Kodi/Filmon not working

[Helen]

Oooops.

Comment above corrected to show the right link.

Thanks Andrew..... gawd, that could have been very embarrassing.

[martyn94]

Admittedly it's an assumption but the BBC already supplement their falling income by selling content abroad via their "commercial arm" BBC Worldwide. So if they're going to invest heavily in expanding their on-line content they would be bonkers not to try and monetise it.

I guess the signing-in part is the beginnings of having a free account if you're a UK Licence Fee payer and the option of introducing a subscription service for viewers worldwide.

I don't think I'm being fanciful - it has to come.

It has already come, and then gone again, for lack of demand: details are here

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_iPl ... ailability

I tried it briefly: the programmes available were pretty thin. It may yet come round again, but with luck I will no longer have the least idea what UK TV programmes I might possibly want to watch (apart from D Attenborough, obviously, but I can always buy the DVDs).

[Allan]

I still pay my License in uk Also subscribe to B T but when in France can't get either.

Assuming you have reasonable broadband in France then you could buy a Slingbox and watch everything that you watch in the UK

[Kate]

I have a slingbox that I don't use anymore if anybody wants it.

[Webdoc]

I made one of these:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33548728

and it works amazingly well - and all for under £30 with no buffering or subscription. I watch TV in France just as if I was in the UK, plus I can access all my work files on my home system. And as a bonus it makes using public wifi ultra-secure for on-line banking etc.

It can be implemented on any device - PC, android box, ipad, mobile phone.

It's rather complicated to set up but I'm happy to offer general advice.

[martyn94]

I made one of these:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33548728

and it works amazingly well - and all for under £30 with no buffering or subscription. I watch TV in France just as if I was in the UK, plus I can access all my work files on my home system. And as a bonus it makes using public wifi ultra-secure for on-line banking etc.

It can be implemented on any device - PC, android box, ipad, mobile phone.

It's rather complicated to set up but I'm happy to offer general advice.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again. All I need now is a gaff in the UK for £30. That said, there's probably the making of an Airbnb-type fortune here: if you've got spare bandwidth in the U.K., you sell it to me (to watch tv in France) for a small commission. If it takes off, I'll settle for a few founders' shares.

[Webdoc]

I've said it before, but I'll say it again. All I need now is a gaff in the UK for £30. That said, there's probably the making of an Airbnb-type fortune here: if you've got spare bandwidth in the U.K., you sell it to me (to watch tv in France) for a small commission. If it takes off, I'll settle for a few founders' shares.

For those without a UK gaff you just need a friend or relative who don't mind a tiny box plugged into the back of their router. Plus they could benefit from it when they're away from home too. In theory (bandwidth permitting) you can have umpteen different users at the same time.

For me, as I already pay my subs for the BBC, Netflix, VirginMedia etc., I don't feel too bad about using the service this way while I'm abroad. Permitting others to tap into your system to watch UK TV is a slightly different matter.

There's also some security implications. Anyone using this system is "inside" your home network so in theory could access files on your home computer. Also if they did something really dodgy on the Net it's the UK front door that Mr Plod would be knocking on, not the ex-pat one.

These concerns aside, it's an excellent system and I've already worked out a way to clone what I've done as a small enterprise, if I can be bothered.

I've found 2 different sets of people offering this setup on Ebay (search for VPN) but having done it myself I don't find them as open as they might be about the potential drawbacks.

[russell]

Interesting exercise Webdoc but it seems to be a lot of trouble just to get one VPN at your UK address. How does it make public wifi ultra-secure? Does it encrypt the traffic?

I'll stick with paying a modest fee for a commercial VPN which gives access to about 700 servers world wide including about 50 in the UK.

Russell.

[Webdoc]

By far the easiest option is the commercial software-app VPN. I've never used it myself but I understood that buffering is sometimes an issue. It's said that the BBC etc. are clamping down on commercial VPNs - I guess they're easy to spot because hundreds of people are apparently accessing from the same IP address.

And of course you miss out on the deep, deep joy (only experienced by a real Geek) of building one yourself, with the knowledge of the multiple layers of encryption involved and that you are the only person on the planet who can access the system.

The encryption does make public wifi much more secure, and one also has access to files withing one's home network - useful if you run a business etc.

[Allan]

First of all congratulations to Webdoc for his technical achievement.

I cannot however see this as a widespread solution for a number of reasons and I would be interested to hear how Webdoc overcame the problems that I mention.

Firstly, the solution could not work with widely used ADSL, simply because the standard transmit speed of ADSL is nowhere near fast enough to use with on-line television.

Pretty well all domestic internet solutions have a single external iP address, so in order to access his VPN server, the router needs to know how that VPN traffic is to be forwarded to the VPN server.

