Watch UK TV on German TV

[padjo 55]

you could install a free app on your phone and watch it there or mirror it to your tv or cast it using say chrome cast. quality is great. (live net tv , you won't find it on the google store , you'll have to sideload it or load it from their website and allow sources other than the google store on your phone)

 

If you want to make this relationship more pernament install the app on a firestick or android box ( i have buzztv xpl 3000 and love it, only have it a few weeks) and give your mobile phone a break and control the app with a remote control . 
 

Some android boxes are made with iptv in mind , which means a subscription to a tv channel provider. So i went with necro iptv , 80 euros a year and it allows you to have two boxes active , so 40 if you share . 

i've gone from no tv to 1500 channels (all the sky sports movies, english/irish stations and son on) in the space of a couple of weeks . i'm not an expert just sound like i am to the few that know less than me . 

[pappnase 2,654]

38 minutes ago, dom said:

Does this "geoblocking" also affect kodiboxes, etc?

 

Answer 'it depends'. So normal 'approved' kodi addons will just get the video direct from a website and present it to you in a TV friendly format. Therefore if the website (eg bbc iplayer) uses geoblocks then the kodi plugin will also have a geoblock and need a vpn or a smart-dns solution.

Other 'less legitimate' plugins which find streams of movies from unlicensed sites (the plugins which give kodi such a bad name) tend to bypass 

[yesterday 2,041]

Now TV does not support Smart DN

Some kodi boxes will support SmartDNs some not, also it depends alot on how its setupNo

 

Most people seem to set it up on the router.

 

yeah, should say, pappnase, description was very good, but to clarify further..

If you use SmartDNS, you will setup some smartDNS address in the router ( almost all have), this forces the router to go to this address to resolve the website address( ie www.toytowngermany.com)  to an IP address( IP 193.145.xxx.xxx etc ). The SmartDNS  provider 'owns' these DNS servers. You normally have to register your IP address with them, when they see you are requesting data and you have an account, they re-direct your requests, so it looks like they come from the country in which the material is based ( eg BBC NBC etc ).  All other requests get re-directed to other servers that can resolve the address normally.

The problem is that most IP providers change your IP address every day( some do not which is great, to aviod the problem), so when you watch TV the next day, the SmartDNS provider does not know who you are - so you get no TV.

There are several ways around this 

1) Most Smart DNS providers provide a in app for your phone, which logs into the your Smart DNS providers account, this gives them your new IP address, so it all works again. bit of hasstle, just to run the app each day

2) You can use services called eg https://www.noip.com/, which automatically track your new IP and tell your smartDNS provider your new IP address, every so often, sometimes you have to pay for these services.

3) You can use your main router or a slave router and a script or graphical interface, to login your SmartDNS proverders and update to your new router.

 

You do not get these problems with VPN, but other problems

 

 

 

[yesterday 2,041]

agree with padjo - I hated get TV from my phone, give me a hand controller please

 

there are many free and paid for channels out there, sometimes bad quality and slow and not working, sometime very good from either paid for or not

 

The problem is there is too much choice

[Tim Hortons Man 543]

7 hours ago, dom said:

could you please tell me what "smartDNS" is? I'm afraid I'm of the older generation

Setting up a VPN or Smart DNS is quite simple. You need to choose a company (I use Getflix but there are loads of companies out there. You need to create an account and then set it up. All companies will give you step by step account of how to set up the smart DNS with screenshots It's not too difficult.

 

Once that is done you will be able to watch BBC,Channel 4 etc. 

[theGman 3,520]

So everyone is focusing on internet solutions. There may still be non-internet solutions (best to ask SpiderPig about that), but I think internet is the way to go. From there, I think there are 2 problems to solve. Firstly, how to get around geoblocking (VPN or SmartDNS) and secondly, how to get internet streams on your telly. I think some solutions can do both in one (Firestick, kodi box, now tv box etc), but I'm not sure about that. That's not how I do it. And in any case, if you are not that tech savvy I would say try to tackle the problems separately to begin with then you can move onto other fancier solutions later..

