Smart T V: Is It Worth It? 42" Versus 47"

[jeff1234]

You can get easily around that with a VPN (as John mentioned above) or with one of those DNS services like unblock-us.com (which might work faster and is easier to setup than a classic VPN). The same way you would use those VPN/DNS services to watch Netflix US on a computer here. And there are other channels that do not have the geographical restrictions (for example USTVnow did work fine without VPN when I tried it). Also I think Amazon worked without the restrictions but I have not tried it for a while.

I had another chat with Roku today, discussing their service as if I were using a VPN and therefore would appear to be located in the USA. I know that Roku is popular but based on their answers it seems like a complicated and expensive service:

I asked where I would get ABC and HBO, didnt get simple or clear answers to either:
"The ABC channel is available under Roku newscaster channel. But it is a audio only podcast. Also you can find some ABC shows in the Hulu plus."
"The HBO GO channel is available in Roku, you can check this channel for the shows from HBO channel. The HBO Go is a free channel but it is an authenticated channel, which means you must have a current HBO subscription and a television provider that supports HBO GO on Roku. Please check the web site given below to know about the supported television providers. http://support.roku.…-offer-HBO-GO-on-Roku-devices-
You can also try to search for the shows or movies in the Roku search feature. If it is available, it will be displayed in the results along with the channel name.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

If you use unblock-us.com ($4.99US per month) you get the US (or British or French or etc) Netflix. You can fairly easily move your country around.

I haven't really found a need for that, as I rarely watch TV when I'm in Argentina or Chile. Late at night, though, I'll watch an episode of something like Justified, and the slightly different offerings are welcome.

 

[germano]

I had another chat with Roku today, discussing their service as if I were using a VPN and therefore would appear to be located in the USA. I know that Roku is popular but based on their answers it seems like a complicated and expensive service:

I asked where I would get ABC and HBO, didnt get simple or clear answers to either:
"The ABC channel is available under Roku newscaster channel. But it is a audio only podcast. Also you can find some ABC shows in the Hulu plus."
"The HBO GO channel is available in Roku, you can check this channel for the shows from HBO channel. The HBO Go is a free channel but it is an authenticated channel, which means you must have a current HBO subscription and a television provider that supports HBO GO on Roku. Please check the web site given below to know about the supported television providers. http://support.roku....n-Roku-devices-
You can also try to search for the shows or movies in the Roku search feature. If it is available, it will be displayed in the results along with the channel name.

I am not sure what you were expecting. Of course the subscription based channels cost money (Netflix, Hulu Plus etc) - it costs the same as if you were to watch those services via a computer or some other device.

 

[germano]

In case you want to watch ABC and HBO "live" check out ustvnow and http://www.nationphone.com/USATVAbroad.html

 

[scotttswan]

http://adfreetime.com/ Works nicely as a DNS redirect for american and uk tv. (again do not leave this or any other DNS redirect on computers you use to access banks/important websites as they could in theory hijack your connection and steal your shit)
There's also Zattoo which can be used for German, French, Italian and Spanish tv.

Nobody using Google TV/Chome dongle.?

Its good for streaming youtube and a few other things but all the american and uk stuff is region locked and you have to force it to not use googles dns through some fun router scripting. I'd hold off until its released worldwide and there are a tonne of new apps working for it.