The Roku good TV platform is an accessible solution to watch your favourite streaming content material in a centralized location – both built-in to TVs, or by including reasonably priced dongles or set-top containers to older televisions. Nonetheless, a standard frustration for any good TV or streaming service person is that among the greatest reveals and flicks are inaccessible as a consequence of geo-restrictions.
Utilizing a VPN is a standard solution to deal with this situation, however in contrast to Fireplace TV, Apple TV and different rivals, Roku methods don’t have native VPN assist. However that’s not the tip of the story: You may nonetheless use a VPN to entry a wider vary of programming by way of a Roku — you simply want to make use of a workaround. We’ll present you the way.
The advantages of utilizing a VPN
In relation to streaming, a VPN has one important profit: altering your IP deal with. A VPN tunnels your connection by way of its servers to obfuscate your IP, making it appear to be you’re watching from elsewhere. Consequently, a service like Netflix will see your location as, say, the UK versus the US. You’ll then have entry to a distinct set of programming. For instance, the TV present Mates is obtainable on Max within the US, however it’s solely out there on Netflix within the UK.
VPNs have a number of different advantages associated to privateness and safety. VPN servers have military-grade AES 256-bit encryption, which means they’re safer than connecting to the Web usually. So, because you’re looking the Web by tunneling by way of the VPN, your Web service supplier can’t see your entire looking locations (and promote your viewing habits to knowledge brokers).
The best approach to make use of a VPN on Roku
Though Roku doesn’t natively assist VPNs, there are a couple of workarounds. You may, as an example, arrange a VPN on your house’s router. That lets you defend the entire community and each system that connects to it, holding everybody in your family nameless on-line. However it could possibly additionally trigger confusion while you need to entry native providers — and it requires a really high-level of technical information, and solely works with sure routers.
As a substitute, we advocate a far simpler methodology: connecting a VPN to your Roku by way of AirPlay or screencast. To do that, subscribe to a VPN and set up it in your smartphone or laptop computer. Then, stream content material on that system and AirPlay or screencast it to your Roku TV. The icon to do that ought to appear to be a TV with Wi-Fi rays.
We want this methodology as a result of it’s less complicated general. You may entry any geo-blocked content material in your smartphone or laptop computer first after which solid it in your good TV.
You may make positive your Roku mannequin is AirPlay-compatible by checking this useful resource on Roku’s web site. If it isn’t, you may at all times simply instantly patch your telephone or laptop computer to the TV utilizing an HDMI cable or an acceptable dongle.
