Computer TV in Europe
 

I am a night owl. My husband likes to have lights out no later than 10--usually earlier. So, when we travel, I read for a while with my night light and when I'm tired of that, I power up the computer or iPad and watch something on Netflix or Hulu. I have found they don't work outside of the USA. Does anyone know of a comparable site that I can use in Europe this fall? We'll be traveling for a couple of months and I can read only so much!

I don't know of a European streaming service, but I suggest that in many hotels the strain of video streaming will be more than their network can take (okay, this totally depends on where you are going and where you are staying so maybe I'm offbase).

You may be better off downloading video before you leave. Yes, it will cost you a little bit, but its relatively cheap to rent a couple movies, or buy a few episodes of your favorite tv shows. I always load up my ipad for the plane flights before I travel.

I suspect the media release arrangements makes it difficult to watch all U.S. based programs from foreign sites.
You can use U.S. streaming services with VPN.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ng-netflix.cfm
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-in-europe.cfm

Whether it performs at an acceptable speed is a different matter. VPN requires more bandwidth as the VPN server sits between you and the streaming video providers and slows down the turn around time. You are at mercy of the bandwidth provided by your accommodation, transatlantic internet capacity, bandwidth into and out of the VPN provider, and the VPN encryption capability of a particular server. If you are tech inclined, you can turn a computer that stays at your home as a VPN server. There are commercial VPN providers as well.

If you want to try the VPN route, have it set up and tested at home. You would probably have to deal with startup gotchas.

In an apartment with wifi, I've found vpn works great for Netflix and Amazon Video Library, sometimes hbogo. In hotels, less so. Some vpn companies have a live chat help feature, and you can get them to fiddle with your connection while you're overseas. It is less complicated than a non-techie (like myself) would assume. Also cheap.

Thanks for the responses. Like you, colonna, I'm non-tech and cheap! I'll try the vpn. Might try to download a few for emergencies, too, but I've never done it.

I live in Italy, and the non-Italian things I can get via internet are close to zero. I don't want to use a VPN connection; the free ones mine your data, and I don't want to see foreign media often enough to make it worth my while paying for the service. Also, using VPN to stream video that you're not entitled to watch is actually illegal.

1. Netflix (and Lovefilm) are available in many European countries, but the rules on cross-border transmission can be complex and sometimes country-specific. If you're here for some time, you'll probably need to buy a local subscription. Mine to Lovefilm is £4 a month, with (I think) no minimum purchase.

2. Local TV companies' catchup systems are also often restricted to local computers, but usually free. Simply google around, starting off with whatever local channels are on your room TV.

3. All UK terrestrial TV, and some web-specific variants, are available in the UK free, both live and as catchup. Though some is in Welsh, Scots Gaelic or Ulster-Scots, self-evidently 99% of its output is in English. Outside the UK, it's theoretically not available online (though BBC World is, if you can put up with it). But google "expat TV" and you'll find a range of companies offering live and catchup UK programming for about €9.99 a month. Once bought, the sub works everywhere in Europe.

You can also subscribe to Sky Online in the same way (Murdoch's UK TV channels, aimed at an intelligent, sceptical and critical audience. Sharp, stylish programming without his American employees' political illiteracy.)

flanneruk, we will be in France the entire time. Is Lovefilm available there?

I don't have those things, anyway, but I've watched regular TV shows on computers when staying in Paris for a while. Some of those networks have online programs you can watch. I think I watched CNN or MSNBC and while they can get boring (the news is repeated and other programs over and over), they do sometimes have some regular US shows on there that they replay. I think they had some US late night talk show on there sometimes, I forget which one. It was something to watch in English, anyway.

VPN servers absorb bandwidth and the free versions are very slow, display ads, or collect information. Paid services work well but there is still the occasional bandwidth problem to deal with.

These services use a remote DNS approach. They are not highly secure modes of transmission like VPN but we´re only watching movies, not trying to circumnavigate government censors. They will require a bit of common sense to set them up properly.

http://hola.org/
http://tunlr.net/

There´s more than just Hulu, Netflix, or Amazon Prime, the entire PBS catalog is available online: Frontline, Nova, and Masterpiece Theater (who doesn´t watch Downton Abbey?) as well as The NBC Evening News with Brian Williams (which is available without changing anything I believe):

http://pbs.org
http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/...broadcast-n686

If you do use a VPN, you might find their software conflicting with your firewall, so that you'd have to turn it off.

I don't know what shows you're interested in, but there are a lot of episodes of shows on YouTube now and that works in Europe.

Why not load multiple movies and/or entire TV series you've always wanted to see onto your computer/memory sticks/external hard drives and not have to worry about an internet connection at all?

You should also know that most of the digital TV channels in France allow you to switch to the original language for series and movies.

Last month I used VPNoneclick successfully on my Ipad mini. It allowed me to open netflix and other sites