Friday, November 28, 2008

How to Watch American TV Abroad

Disappointed that I can't get The Office or 30 Rock, and a little paranoid that I won't be able to watch Lost when Season 5 starts in January, I began digging around for answers. With the help of a couple friends, I've found some pretty cool solutions that don't include waiting for the DVD boxed sets.

My friend Tom recommended Hulu.com. But I found like many US-based sites (including NBC.com and Pandora) Hulu  doesn't stream outside America. But there is a free security program called Hotspot Shield that's meant to shield your IP address from hackers, that also keeps sites from recognizing that you're logging in from outside the US. As long as you're running Hotspot Shield, you're given the benefit of the doubt, and it's assumed you're watching from inside the US.

Another tool is Slingbox, which we don't have but sounds pretty cool. (A couple of my expat friends use Slingbox to watch college football.) Basically, you hook up a laptop to your cable network back in the States, and Slingbox lets you watch whatever's appearing on that station on your overseas computer. The only prerequisites are a spare computer to serve as the base, and a friend or family member in the States who will keep that computer and the dish or cable hooked up for you.

4 comments:

Diane Kappa said...

!!!!OMG!!!!I am so excited!!!! I love Pandora and I haven't been able to listen to it! I have been so mad!!! You have saved me!!!! I am ready to have a Thanksgiving dinner party and have been painfully filling up the ipod...Forget that! We are plugging my computer into our stereo and listing to Pandora!!!TAHNK YOU!!!

TS said...

I found a service that will set you up with your own American cable TV account and host your Slingbox for you in a internet data center (so they can give you really fast Internet upload speeds and better picture quality.) I've had it for a few months and really recommend it. www.a2bTV.com Basically, it's like having a Slingbox at home, except you get really fast stream speeds, so now i can watch full screen on my 42" TV in Germany. also, they have onsite technical support, so if your Slingbox crashes, you're not left high and dry! very happy i found them.

Ann VPN said...

My sister use vpn account to watch us tv abroad.

us tv abroad said...

Such a best idea for uk tv abroad services.