So you'd like to get the most out of your media downloads while staying safe from prying eyes. Here's some of Nathan Taylor's favourite tricks for doing just that
USE A VPN TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS
A VPN service is useful for more than just passing geo-blocks. If you're worried about your online activities being tracked, a VPN will keep ycu anonymous when you're downloading.
CHANGE YOUR NETFLIX LOCATION FOR MORE STUFF
Compared to the US, the content on Netflix Australia is a little anaemic. The thing is, one Netflix account is good for all regions, and you can get more content just by switching locations.
There are a number of ways to change your Netflix location. One is to use a VPN service, but perhaps an easier and cheaper way is to use a smart DNS service like Getflix (getflix.com.au), Unblock US (www.unblock-us.com) or UnoTelly (unotelly.com). They're much easier to set up on non-PC devices than VPNs (all you need to do is change the DNS number).
IT'S MORE THAN JUST THE US
Whether you use a smart DNS service or a VPN to bypass geo-blockers, remember it's not just about the US. Try different countries to see what options are available in each location. For example, Netflix might have a content deal for a show in the UK, Canada, Mexico or Denmark that it doesn't have in the US because some other provider in the US has it. Jump around and see what you get.
You can even go backwards — full season AFL streaming (watchafl.afl.com.au), for example, is not available normally to Australian viewers because of a deal with Foxtel — but you can set your location elsewhere and subscribe.
IT'S TRIVIALLY EASY TO BYPASS SITE BLOCKS
The Australian government recently required ISPs to start blocking certain sites, and you can be sure that popular BitTorrent sites will be among the first blocked. These site blocks will be very easy to bypass, however.
If the ISP uses DNS-based blocking, you can simply configure your PC to use a third-party DNS server like OpenDNS (opendns.com) or Google Public DNS (set your DNS to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4).
If the ISP implements IP address blocking you can:
■ Use a VPN service.
■ Use a free web proxy like Hide Me (hide.me/en/ргоху), webproxy (www.webproxy.net) or webproxy USA (webproxy.to). There are even browser addons, like Hide My Ass! Web Proxy, that allows you to proxy a site just by clicking a browser button.
■ Use a browser VPN like Hola! (hola.org) which can route all your browsing through a VPN.
SCREENCASTING IS BUILT INTO MORE STUFF THAN YOU THINK
The ability to beam your mobile's screen to a TV set is pretty awesome, and a great way to view downloaded or streamed content without hassle. What you may not know is that you can also cast your PC's screen to the TV. Miracast is built into Windows 8.1 — just go to Devices and add a new wireless display.
You may not even need a dedicated Miracast adapter, either (though the Netgear PTV3000 and Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter are pretty cheap). Miracast can be found in a lot of network media players, including those that support Android (through third party apps like MirrorOp Receiver) and the WD TV.
CHROMECAST ANY VIDEO
Another type of screencasting, Google Chromecast, lets you stream the contents of a browser tab to your TV set. That's great for things like YouTube, but you can also use it to stream local content. In Chrome, press 'Ctrl-0' and choose a local video file, which will then play in the browser tab. It works for MP4 video, but not AVI. If the format is not supported, you can grab the Videocast add-on for Chrome instead. Even better, VLC 3.0 (www.videolan.org) is slated to support Chromecast natively.
ALLCAST IS ANOTHER GREAT WAY] TO STREAM FROM YOUR MOBILE
Allcast (www.allcast.io) for Android and iOS is another handy way to beam content from your mobile. It can stream to a DLNA player, Apple TV or Chromecast.
LIMIT BITTORRENT BANDWIDTH USAGE BY SETTING A SEEDING TARGET
Since most ISPs count uploads as part of your quota, it's a good idea for most Australian and New Zealand users to limit their uploads. Leaving a finished Torrent seeding can be a big blow to your bandwidth. In uTorrent, go to 'Preferences > Queuing' and set a seeding goal of, say, 50% and check the box to limit upload rate (leaving the field at 0).
GO BACK TO AN OLD VERSION OF TORRENT TO AVOID ADS
Ever since it was bought out by BitTorrent inc., uTorrent has been loaded with more and more ads and unwanted add-ons. If that's driving you up the wall, you can always go back to an old version of pTorrent. The BitTorrent protocol hasn't changed, and your downloads will be just as fast. 2.2.1 is the last "clean" version, and can be found at www.filehorse.com. Or you could just pay for uTorrent Pro. It's not that expensive.
HAVE YOUR DOWNLOADS READY WHEN YOU GET HOME
There has been some good stuff introduced into pTorrent since version 3.0. The best is probably pTorrent Remote, a service and mobile app that lets you control pTorrent from a mobile. Go to 'Preferences > Remote' and enable it. Set up some RSS feeds in pTorrent from your favourite BitTorrent sites (right click on Feed and paste in a BitTorrent RSS feed URL). Then install the mobile app.
USENET LIVES ON
Another way to get anonymous downloads is to use a Premium Usenet Service and an NZB downloader like SABnzbd+. It's similar to (though a little more complex) than downloading with BitTorrent. Usenet remains unlogged by most premium providers (so there’s no record of your downloads), and there are no uploads to suck up your quota.
AUTOMATE YOUR TV AND MOVIE DOWNLOADS
If you do use Usenet, there are several apps that will automatically download TV series and selected movies for you. Check out Sick Beard for TV (sickbeard.com) and Couch Potato for movies (couchpota.to).
EXPLORE HIDDEN KODI/XBMC ADD-ONS
Some of the very best add-ons for Kodi (formerly known as XBMC) can only be found if you install unofficial add-on repositories. Check out SuperRepo (superrepo.org) or the Kodi Wiki (kodi.wiki/view/Unofficial_add-on_repositories) for some of these unofficial add-ons. In particular, try out Navi-X, Icefilms, IChannel and Genesis to see how you can turn your Kodi install into a content delivery platform.
YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN POWERFUL NETWORK MEDIA PLAYER FOR CHEAP NOW
For £60, you can get a Raspberry Pi 2, an SDCard and case. That's enough to make your own media centre PC. Check out online stores like www.raspberryworx.com.au. or www.buyraspberrypi.com.au, which will even sell the Pi with software preinstalled. We currently like OSMC (osmc.tv) for the OS, which is a custom build of Linux with Kodi installed.
GRAB YOUTUBE VIDEOS, GROOVESHARK SONGS AND MORE WITH FREERAPID
FreeRapid (wordrider.net/freerapid/) is a download manager that lets you grab embedded media from a host of media sharing sites. Just paste the content web site address into it and it will grab the video, song or other content and save it to your PC.