[ags_rule]

I see everyone going on about using Unblock-US but I find it unbelievable that in this age there is no other way to safely get around the UK/US barrier without paying £3 extra a month!

Anybody know of any good free alternatives? There must be some!

[ags_rule]

Also the unblock-US site gives you the DNS settings for the PS3 before signing up or anything...so why would you need to pay?

[Roland_Smith]

i use free safe ip

[Lumstorm]

I find it unbelievable that people are against paying £3 a month.

Is it just me or lately are people seeming to think that they have some entitlement to services for free?

[Peter the Great]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ags_rule

I see everyone going on about using Unblock-US but I find it unbelievable that in this age there is no other way to safely get around the UK/US barrier without paying £3 extra a month!

Anybody know of any good free alternatives? There must be some!

There are free alternatives that will give you a proxy to 1 Country but Unblock US lets you choose between all the Netflix regions. Surely you can't complain about paying a few quid a month for that?

[Joel's dad]

If they don't want to pay and there are free alternatives out there whats the problem?

My sister in law went on YouTube and found a free provider, go check YouTube out.

[Philip Wales]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ags_rule

Also the unblock-US site gives you the DNS settings for the PS3 before signing up or anything...so why would you need to pay?

Because they can, they then see you are using it, then lock it, to stop you using it. Call it a "taster session".

[-GONZO-]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ags_rule

I see everyone going on about using Unblock-US but I find it unbelievable that in this age there is no other way to safely get around the UK/US barrier without paying £3 extra a month!

Anybody know of any good free alternatives? There must be some!

Oh yeah there are some, but do you really want to be connecting your device to and putting your Internet traffic through unsecured servers?

[tony le mesmer]

£3 a month is great value for a safe and reliable DNS service. I have no issues with paying, particularly as it works on all my devices.

[ags_rule]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lumstorm

I find it unbelievable that people are against paying £3 a month.

Is it just me or lately are people seeming to think that they have some entitlement to services for free?

Why should I pay ANYTHING extra to get access to TV shows and movies that our friends across the pond can get for no extra?

The entertainment industry wonders why piracy is a problem and yet a service like Netflix, which should provide the same content regardless of location, is instead locked to the high-heavens. I've seen people talking about visiting the Mexican Netflix to see one movie, then the Canadian version to see the other etc. It's absolutely ridiculous.

[psionic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ags_rule

Why should I pay ANYTHING extra to get access to TV shows and movies that our friends across the pond can get for no extra?

The entertainment industry wonders why piracy is a problem and yet a service like Netflix, which should provide the same content regardless of location, is instead locked to the high-heavens. I've seen people talking about visiting the Mexican Netflix to see one movie, then the Canadian version to see the other etc. It's absolutely ridiculous.

Surely it's down to the owners of the content, and how they decide to license it to broadcasters? Different licensing arrangements for each country/region.

Many of us have to use services such as unblock-us to make the most of Netflix etc. However there are a few handy sites such as http://www.moreflicks.com which help you locate what you want across the different geographical versions.

[Peter the Great]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ags_rule

Why should I pay ANYTHING extra to get access to TV shows and movies that our friends across the pond can get for no extra?

The entertainment industry wonders why piracy is a problem and yet a service like Netflix, which should provide the same content regardless of location, is instead locked to the high-heavens. I've seen people talking about visiting the Mexican Netflix to see one movie, then the Canadian version to see the other etc. It's absolutely ridiculous.

It isn't locked to the high heavens compared to other services. Most other services would only ever allow you to access the content in the Country you are registered with. Lovefilm instant for example is available in other Countries like Sweden and Germany but it won't allow UK users to use this content as your password won't work.

[-GONZO-]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ags_rule

The entertainment industry wonders why piracy is a problem and yet a service like Netflix, which should provide the same content regardless of location, is instead locked to the high-heavens.

Your not seeing the bigger picture here,
All these streaming services are all businesses which all want one thing, customers.
The likes of Sky or LoveFilm will go to the studios and offer big money for exclusivity rights for certain content and then use them as an advertising campaign to try and get more customers. Netflix does the same now and then, but they try not to go overboard to keep the monthly sub as low as possible.
If every service had exactly the same content then it would be the consumer that would suffer in the end.

Quote:

I've seen people talking about visiting the Mexican Netflix to see one movie, then the Canadian version to see the other etc. It's absolutely ridiculous.

You make it sound like its the most awkward thing to do, when infact it just takes one touch of a button on my phone before I turn Netflix on.

[ags_rule]

Quote:

Originally Posted by -GONZO-

Your not seeing the bigger picture here,
All these streaming services are all businesses which all want one thing, customers.
The likes of Sky or LoveFilm will go to the studios and offer big money for exclusivity rights for certain content and then use them as an advertising campaign to try and get more customers. Netflix does the same now and then, but they try not to go overboard to keep the monthly sub as low as possible.
If every service had exactly the same content then it would be the consumer that would suffer in the end.

Total strawman argument, you are comparing entirely different services such as Sky, Lovefilm and Netflix having access to different content - which is perfectly normal - with the same service having reduced content depending on your geographical location.

It's the same thing with movies releasing at different times in the world, totally pointless and an absolute wet dream for piracy. Netflix content should not be restricted depending on where you access it.

[Lumstorm]

It would be nice if everything was available but as said its how content is licensed, sometimes its different companies that own the rights to different regions as well. Paying £3 is a small price to access all that content also unblock-us does work with other services such as Hulu and Pandora.

