Daft Doctor Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Hi, I know this topic appears fairly frequently but as new software (and new problems!) come up all the time, just wondered what forum members current opinions are with regard to the best and cheapest way to access services such as BBC iplayer, etc from France. Reading around I see that some software can slow down your PC/laptop, some have had security problems, etc. I don't need regular access as I have satellite TV with recording capability, but when we lost signal because of snow on Saturday night we also lost the last 2 episodes of The Bridge II! I know some of you use Expatshield and I've seen Hola and SmartDNS mentioned, so any up to date thoughts or advice most welcomed. [:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 If you still have contacts in the UK, the best, but not necessarily the easiest, way is to set up a proxy server (using maybe a Raspberry PI) and then tunnel through it from your French connection. You need an absolute minimum of 2M bit connection or it will stutter and stop. 5 or 6 Mbit and you will get full HD no probs. As well as BBC iPlayer, 4oD etc you can also sign up for say Lovefilm or Netflix.Please PM me if you want more info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daft Doctor Posted February 5, 2014 Author Share Posted February 5, 2014 Hi, we have a relatively slow connection here in the Alps, so it probably setting up a proxy server wouldn't work Hopefully another solution will do what we need, but thanks anyway for the advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiefluvvie Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Simple - filmon.com via pc or tablet / smartphone apps.orUse Smart DNS settings (e.g. via overplay,net) on your Smart TV / PC / Mobile device with the UK player apps (e.g. BBC iPlayer, ITV Player etc).Chiefluvvie :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Overplay has stopped working for me (although they have not stopped taking my subscription)Just to watch I use the Hola.org extension on Chrome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiefluvvie Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 So just contact them online Norman - they'll sort it out for you!Hola really screws up and slows down my devices! I've uninstalled it from everywhere.Chiefluvvie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Have to say I use Filmon via my tablet. It has a DLNA 'server' or 'host' if you you like included. This means if you have a 'Smart' TV with a DLNA client you can get the picture up on your TV. I don't so I have no idea how good it is on a TV. I understand that you can get a DLNA usb key, you can also get a little DLNA box, size of a packet of fags, that you can use to connect your TV if it is not a Smart one. Thye are not that expensive. Some tablets come with a HDMI (or whatever it is called) connector but I don't know if that works either although in theory it should.Filmon is a free application if you use it in SD mode and it compresses the data so it works at low Internet speed. It also has HD but you pay for that service.When I first saw the free version it was on an IPad and every time you changed channels you got advertisments. On Google's Play Store there are several versions. I used the first that came up and for some reason I do not get adverts.I use it in bed sometimes on my tablet, pair of earphones so as not to wake or annoy Mrs Q. If you have poor line speed it is worth a try especially as it is free.Hope that helps.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 [quote user="Chiefluvvie"]So just contact them online Norman - they'll sort it out for you!Hola really screws up and slows down my devices! I've uninstalled it from everywhere.Chiefluvvie[/quote]No their helpline is worse than useless.I have written chatted sent screen shots of my settings and the results of their diagnostics bur each time they go back to a sort of prepared script.The full VPN, for which you pay more works on one of my computers but not on two of the others, and I am putting in the same data obviouslyI am sad about this as it used to be a good service.I wouldn't use Expat Shield as I have said before, but Hola works perfectly and is free If it goes slow you can just change to another of the options on the list.[:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wils Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Regarding VPN's. I work abroad a lot, in the past I have used one called my-private-network and also Witopia. However a simple and much cheaper one (5$ for 6 months) is Viatun, only problem is that they don't have one for Windows 8 yet. Just for info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiefluvvie Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Your experience Norman - not mine! Overplay have always been excellent and I use it on multi-devices. Must be something wrong with your set-up or devices.Unlike you - I have found Hola to be useless!Chiefluvvie :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 As you say different experiencesWell the difference is that Hola works and is free, and Overplay doesn't and charges. I have a DNS account and a VPN with them but not for much longer as I am going to cancel if I can find out how to. I didn't opt for recurrent billing but I notice they continue to take my money.I have 5 different devices on a mixture of Linux, Windows and Android and in two different places with two different providersHola works with all (except the smartphone which I haven't tried it on)Nothing has changed at my end but Overplay has stopped working on all the others and they refuse to give any help. That is the nub of my complaint that like you they assume it is my fault and refuse to look at the screenshots of my settings and the results of my tests.It was working. I have changed nothing and now it isn't.Perhaps you didn't use the appropriate Hola scripts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemesis Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 I hate to break this to all those who think the solution will be a form of IPTV. Currently, it just about works. Picture quality is rubbish and overall, it's a stuttering mess. Now what do you think might happen if satellite TV disappears for much of Western Europe ? There will be 1-2 million ex-pats jumping on these crappy IPTV servers all at once. Don't expect the servers to last 3 minutes. IPTV won't happen for a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyA Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 I am pretty sure the answer to this is no, but is there anything we can do when we only have 512k? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 If you have the overplay service that Chiefluvie mentions, or a VPN you should be able to download from BBC iplayer to watch later, but it would be extremely slow and is a bit fiddlyhttp://www.infradead.org/get_iplayer/html/get_iplayer.htmlThis won't work with the Hola add on I mentioned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 [quote user="Daft Doctor"]Hi, we have a relatively slow connection here in the Alps, so it probably setting up a proxy server wouldn't work Hopefully another solution will do what we need, but thanks anyway for the advice.[/quote]Just a thought but you are going to need a 2Mbit connection at least whatever method you choose and then you'll only get SD. I know that it is said that you can get away with less but in practise you need 2Mbit to avoid stopping and stuttering when streaming. Downloading for later viewing is a different matter of course Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daft Doctor Posted February 8, 2014 Author Share Posted February 8, 2014 Hi and thanks for all the useful contributions and opinions. I used Hola via chrome last night and managed to watch episode 9 of Bridge 2 on iplayer. There was no stalling and the picture was in very clear HD quality, but with the fast moving sequences there was just the merest hint of 'stutter'. All in all perfectly acceptable as I wasn't needing to download. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissie Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Tried to watch Filmon.com on our new Toshiba smart TV - we could get to the site, but it keeps asking us to update our Adobe Flash Player and won't show TV until we do so. Trying to update results in an error message about not supporting MIME application.........Can anyone suggest what to do?Chrissie (81) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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