It is likely that the guys over at Hulu will sooner or later block this method from working, it did work perfectly fine at the time of writing.

watch hulu from outside the united states

Start by downloading and installing the Modify Headers add-on for the web browser.

Now lookup the IP of a US website, you can do that here. Just enter a US domain name and copy the IP that is displayed.

Configure Modify Headers:

1. In Firefox, click Tools and then Modify Headers.
2. At the top of the Modify Headers window is a little drop-down box. Select Add from that box.
3. In the first text field beside the drop-down, type “X-Forwarded-For” without quotation marks.
4. In the second text field, type “a US IP” without quotation marks into the field.
5. Leave the third text field empty and click Add to the right of it.
6. Click the Enable All button on the right.
7. Click the Configuration button and make sure “Always On: Enable modify headers when the window/tab is closed” unless you don’t want to for some reason.

NOTE: This may interfere with other sites that you WANT thinking you’re from Canada. You can always disable the rule in modify headers when not using Hulu.

Windows users:

This are MashallX’s instructions, thanks dude.

Step 3 – Block tcp/udp ports Hulu uses within Microsoft Management Console. This seems like a lot of stuff but it’s not too bad :P

Section A – Add an “IP Security Policies on Local Computer” snap-in to MMC

1. In Windows 7/Vista you can just click Start and type “mmc” minus quotes and hit Enter, but in XP you click Start > Run > type “mmc” minus quotes and hit enter.
2. Click File and then Add/Remove snap-in
3. Select “IP Security Policy Management” and click the Add button in the middle.
4. A wizard will pop up, leave it on “Local Computer” and click Finish.
5. Back in the Add/Remove snap-in window, click OK.

Section B – Create an IP Security Policy for Hulu

1. Back in the main MMC window, click to select “IP Security Policies on Local Computer”
2. Click Action at the top and then “Create IP Security Policy”
3. In the wizard, click Next.
4. Create a name for the policy, I chose “Hulu IP Security Policy”. Click Next.
5. Requests for secure communication? Whatevs, click Next.
6. Uncheck the edit box and click Finish.

Section C – Create an IP Filter List of tcp/udp ports you wish to block.

1. Back in the main MMC window, click to select “IP Security Policies on Local Computer” again.
2. Click Action at the top and then “Manage IP Filter Lists and Filter Actions”
3. Under the “Manage IP Filter Lists” tab, click Add.
4. Give the filter a name. I chose “Hulu TCP/UDP Block”.
5. Click Add. When the “Welcome to IP Filter Wizard” comes up, click Next.
6. I didn’t bother with a description…click Next.
7. For the source IP address, choose “Any IP Address” and click Next.
8. For the destination IP address, choose “Any IP Address” and click Next.
9. For protocol type, choose “TCP” and click Next.
10. Choose “To this port” and enter 1935 in the box and click Next.
11. Click Finish.
12. Back in the “IP Filter List” box you should have 1 IP filter for TCP port 1935.
13. Follow steps 5 to 11 once more, substituting UDP instead of TCP.
14. Back in the “IP Filter List” box you should have 2 IP filters for TCP and UDP on port 1935.
14. Click OK.

Section D – Add an IP Filter Action so MMC knows to block the above tcp/udp ports.

1. You should now be back in the “Manage IP Filter Lists and Filter Actions” window.
2. Click the “Manage Filter Actions” tab at the top and then click the Add button.
3. Welcome to the IP Security Filter Action Wizard, click Next.
4. Give the action a name, such as “Hulu Block” and click Next.
5. On the “Filter Action General Options” screen, select “Block” and click Next and then Finish.
6. Back in the “Manage IP Filter Lists and Filter Actions” click Apply and then OK.

Section E – Create an IP Security Rule combining the IP Filter List and IP Filter Action from above.

1. Back in the main MMC window, right click the new IP Security Policy and click Properties. (e.g. Hulu IP Security Policy from Section B.)
2. On the Rules tab, click Add.
3. Welcome to the Create IP Security Rule Wizard, click Next.
4. Leave the Tunnel Endpoint on “This rule does not specify a tunnel” and click Next.
5. For Network Type, select “All Network Connections” and click Next.
6. IP Filter List? Select “Hulu TCP/UDP Block” (put a dot in the little circle :P) and click Next.
7. Filter Action? Select “Hulu Block” just like above and click Next.
8. Click Finish.

Section F – Assign the Hulu IP Security Policy and try it out!

1. Back in the main MMC window, right click the “Hulu IP Security Policy” and click “Assign”
2. After closing Firefox and opening it again, I am able to use Hulu!