Since the VPN server has only one network interface then it needs to have 2 iP addresses on the same interface.

Neither of the last 2 are insurmountable but they are beyond the capabilities of most domestic routers which generally have limited configurability

So, a fun solution but I don't think it will get universally adopted.

Just a note on spotting VPNs, if the criterion was multiple users from the same address then they would end up blocking most hotels and universities and in fact anywhere with an enterprise or campus network. So fortunately for the rest of us it is not a viable option

[Webdoc]

Thanks for the congratulations. I'm sure you can tell from my tone that I'm a bit smug about it! Actually I was amazed that it worked, and worked first time too.

I accept that this setup is a bit niche but it would suit some people.

I didn't personally overcome any problems, I just followed carefully a step-by-step guide that required hours of command-line programming.

It does work with French ADSL - it's been working at my house for over a year. And Orange sell a package that includes TV via the telephone wires. I might be wrong but I understood that a 2MB/S link was adequate although I'm happy to be corrected. (I get 12MB/S on my connection.)

Now the techy bit: traffic to and from the VPN server is handled by port-forwarding in the router. How the VPN software installed on the Raspberry Pi does its magic is beyond my understanding but it clearly does, via one RJ45 cable. The multiple layers of protection are impressive. The "client end" runs the OpenVPN app requiring both a software key and a password.

I love the challenge, and I learn a lot (of useless stuff!) during the implementation.

[Allan]

It does work with French ADSL - it's been working at my house for over a year. And Orange sell a package that includes TV via the telephone wires. I might be wrong but I understood that a 2MB/S link was adequate although I'm happy to be corrected. (I get 12MB/S on my connection.)

It isn't the French ADSL that would concern me, it is the UK end. ADSL by its very nature uploads at a much slower speed than it receives. Normally this doesn't matter because in the UK, it is the download speed that is significant. In this case however you are re-sending whatever is downloaded onwards to France.

I suspect that you must have a decent connection in the UK, but older connections just could not work

[martyn94]

Thanks for the congratulations. I'm sure you can tell from my tone that I'm a bit smug about it! Actually I was amazed that it worked, and worked first time too.

I accept that this setup is a bit niche but it would suit some people.

I didn't personally overcome any problems, I just followed carefully a step-by-step guide that required hours of command-line programming.

It does work with French ADSL - it's been working at my house for over a year. And Orange sell a package that includes TV via the telephone wires. I might be wrong but I understood that a 2MB/S link was adequate although I'm happy to be corrected. (I get 12MB/S on my connection.)

Now the techy bit: traffic to and from the VPN server is handled by port-forwarding in the router. How the VPN software installed on the Raspberry Pi does its magic is beyond my understanding but it clearly does, via one RJ45 cable. The multiple layers of protection are impressive. The "client end" runs the OpenVPN app requiring both a software key and a password.

I love the challenge, and I learn a lot (of useless stuff!) during the implementation.

Smug? Moi?

[martyn94]

I didn't personally overcome any problems, I just followed carefully a step-by-step guide that required hours of command-line programming.

Sounds like fun, at least as an alternative to root-canal work. The better answer, obviously, is to use some obscure brew of Linux.

[russell]

Sounds like fun, at least as an alternative to root-canal work. The better answer, obviously, is to use some obscure brew of Linux.

The Rspberry Pi uses a not so obscure version of Linux
Russell

[martyn94]

Sounds like fun, at least as an alternative to root-canal work. The better answer, obviously, is to use some obscure brew of Linux.

The Rspberry Pi uses a not so obscure version of Linux
Russell

Touché, but I am sure you get my point. Most tech queries about computers are asked by noddies like me who hardly know how to turn the thing on, and answered by geeks who want to change the OS. Full disclosure: this is a bit exaggerated, but not entirely untrue.

[Webdoc]

Actually my Raspberry Pi runs on shortcrust pastry and caster sugar.

[martyn94]

Actually my Raspberry Pi runs on shortcrust pastry and caster sugar.

There's a wonderful recipe somewhere in Jane Grigson for an Italian version of Summer Pudding, made with three ingredients: sliced brioche, a lot of raspberries, and whipped cream. Maybe a bit of sugar if you don't like it as tart as I do. No cooking, obviously, and no circuit boards.

[russell]

have you tried Exodus for movies, or i may be wrong in suggesting this. Please correct me if i am wrong.

Exodus is one of a number of Kodi "scraper" add-ons that search and index various pirate sites for films and allow you access for streaming or downloading.

I don't wish to prolong the discussion on legality but I believe that downloading from those sites is illegal in Europe while streaming is questionable.

Russell.