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Anonymous User
Not applicable

Connecting to my own Nowtv hub2 from abroad

I feel like this will have been asked lots, but I'm not searching with the right language to find previous posts so with apologies for a dupe if asked/answered before ...

I'm wondering if it's possible to use Windows built in VPN to connect to the NowTV Hub2 while I'm abroad so that I can then browse as though I'm in the UK, and to access files on a NAS drive? 

I'm happy using a a service like NOIP to give me a hostname. I've tried ExpressVPN and the like for TV watching (patchy results!), but I'm just wondering if it's possible to use my existing connection instead?

Thanks! jd   

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
RoyB
Legend

@Anonymous User 

Your Now Hub is a client device, so you would have to set up a server and port forward to it through the Hub. That would let you use your NAS device to read the files on it.

But nothing would let you appear to Now to be a Now user coming in from your local network, thereby circumventing geo-location rules.

There used to be a device you could get called a Slingbox to do place-shifting (as it’s called), and I had one hooked up to a YouView box. The tech was pretty good for its day. You could hook up about four devices to it if you wanted (though I only used one), Video, Left Audio, Right Audio, all analogue RCA plugs, and it had a little spider of IR senders where you could position each one over the magic eye of a device.

You talked to it on a device with the Slingbox Player app loaded - I used an iPad in Spain - and when you logged on to your Slingbox account, it hooked you up, via Slingbox’s servers, to your Slingbox at home. You chose the device you wanted to watch, and it put the device remote up on the screen, and as you pressed buttons on that, the spiders sent the IR codes to the devices, so you could control them. And then the video/audio stream you started would be sent by the Slingbox to the Slingbox servers, and then relayed to your Player device.

Which, in our case was the iPad, and that in turn sent the AV to an Apple TV box, and onward to our Spanish TV.

A bit of lag, responding to keypresses from 2,000 miles away, but once you had it set up, it was fine.

HDMI killed it 😢

Slingbox did try to embrace HDMI, but couldn’t legally relay that anywhere. So it was pretty much stuck at SCART quality. I did have an HDMI to component video adapter in my chain, so I could send analogue HD at 1080p to Spain, but it was all a tottering edifice.

Once Slingbox the company had decided to discontinue the Slingbox servers, which the whole thing crucially depended on, the Slingbox and its Player worked no more 😢

But the setup would have done what you wanted, if it still existed, and if it could emulate, or be taught to emulate, a Now remote.

But that’s what an enterprise like yours is up against 😢

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.

View solution in original post

7 REPLIES 7
Jayach
Elite 3

The Now router doesn't have a VPN server (or client) so no.

You could run a VPN on a server on your network, and achieve what you want, but that requires a good deal of networking knowledge.

RoyB
Legend

@Anonymous User 

Your Now Hub is a client device, so you would have to set up a server and port forward to it through the Hub. That would let you use your NAS device to read the files on it.

But nothing would let you appear to Now to be a Now user coming in from your local network, thereby circumventing geo-location rules.

There used to be a device you could get called a Slingbox to do place-shifting (as it’s called), and I had one hooked up to a YouView box. The tech was pretty good for its day. You could hook up about four devices to it if you wanted (though I only used one), Video, Left Audio, Right Audio, all analogue RCA plugs, and it had a little spider of IR senders where you could position each one over the magic eye of a device.

You talked to it on a device with the Slingbox Player app loaded - I used an iPad in Spain - and when you logged on to your Slingbox account, it hooked you up, via Slingbox’s servers, to your Slingbox at home. You chose the device you wanted to watch, and it put the device remote up on the screen, and as you pressed buttons on that, the spiders sent the IR codes to the devices, so you could control them. And then the video/audio stream you started would be sent by the Slingbox to the Slingbox servers, and then relayed to your Player device.

Which, in our case was the iPad, and that in turn sent the AV to an Apple TV box, and onward to our Spanish TV.

A bit of lag, responding to keypresses from 2,000 miles away, but once you had it set up, it was fine.

HDMI killed it 😢

Slingbox did try to embrace HDMI, but couldn’t legally relay that anywhere. So it was pretty much stuck at SCART quality. I did have an HDMI to component video adapter in my chain, so I could send analogue HD at 1080p to Spain, but it was all a tottering edifice.

Once Slingbox the company had decided to discontinue the Slingbox servers, which the whole thing crucially depended on, the Slingbox and its Player worked no more 😢

But the setup would have done what you wanted, if it still existed, and if it could emulate, or be taught to emulate, a Now remote.

But that’s what an enterprise like yours is up against 😢

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
Jayach
Elite 3

@RoyB wrote:

But nothing would let you appear to Now to be a Now user coming in from your local network, thereby circumventing geo-location rules.

Actually, if you run your own VPN server, that is exactly what it would do.

RoyB
Legend

Thanks @Jayach 

But exactly? Wouldn’t Now detect that there was a VPN in use, and refuse to serve me, same as if I used anybody’s commercial VPN service?

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
Jayach
Elite 3

No, they could tell a VPN is in use, but they would still see the streaming request coming from your Now I.P. address (or another UK ISP address). If you use a commercial VPN service, the request will come from their I.P. address. It's basically because, by running your own server, you are VPNing in not out.

Although I have to say I haven't tried it.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

That's kinda how I was thinking it might work, but i guess in my heart of hearts I was hoping the NowTV router would also offer to act as a VPN server - too much to hope for but I wonder if any other commercial routers do this and could be swapped ... one for some research of my own & I'll post if I come across anything.

I think for now I'm going to dust off an old Rasp Pi that I've never really used for anything useful and I'll let you all know if I get anywhere with it. 

Thanks for helping, I've really valued the input.

Cheers, jd

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Thanks for your detailed answer, much appreciated. And apologies for my late thanks, first question here & I've now sorted my spam filter so I'll get nudged on the thread 🙂