Cherie Hurwitz

Please let us see the screenshots.

don’t understand step 6 – can you you explain further…. thanks, sorry for my incompetence

@sakigrant: no worries. When you set up Foxy Proxy, it should recognize you have Tor installed and ask you to set it up so they interact. It’ll ask what patterns you want to create, and you should create one for BBC and one for Tor Check as above.

It worked! Thank you so much, although the step six also got me, didn’t realise I have to creat two patterns rather than creat one with both of them in it.

I cant get it to give me a valid ip address.
Ive done step 3 correctly and aded active names with a comma inbetween but when i click the link in step 7 it says my IP is not identified.
What am i doing wrong?
ive followed it step by step

@Rainy: glad to hear it! I’ve updated to post to hopefully make it a little clearer.

@rob: send me your torcc file, as well as a screengrab of your Tor proxy settings in Foxy Proxy (both Proxy Details and URL Patterns tabs). Make sure I can see the full URL pattern field in the screengrab (feedback at hurwi dot net) I’ll see if I can help.

Many thanks, I managed to download a file but then the download manager verfied the file and deleted it saying it was not licensed for outside UK. any ideas ?

some of the streams are slow and there is an option to download. is this not possible using the above mentioned method ?
thanks.

@robh: since streaming plays the video through Firefox (tor and foxyproxy are set up to route FF through a proxy) and downloading it does not, I’m guessing you’ll need a different program to play the download. Not sure how. Usually, if streams are slow, I just play them and pause at the beginning and allow buffering for a few minutes. That often helps – but not always.

Thanks for a great post. Have followed it step by step and am now able to get the BBC website to believe I am based in the UK.
However – am unable to view any flash based videos using a proxy server. Have tested this by viewing youtube normally – then moving the Youtube URL to behind the proxy – and it then doesn’t recognise that I have Flash installed. have the versions of flash and firefox that you provide links too. many thanks.

Cherie:

Thanks for these instructions. They work and are relatively easy for follow. However, I am curious about the details. Is there a dummies guide that can explain how this all works? Also, I’m using it on an extra PC which I don’t use for much else as I’m concerned about the security of the whole thing. Is it secure? Does it make me vulnerable in any way to viruses, or someone getting my personal information? Thanks, and more thanks,

Kevin

Cherie: I looked around myself for information and your conclusions make sense. Thanks.

Thank you for the guide .. We just watched an episode of Eastenders in California. However I can’t watch any other shows at the moment.

I’m a Tor novice but I imagine that the nicknames found in step 2 are dynamically available. This is at odds with the static list in the torcc file. It’s also hard to tell which node is the best one to pick (i.e. gets you the streams fastest.)

It would be nice if somehow Vidalia could keep the exit nodes list up to date and you were always guaranteed to get the best node every time you connect to the BBC page.

Nice post, but every time I click http://torcheck.xenobite.eu/index.php it says that it’s not a UK server any ideas?

Hi I like your post “watch BBC iPlayer shows outside the UK | Cherie’s blog” so well that I like to ask you whether I should translate and linking back. Please give me an answer. Your Gold

Here is a link to some additional configuration for Torbutton that may help with the flash problem.

http://www.futuramaff.com/showthread.php?p=271224

I have an answer to the Flash problem. I posted it here but it was not published. e_Mail me and I’ll send you the link

My pleasure, just need to start working on Channel 4 now because that is proving more tricky to work around.

Does anybody know if theres a way to use the UK exitnodes for BBC player and US exitnodes for Hulu ?

Bien playing around with this, love how the it automaticly pushes Hulu streams trough US based exitnodes, but i would love to have it using UK exitnodes to suck in the BBC iPlayer streams aswell. (automaticly selected by url)

Cherie,

Never read such clear explanation. It worked for me from the first time I completed the last step. It works a bit slowly to open the needed episode, but I can watch it without any delays. Thank you very much!!! I love BBC so it was very useful for me.