Mac users

To block the port on OS X use:

sudo ipfw add 0 deny tcp from any to any 1935
sudo ipfw add 0 deny udp from any to any 1935

Linux users

Thanks to Got Milk4 for the instructions

Third-party firmware routers (Tomato, DD-WRT, OpenWRT) can use these commands:
iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp –dport 1935 -j DROP
iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p udp –dport 1935 -j DROP
Similarily, Linux users can use these commands (requires the proper kernel modules to be compiled & the iptables package installed):
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp –dport 1935 -j DROP
iptables -A INPUT -p udp –dport 1935 -j DROP

Users start by clicking on File > Search in the menu to open the search interface which can be used to list all available channels or filtered channel lists either by keyword or pre-selection (e.g. sports, top 100). It is also possible to enter a keyword which will search for and return all channels matching that keyword. A good start is probably the top 100 channel list.

It takes a few seconds to populate the channel list which displays one channel per row. Each row includes the name, bitrate, quality, audience and other values. The most important are the bitrate, quality and audience as these are indicators on the quality of the picture and the bandwidth that is needed to watch the channel fluently.

A click on a channel with open an internal viewer that is connecting to the selected tv channel. This process can also take some time as the StreamTorrent begins the buffering process.

The player offers basic status information and controls including a buffer bar, changing to full screen and changing the volume.

Watching tv is probably the most popular use of StreamTorrent. It is possible to add new channels to the application and to start a live stream from the local computer system.

Update:

Streamtorrent is no longer available on Google Code. The project has been pulled citing terms of service violations. We have uploaded the latest working version of the program to our servers. You can download StreamTorrent from the following link: StreamTorrent (516)

TVU Networks, the maker of TVU Player, have created a web platform as well which can be used to watch the very same channels on the website without having to download and configure their PC TV client. An add-on was required to make the service work in Firefox and the same happened when trying it in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. After that it worked perfectly though.

The interface lists the channels on the left side. Don’t expect to see many popular US channels in the mix with a few exceptions like the Comedy Channel. The majority of programs offered are in Chinese though. The channels can be filtered by language to only display channels in a selected language. That filter is not working correctly. Selecting English from the language selection will also yield different language channels. Not many though but still noticeable.

Other options provided in the interface are a search form to find specific channels faster and a TV guide that is available for some channels. The verdict is that TVU Networks provides free access to a working Internet TV platform that concentrates on non-English TV stations. It does however offer a great way for sport fans to watch their favorite sport events over the Internet.

The only viable alternative if TV stations are not showing the Champions League at all or only one of the games is to watch it online. The website One Tip A Day have updated their Watch Champions League Free article in time for the quarter finales. The guide concentrates on the TV streaming software Sopcast which offers an English interface and is generally easy to use.

The article contains a few tips that aid new users plus information on how to obtain the channel names that stream the Champions League games. Additional information about Sopcast, the recently reviewed Sopcast Filter or PC TV are available here on Ghacks as well.

Only one question remains: Which team are you routing for?

Sopcast users can use the software to view the TV shows directly. The interface of the software has been translated to English and provides the means to browse and search the available channels. Some users probably prefer to use another video player to view Internet TV. Sopcast is offering an application called Sopcast Filter which enables Windows Media Player users to tune in into Sopcast streams and watch the shows in that video player instead.

The disadvantage of this method is however that the channel list is not available in Windows Media Player. Sopcast TV channels can be opened from the Open URL menu in Windows Media Player which means the user needs the url of the show before it can be watched. Those information can be found in the original Sopcast player or from websites that post those links regularly.

Not very comfortable but the history function of Windows Media Player makes it easier to access the same channels again at a later time. Users who are interested in watching TV on their PC can also take a look at our PC TV article detailing some of the options.

It is more a convenience than something revolutionary because programs and websites that do the same already exist for some time. The biggest advantage of RevoluTV is the no frills no thrills interface that is clean and easily accessible. It makes use of Windows Media Player to stream the TV contents to the computer screen which unfortunately means that the software program will only run on computers with Windows XP or Windows Vista.

Channels are divided into themes like News, Games or Kids which list the available TV streams. A click on a network name will load the channel immediately which works well and without lags. It usually takes a few seconds to buffer the stream before a picture is shown.

Playback quality depends a lot on the user’s Internet connection but also on the type of backbone the TV network is using to stream their contents.

Channels can be added to favorites for faster access. There is however no settings menu of any kind. Basic controls for volume and playback are offered but nothing beyond that. The only way to change settings would probably be to change them in Windows Media Player.

The service currently requires a plugin to work properly but this need will fall away in the coming month according to Techcrunch when the Joost Standard service is introduced. The plugin is still needed for live and high definition broadcasts while all other shows are available for users without plugin as well. The Adobe Flash plugin will still be needed but this is pretty much a standard plugin on most computers nowadays.

