Setting country?

[yankeeharp]

I am currently in the UK and would like to watch a video of the Jon Stewart show, but it says the video is not available in this location. I seem to remember back in the distant past there was a way to set your computer to a different location for some reason -- I can't remember for what purpose. Can anyone tell me if it is still possible to set your computer to say you are in a different country? Thanks. http://www.tapcis.com/forums/image.php?type=sigpic&userid=143&dateline=1301175006

[davidh]

I am currently in the UK and would like to watch a video of the Jon Stewart show, but it says the video is not available in this location. I seem to remember back in the distant past there was a way to set your computer to a different location for some reason -- I can't remember for what purpose. Can anyone tell me if it is still possible to set your computer to say you are in a different country? Thanks. http://www.tapcis.com/forums/image.php?type=sigpic&userid=143&dateline=1301175006 I do not really know for sure what the problem is with viewing the Jon Stewart show.

But I DO know that if you want to view DVD's played on the DVD disk drive in your computer that you many have to choose an option for what area of the world the DVD was intended to be played in. In Windows XP and probably in Windows other later version and possibly in other computer operating systems the software might give you only a limited small number of times (instances, tries) in which you are allowed to make this choice. So one has to choose carefully.

As I said I have no idea if this phenomenon has something to do with being able to watch the Jon Stewart show. I suspect NOT. Many web shows are broadcast using Adobe (formerly Macromedia) Flash. Which has little if anything to do with DVD disk formats.

FWIW I reinstalled Real Player to my XP PC so that I can more easily download/steal Flash videos. and also FWIW, Real Player also let me rip some audio tracks from an el cheapo Christmas carol CD I bought at Family Dollar super cheap after Christmas. So my wild guess is that Real Player is more lax about legal and technical nit-picking than Windows Media Player as far as ripping goes.

[sidney]

Can anyone tell me if it is still possible to set your computer to say you are in a different country?

Streaming media sites like that check your ip address to see what country you are in, not the browser or computer settings.

The only way to fool a site like that is to use a VPN that is located in the country that they are looking for, or to use a web proxy in that country. A VPN is more likely to work for this purpose than a web proxy.

The problem is getting access to a VPN or web proxy without paying for it. If you are willing to pay, then there are such services available. I don't know of any free VPN services and would not expect there to be any. Free proxy services are not likely to be able to handle media streaming. For example, see this FAQ about that at one of the best free anonymizing proxy services: Does Proxify support streaming media/video/audio services? (http://proxify.com/faq-f.shtml#f14)

[yankeeharp]

I do not really know for sure what the problem is with viewing the Jon Stewart show.

It's probably money. The Daily Show used to be shown on British television, and you could view it online. When they stopped showing it on TV, it no longer became available online. Jon probably wants the limeys to keep badgering Channel 4 to pay to get the Daily Show back, and doesn't want them to have their appetite satisfied by being able to view it on youtube.

[yankeeharp]

Streaming media sites like that check your ip address to see what country you are in, not the browser or computer settings.

Ah, well. No Jon Stewart then, alas. Thanks anyway.

[earler]

There are several quite legal programs to dezone a dvd player on your computer. Anydvd is perhaps the best known. I recommend it highly.

All that has nothing to do with streaming tv from another country. Often they are blocked, this for a couple of reasons, but mainly because the rights to such programs have been sold to tv channels or stations in other countries. The ip address from your computer identifies your country location. It is possible to circumvent such blocking with a vpn or a proxy.