I used an alternative VPN (TunnelBear) and found that downloading worked absolutely fine.

 

In the meantime, HSS have released a number of upgrades but it's still not perfect. One advantage of downloading from iPlayer is that I can do it overnight but the signal keeps cutting out necessitating a restart which I am unable to activate until the next morning!

 

HSS tell me they're still working on the problem but in the meantime I'm going to try the canny trick of changing the clock to see if it works. Thanks for the hint! Happy viewing!

[al007]

Express VPN give me specific servers to get round the providers who cut off VPNs

[sumrit]

2 hours ago, Jeffrey346 said:

Use this for Chrome. It really should not matter if you are using a VPN..

 

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/location-guard/cfohepagpmnodfdmjliccbbigdkfcgia

Thanks for the link. Was using a chrome extension for the VPN without any problems and watched the i-players, etc, until last week when the 'can only be watched in the UK message appeared. Adding this extension has rectified the problem and can watch all the players again.

 

Did have to use the VPN as well though, they were blocked again when I tried turning it off.

[Bogbrush]

I'd recommend you logging in to filmon.com. It has all the U.K. channels plus a lot of (fairly rubbishy) dedicated sports etc channels and also the U.K. Regional channels (BBC Ireland, Wales et all.) The problem is of course you're currently 6 hrs behind so unless you're a night owl everything decent comes on at 2/3am.

 

However, there is a recording feature which gives you an hour free. I subscribe to the 11hr package for I think $6 pm and the great thing is, when you watch/delete a programme, your 'time used' comes back so if you're an avid watcher you could clock up 150 hrs a month (5 hrs viewing a day) for the cost of 11hrs.

 

Also, no vpn needed - a legal entity - and your speed is more than adequate.

[Formaleins]

2 hours ago, al007 said:

Express VPN give me specific servers to get round the providers who cut off VPNs

Same here, BBC I player can sniff out some of my VPN providers servers and automatically blocks them (IPVanish) but if you contact the support they will give you an updated server to connect to that the BBC hasn't yet got a handle on.

[sandrabbit]

I subscribe to Identity Cloaker vpn and for some reason it doesn't seem to work with Torch browser even though I log on and select a server, works fine with Opera though. It used to work fine with IE11 but that recently that refuses to load even after reinstalling. 

[Bench499d]

Crossy - have a look at browserleaks.com, see if there is anything in there. Have a look at WebRTC - this leaks your IP address even if using a VPN so worth turning this off even if it's not currently causing a problem.  

 

Timezone checks might be done with JavaScript, so you'd have to turn off JavaScript and test to see if that was the case. Problem is most websites don't work without JS these days.

[Brigante7]

And here's me here in the UK and I don't watch any UK tv because it is crap.

 

 

 

Brigante7.

[JaseTheBass]

And here's me here in the UK and I don't watch any UK tv because it is crap.
 
 
 
Brigante7.

Please enlighten us all about which country's TV is superior so we can all benefit.

Sent from my SM-T815Y using Tapatalk

[George Feedback]

11 hours ago, Bogbrush said:

I'd recommend you logging in to filmon.com. It has all the U.K. channels plus a lot of (fairly rubbishy) dedicated sports etc channels and also the U.K. Regional channels (BBC Ireland, Wales et all.) The problem is of course you're currently 6 hrs behind so unless you're a night owl everything decent comes on at 2/3am.

 

However, there is a recording feature which gives you an hour free. I subscribe to the 11hr package for I think $6 pm and the great thing is, when you watch/delete a programme, your 'time used' comes back so if you're an avid watcher you could clock up 150 hrs a month (5 hrs viewing a day) for the cost of 11hrs.

 

Also, no vpn needed - a legal entity - and your speed is more than adequate.

I just had a look at filmon,com and it looks like a good replacement for ExpatTV.

I just like to get BBC1,2,4, ITV, 2, 3, 4, Channel4, Film4 etc, C5, Yesterday and the sort of stuff we had up until Sport365 spoiled the party. I steam Sport on another site and with the channels I mention above there are more films than I can watch so not bothered about that MGM, Cinemax HBO etc unless they come free with what I want.

If you have had Filmon for a while which package would you recommend?

Thanks.

 

[RocketDog]

15 hours ago, al007 said:

Express VPN give me specific servers to get round the providers who cut off VPNs

It is the best VPN available and I have no time zone or censorship problems in Thailand at all.

[Bogbrush]

10 hours ago, George Feedback said:

I just had a look at filmon,com and it looks like a good replacement for ExpatTV.

