Flasetta

Any good sites on watching live TV from the UK? Thx.

Mummy in the foothills

Filmon

franc111s

SlingBox. You just need to find someone you know in the UK with SKY or Virgin. My Niece has Sky and gets a second SKY+ DVR for free.

For about 100 quid I got her to buy me a SlingBox. Connected that to her very fast internet and the SKY+ box.

From the USA, from any computer, I can watch SKY+ and about 100+ UK channels. I have a computer linked upto my plasma in the basement and my wife watches Eastenders every Sunday with a glass of wine We often watch UK TV in the evening, it's fun to do this, although there's nothing awesome on, it's often better than US... And then there's Christmas! Funny watching the Adverts as well...

I also brought a Sling Catcher in the USA and connected it to my TV in the living room. It means, quite literally, my USA TV is turned in a UK live TV using a normal remote contro to control SKY+. Since my niece upgraded their network, they get a 1.5Mbps upload so the quality is awesome.

You can use some sites if you get a proxy server to pretend you are in the UK. My niece is going to upgrade to Virgin because it has timeshifted channels - i.e. any program on demand when you want without recording it.

Bob

another thread...errr...well as the other one suggested, have a search, quite a few threads on tele.

Just really depends on what you want to do, watch it really live, or whenever you fancied...and on the computer or on your tele etc.

franc111s

I guess, I'd like to add though, the advantage of Sling can be pretty big.

1. No Monthly fee
2. No restrictions on what you can watch or when

If you friends/relatives who host your sling for you are on the right TV plan (as I said, my niece gets the second sky box free (that's mine).

But the real big change is in UK upload speeds at residences. I'm not sure, but I thought the proxy server and web sites like BBCi are pretty limited in band-width! Am I wrong? Can anyone attest to this?

Virgin provide my niece with 1.5 mbps upload speed (50 mbps download but that doesn't matter for Sling).. This is quite a game changer. I don't know what speeds the UK sites give you, or what the quality is but watching UK TV, live or otherwise with this kind of band-width is phenomenal. I watched a soccer game, live with awesome quality on Sky Sports. On my 50 inch screen! The remote control is pretty responsive (almost instant).

But as others have said, there are other ways to do this, with free TV online although you often need to get a proxy server to watch in the USA (which I think is around $5-$10 a month). What band-width are you guys seeing with the proxy server route?

vegas

download vpn for free http://thefreevpn.com/ connect to uk server then you can watch all the free tv you want

Titchski

I'd do the Slingbox in a heartbeat, but my dad won't have anything to do with "that bastard Murdoch" as he puts it. Plus, if the missus in the middle of Eastenders and Babestation suddenly came on in its place I can see her going mental.

"Titchski, your Dads having a wank again" is not something I want to be hearing from my wife.

franc111s

titchski. You can link the sling to an over the air arial too. it has a tuner built in. You could buy a low cost DVR too to timeshift the over the air. I'm going to check out freevpn bandwidth

franc111s

OK, FREEVPN works. ALthough not on my MAC, it works on my Windows VM.

Curiously, FreeVPN is part of http://world-secure-channel.com/ which is $60 a year. Not sure why freevpn is free then! Perhaps it's limited bandwidth for free?

Anyone know?

hobbes79

I don't ever quite see the point of attempting to get live UK TV when torrents are available (with the possible exception of avid sport fans).

When I get home, at about 6:00PM, it's 11:00PM in the UK.

By the time I settle down in front of the TV, it's about 1:00AM UK time. Hardly prime time.

I could have a Sling Box hooked up to a Sky+ type device, but then it's not live. And I'll need a computer hanging off the side of my TV.

Why not just download and watch it at your leisure on any media player type device (PS3, divx player, WD TV Live, etc, etc) with a remote in one hand and a glass of wine in the other? The later media players will network wirelessly with your central computer, making it even easier.

John Murray

I just downloaded Free VPN and it works a treat - I'm now able to get the BBC iplayer etc. Hopefully they don't force you to switch to the $60 version after a free trial etc.

Titchski

Ah, that might be a thought then - thanks! I'm using a VPN at the moment (pay service, not FREE-VPN) and it's working out just fine.

I spent many years doing the torrent thing and it works, but you're at the mercy of the uploaders a bit. If someone doesn't upload the documentary on "the mating habits of the lesser warbled throat gobbler" shown at 3am on BBC4 then you just can't get it. However, with IPlayer and the ITV/Chan4/5 equivalents, 90%+ of the content is available for a week or so.

franc111s

The sling, whilst not the cheapest option, is by far the coolest

SKY+ is a DVR and you can set it to remote record from an Iphone or computer or from the TV itself. The Sky+DVR has series recordings too so to be honest, it's set once and forget for the most part. Hey, some of the good stuff old fun stuff is on at 1am if you do want live! The Iplayer, you just have a week to watch.

You don't need a computer connected to the TV if you use SlingCatcher. It's cool too.

The problem for me with Torrents, which I used to use years ago was it used to hog my network. However, now we have faster uploads and downloads all around the world, it might be worth trying that in addition to my sling. I have a dedicated machine at home so what the heck. I can then also re-setup my ORB account so I can watch the downloaded media from any device in real-time.

As long as it's wife proof and easy to use (Which the sling player and sling catcher are), then I'm good. Torrents were relying on others but my wife moaned at me when stuff wasn't there

penguinsix

I have all the gadgets and hacks and vpns and whatnot, but I do have to agree with the basic sentiment--why live? Sure for sports and all that, but it's really just an awkward as heck thing trying to get certain shows. It's 3:00 pm, time for Spooks or something. Just feels all out of whack. iPlayer via vpn is proving much more popular for us. Don't feel the 'rush' to watch a show at an off hour and can review at our leisure.

hobbes79

The sling catcher does make it more appealing, but I'm still quite sold.

I don't watch TV here Live due to the desire to skip adverts. I'll just watch it the next day or later that night.

I used Sky+ in the UK and certainly did like it. Just still not convinced of the effort and expense to have it here.

Though my wife is American and groans if I switch to Dragons Den on BBCA for 5-mins. Combine that with a 2-year old that only wants to watch Noggin and maybe I'm not the best Slingbox customer