 

pappnase has already given great technical information. So skipping over that...

 

1) Start a free trial with some geoblocking service. I can recommend Getflix but there are many others. Getflix provides both smartDNS and VPN in their package, so you can try both. The next step is to set up the VPN or SmartDNS on a device (instructions are available on the geoblocking service websites). The easiest place to start is to give it (SmartDNS and/or VPN) a go on your computer. Follow the instructions, then try it out. If it works, great! You can then start setting up other devices. If you can though, set something up directly on your router, this then means that all connected devices will be covered in one go. As yesterday says, there is the challenge of updating your IP address with the geoblocking service but you can tackle that later. Got it working on your router? You are good to go...

 

2) How do you want to get TV on your TV? There are many options. I personally use a PS4. In the past I also simply used a PC connected to the TV. You'll need to think about how you wanna do that. I think this part is actually harder than the first part. Especially as things like chromecasting can have extra problems with regards to SmartDNS. But I would advise at least solving problem 1 first. Then go from there.

 

Personally, I would sign up to the Getflix trial today and, using SmartDNS, see if you can get it working on a PC. It should/could really take only 5mins. If you get that working then you can go on from there. I would also stick with SmartDNS over VPN. It's a better solution for people who just wanna watch a bit of BBC and ITV on their telly.

[dom 2,296]

great advice -thanks to all!! 

Will try it out and feedback.. at the mo I am surviving on Freesat but this is very weather dependent and I hardly get HD...

[Guest]

In Ulm.. you need a 1m dish to give all chans in most weather contitions.

[keith2011 2,703]

15 hours ago, dom said:

Does this "geoblocking" also affect kodiboxes, etc?

Yes, you still need to circumvent the geoblocking using a VPN or smart dns and in fact one of the kodi apps for the BBC (Iplayerwww) also does not work with a VPN (othews do). Around a year ago the BBC improved their geoblocking and many of the smart DNS services stopped working, the one I was using (Unotelly) got it working again after not too long but only till the start of this year when it was dead till my sub. expired in May. I have switched to a VPN which has proved to be far more reliable (generally). Given the uncertainties, if you decide to go this way, paying for a long term subscription could well be a false economy.

[dj_jay_smith 3,449]

39 minutes ago, theGman said:

...

 

2) How do you want to get TV on your TV? There are many options. I personally use a PS4. In the past I also simply used a PC connected to the TV. You'll need to think about how you wanna do that. I think this part is actually harder than the first part. Especially as things like chromecasting can have extra problems with regards to SmartDNS. But I would advise at least solving problem 1 first. Then go from there.

 

...

 

In general I still find that "normal" TV is more reliable than internet TV.

 

I have a chromecast and I have used it for streaming German TV and DAZN streaming service for football.  And my results are very mixed.

Streaming German TV works most of the time, but during busy peak periods then it often drops down the quality so bad that it is unwatchable or the stream drops completely.  

Streaming DAZN then the first few weeks it worked fine, but the last few the buffering is so bad that it is unwatchable.  

 

Watching on my tablet or phone using the apps from the TV providers works fine.  And it is not a problem with the wifi connection because:

1)  It works fine on Tablet/phone over the same wifi

2)  The chromecast is close to the router

3)  I changed the chromecast to use ethernet and not wifi and have the same issues.

 

 

DVB-T is what I currently use for German TV and with an indoor aerial then it is subject to the atmospheric conditions (not just bad weather).  I tried a "fancy nancy" expensive, highly rated active indoor Aerial and actually found it worse than a simple basic passive one!

 

I would prefer therefore to use satellite, as we do for UK TV, or maybe get a proper DVB-T external aerial fitted.  But at the moment we watch so little Germany TV that it is not worth the expense.

 

Yes satellite does drop out if the weather is really bad.  But for me with an 80cm dish, good LNB in Hessen then this happens about 3 - 4 times a year.

