Single Hardware solution for US/UK viewing

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Fallingman

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#191213 27-Jan-2016 18:46

Hi All.

I'm looking for a little collective wisdom.

I'm wanting to break ties with SKYTV (It's not you, it's me... Ok, it's you). And am looking for replacements, or at least a better use of my money. So we're looking to access UK and US content.

Here's the rub:

Our current setup allows us to run everything using our Logitech remote (largely via an old repurposed AppleTV that runs Kodi too), and in that respect it feels like a single coherent 'media centre' experience - even when switching between the ATV, Sky box, BR player etc. My wife particularly will be reluctant to accept a solution that breaks this too much. So I'm trying to get away from streaming ipads/tablets/PC etc.

DNS/VPN considerations aside, I'm looking for some dedicated hardware I can use that will allow me to play Netflix, the BBC iPlayer and ITV content easily and using the Universal remote as primary input. We dont have a smart TV.

Bonus points if it'll play locally stored media too ;-)

I'm unsure whether a new ATV or Amazon Fire will tick all the boxes...

Any help greatly appreciated.

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4087 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#1480179 27-Jan-2016 19:01

Amazon fire TV would certainly be worth a look.
I have mine hooked into the home theatre.
Not sure how well the aftv2 supports hdmi-cec - the AFTV uses a WiFi remote.

Anyway - with a little tweaking you can point Amazon to the USA and UK store and have apps from both markets installed. There is no nz market though, so no tvnz or tv3.
It's easy to install Kodi and this works really well. Plays everything I have chucked at mine including X265/HEVC.

Probably worth checking a mini windows pc though there are some Asus ones around that have a remote, likewise the Intel nuc. All more pricey than an AFTV though.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

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geekiegeek

2513 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1480180 27-Jan-2016 19:02

Apple TV4 will do what you want although not sure if ITV have an app yet. BBC is there and demand 5. I use BBC with US Netflix and Hulu with no issues.

geekiegeek

2513 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1480184 27-Jan-2016 19:05

robjg63: Amazon fire TV would certainly be worth a look.
I have mine hooked into the home theatre.
Not sure how well the aftv2 supports hdmi-cec - the AFTV uses a WiFi remote.

Anyway - with a little tweaking you can point Amazon to the USA and UK store and have apps from both markets installed. There is no nz market though, so no tvnz or tv3.
It's easy to install Kodi and this works really well. Plays everything I have chucked at mine including X265/HEVC.

Probably worth checking a mini windows pc though there are some Asus ones around that have a remote, likewise the Intel nuc. All more pricey than an AFTV though.

The problem with a PC is that none of the apps are remote driven so you need a keyboard and mouse.

ATV4 will also do NZ apps along with US and UK and any other country you want as long as your DNS service supports those countries.

PoHq

465 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1480192 27-Jan-2016 19:20

Plus one for the new Apple TV 4. It has replaced everything for me and is now my stand alone box. It ticks all your boxes aside from iTV which no doubt have an app in the works.

You could AirPlay iTV in the mean time if you have a Mac or iOS device.

We have UK, US and NZ apps on the ATV as well as the Plex app for streaming from my NAS.

littleheaven

2120 posts

Uber Geek

#1480309 28-Jan-2016 01:00

Another vote for ATV4. I currently have Netflix, Hulu, CBS, BBC, Australian Channel 10 and 7Plus all sitting together on it. I don't think ITV has an app yet but I believe you can AirPlay it from an iPad or iPhone. The BBC app is excellent, and I am hoping for Channel 4 to turn up soon, though I can AirPlay that if I want.

The cool thing is that once you've downloaded the apps, they all sit side by side on the home screen and function just fine regardless of what region you have the ATV set to. Mine is set to NZ.

You will need iTunes accounts for the countries in which the apps originate, but that's a simple thing to set up with instructions easily accessible online.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

Fallingman

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1483985 2-Feb-2016 22:54

Thanks all for the help - it's been super useful.

Quick follow up - if I have setup something like unblock-us, and I adjust my DNS settings for the ATV - dont I have to set a country? How would I have US Netflix and BBC iPlayer working side by side?

richms

27982 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1484003 2-Feb-2016 23:49

If 720 is ok for you, then playstation 3. Can get all the apps just by making playstation accounts in each country and signing into it, seems to work great with DNS unblockers and also lets you play round shiney things from the local shops if needed.

Richard rich.ms

littleheaven

2120 posts

Uber Geek

#1484008 3-Feb-2016 00:43

Fallingman:

Thanks all for the help - it's been super useful.

Quick follow up - if I have setup something like unblock-us, and I adjust my DNS settings for the ATV - dont I have to set a country? How would I have US Netflix and BBC iPlayer working side by side?

