Member Avatar for brundlefly

Hi guys
looking for a lil bit of help ...
A friend of mine is living in Canada and wants to watch live rugby/hurling from Ireland(where i am)the online rte Iplayer wont let him view from outside Ireland.

i have no problems with him connecting through my broadband and as such we have tried some vpn's... which as i am sure you have guessed dont quite give the clearest of pictures (damn flicker !)

is it a case of setting up a private proxy for him ?...or is there some other kind of wonderful internets magic that i can throw at it ?


Thanks in advance for helping out a homesick puppy ;)

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by mjdodd

Dani AI

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Short, practical follow-up that builds on , and without repeating earlier suggestions.

Three realistic routes and the tradeoffs:

  • Hardware streamer (Slingbox or a tuner+stream server) sends the original video and usually gives the best picture/latency, but needs hardware and a good upstream connection at the Irish end.
  • A tunneled/proxy approach (private SOCKS/SSH or a VPN) gives an Irish IP without extra hardware. It was tried already and can flicker if the Irish upload or the tunnel path has limited bandwidth, jitter or packet loss.
  • Record-and-transfer (PVR + upload) avoids live problems but loses immediacy and may raise rights issues.

SSH-SOCKS example (low-cost, easy to test):

  • Host an SSH server on the Ireland machine, forward router port and/or use dynamic DNS.

  • From Canada create a dynamic SOCKS proxy and point the browser at localhost:1080. Example command:

    ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa -ND 1080 -p 22 username@irish-host.example

  • In the browser use SOCKS5 and enable “proxy DNS” so DNS queries resolve in Ireland. Secure the host (key-only SSH, nonstandard port, fail2ban).

If reliability is the goal, a small VPS located in Ireland running WireGuard/OpenVPN often beats a residential home VPN for stable upstream. Note broadcasters sometimes block datacenter IPs, so test before committing.

Troubleshooting notes:

  • Flicker usually means insufficient upload, high packet loss or high jitter. Aim for >=2 Mbps upload for decent SD, 4+ Mbps for HD, and low packet loss.
  • Test raw upload/ping from the Irish endpoint, try UDP-based tunnels (WireGuard) and reduce stream resolution if needed.
  • Legal caution: bypassing geographic restrictions may breach terms of service or copyright; choose compliant options.

This summary expands on the thread answers: ’s hardware suggestion is the simplest if cost is acceptable; ’s proxy idea is valid but public proxies are unreliable — a private SSH/VPN setup is more controllable.

Recommended Answers

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Member Avatar for zelkea

Slingbox is your answer it cost a couple bucks but it works great! Not sure what the behavior will be like from Ireland to Canada but I know it works great within the states from east coast to west.

If you end up using slingbox I would be interested to know how it works out for you. BTW you will need a broadband connection at both locations.

Member Avatar for brundlefly

we had discussed slingbox before but we figured that we were both too poor for any kind of paying malarky cos it would only be every other game he would want to watch.
i think at this stage i might have to record the stream and send it on to him....which would probably mean i would actually have to keep an eye on the games (sports ...yuk!!)

thanks tho.

Member Avatar for zelkea

I can't think of any other options for live streaming sorry. I will give it some more thoughts and if something strikes me I will post it.

Member Avatar for mjdodd

we have same problem France to UK etc. Some satellites may pick up the signal but that depends on position. The other solution that does work from friends in South Africa (and the only one they can use!) is to use a proxy server. (Google to get a choice) and that way you hide the home ISP address from the TV broadcaster and fool it into thinking it is a local address. The BBC intend to implement iplayer in usa sometime soon but it will be a pay service!
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