Hello Folks,

My wife the NERD seems to have cracked the code in order to stream NETFLIX on our Xbox 360. It's great and we've been using it since the past month to stream our favorite shows and movies directly.

STOP! Before you go any forward with the instructions below. Please know that you need a US or Canadian Billing address for your Credit Card, Debit Card or Pay Pal account.

Here are the semi-advanced instructions for people who have some decent amount of Technical Competency:

1) Connect Xbox to your WiFi Internet connection at home. If you are streaming through it.

2) From your computer go to the website USVideo.ca (it's a Canadian website that provides your secondary DNS as a US ip address - hence why you'll be able to watch Netflix, Hululu or other videos that usually ban you from watching it)

3) USVideo.ca has a free 1 week subscription to it's services atm. Just input your e-mail address and then proceed with the instructions to change your DNS to a US ip address (USVideo has instructions for most modems through their site). After that if you want to use it it will cost USD 4.99 per month.

4) BAM! You will be able to stream any US only videos through the internet and by modifying the modem IP address will automatically enable you to use XBOX 360 Netflix to stream through your TV *but please make sure that you purchase a gold membership + have a US Xbox 360 account* - without the Gold Membership, no streaming for you.

If you are an XBOX user, this will also (with the gold membership) allow you to access Zune, which for around 10-18$ each you can stream new released US movies and television shows (I am enjoying the 5th season of 30 rock as we speak). - It's a little higher than a US movie theater, but cheaper than a Swiss one.

Total Costs are:

Xbox 360 Yearly membership bought in the US from amazon.com = $40.00
Subscription to USVideo.ca per month = $4.99
Subcription to Netflix per month = $8.00

Enjoy!!!

Also appears to work with Wii, PS3, etc.etc..

If you set up your router , then any device that uses that router for DNS will be able to be used.

I wonder how long this will last though. Although they do not state what technology they are using, it appears to be a DNS Proxy. Like most proxy services, they just pass the web request on to the service using their IP addresses. Then they pass it back to the requestor. I am sure that NetFlix and Hulu will (if they haven`t already) figure this one out as well.
Then it will be blocked like the others...

But, not to be pessimistic, For $5/month (or $50/year) it`s a good deal. Especially if we can get HULU.

If somone gets this working, please let us know.

I'll try HULU over the weekend and post back on this thread.

HULU Works!!!!

I'm going to try it out with our Wii this afternoon and will report back. One question. Secondary DNS in the US still means primary in
CH, doesn't it?

You change both primary and secondary...

Works great on the pc. We also have a wii, but unless anyone knows differently, you need playon (playon.tv) running on a computer on the same network. Then you go to playon on the wii and if you are lucky, the wii finds the computer with playon and there you go.
Did't work for me, but I can watch stuff on the laptop or connect the laptop to the tv.



K

is there a way to receive it on the "normal" TV?

What is playon used for? Is it acting as bridge to the computer that is using usvideo.ca? Because it seems like you need that. You usually can't get devices like Xbox, Wii, etc to access a VPN service as easily as a computer (needs to run a VPN client). They'll go the normal route and thus still have a non-US ip address.

Dan

I looked at their website. Very clever since you don't need a VPN client.

Maybe I can finally try Netflix on my new Apple TV.

Dan

The problem with this solution is the fact that Netflix, Hulu etc. will still know you're accessing their services from abroad. Unlike a VPN service, USVideo.ca's DNS solution only masks your IP for the initial geo-location check. Once the video starts streaming, your real IP is revealed to the service. For now, this solution works because the various services check the geo-location only once upon handshake. However, this can and will be changed very quickly once the service providers notice a rise in access from abroad.

Also, any service that involves a user account for access (such as Netflix) will probably just suspend your account after a couple of days.

I hate to be a party-pooper but I personally wouldn't invest in a solution that simply exploits a loop-hole. The only way to get service on a permanent basis is a VPN client.

Peter

You can direct the wii to hulu but since the wii doesn't do flash, it seems you need something like playon and use the wii to pick up playon from your pc. However, I can just as easily hook the laptop to the big screen tv and watch hulu from my laptop. No remote control,but wahtever. Playon will also let you iPad/iPhone work with hulu. Have not investigated that. There are some mobile options .

You can have a 2 week trial for playon. It's like $40 a year or a one time charge of $80 - makes me wonder if it will be rendered obsolete at some point.

Peter,

I agree. It's probably just a matter of time until they block this as well. I was hoping to at least try Netflix before paying for a VPN service, to see how good the streaming quality is to Europe. Of course the VPN service speed is also a factor. It's also possible they could start blocking people using these VPN services as well.

With VPN it's not that easy - it'll always be a cat-and-mouse game. In order to lock out VPN users, they'll have to resort to blocking US IP-ranges, which might not actually be legal.

It's already been happening:
http://gigaom.com/video/hulu-blocks-...-shield-users/

Sorry folks I've been meaning to post a reply but didn't get around to it. First of all thank you for your interesting comments. The fact of the matter is that I have an Xbox and a Gold membership which I use to game online.

Now, I pay $8 for NetFlix and $4.99 for USVideo.ca on a monthly basis and get to enjoy some US TV which to me is worth the effort. I agree that it MAY get banned and we might get found out and busted etc etc.. But this service has been up for a few years now and they haven't stopped it yet. They might around to it eventually but until that happens I'm using it. That's my take on it and I have been using it for 2 months now.

Mrs Fraser: I don't think it will work direct on your TV unless you have a device like a computer or a gaming console etc.. which will hook up to your TV.

getting banned is one thing I could live with. However, I'd have to ask myself the question if it's worth paying for semi-legal content if I can simply use rapidshare to download the same content legally and for free.

I thought Rapid Share was banned in CH.

Rapidshare

says who? It's perfectly legal here to download content as long as you don't upload anything.

I've never tried Rapidshare but it seems like searching it is difficult. If you are a paid subscriber is searching somehow better?