Rumors are that Joost will stop development on the software client to concentrate fully on the Joost website which they are trying to establish as a video based social network type of website that comes with all the usual features and functions of those websites.

The move will surely see an increase in usage numbers but the real question is if it will be enough to keep the service alive. Taking it to the web means that it now has to compete with many already established video portals such as Youtube, Dailymotion or Hulu.

The new TVU Player interface hosts more information than the previous one. A remarkable change is the language and topics bar at the top which filters channels by their language or topic. If you only want to view English channels for instance you click the English button and only those are displayed.

The same principle works for topics such as Sports or News. The right pane hosts messages, reviews and the tv guide which is probably the most useful of the three. You can select your timezone and get information about upcoming shows on the tv station that you are watching.

On the downside advertisements have been added during load times and in the sidebar that holds the tv guide. The most important aspect of a Internet TV client is the availability of tv shows and stations. TVU Player is still primarily a client for Sports fans. You can still watch most major sports events including soccer, football and basketball live.

I was not able to find many other tv stations wort watching, most of them are Chinese and I do not speak Chinese. So, my conclusion would be that it is still an excellent tv client if you are a sports fan.

This is slighty complex but you should get used to the procedure. All you need is a http proxy that is hosted inside the USA and does not spill your IP address. To achieve this you need a application that checks proxy servers for those variables. I recommend Charon for this task but you could use other tools as well.

Download Charon from the website mentioned, you don´t need to install it at all, just extract the contents to a directory of your choice.

Fire it up, you have no proxy list yet so you could use google to find some lists or let charon do that for you. Simply select Check Proxies and then Scan Search Engines for new Proxies. Charon will find some proxies that are then displayed in the table. Those are unverified, now select Check Proxies and Check Anonymity of all Proxies. This might take some time. If you only recieve bad and timeouts you have to change one option in charon.

Select Connect Options and chose Use External Judge(s).

Let it test the proxies. If you have enough good ones or a finished test sort the proxies by the Country tab. Only USA proxies are working so we need one of those. The Anonymity tab should state YES. If both are correct right click the line and select Copy to clipboard and Copy selected IP:Port.

Open your browser and paste the proxy address into its proxy settings. For firefox you select Tools >> Options >> Connection Settings >> Manual Proxy Configuration and add the proxy and port there. Close the options and visit the abc streaming site. If you see a Launch button you are ready to enjoy the tv shows. If not try another proxy from the list.

I checked the service with this proxy and it worked flawlessly: 192.104.67.250 port:8080

Enjoy the shows.

I will describe three freeware programs that let you connect to channels that stream tv and especially live sports events. This includes all major european football (soccer) leagues, champions league, uefa cup, espn, wrestling, national team matches, boxing matches aso.

You also find regular tv stations like mtv and custom stations like gamers tv there. On with the PC TV programs.

PC TV

All you need to watch pc tv is a computer with the latest windows media player and / or real player. A broadband connection is desired for best results. All three PC TV programs to watch TV on the PC have been produced in Asia making it hard to read the websites. Those websites offer tv program lists among other information.

First, let us take a look at some options in media player and real player:

Start the media player, make sure you use the latest version. Right-Click and select Options from the menu. Click on Performance and Change the Buffer Size of Content to 30 seconds.

In real player you select Tools -> Preferences and click on the General -> Playback Settings. The setting Buffer up to 30 seconds is at the bottom of this window.

Stream formats:

mms:// and .asx open with windows media player
rtsp:// and .rm / .ram open with real player

Starting Streams manually:

Sometimes you need to start streams manually. Use the stream formats information to figure out the program to use.

On windows media player choose File -> Open Url or the shortcut ctrl + u
On real player choose File -> Open

PC TV Programs

This is a list of free PC TV programs that can be used to view TV on PC.

Sopcast

Download from the above link, unzip, start. A channel list will be displayed. Double-click a channel and windows media player should start and begin buffering and displaying.

Pplive

Just download and run the installation script on pplive. Its all in English, no need to worry. You need the pplive channel list for it, it does not come with a loaded list.

Ppstream

Download from the above location. This one has an installation script that is unfortunately producing lots of gibberish. The buttons are designed like in every other windows installation script. (left button, choose a directory, 3x middle button). The Channel list is on the left, you see the channel name, the quality of the stream in Kb per second and the users connected to the channel.

If I had to choose one of them I?d defiantly choose ppStream which has the best interface and good user rates and a nice overall stream quality.

Popular PC TV Channels:

Additional Information:

Live Football Streams Schedule

More P2P TV Tools:
Coolstreaming
QLive
TvAnts

Using PC TV programs on your computer has never been easier than in today’s Internet. Users can pick a wide variety of applications that bring pc tv to their computer without having to pay a dime.