For many years, a proxy or VPN service has been the essential tool for travellers, ex-pats and basically anyone who liked to watch TV and movies online. The reason is that the world’s most popular media sites operate a policy of blocking access to anyone outside their country of origin. That is to say all the UK TV stations including the BBC are only accessible from the UK, sites like Hulu and HBO only work in the USA and so on.
In fact any site which allows legal streaming of TV and video is very likely to operate the same restrictions which are known as Geo-Blocking. Basically all the sites look up your IP address and determine what country you are based in when you connect to the site, then either allow access or block depending on your location. A VPN or proxy service allowed you to hide your real IP address and provide an alternative one instead.
This system has worked well for years however there are some limitations when you try and watch from a device other than a computer. This is because the VPN for instance usually needs some client component to run properly which is not easy to do on a Smart TV or phone. Enter the new technology called Smart DNS
The main advantage of Smart DNS is that it doesn’t require any client component merely a modification to the network settings. In fact almost all devices will let you specify the location of the DNS server which is all that is needed to make Smart DNS work. This means you can enable your tablet, Smart TV, router or any other media streaming device quickly and easily. There are other advantages, unlike a VPN Smart DNS doesn’t route all your traffic through a separate server meaning that there is virtually no impact on the speed of your connection.
It all seems so simple and generally because of the lower bandwidth requirements Smart DNS is usually much cheaper than a full VPN solution. It’s early days though, there are signs that the media companies are fighting back against Smart DNS by using blocks and hard coded DNS settings. Netflix has implemented a DNS server requirement in some of its interface installation which means that a SMart DNS server simply won’t work.