You need to log into the iTunes stores of the different countries to download the apps (so you need accounts for each), but once you've downloaded them, they stay on your home screen regardless of which region your ATV is set to, or which iTunes store you're logged into. My ATV is permanently set to New Zealand, and my iTunes store is normally set to US so that Siri works, but I have US, UK and Australian apps all sitting together and functioning fine thanks to Unotelly. I can go from Hulu plus to BBC to Channel 10 Australia without changing anything. The great thing about the new Apple TV is that it lets you log into multiple iTunes accounts and it remembers them once you have, so all you have to do to switch from one to the other is select from the list of accounts and click. You don't even need to re-enter a password.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

TENKAN

314 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#1484014 3-Feb-2016 06:58

So can the apple 3 do all of this as well? Or only 4.

jnimmo

1096 posts

Uber Geek

#1484023 3-Feb-2016 07:40

Only the 4. Works really well, just would be nice if TVNZ bothered to update their app to work on tvOS

littleheaven

2120 posts

Uber Geek

#1484145 3-Feb-2016 09:28

TENKAN: So can the apple 3 do all of this as well? Or only 4.

As per the above post, just the 4 because it's the one with the app store. The 3 comes with only with the pre-installed apps Apple provides, and you have to change the region of the device to display that region's apps. That's why I was so keen to get the 4. With an open app store, the possibilities are endless.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

TENKAN

314 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#1484161 3-Feb-2016 09:47

Ok thanks for letting me know this, I'm off to buy one Anyone after a gen 3? only a few days of use, pm me if you want it.

Scotdownunder

213 posts

Master Geek

Subscriber

#1484191 3-Feb-2016 10:26

"if I have setup something like unblock-us, and I adjust my DNS settings for the ATV - dont I have to set a country? How would I have US Netflix and BBC iPlayer working side by side?"

The reply to this query did not address the issue of how you change the DNS for each App which has to appear to be in the relevant country. Can the DNS setting be linked to the App ? Do you not have to set the country on a DNS / VPN App first ?

Realy interested in the ATV4 but the devil is in the detail.

rb99

3401 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1484267 3-Feb-2016 12:07

Scotdownunder: "if I have setup something like unblock-us, and I adjust my DNS settings for the ATV - dont I have to set a country? How would I have US Netflix and BBC iPlayer working side by side?"

The reply to this query did not address the issue of how you change the DNS for each App which has to appear to be in the relevant country. Can the DNS setting be linked to the App ? Do you not have to set the country on a DNS / VPN App first ?

Realy interested in the ATV4 but the devil is in the detail.

Am far from an expert in this and don't have an ATV, but for my FireTV it was just a matter (from what I remember) of having US and UK addresses in Amazon. You then just download UK apps while using the UK address and the same for US address/apps. If you have Unotelly (again in my case) you just set the appropriate IP address in the device or router and that's it. Sorry its a bit vague as details are hazy as I type this. The main point I think is that you don't need to (and can't) have different IP addresses for each app.

As mentioned previously, for ATV you need iTunes addresses in the relevant countries.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

littleheaven

2120 posts

Uber Geek

#1484284 3-Feb-2016 12:24

Scotdownunder: "if I have setup something like unblock-us, and I adjust my DNS settings for the ATV - dont I have to set a country? How would I have US Netflix and BBC iPlayer working side by side?"

The reply to this query did not address the issue of how you change the DNS for each App which has to appear to be in the relevant country. Can the DNS setting be linked to the App ? Do you not have to set the country on a DNS / VPN App first ?

Realy interested in the ATV4 but the devil is in the detail.

You don't have to change the DNS each time you go to a different country's app - generally a service like Unotelly will unblock all the main ones simultaneously. I'm with Unotelly and I have Netflix, BBC, Australian Channel 10 all operating and I just flick from one to the other without having to change anything.

Occasionally you will get a conflict. With Unotelly they group selections of services under "channels" and if two services you want to view are in the same channel group, you'll have to decide between them. For example, under Unotelly's "Channel Option 2" you can select either a group of Australian channels or a group of NZ channels to unblock, so for me Channel 10 Australia and TV3OnDemand clash. Not a huge issue, though. To switch between them, you just have to go into Unotelly's Dynamo control panel and select which group you want to unblock at that particular time - there's an iPad app so two taps pretty much does it. It might get irritating if two services you watched a lot fell into that category and you had to keep constantly switching in the control panel.

It works the same with Netflix regions. It defaults to US but in the Unotelly control panel you just select the region you want and then re-start the Netflix app (although some people are now saying that might alert Netflix to you geo-unblocking so I just leave mine set to US).

If you tell me what services you would want to watch, I can tell you if they are covered by Unotelly and if you would have any clashes.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

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