Knowledgebase

Internet based TV with a Multimax connection

Posted by Iliyan T on 30 July 2013 03:30 PM

How to watch TV and particularly UK based TV using your Multimax internet connection can be confusing because there are so many options. The following guide hopes to lay out what the options are, how they differ and the pros and cons of each.

First I will outline the different 'types' of internet based TV.

There are two 'types' of internet based TV content. These are

1. Live streams - Live streams are when you watch what is being shown on a given UK channel like BBC1, as it is being broadcast in the UK at that time.

2. Catchup TV - Catchup TV is when you want to watch something that has already been show recently on a UK TV channel like BBC1 but that is not being broadcast on that channel at that time. So for example if you want to watch Monday's Eastenders on the following Wednesday of that week. There are two 'types' of catchup TV. There is 'streaming catchup TV' and there is 'downloading catchup TV'.

i) Streaming Catchup TV. With Streaming Catchup TV you find the program you want to watch and shortly after clicking on it , it starts playing. The advantage of streaming catchup TV is that you can start watching near instantly. The disadvantage of it is that if there is any interruption to the internet connection then the program may break up or pause, as with streaming the video data is being sent and displayed at the same time. Interruption to the sending result in interruptions to the displaying of the video.

ii) Downloading Catchup TV. With downloading Catchup TV you first transfer the entire program to your local machine before you can start watching it. How long it takes to download will depend on the video quality , where it is being downloaded from and how fast your internet connection is. The disadvantage of downloading then is that it is not 'near instant'. The advantage is that because the entire content to sent to your machine before you start watching it, once this is complete and you do start watching it any interruptions in the network connection will not affect the playing of the program as it is already on your machine in its entirety.

Having outlined the different types of internet based TV I will below go through the different 'sources' you can use with a Multimax connection for each of the types.

LIVE STREAMS

1- Multimax website

By far the best 'source' for live streams for Multimax internet users is the live streams we provide on our website , which can be found here mmcyp.com/index.php?option=com_content&a...emid=958&lang=en

Currently you can get
BBC1 and ITV1

You do not need to use a VPN to access these channels and because they are coming from our own servers within Cyprus they should be more reliable than content that comes from outside our network.

2 - Filmon (UPDATE - currently filmon seem to be changing their policy on viewing without a subscription so it may no longer work as described below)

Flimon is a third party website that shows free to air TV channels from around the world. The service is free for standard quality streams and a pay service if you want the higher quality feeds. Filmon is currently in legal disputes with TV companies in both the USA and the UK who are tyring to stop them being able to offer this service. Flimon can be access from www.filmon.com

Currently the following UK TV channels on filmon are

BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, E4, MORE4, DAVE, PICK TV, REALLY

You do not need to use a VPN to access these channels on filmon.

3 - Direct from the TV companies' websites

You can also access live feeds for some channels from the relevant website for that company. For these you will need to use the multimax manual VPN.

So for example from www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/watchlive/ and using our VPN you can watch

BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC4, CBBC, CBeebies, BBC News, BBC Parliament

From the ITV site www.itv.com/itv1/ and using our VPN you can watch

ITV1, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4

From Sky Go site go.sky.com/vod/page/default/home.do and using our VPN and with a Sky Go account you can watch various Sky channels live. What channels you can get depends on what sky package you have with the sky go account. Not all sky content is available via the sky go online service. For details of what is currently not available on sky go live feeds see www.sky.com/mysky/mytv/skygo/blackout-messaging/index.html

4 - Other sources

There are any number of other websites that offer live feeds of various UK and worldwide TV channels. These tend to not need any VPN to work but they also tend to be less reliable than the above sources and tend to appear and disappear without notice.

Catchup TV

The primary source for catchup TV services is from the TV channels websites. For UK TV these would include

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/ for BBC content
www.itv.com/itvplayer/ for ITV content
www.channel4.com/programmes/4od for channel 4 content

BBC iPlayer

Currently multimax customers do not need to use the manual VPN service to access content on the BBC iPlayer site. BBC iPlayer allows both streaming and download of most content shown on the BBC in the previous seven days.

Streaming. To stream catchup content from BBC iPlayer simply go to www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/ find the content you want and press the play icon that looks like this. The program should start playing near instantly.

Downloading. To download content from BBC iPlayer go to www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/ and find the content you want. Below the main area of the screen showing a picture from the program there is an option "Download options" as highlighted in the image below.

When you click on "Download options" you are presented with a choice of different ways to download the content.

"For iPlayer Desktop". This option uses a BBC application called "iPlayer Desktop" to both download the content and to manage that content. The first time you use this option you will be taken to a screen that will install the "iPlayer Desktop" application on your machine, which should not be confused with "iPlayer" the website. The advantages of using iPlayer desktop to download content are that it manages downloaded content, allowing you to use features like 'series record' which will automatically download new episodes in a series as they become available, allows you to set time periods in which iPlayer will download and it will also automatically delete downloaded files once the time restriction on them has expired.

"For Windows Media Player". This option will just download a file of the content in windows media player format, allowing you to control where you save the file and also allowing the use of a download accelerator program to speed up the download. Whilst files downloaded in this format still have an expiry time after which they will no longer play, they will not automatically be deleted when this date is reached.

Not all content available from BBC iPlayer for streaming is also available for download. Some content that is available for download is available only in the 'For iPlayer Desktop' format and not others. Whichever format content is available for download it will have Digital Rights Management protection on it that will limit for how long the content can be watched and the type of devices it can be watched on. The time limits on downloaded content will typically give you 30 days before the content is no longer viewable. However when you start to watch this content the time limit will then reduce to 7 days, so that if you do not watch it all at that time you have 7 days to finish watching it. The limits on what devices the content will play mean that you can not download for example the "For Windows Media Player" version and copy this to a memory stick and then play that on 'Smart TV' unless the Smart TV supports Windows Media DRM, which most do not.

If you are having problems with iPlayer and / or iPlayer Desktop it is always worth checking the BBC's iPlayer help page here iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/ to see if it is a problem that the BBC is already aware off.

ITV Player

ITV Player www.itv.com/itvplayer/ only offers streaming catchup and not downloading of catchup programs. In order to use ITV Player you will need to first connect to the Multimax manual VPN. Once connected to the VPN simply go to the link above and select the program you wish to watch.

Channel 4oD

Channel4oD www.channel4.com/programmes/4od only offers streaming catchup and not downloading of catchup programs. In order to use 4oD you will need to first connect to the Multimax manual VPN. Once connected to the VPN simply go to the link above and select the program you wish to watch.

Other options

Torrent files

Many UK TV programs are available for download as torrent files. It is beyond the scope of this guide to go into details of what torrent files are and the pros and cons of them vs say using BBC iPlayer.

Get iPlayer

Get iPlayer is an open source project by a few individuals that seeks to provide an alternative means of downloading BBC iPlayer content to the BBC's iplayer site. The principal benefit of get iPlayer is that content downloaded via this means does not have any DRM (digital rights managment) on it which means that programs downloaded this way will not 'expire' after a period of time and they can easily be transferred to other devices via USB memory stick to other devices like smart TV's. However Get iPlayer is not a BBC endorsed system and it is created and maintained by a small set of unpaid enthusiasts. As such it may at any time stop working, but currently it does work. Also it is quite 'technical' in terms of getting it installed and working. Details about Get iPlayer can be found here www.infradead.org/get_iplayer/html/get_iplayer.html

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