Though I do hate the region coding on DVD/BD. I think that so few people would bother importing that theres no point to it. I did grudge paying extra for a region switching BD player.

[kingdave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by -GONZO-

Your not seeing the bigger picture here,
All these streaming services are all businesses which all want one thing, customers.
The likes of Sky or LoveFilm will go to the studios and offer big money for exclusivity rights for certain content and then use them as an advertising campaign to try and get more customers. Netflix does the same now and then, but they try not to go overboard to keep the monthly sub as low as possible.
If every service had exactly the same content then it would be the consumer that would suffer in the end.

How would the consumer suffer if every service had the same content?!

As a consumer, I resent the fact that in order to access all the content I have to pay multiple companies an awful lot of money. If every service had the same access to the same library then I am free to choose the service that suits me best and they then compete on that service - be it price, navigation, presentation, devices accessible through etc.

And it is exactly the same with stuff like Premiership football. Instead of being able to choose the broadcaster of football I like the best, I have to pay £40 per month to Sky and £12 per month to BT to get all the content. If both of them had all then I could pick the service that suits me best instead of paying twice for everything.

[stud u like]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lumstorm

I find it unbelievable that people are against paying £3 a month.

Is it just me or lately are people seeming to think that they have some entitlement to services for free?

we are in a recession. Not everyone has the spare cash when food shortages and food prices are increasing.

[Philip Wales]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stud u like

we are in a recession. Not everyone has the spare cash when food shortages and food prices are increasing.

Well don't get it then, no ones forcing people to use the service, if you can't afford it go without.

[-GONZO-]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingdave

How would the consumer suffer if every service had the same content?!

Quite simply because the only way these companies would then be able to compete is with price so they all would be trying to undercut each other which yes will be good for the consumer in the short term, but not in the long term.
The likes of Sky that has got plenty of money from Sky subs to fall back on could very well undercut the other services to an extent where it forces the others out of the market in this country.
If that happens then there's only 1 service left which then leaves no competition.

[wakey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ags_rule

Total strawman argument, you are comparing entirely different services such as Sky, Lovefilm and Netflix having access to different content - which is perfectly normal - with the same service having reduced content depending on your geographical location.

It's the same thing with movies releasing at different times in the world, totally pointless and an absolute wet dream for piracy. Netflix content should not be restricted depending on where you access it.

For all intents and purposes Netflix US and UK are different services just as iTunes US and ITunes UK are. This isn't the services fault but due to the number of rights surrounding TV and Movies

For example a distributor in the US for a show may not be the distributor in the UK. A co-production may see one one companies due royalties in one territory but not in another. Actor residuals due may differ in different countries. Music royalties also may differ country by country. Without a worldwide agreement standardising royalties in all,territories to make world wide deals viable its not going to happen.

Even then the problem is companies already own the rights in certain territories that Netflix are after.


It would also raise prices. Rather than Netflix UK, Lovefilm or Sky paying for UK rights they would have to pay for Worldwide rights even though they don't operate in all countries. This will automatically be more expensive that just local rights.

And if a company gets worldwide rights but doesn't operate in a country then it will end up in the situation we have with Sky buying Terrestial rights to their shows which prevent BBC, ITV, c4 or Five showing second run preventing many from seeing the shows. So the whole of the UK may end up never seeing a show because Hulu won the rights and don't operate in the UK

[Parthenon]

As far as I know, there aren't any free services. You can punch the address of any DNS server into your PC/PS3/Xbox but the company will realise pretty quickly that you aren't paying for it and block you.

[-GONZO-]

Here's a video explaining why Netflix is different in each country.
http://youtu.be/LxnpqobGSzg

[ovbg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ags_rule

Total strawman argument, you are comparing entirely different services such as Sky, Lovefilm and Netflix having access to different content - which is perfectly normal - with the same service having reduced content depending on your geographical location.

It's the same thing with movies releasing at different times in the world, totally pointless and an absolute wet dream for piracy. Netflix content should not be restricted depending on where you access it.

No, -GONZO- was very much correct.

What you also have to keep in mind is that all these territory rights were created a long time ago, in the early days of film and television. Back in those days, countries were far less connected than they are today. Borders were serious barriers and companies sold their television shows and films to each individual countries.

Television was also broadcasted via terrestrial services which only had small border seepage.

The world is different today, but the entire industry is still very much designed to work like it did in the past.

Of course, if a content supplier can sell the same TV show to each country separately, and make a lot more money, they will continue to do so.

And really, the 3quid a month DNS services like Overplay or Unblock-US provide is really amazingly good value. It not only opens up most countries TV services, you can also switch libraries in Netflix as already stated. It also works really well and has customer support, and finally, you can set it up in devices like Smart TV's, or on Routers so all your internet devices can access global content.

Nothing in this world is free. If you don't pay cash for a product, trust me, you are paying in some other way, either in advertising, security, quality of service or something else.

If a product is free, then you, the consumer are the product (the company will still make money from you some how)

[MJH1962]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Philip Wales

Well don't get it then, no ones forcing people to use the service, if you can't afford it go without.

Entirely agree. I hate the "something for nothing culture". We all like to hunt out bargains and avoid paying more than necessary for things, but expecting everything for free is charachteristic of a parasite.

[icebergx]

As a Brit living abroad, the service provided by Overplay (in my case) is absolutely invaluable. Without it, I'd have no terrestrial TV at all, no access to Sky Go, no access to all the PL footy (380 odd games), not to mention the Netflix stuff... Best $5 per month I'll ever spend and it's completely hastle free (so far).
It's basically the cost of a beer in London, so I don't know how anyone can complain!