How Do You Get Your Us/english Tv Fix?

[arielm]

We're about to move down and i'm embarrassed to ask, but curious - how do you get US TV shows? Will I say goodbye to The Colbert Report for good? I have little understanding, but is there any device i should buy here before coming? An Apple TV box? A slingshot? THANK YOU!

Is it correct that you can buy TV shows off of iTunes? No download fury?

 

[Inferno.]

You can just download the shows using torrents (example + a software called utorrent to perform the actual download). The files are uploaded into sites like this one just hours after being aired in the US. I just finished to download the new episode of Game of Thrones and Continuum in high definition. No need to pay anything if you don't want to. If you still want that option, perhaps Hulu and Netflix are options for you, but I never used them so I'm not sure if they have that show.

 

[2GuysInPM]

We use a combination of iTunes / Apple TV, Slingbox, and torrents. We like the ease of buying season passes (or renting movies) on iTunes and getting HD content automatically downloaded and ready for viewing on TV. It's our primary source for most shows (Colbert and Daily Show included ). Then we use our Slingbox to watch live US TV, and torrents occasionally to download shows not available on iTunes.

Some news shows (e.g. CBS evening news) have free video podcasts that you can automatically pull with iTunes / AppleTV shortly after the show airs.

Other options include Hulu, and US Netflix streaming but you need a special setup (Mediahint plugin or a VPN) to access those sites from abroad.

 

[sinagua980]

I watch US TV all the time, mostly through Hulu. There several options, but I use two mostly.

1) In Firefox and Chrome, there is a free extension you can install called Media Hint. This allows you to access Hulu, Netflix, and maybe some other sites from outside the US without being kicked out.

2) I have also purchased a "VPN" from StrongVPN.com which tricks websites into thinking you are in another location than you really are (US, in this case). If Media Hint isn't working on a certain site, I turn this on, close/reopen our browser and everything is good-to-go.

It's really way too easy. I watch too much.

 

[argsteve]

Also direct TV gives you more english channel options plus sports like NFL football (NFL sunday ticket).... baseball etc....

 

[Sleuth]

• For TV shows, we have a Mac Mini hooked up to our TV. The Mac Mini runs Automatic and Plex. Automatic downloads shows a couple of hours after they air, they get auto-added to Plex and we have a full media center on the TV that is beautiful and HD.
• For Netflix, we use Unotelly to get the US version. (Also use Unotelly on iPads for US content.)
• For web viewing of shows, we use Hola Unblocker.
• Apple TV is used in the bedroom for Netflix, Airplay from the iPad and the Plex iPad app (also with Unotelly on it).

 

[Bricky]

The Mac Mini runs Automatic ...

What a great find! Didn't know about this one.
I maintain a fork of a program called Sickbeard, which does much the same thing (it's free, but it's not easy to set up).

For bypassing geofencing we use http://tunlr.net/.

And for the actual watching, we use XMBC on the TVs, ipads, phones etc.

 

[jeff1234]

I use no extra hardware or software.
I subscribe to http://ustvnow.com/, get all the over the air channels + Fox, Cnn, TNT from Pennsylvania. I get it realtime exactly as if I were sitting in Pennsylvania and it has a nice DVR.
Also get HBO and other english stations on Direct TV.
I buy movies and occassional tv episodes from Itunes.
I can access Amazon to buy products but not to download.
Strangely, at the Sunday farmers market, they sell dvds of just released American movies for $10p, 3 for 25. (I know I shouldn't buy them)
I'd love to have Slingbox but that requires access to a USA cable outlet.

 

[Sleuth]

I maintain a fork of a program called Sickbeard, which does much the same thing (it's free, but it's not easy to set up).

I love free software, but found paying for Automatic was well worth it. I forgot to mention I also use Hazel to move downloaded shows to their proper folders automatically. Plex is great too - pause a show in the living room and pick it back up on the iPad at the same spot with their app. Not to mention remote streaming of your home library anywhere you are.

For bypassing geofencing we use http://tunlr.net/.

I had used this in the past, but they dropped Netflix support. Nice to see it back now, but I'm happy paying Unotelly for the service. It's been great.

 

[Sleuth]

A new option is Aereo too. $8/month for streaming TV and 20 hours of DVR service. They have all the local stations that broadcast HD over the air.

Right now you need a credit card with a billing address in New York, but on May 30 they'll be in 22 US cities. (Boston on May 15.)