Beat streamingrestrictions
COVER
FEATURE4-17April 2018 45
your streamingexperience. Youcan
getaheadof thecrowd and trythese
improvements before everyone else
by signing up forthe iPlayerbeta
programme,whichisavailable on
Android (bit.ly/betadroid446)and
iOS(bit.ly/betaios446), and forsmart
TVsand gamesconsoles(bit.ly/
betaconnect446).
Notable features introducedthrough
theiPlayer beta include offlineviewing
on mobiledevices,programme
recommendations and theLiveRestart
option forrewindinglivebroadcasts,
whilethe currentiOS beta fixes
problems withfailing downloadsand
glitches that caused theapp to crash.StopiPlayer autoplayingshows
TheiPlayer automaticallystreamsthe
next episode of aseriesonceyou reach
theend of thecurrent one. More
annoyingiswhen it autoplaysaprogrammeit thinks you’ll like,based
on itsrecommendationsystem.
Although youhave 15 secondstostop
this happening when theepisode’send
creditsroll, youmay prefertodisable
autoplay altogether.In theiPlayer mobileorsmart TV app,
open themainmenu,choose Settings
and deselect theAutoPlayoption.
On theiPlayer website, click the‘Turn
Autoplay off’ link below thebottom-
right corner of thevideo player.As well as speedingupand slowing
down playback of TV showsand films,
youcan change thevideo bitrateto
improve picturequality; adjust the
brightness,saturation,and contrast to
suit your visual needs; blur thumbnail
images and episode descriptions to
concealspoilerswhen browsing Netflix;
andcontrol thevolumeusing your
mouse wheel.
Super Netflixevenletsyou skip
programmeintros automatically, to save
youfromrepeatedlysitting through
theopening credits.Searchtheglobal Netflixlibrary
Netflixisnow available in everycountry
in theworld except China, NorthKorea,
Crimea and Syria, and theselection of
TV showsand filmsoffered by different
‘territories’ varies considerably.You candiscoverwhich regionshave specific
titles available by usingthe unofficial
NetflixonlineGlobal Search Tool
(uNoGs forshort,unogs.com). This lets
yousearchfor amovie,series, actoror
director, or browse by genre, to view
matching contentfrom21Netflix
services around theworld,includingAustralia, France, Japan, the
Netherlandsand theUS. Clickaresult
formoreinformation and,ifyou can
stream it in theUK, choose WatchNow
to open it on Netflix. If not, uNoGs
suggestspaid-forVPNs, includingWeb
UserfavouriteNordVPN, that may
unlockthe contentfor usersinthe UK.
It’s worthcheckingthisusefultoolif
you’re abouttogoonholiday and want
to know what to expectfromthe ‘local’
versionofNetflix.Youraccountwill
adjust automaticallytoshowyour
currentcountry’schoice.Save downloadsto your SDcard
OneofNetflix’s best features is the
ability to download TV showsand films
to watchoffline viaits Android,iOS
or Windows 10 apps.The main
disadvantagetodownloading ratherFind outwhich filmsand TV showsare on
Netflixin21different countriesTurn offautoplay to preventiPlayer from
streaming thenextepisode
Keepdownloadsfor
more than 30 days
Regularreaderswill
no doubt seethe title
of this tipand think
“I betthey’re goingto
recommend Get_iPlayer
(bit.ly/getiplayer446)
again”.Well, yesweare,
because there’snever
been another tool like
it fordownloading
BBCshows to keep for
as long as youwant. It’s
certainlybetterthanthe
Beeb’s owniPlayer Downloadsapp,which notonlylimitsyouroffline viewing
to 30 days,but is slow and clunky to use. Get_iPlayer’ssurvival is remarkable
in itself,considering thenumber of developers it’s passedbetween,but it still
worksperfectly as an unofficialPVR forrecording iPlayercontent,and is
frequently updatedtobeatthe latest restrictions.
Some people areput offGet_iPlayer by itsconfusing,command-lineinterface.
Forafriendlierview, launch theWeb PVRManager from theStart menu(orfrom
theSetupWizard),then either search foraprogrammeto download or paste
itsweb addressfromthe iPlayerwebsite.Click Record and theshowwill be
savedinDRM-freeMP4 format that youcan watchinany media player.
You’ll find full instructionsfor usingGet_iPlayer atbit.ly/getinstruct446.
We’d recommend downloadingthe latest EXEversion of theprogram directly
frombit.ly/getdirect446.Notethatitnolongerworks in Windows XP or Vista.Get_iPlayer’sweb versionmakes it easier
to download BBCshows