I just like to get BBC1,2,4, ITV, 2, 3, 4, Channel4, Film4 etc, C5, Yesterday and the sort of stuff we had up until Sport365 spoiled the party. I steam Sport on another site and with the channels I mention above there are more films than I can watch so not bothered about that MGM, Cinemax HBO etc unless they come free with what I want.

If you have had Filmon for a while which package would you recommend?

Thanks.

 

As I mentioned, I use the 11 hr package which suits me as I often keep programmes 'on file' rather than watch them immediately (you can keep a download in storage indefinitely) so my package allows for about 4 episodes of Morse, Foyles War, Sherlock Holmes and Lewis, plus a couple of The Chase - type quizzes, but if you're going to turn over your recordings quickly (watch the next day what you recorded the night before) then 4/6 hours should do it. They are flexible and you can up/down your package easily.

 

hope this helps.

[al007]

On 5/30/2017 at 8:37 AM, al007 said:

Express VPN give me specific servers to get round the providers who cut off VPNs

 

10 hours ago, RocketDog said:

It is the best VPN available and I have no time zone or censorship problems in Thailand at all.

I am appreciative of these views I am soon to renew Express VPN, it is more expensive than some but I personally feel worth the money

[al007]

Maybe to replace Thai expat TV

 

 https://iptvclub.ecwid.com/

 

Any input or comments appreciated

[Grumpy Duck]

As I understand all media providers internationally cooperate (conspire555) to maintain lists of all VPN server IP addresses. 

[al007]

5 minutes ago, Grumpy Duck said:

As I understand all media providers internationally cooperate (conspire555) to maintain lists of all VPN server IP addresses. 

But thats why I like Express they manage generally to stay one step ahead

 

 

[GuiseppeD]

4 hours ago, al007 said:

I am appreciative of these views I am soon to renew Express VPN, it is more expensive than some but I personally feel worth the money

 

You get what you pay for.

 

My ExpressVPN subscription is up in September and will be renewing as well.  As you will know you also get the excellent app for your mobile device(s).

[sandrabbit]

5 hours ago, al007 said:

Maybe to replace Thai expat TV

 

 https://iptvclub.ecwid.com/

 

Any input or comments appreciated

Another illegal site which could be shutdown at any time.

[al007]

2 hours ago, sandrabbit said:

Another illegal site which could be shutdown at any time.

What is the basis for saying illegal, it offers very close thai expat TV

 

I prefer to stay legal

[Jai Dee]

34 minutes ago, al007 said:

What is the basis for saying illegal, it offers very close thai expat TV

 

From the content of the following email obtained by doing a bit of googling it appears that they are streaming illegally.

 

 

From the above I think we can cross this service off the discussion list.

 

[al007]

Sad I did like expat thai TV never knew it was illegal, it gave me all I needed especially good catchup

 

This other one seems to mirror the previous one, but if illegal no good for me, and I would not wish to do

 

I would not wish to be illegal in Thailand

 

I just wonder if a VPN is permanently in the system, if any one would ever know

 

If a person pays honestly for a service what crime has he committed, is it any different from paying for a hooker ?

 

What is the difference from when we used to listen to Radio Caroline broadcasting music illegally, or downloading from Pirates web movies

 

Is the hypothetical risk any greater than the sub in advance

[GuiseppeD]

5 minutes ago, al007 said:

I would not wish to be illegal in Thailand

 

It's all good as long as you keep it private, at least on TV.

 

I like to be mischievous and will do what I like and ExpressVPN protects me from prying eyes.   

 

 

[balo]

I subscribe to Astrill VPN and I can watch all the UK channels that are free, including C4. No need to set the time . 

 

 

[George Feedback]

15 hours ago, Bogbrush said:

As I mentioned, I use the 11 hr package which suits me as I often keep programmes 'on file' rather than watch them immediately (you can keep a download in storage indefinitely) so my package allows for about 4 episodes of Morse, Foyles War, Sherlock Holmes and Lewis, plus a couple of The Chase - type quizzes, but if you're going to turn over your recordings quickly (watch the next day what you recorded the night before) then 4/6 hours should do it. They are flexible and you can up/down your package easily.

 

hope this helps.

Okay, thanks, good advice I will use.

I guess unlike Expat you can't download recordings to your computer then?

(That's what I'm watching at the moment.)

If it's easy to upgrade I might start on 4hrs and see how I get on, I suspect 11 will suit me better though like yourself.

Happy viewing.