 

 

 

[dstanners 1,562]

9 minutes ago, keith2011 said:

Around a year ago the BBC improved their geoblocking

That was my experience too. I'm no techie, but I'm guessing this is more of an issue for people using one of the main VPN providers, or at least one which does not have many different "addresses" in the relevant country. I use Tunnelbear (I have a subscription, but there's a limited free version too), which is a really simple and secure product, but it no longer gets around the BBC's geoblocking. I believe if the BBC's systems spot a large number of visitors from one source at the same time, they simply block it. If you used a lesser known VPN with fewer users, I imagine it is less likely to be blocked. 

 

[yesterday 2,041]

I have almost no problem with my VPN company, for getting BBC

 

I sometimes goes down, but is back up  by the next day - I can normally get it back after 30 mins, if I pick another UK ip address - just just hasstle  and I prefer to wait until its fixed - by the next day

[Guest]

The Company that I am an agent for in the UK have their own servers that are dedicated to getting the the BBC etc...

 

They also offer Now TV boxes with 4K netflix, Sky and very soon, BT Sports...

 

The Now box subscription will need to be paid/Payed for by Credit card and the VPN can be by Credit card or Bank direct debit/standing order

 

Just promoting!!! 

[padjo 55]

bt/sky sports and many other channels available free on android live net tv and probably many other apps . Install on an android box connected to your tv if you want have it usable with a remote control. 

[dom 2,296]

On 26.9.2018, 09:00:23, SpiderPig said:

In Ulm.. you need a 1m dish to give all chans in most weather contitions.

yes - i have a 1m dish - still restricted in terms of HD reception

[dom 2,296]

On 27.9.2018, 09:29:39, SpiderPig said:

The Company that I am an agent for in the UK have their own servers that are dedicated to getting the the BBC etc...

 

They also offer Now TV boxes with 4K netflix, Sky and very soon, BT Sports...

 

The Now box subscription will need to be paid/Payed for by Credit card and the VPN can be by Credit card or Bank direct debit/standing order

 

Just promoting!!! 

tell more!

[BillericayGeezer 0]

I use https://www.firstonetv.net/Live to watch live UK TV, it isn't perfect, but it is acceptable, although recently we've noticed more ads are appearing.

This site also has lots of other countries, I passed it on to a Spanish colleague at work after he mentioned his wife was missing Spanish TV and she loves it!

 

 

[Guest]

21 hours ago, dom said:

yes - i have a 1m dish - still restricted in terms of HD reception

Then I would suggest that its an obstruction problem or the dish not aligned correctly... 

 

For info on the VPN and Now TV box... best to mail me.

 

Now@bavaria-satellite.de

[Mackle 802]

On ‎26‎/‎09‎/‎2018‎ ‎09‎:‎16‎:‎17, keith2011 said:

Yes, you still need to circumvent the geoblocking using a VPN or smart dns and in fact one of the kodi apps for the BBC (Iplayerwww) also does not work with a VPN (othews do). Around a year ago the BBC improved their geoblocking and many of the smart DNS services stopped working, the one I was using (Unotelly) got it working again after not too long but only till the start of this year when it was dead till my sub. expired in May. I have switched to a VPN which has proved to be far more reliable (generally). Given the uncertainties, if you decide to go this way, paying for a long term subscription could well be a false economy.

 

I have a subscription to IPVanish which no longer works with iPlayer. Frustrating because it's a very fast VPN.

 

Other things like All4 work fine with it, it's just iPlayer that doesn't play ball. 

 

Quite surprised that the Beeb thought that VPN users were such a big problem, their previous solution would have kept most people out

[yesterday 2,041]

IP vanish look to have 100+ servers in the UK,  try using some of the servers - send them an email asking for it to be fixed

 

My VPN company still works with the iplayer, and seems a bit cheaper than IPVanish

 

maybe if you just leave they will fix it in the next couple of days - but I would try some of the other servers if you want it to work now