iplayer working without VPN

montgolfiere · Post by **montgolfiere** » Sun 06 Oct 2013 16:59

Noticed this afternoon that iplayer is working without any VPN......
Anyone else noticed this?

Sue · Post by **Sue** » Sun 06 Oct 2013 19:35

Not for me its not!

montgolfiere · Post by **montgolfiere** » Sun 06 Oct 2013 19:39

I know it is weird, but still working this evening......

montgolfiere · Post by **montgolfiere** » Sun 06 Oct 2013 19:51

in fact 4OD and ITV Player both work as well, but Demand 5 detects i am abroad..... Very Strange Indeed.

malcolmcooper · Post by **malcolmcooper** » Mon 07 Oct 2013 08:04

I wouldn't notice as I recently installed Hola which is just brilliant. I don't notice it's there and it's free.

https://hola.org/

Smiley G · Post by **Smiley G** » Mon 07 Oct 2013 09:36

malcolmcooper wrote:I wouldn't notice as I recently installed Hola which is just brilliant. I don't notice it's there and it's free.

https://hola.org/

Malcolm, it would be interesting to know how you connect things up, e.g. what happens between your WiFi Router and your television.
I think it's important for everyone to know what actually works as I suspect that Internet sourced TV will be the way forward.

malcolmcooper · Post by **malcolmcooper** » Mon 07 Oct 2013 09:46

Right now I just have Hola on my laptop. It's fine for me catching up with QI, Have I Got news for You etc. My laptop hasn't got HDMI so I haven't tried linking to the TV. I am planning to try using a Sony PS3 connected to a TV in the next week or two and I'll let you know how it goes.

neil mitchell · Post by **neil mitchell** » Mon 07 Oct 2013 11:32

Hey Mont.

Is it still happening? I'm in UK right now so I can't check mine but if they are permitting a non UK IP address that is a very unexpected development. What does it all mean !?!?!?

montgolfiere · Post by **montgolfiere** » Mon 07 Oct 2013 12:55

iplayer still working without using iportal.....i am not really that 'computer savvy' so have no idea why!!!! Dont know if it is just me... but i only found this out by chance as i had a problem with iportal yesterday (now resolved) and my Better Half inadvertantly looked at a a link to a BBC Programme and it ( to my suprise) worked. I then tried iplayer direct, it worked, 4 OD worked ITV Player worked but Demand 5 didn't.....
Any Computer Boffin out there to offer an explanation please???

neil mitchell · Post by **neil mitchell** » Mon 07 Oct 2013 14:08

Curiouser and curiouser said Alice. My first thought is that actually you only think you're not connected via IPortal but actually you are but Demand 5 seeing you're not in UK sort of blows that theory. I've got nothing, could do with a few more reports.

Allan · Post by **Allan** » Mon 07 Oct 2013 15:28

montgolfiere wrote:iplayer still working without using iportal.....i am not really that 'computer savvy' so have no idea why!!!! Dont know if it is just me... but i only found this out by chance as i had a problem with iportal yesterday (now resolved) and my Better Half inadvertantly looked at a a link to a BBC Programme and it ( to my suprise) worked. I then tried iplayer direct, it worked, 4 OD worked ITV Player worked but Demand 5 didn't.....
Any Computer Boffin out there to offer an explanation please???

Demand 5 is the biggest hint as I believe they use a different method to check where you are.

Start by going to www.whatismyipaddress.com which will tell you what your ip is and where it thinks you are located.

Have you installed Hola or Mediahint ant any time, if yes they could be the reason.

Go to a command prompt and type NSLOOKUP www.bbc.co.uk
see what address you get, it should begin with 212.58, it if doesn't you may have DNS redirection in place.

Or of course it could be the Mali effect

montgolfiere · Post by **montgolfiere** » Mon 07 Oct 2013 15:51

Def wasn't connected to iportal as i had to uninstall an older version and install a new 'Download' which i performed this morning.

my ip address is located in 'France'

i may have tried to add Hola but thought i hadn't got anywhere...but that was months ago!!! so maybe i did succeed!!!

not sure how to do a command prompt.......

As i said not that savvy with Computers!!!

Sue · Post by **Sue** » Mon 07 Oct 2013 15:55

I tried Hola this morning but wasnt impressed. It was all jerky and the words didnt match the mouth so I have removed it again.

montgolfiere · Post by **montgolfiere** » Mon 07 Oct 2013 15:58

the iplayer stream was / is very smooth and that is on our old Desktop with around 2mb. connection speed......

Allan · Post by **Allan** » Mon 07 Oct 2013 16:22

montgolfiere wrote:
not sure how to do a command prompt.......

If you are running Windows 7 then click the start button and in the run box type CMD

This should open a black window with a prompt

If Windows 8, right click in the bottom left hand corner and chose Command Prompt

To check Hola go to your Control panel Add/Remove programs and see if it's there

montgolfiere · Post by **montgolfiere** » Mon 07 Oct 2013 16:44

the address does start with 212.58

Dont see Hola on the currently insatlled programmes ...

russell · Post by **russell** » Mon 07 Oct 2013 18:29

montgolfiere wrote:Noticed this afternoon that iplayer is working without any VPN......
Anyone else noticed this?

Are you using Firefox? If so you probably have the Media Hint add-on installed. That works with iPlayer and others but not Demand 5.

To check go to Tools > Add-ons in Firefox.

Russell.

montgolfiere · Post by **montgolfiere** » Mon 07 Oct 2013 19:07

no, asked me if it was my first time, nothing installed.

neil mitchell · Post by **neil mitchell** » Tue 08 Oct 2013 16:47

I know this seems ridiculous but I was just looking at the BBC news and the report was about the big speech made today by thr Director General about the way ahead for the BBC and apparently the aim is to make BBC content more globally available, do you suppose they've done it already?

neil mitchell · Post by **neil mitchell** » Tue 08 Oct 2013 16:52

It does sort of makes sense becaust Monty only found it by accident and I guess everyone else is just still using their VPN/Smart DNS in the assumption that nothing has changed and therefore not noticed.

montgolfiere · Post by **montgolfiere** » Tue 08 Oct 2013 17:17

neil mitchell wrote:I know this seems ridiculous but I was just looking at the BBC news and the report was about the big speech made today by thr Director General about the way ahead for the BBC and apparently the aim is to make BBC content more globally available, do you suppose they've done it already?

No....
their stated aim re (BBC) FTA Satellite TV is to make it as difficult to receive outside the UK/Eire as possible!!!
and having just checked...still working 'sans vpn' chez moi!!!

neil mitchell · Post by **neil mitchell** » Tue 08 Oct 2013 17:21

I guess, but I'm sure I heard some dude in a suit say something like "... to give access to BBC content globally..."

neil mitchell · Post by **neil mitchell** » Tue 08 Oct 2013 17:25

And he may have been referring to online content only of course rather than satelitte.

If you truly are getting BBC sans VPN/SmartDNS then surely everyone must be too and there has to be some explanation.

montgolfiere · Post by **montgolfiere** » Tue 08 Oct 2013 17:43

as far as i know sans vpn or anything else..... but i maybe require a computer Specialist to root thru my computer to make sure there isn't something 'installed'.... i have of course spent the last 10 months trying to find no cost access to UK TV... maybe something i looked at / tried months ago 'stuck'!!!

russell · Post by **russell** » Tue 08 Oct 2013 17:55

Well, I've just tried disabling "Media Hint" and iPortal on my laptop and iPlayer refuses to allow me to play as I'm outside the U.K.

Enable either and it works again. So I think you must have something installed that's hiding your IP address.

Russell.

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