Originally Posted by
gfunkdave
I bet you could just forward the appropriate port(s) over an ssh connecton, for those of us with ssh hosts in the US.
Streaming normally uses UDP, so forwarding it over SSH (which requires additional shenanigans in any case) would not work that well.
With UDP, if a chunk of data doesn't appear, the application just moves on with its life. You might hear a glitch in the audio or see some chunking on the screen.
However, SSH uses TCP, which presents data to the application in sequence. If something goes missing, then it waits... and waits... and waits. This will magnify a sub-second audio glitch into a 20-second dropout. If your connection is at all erratic, the delays will start to cascade and eventually the stream will stop entirely.
VPN is definitely the way to go. OpenVPN is easy to install if you have your own server, and works very well, with free client software available on every significant platform.