Travel Technology - NBC.com or Hulu internationally?

(I searched before posting, apologies if this has already been answered)

Having been on assignment in Europe over the past six months, I missed the return of The Office. I forgot about this until now and went to both NBC.com and Hulu to watch the first return episode, "Dinner Party".

Imagine my surprise when I received cryptic "This video is not available in your region" messages on both sites.

1) Why?

2) Is there a way to get around this?


W/r/t 2), I logged into my American company's VPN and tried to access the site. That didn't work -- I received the same message. Any suggestions?

Bittorrent?

Bittorrent?


Corporate laptop, downloading Bittorrent is blocked...

Anywhere else I can stream online?

If you are on the corporate VPN are you using split tunneling? That would have only corporate stuff on the VPN and other traffic remaining on the local Internet connection. That would explain why it doesn't work when on VPN.

Proxy server?

That's the way people I know get around the ESPN360 ISP restrictions.

The season actually starts Sept 25, I think "dinner party" is actually from last season.

NBC.com mirrors what's offered via Hulu.com. Unfortunately, much of the content will be blocked to users outside of the US, due to broadcast rights issues. I'd suggest trying an IP blocker; they can often be successful in watching region-protected content.

We U.S. residents can't watch anything on the BBC's website, either.:(

Try using www.surfthechannel.com. Click under "channels" and then "TV" and you will see what shows are listed. Each show has an episode list and then each episode will show which sites have that episode available. Megavideo is one of the sites. Watch out that you are using the player buttons for Megavideo and not the button on the middle of the screen unless you are interested in "finding a date".

This is how I watch TV shows from Australia. It's not HDTV, but works.

TF:cool:

You may want to check these two articles and see if you "fish" some shows from the different channels:

The Best TV on the Web (http://www.pcworld.com/printable/article/id,148944/printable.html) (7/29/08)

Kill Your TV: 15 Internet Video Sites to Beat the Writers' Strike (http://www.pcworld.com/printable/article/id,141106/printable.html) (1/9/08)

slingbox is your friend. IMO using a proxy server is too slow.

slingbox is your friend. IMO using a proxy server is too slow.

For those of us without a home in the US, Slingbox isn't really an option. :(

For those of us without a home in the US, Slingbox isn't really an option. :(

Do you know someone in the US? Many of my foreign friends have access to a Slingbox with a friend over here.

Do you know someone in the US? Many of my foreign friends have access to a Slingbox with a friend over here.

I have family there, but they're 99.9% technology-challenged so I wouldn't dare install a Slingbox at their house.

I didn't watch a lot of TV in the US before moving to France, but once in a while there are shows I'd like to see.

Do you have any advice on finding a legitimate proxy server?

I have family there, but they're 99.9% technology-challenged so I wouldn't dare install a Slingbox at their house.

I didn't watch a lot of TV in the US before moving to France, but once in a while there are shows I'd like to see.

Do you have any advice on finding a legitimate proxy server?

http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/openhulu/

:)

http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/openhulu/

:)

I've used that program before when I was staying in a hotel and wanted to use their wifi. It was kind of a pain in the butt. :) I'll try it again, though. Thanks!

slingbox is your friend. IMO using a proxy server is too slow.

Proxy servers are horrendously slow. For ESPN360 one only needs to be connected to the proxy server to get the other application to open, then after that the proxy settings can be turned off and you are on your normal internet. I have never needed to try this with Hulu or NBC so I don't know if they'd notice the IP change and cut you off.

Corporate laptop, downloading Bittorrent is blocked...

Anywhere else I can stream online?

Dunno whether these work outside the U.S. as I've only just discovered them:


ninjavideo.net (be sure to follow the instructions for the Helper)
sidereel.com
uk.truveo.com (run a simple search, then scroll to the bottom of the page for "featured channels". Tudou, 56.com and megavideo are decent enough quality it all you need is a fix.)

Do you have any advice on finding a legitimate proxy server?
I've used Hulu with the Witopia VPN before:
http://witopia.net/personalmore.html

They have a very nice PersonalVPN product; it costs $40/yr, though you can save 10% with the code SHEXPAT

I've also had success with ABC; CBS seems to block VPN IPs it knows about.

hotspotshield is a free ad-supported personal vpn, you could try that.
also, surfthechannel.com may have the episodes up.

hotspotshield is a free ad-supported personal vpn, you could try that.

I use hotspotshield for hulu. Works great ^

Dunno whether these work outside the U.S. as I've only just discovered them:

sidereel.com



Awesome.

32 links to last season's "The Dinner Party", the one I was trying to catch.


Thanks, essxjay.

Expats everywhere rejoice.

Even though you work for an American company, the VPN you are connecting to may be outside of the US. Check and see if you have a choice of VPN servers to connect to and select one within the US. I've never had a problem accesing Hulu, NBC, ABC or any other IP restricted site while abroad connected to a US based VPN server.

Even though you work for an American company, the VPN you are connecting to may be outside of the US. Check and see if you have a choice of VPN servers to connect to and select one within the US. I've never had a problem accesing Hulu, NBC, ABC or any other IP restricted site while abroad connected to a US based VPN server.

It's more likely what was mentioned above -- split tunneling -- he's overseas, the VPN only catches traffic that's internal, and all other traffic is sent through the local ISP.

The other thing to check is that some of the streaming sites check not only the IP, but also the timezone set in the computer. If they're doing timezone blocking, that's easy enough to change.

Even though you work for an American company, the VPN you are connecting to may be outside of the US. Check and see if you have a choice of VPN servers to connect to and select one within the US. I've never had a problem accesing Hulu, NBC, ABC or any other IP restricted site while abroad connected to a US based VPN server.I find that using my company's US VPN I can get around the region restrictions. I need something that I can use on my other two computers in the house. (UK) I want to use NBC.com, and the Netflix Xbox streaming movies.

Hotspot Shield... Done. There is a mac and pc version

No need for further discussion... It's free and performance is as good as the peering on the ISP you are using. I've been able to watch full Hulu shows and movies in Asia and Europe perfectly. Only on some crummy internet connections has it been flaky (but all traffic was flaky on that connection anyone, not just hotspot shield)

Shame, they don't offer a UK based proxy on Hotspot Shield... Really a pain to get BBC iPlayer and C4OD

any idea how to get BBC shows , Formula one when it starts again but also other shows that are blocked if you are not in the UK

Rally

any idea how to get BBC shows , Formula one when it starts again but also other shows that are blocked if you are not in the UK

Rally

There was a discussion about this (the BBC not F1) on the BA board a while ago, I'll have a look and see if I can find it.

Ok found it, see here (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/855976-ot-bbc-iplayer.html) especially post #3

You don't have to wait for hulu to allow international viewers! Just buy a simple vpn... It's what I did for my travels around the world. I purchased mine from hidemynet at only 5$ per month, they had instant activation so I was able to start watching immediately.