What’s on the box?
Windows/Mac
If you simply want to watch videos on your
computer, or a Home theatre PC connected to your television, the Hola browser
plugin should serve you well for Hulu, Netflix, Amazon and BBC iPlayer. Try
both Chrome and Firefox if you run into problems. If you get no joy, experiment
with proxy servers or try a DNS-based service – substituting its DS servers for
your defaults. To change your DNS settings on a Mac, go to System Preferences,
Network, Advanced and the DNS tab. On windows, open Network and Sharing Center
from the Control Panel, click Change Adaptor Settings, right-click on the
adapter you’re using to connect to the internet and choose Properties.
Right-click Internet Protocol Version 4, choose Properties and then alter the
DNS settings. Don’t worry about advanced geo-dodging techniques with iTunes,
just switch to your foreign account.
BBC’s
iPlayer has a wealth of content that ex-pats would die to watch
Apple/Android
There are Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant
Video and BBC iPlayer apps for Android and Apple’s iOS but they’re not to be
found in the Australian stores. You’ll need a US/UK account to download them
from iTunes. Meanwhile running a VPN on Android gives you access to foreign Google
Play stores and we got into the US and UK with WiTopia. If the apps don’t show
up, try searching for them in the browser, clicking on the link and then
opening them in Google Play. Along with BBC iPlayer for Android you’ll need BBC
Media Player.
Amazon
Prime lets you both streams and rent movies
If you can’t find an android app, or the
current version isn’t compatible with your device, consider searching online
for APK app files and side loading them onto your device via email. You’ll need
to allow the installation of non-market apps, so proceed at your own risk.
Results will vary depending on your particular hardware and OS. We were forced
to side load BBC Media Player, because Google Play wouldn’t let us download it
even using WiTopia. We also tried side loading Amazon Instant Video because
it’s supposedly not compatible with our Samsung Galaxy S3, but the app wasn’t
stable.
Even with the apps installed on your
devices, you still can’t play videos until you cloak your location. Both iOS
and Android have built-in VPN clients. We didn’t have much luck bypassing
geo-blocking with WiTopia, but such things are always in flux.
We had more luck changing the DNS settings.
On an iGadget, dip into the Wi-Fi menu, click the blue arrow next to your
network of choice, tap DNS and change the address to that provided by a service
such as Unblock US. On an Android 4.0 device, press and hold the required
network, tick “Show Advanced Options”, Set IP settings to static and then
scroll down to change the DNS settings. If you’ve got root access, check out
apps such as Set DNS and DNS Changer.
Switching between Unblock US and Tunlr’s
primary and secondary servers offered mixed results for Netflix and Hulu.
UnoTelly’s primary Australian server delivered the goods on iOS and Android for
Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer and Amazon (expect for our unstable Amazon sideload
on Android).
Apple TV
Along with the iTunes store and YouTube,
the little Apple TV also features built-in access to Netflix and Hulu.
Apple
TV can be made much more useful to Australian users
You don’t need to bypass geo-blocking to
hire movies from the US iTunes store, just got to Settings, iTunes Store and
switch to your US account. To use Netflix or HuluPlus, go to Settings, General,
Network, then set Configure DNS to manual. Both services initially refused to
work with Unblock US but came around after a while. Once again UnoTelly
delivered better results. If you’ve got an iGadget, you can also mirror
streaming video apps to the Apple TV.
PlayStation 3
Along with local Catch Up TV and its
Australian movie rental service, a little geo-dodging trickery lets you access
Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Instant Video on the PlayStation 3.
Create a new user, select that user and
then create a new PSN account with United States set as the country. Now log
into the PlayStation Store, scroll down to apps and install Netflix, HuluPlus
and Amazon Instant Video. If this fails, try this workaround from Unblock US: tinyurl.com/6owbo6v.
To alter the PS3’s DNS settings go to
Settings, Network Settings, Internet Connection Settings and Custom. Choose
Wired or Wireless and then accept all the defaults except for DNS. We had no
luck with Unblock US, but all three video services worked with UnoTelly.
Apart from Amazon, you might also hire movies
from the US PlayStation Store. It didn’t like our Visa Load&Go card but,
through the PSN website, we linked our Australian AMEX card using a US state
and postcode. You need to hook up the PS3 to a VPN before it lets you pay and
then watch the movie.
Xbox 360
Netflix,
Hulu and Amazon Instant Video are all available on the Xbox 360
Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Instant Video are
all available on the Xbox 360, along with Australian Catch Up TV and movie
rentals.
Go to Social, sign out and then create a
new profile. You should have the option to choose the US as your location.
Otherwise create a US account online at tinyurl.com/cwrjxkf. After
creating your US Xbox Live and Windows Live accounts you can also sign up for
Xbox Live Gold, which you’ll need to watch the video services. Online you’ve
the option of using a gift voucher, credit card or PayPal (the latter isn’t
available if you sign up via the console). We used a US PayPal account linked
to our Visa Load&Go without any trouble. We’ve seen a claim that Microsoft
can block Australian cards, even for the Australian store, if you try to use
them with a US account. It might not be true, but we didn’t want to risk it.
If you created your US Xbox Live account
online you can download it to your console – the option is alongside Create a
new profile. Once you’re signed in you can download the Netflix and Hulu apps
from the Xbox Live marketplace, but not the Amazon app.
Go to Settings, System, Network, Configure
and manually change the DNS settings. Test the settings so they take effect and
then sign back into your US account. Using UnoTelly’s DNS we could watch
Netflix and Hulu but still not download the Amazon app. Once we hooked up the
Xbox 360 to a VPN we could download and watch the Amazon app, as well as hire
movies from the US Xbox Live marketplace.
Boxee Box
There are Netflix and BBC iPlayer apps for
the Boxee Box, but you’ll need a VPN to see them unless you want to roll back
the firmware.
The
Boxee Box can be made even more useful with a few little tweaks
Unfortunately the option to disable “Hide
feeds and applications that cannot be played in your location” is gone from the
Boxee Box menus. If you can’t see the foreign apps you want, changing the DNS
settings won’t help and we had no luck using app repositories. Thankfully the
Boxee Box supports VPNs and proxy servers. Using WiTopia we watched Netflix,
and the BBC iPlayer, but they disappear when you disable the VPN. We had more
luck by rolling back to firmware 1.1.3.19252 (tinyurl.com/agtaco2) and
temporarily blocking access to “app.boxee.tv/chkupd/” with router-side
filtering to prevent it finding the latest firmware. Using UnoTelly’s DNS,
without the VPN, we could watch Netflix but not BBC iPlayer.
Conclusion
As the world becomes a smaller and smaller
place, thanks to high speed connections and the cultural impact of the
internet, it’s plain that content creators and publishers are going to need to
address the shift to a global model of media consumption. It’s clear to us
that, for now, we’re existing in a liminal state where license holders want to
control distribution, but for little obvious purpose – especially when there is
literally no alternative method to consume content in a lot of countries like
Australia.
The options for publishers are clear –
either open up distribution channels to a wider audience, or continue to suffer
the debilitating effects of torrent-based file sharing and piracy.
In the meantime, however, conscientious
consumers must judge for themselves how best to proceed. Hopefully, this
article has served to at least inform you of the fuller range of options
available, along with any inherent risks in the processes.
