Current Disruption (Geo-Blocking)

[Viking01]

Afternoon,
I do have a separate thread on "future disruption" going at the moment, but
this one is about "current disruption" (specifically geo-blocking).

I've been doing some web searching and trying to determine the "best" way
to solve this problem at "low cost", but now it's starting to niggle me.

I've put off submitting this question to the forum, but from doing a search
on the KB website, it seems to me some of you might have already found
a solution. So here goes.


There are one or two TV series on overseas servers (free content) that I
wanted to stream and to watch on the PC (e.g. the current PBS series on
the Vietnam War).

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-vietnam-war/watch/

The trouble is: When I try and play the videos, I get the standard message
"this content is not available in your region due to rights". Hum bug !


I'm not trying to connect to (say) NetFlix US in order to access and stream
videos on a regular basis - just the occasional video that is NZ geo-blocked.

Hence I was looking for a low cost option for occasional usage.


So, folks, what are my best options ?


1. Do I use a smart DNS service (such as UnoDNS or UnLocator) to try and get
around the geo-block ?

or

2. Do I go a little further and subscribe to a VPN service ?

From what I see, the monthly/annual cost of a smart DNS service is not
that much cheaper than for a VPN service.

or

3. Some other option that I'm not aware of.


Other Considerations to Bear in Mind

1. I'm not proposing to use the service with secure browsing or file transfer
specifically in mind. Though I realise a VPN service would offer these benefits
as well.

2. I'm also nterested to know whether implementation of either a smart DNS or a
VPN service might have an impact upon certain web services, such as Internet
Banking (when in NZ or overseas).

3. My OS at home is Windows 7 Pro (not Unix) on the desktop and Win 10 on the
laptop.

Welcome your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Viking

[Graystone]

Afternoon,
I do have a separate thread on "future disruption" going at the moment, but
this one is about "current disruption" (specifically geo-blocking).

I've been doing some web searching and trying to determine the "best" way
to solve this problem at "low cost", but now it's starting to niggle me.

I've put off submitting this question to the forum, but from doing a search
on the KB website, it seems to me some of you might have already found
a solution. So here goes.


There are one or two TV series on overseas servers (free content) that I
wanted to stream and to watch on the PC (e.g. the current PBS series on
the Vietnam War).

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-vietnam-war/watch/

The trouble is: When I try and play the videos, I get the standard message
"this content is not available in your region due to rights". Hum bug !


I'm not trying to connect to (say) NetFlix US in order to access and stream
videos on a regular basis - just the occasional video that is NZ geo-blocked.

Hence I was looking for a low cost option for occasional usage.


So, folks, what are my best options ?


1. Do I use a smart DNS service (such as UnoDNS or UnLocator) to try and get
around the geo-block ?

or

2. Do I go a little further and subscribe to a VPN service ?

From what I see, the monthly/annual cost of a smart DNS service is not
that much cheaper than for a VPN service.

or

3. Some other option that I'm not aware of.


Other Considerations to Bear in Mind

1. I'm not proposing to use the service with secure browsing or file transfer
specifically in mind. Though I realise a VPN service would offer these benefits
as well.

2. I'm also nterested to know whether implementation of either a smart DNS or a
VPN service might have an impact upon certain web services, such as Internet
Banking (when in NZ or overseas).

3. My OS at home is Windows 7 Pro (not Unix) on the desktop and Win 10 on the
laptop.

Welcome your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Viking

I use Tunnelbear, which is good as you just start up the program and select which country you wish to browse from when you want to, otherwise everything works as normal. Not sure about banking etc as I only do that when the VPN is turned off.

[Akzle]

fuck away windows 10.

install a second browser, configure it to run through any number of free proxies from another country, or bounce through a list. this will bypass elementary reigon securities.


VPN > DNS. that is all.

[TheDemonLord]

I used Express VPN for a while, which was pretty good - Speeds were great and there were a lot of Endpoints to select, every so often Netflix would block an IP range and then in 24hrs or so a new endpoint would be up and running.

But since Star Trek has been available in the NZ netflix....

[Gremlin]

Heard good things about Tunnelbear.

Meh, I just stick what I want on a server and let it down when it finds it overnight... stuff streaming (I'm still on ADSL - but down speed as doubled since everyone ran off to fibre)

[iYRe]

torrent...
I have a server i torrent to in europe (untraceable to me) and then I use ftp to download it to home (just run a scheduled task during the night) - voila.
Cost me about $15 a month.

The secret is to get a decent private tracker and you'll never want for content again.

[Viking01]

Morning. Thanks to all of you who supplied replies.

It's good to see that there are torrents available for the Vietnam War
series that I was specifically interested in.

Will experiment with Axles suggestion re browser DNS reconfiguration.

I had looked at various articles re VPN's that were highly recommended,
which included both TunnelBear and ExpressVPN. Good to hear positive
experiences from NZ users of both.

All good avenues to follow up. Appreciate your help.

Cheers,
Viking

[Akzle]

Will experiment with Axles suggestion re browser DNS reconfiguration.

In computer networks , a proxy server is a server (a computer
system or an application) that acts as an intermediary for
requests from clients seeking resources from other servers. [1] A
client connects to the proxy server, requesting some service,
such as a file, connection, web page, or other resource available
from a different server and the proxy server evaluates the
request as a way to simplify and control its complexity. Proxies
were invented to add structure and encapsulation to distributed
systems. [2] Today, most proxies are web proxies , facilitating
access to content on the World Wide Web , providing anonymity
and may be used to bypass IP address blocking

Domain Name Servers (DNS) are the Internet's equivalent of a
phone book. They maintain a directory of domain names and
translate them to Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

lern you some werds nigga

[Jeff Sichoe]

https://dns4me.net/

[Viking01]

lern you some werds nigga

Thanks Ax. I'm OK with the definitions. I was simply being lazy when
I typed the sentence.

I thought from your earlier suggestion that you were suggesting just
using a LAN proxy and changing DNS values within the web browser.

As opposed to changing DNS values within either the OS LAN adaptor,
or on the router.

As it was, despite trying all of the above, I still didn't manage to
get the video clips to play (still locked out from playback).

In the end, I tried a "trial" instance of TunnelBear VPN (500Mb free)
and the videos played just fine (no DNS changes needed). And the
annual subscription was quite reasonable.

So I'm happy. And so is the son, once he found out that it supported
multiple concurrent sessions.

Cheers,
Viking

[Akzle]

Thanks Ax. I'm OK with the definitions. I was simply being lazy when
I typed the sentence.

I thought from your earlier suggestion that you were suggesting just
using a LAN proxy and changing DNS values within the web browser.

As opposed to changing DNS values within either the OS LAN adaptor,
or on the router.

As it was, despite trying all of the above, I still didn't manage to
get the video clips to play (still locked out from playback).

In the end, I tried a "trial" instance of TunnelBear VPN (500Mb free)
and the videos played just fine (no DNS changes needed). And the
annual subscription was quite reasonable.

So I'm happy. And so is the son, once he found out that it supported
multiple concurrent sessions.

Cheers,
Viking

nigga. lern words.

[Viking01]

nigga. lern words.

Point conceded.