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JonHimself

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 3, 2004
1,553
5
Toronto, Ontario
Without actually trying any of the IP-maskers (or whatever they're actually called) myself, I believe that it is possible for people from Canada (or anywhere out of the US, I guess) to watch videos via Hulu or any of the US network .com sites. I've been toying around with Boxee (thanks to AlyMourad) and was excited to see Hulu support. I completely forgot about the restrictions on who can view the content. Does anyone have any ideas as to how these videos could be watched? I'm still searching through some threads to look for information.
 

juanster

macrumors 68020
Mar 2, 2007
2,238
0
toronto
I tried this a couple of months back with no result, but that was just hulu no boxee maybe it's a bit different I'm not sure, anyways i didnt try that hard, but couldnt find anything
 

tom1971

macrumors 6502a
May 15, 2007
670
0
Hulu checks the geographic association of your IP address, so there is at least no easy way around this.
 

JonHimself

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 3, 2004
1,553
5
Toronto, Ontario
Hulu checks the geographic association of your IP address, so there is at least no easy way around this.

So I actually tried using some programs that were suggested to be able to use Hulu outside of the US. I tried out Hot Spot Shield and it works (using the Hulu website). With the program running I can watch all of the content on Hulu even though I'm in Canada.

I guess the question is then, how easy would it be for someone to write a similar app for the AppleTV to mask it's IP address to accomplish the same end-result?
 

juanster

macrumors 68020
Mar 2, 2007
2,238
0
toronto
I really don't know how easy that would be then again i am not dev. at all... i wish i could help, but i really can't, but if you can do it then please lt me know i would be very interested....
 

JonHimself

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 3, 2004
1,553
5
Toronto, Ontario
anyone smart out there?

haha exactly.. this is why i'm impressed by anyone who can develop apps. I could think of an idea that would be 'cool' or useful and then just twiddle my thumbs and forget about it... a developer could think of something cool... and then make it..

I'm just thinking out loud here (and from memory) but if you ran a program like hotspot on your computer (that masked its IP), then shared your internet connection and had the apple TV join that network, would its IP be masked as well? (side note: is it even possible to share your connection and have the apple tv connect to your computer? I think I've done that before...)
 

Macmanu1973

macrumors newbie
Oct 8, 2008
20
0
Rome, Italy
I'm just thinking out loud here (and from memory) but if you ran a program like hotspot on your computer (that masked its IP), then shared your internet connection and had the apple TV join that network, would its IP be masked as well?

I tried it and it did not work,

I run hotspot shield on my iMac and I could access hulu with no problems. But when I tried to access it from my iBook (which is in the same network) it bounced...

I do not want to patch my ATV before having certainty that I can access hulu from it.

For what it seems you have to run hotspot shield on the device you are trying to access hulu.

my 2cents
 

aduteau

macrumors 6502a
Oct 14, 2007
553
46
Nice thread !
Ive been starting threads like this one on the boxee forums since the Hulu and CBS october upgrade, Sadly no one on those forums seem to realy care ( dont get me wrong there are some people that do care ... just not enough to voice their opinions).

Boxee has since then asked on their blog .. what other chanels or services we would like to view on future releases of Boxee ...

Again we Canadians are getting left out in the cold. Netflix (USA only IPs to stream), BBC's Iplayer ( UK Only IPs to stream) and ABC (USA only IPs) seem to be the most requested services and channels.

with all these services to stream to Boxee ... its an incredible piece of software ... but I cant help but think that this software is meant for USA citizens ...

All we Canadians get fro Boxee is Internet radio and an AppleTV User interface facelift ... :(
 

JonHimself

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 3, 2004
1,553
5
Toronto, Ontario
Sadly, I don't think it's the fault of any of the people mentioned. I think it's a CRTC or whichever government agency controls these things... same with getting iTunes content.
I can't help but think that if the people at Boxee came up with a way for users outside of the US to view the content, they might have trouble re-signing the content providers (or may even be breaking the existing contract)
 

aduteau

macrumors 6502a
Oct 14, 2007
553
46
Yeah, it is the CRTC holding everything back ... Same thing goes for SKYPE, as Canadians ... Skype does not offer Canadians Online numbers ... We have to purchase Americans Online numbers (so everyone who phones us .. end up paying long distance) wich is an other use of internet we are missing out on.

First Skype ... then Hulu and the other streaming services ... CRTC is really holding us back big time.
 

i.Feature

macrumors 6502
Apr 11, 2005
273
0
Montreal, Canada
Yeah, it is the CRTC holding everything back ... First Skype ... then Hulu and the other streaming services ... CRTC is really holding us back big time.

Just an FYI... The CRTC has nothing to do with us not being able to receive hulu or bbc iplayer content... those are restricted by the content providers... in this case NBC and BBC...

The skype numbers... that another story all together.
 

JonHimself

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 3, 2004
1,553
5
Toronto, Ontario
Just an FYI... The CRTC has nothing to do with us not being able to receive hulu or bbc iplayer content... those are restricted by the content providers... in this case NBC and BBC...

The skype numbers... that another story all together.

But aren't the content providers unable to do so because of the CanCon restrictions that are enforced (or created.. whatever) by the CRTC?
 

i.Feature

macrumors 6502
Apr 11, 2005
273
0
Montreal, Canada
But aren't the content providers unable to do so because of the CanCon restrictions that are enforced (or created.. whatever) by the CRTC?

Not necessarily so. It's got more to do with licensing deals associated with the content.

This isn't CRTC keeping hulu/iplayer out. It's Hulu/iplayer not letting us in.
 

Scottyk9

macrumors 6502a
Jun 18, 2004
656
95
Canada
Looks like they are on to this... when you try to watch a Hulu video, it now gives a message "based on your IP address, you are using an anonymous proxy, Hulu is not available outside the US, etc".


Any work around for this??

EDIT: this is while using a proxy - hot spot sheild
 

Scottyk9

macrumors 6502a
Jun 18, 2004
656
95
Canada
Just buy VPN service from witopia and set it up to work from your wireless router.

sorry I forgot to mention in the post that this is while using a proxy service (free - hot spot shield - when using an IP lookup, it shows that the IP address resides in the US).

would any paid proxy services have any advantages over hot spot shield? and would these also be prone to being detected and blocked?
 

barneyrumbles

macrumors newbie
Sep 28, 2013
1
0
I noticed that the Expat Shield are now charging to watch the BBC through it, bit cheeky seeing as they put ads on there too. I'm connected to Laptop Telly now, all the UK channels seem to work fine and without the buffering now. download is http://www.laptoptelly.com
 
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