BBC iPlayer Abroad Software Setup
| TOP TIPS! Once you are actually watching your program, ie you have gone past the little advert that goes before the show, try turning off the proxy service and just using your normal internet connection. Also try disabling the encryption option, this can result in a dramatic increase in bandwidth available from the UK servers. |
Firstly make sure you have read about the software you will need in our ‘How To Watch Free TV Abroad‘ guide (if not I suggest you read it now as you are going to need some software called Identity Cloaker).
The most common question I get about watching TV abroad is ‘how can I watch BBC iplayer outside the UK?‘. More people are interested in watching UK TV abroad than US TV, which is why I have tried to give as much information on this topic as possible.
Currently the BBC offer a total of 10 TV channels through their iPlayer system, and most programs can be viewed either live or up to 7 days after their original broadcast. It is also possible to download your programs, you then have 30 days to watch, although once you start watching any one show you have only 7 days to complete it.
If you want to watch BBC iPlayer abroad you will need to setup Identity Cloaker to give you a UK IP address. This is really easy with Identity Cloaker as you simply select the UK from the drop-down list of locations and click connect, that’s it!
Really, you have now configured the software!
OK so this is probably the shortest guide ever, but its that simple! If you are having any problems please check out the help section, or you can see a video BBC iPlayer in Australia here.
So now instead of:
You will see:
If you don’t want to watch iPlayer as a streaming video you can download the programs, you will need to setup Identity Cloaker a little differently.
To download videos you need to use the VPN function, this is easily activated by clicking on the ‘Launch Open VPN’ button in the top right of Identity Cloaker:
Follow the prompts and a small ‘computer icon’ will appear down where the clock is, right click on this and select UK, you can now download from BBC iPlayer while abroad.
This is easier to follow by watching the following video:
(NOTE: some browsers seem unable to display this video, if you are having this problem then you can also view the BBC iPlayer Abroad setup video here)
Note for Vista 64bit & Windows 7 64bit: Those of you running 64bit versions of Windows will find the auto installation of OpenVPN drivers does not work. Don’t worry as there is a very simple solution, I myself use Vista 64 so I know this solution works.
OpenVPN workaround for 64-bit Windows Vista & Windows 7
- Download full/standard OpenVPN installer from http://openvpn.net/release/openvpn-2.1_rc19-install.exe
- You can keep the install settings at default or choose to install the OpenVPN driver only. To make it simple, just leave everything in the installation as it is preselected.
This will install the OpenVPN driver properly even on 64-bit OS. Now when you start OpenVPN Portable through the Identity Cloaker client application, you will no longer be prompted if you want to install the driver as it is installed already.
When you close OpenVPN Portable, you will be prompted if you want to have the driver uninstalled, just choose “No” (if you pick “Yes” by mistake it will not cause any problems).