To run flash go to Tor settings within the firefox plugin and under the security settings tab (dynamic settings tab) uncheck disable plugins

Also in order to download episodes you must download the bbc download manager
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/BBC-iPlayer_Setup.exe

Once installed you can now download episodes through firefox using tor/fireproxy setup. But in order for the video to play the software will try to download a license for WMP

It will deny you so you must temporarily change the proxy settings within windows so you can get the license

Open IE, Click Tools and then Internet Options. Go into the “Connections� tab.

At the bottom click the “LAN Settings� button. At the bottom of the new window it says “Proxy Server�. Check“Use a proxy server for LAN� box.

Below that set the address to “127.0.0.1″ and the port to “8118″. Untick the “Bypass proxy server for local connections�

Once you download the license you can undo these proxy settings within IE

also this above method reduces the load on the tor network since the download manager uses peer to peer technology not http or ftp

I had already foxyproxy installed how do I get it to interact with tor… I completed all the steps but am confused about the last and cannot get it to work.

Thank you bisquick. I was able to download episode. It’s much better to watch now because tor net works to slowly. It takes me several minutes to start play episode in Flash player:(

Dear Cherie,

First of all, thanks for your post it is quite clear but I got a problem. I already installed the foxy proxy before the Tor, so when I add the patterns in tor, should I do something else? Thanks in advance.

Hi Folks – Thanks to Cherie for over a month I have been successfully using iPlayer until the last couple of days. I cannot get a connection through tor. Despite listing all the latest UK exit nodes the message board comes with a message that ” no specified exit routes seem to be running. Failed to choose an exit server”. The Connection window on the Network Map shows that the exit connection is “Open” and I have chosen exit nodes from the Relay list for the UK.
It seems that the exit node is not active.
Can anyone tell me if they are having the same problem or not? I am wondering if there are too many of us using the volunteer proxies and using too much bandwidth and they are shutting down their service.
Many thaks for anyone who can confirm what they are experiencing.

Any news on getting Channel 4 catch-up working? It gets so far then eventually figures out I’m not in the UK once it tries to stream the video

Can’t get this working at all. Can anyone do a walkthrough exactly..

exactly the same problem as many people have with step 6,i have downloaded the foxy proxy program but it couldnt have opened as far as im concerned an error has occured with it what am i supposed to do to resolve the problem so that start the exploring properly,thanks

I have the following proble=
Iplayeer always give follwing message
“contents doens’t seem to be working, please try again later”

ANyone expierenced the same?

Many thanks by the way for all the usefull tips… I’m beginning to see the end.

to get foxy proxy to work

open foxy proxy options

then click file

then tor wizard

Wizard i already ran after i first intalled Foxy proxy.
So, still not working.

No one same problem?

BINGO===
Apparantly my problems were caused by windows firewall.

Solution=
In my Firewall properties,
I put Port 8118 and 9050 in my ports not-to-be-blocked-list.

hello, great tips the ones you are sharing, many thanks.

I have followed all steps, including those tips to David&Carlos and although when I run the test to check if I am exiting through a UK server I got a both green and positive answer problem is when I surf BBC site..they say I am outside UK.

What can I check?

Looking forward for your help, best wishes, JP

EUREKA! now I am watching, thank yopu very much. My problem was to avoid biscuick’s tips to set foxyproxy and Tor working together……super!

This worked beautifully! Thanks so much!

I can’t find it to work. I think I followed all the steps correctly but at one point it said that my Tor Address was from Germany.

What about clicking “Use a New Identity” until I get one from hopefully the UK? Does that work?

I’m running Vista using a standard (non admin) account and I didn’t get a UK exit address. The problem was, I suspected, that Tor didn’t read the edited torrc file (thus not getting the StrictExitNodes command, so I moved the file to my documents and changed the path in Vidalia to point at this file. I restarted Vidalia and it works. Excellent!

See here: http://www.showmethetelly.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2
for a very clever way to set up the patterns. Don’t just use http://*bbc.co.uk/* because that will route all traffic through TOR. And that is unnecessary and makes your connection much much slower. Just use a direct connection whenever possible!

I cant get it ”
Your IP is NOT identified to be a Tor-EXIT.
So you are NOT using Tor to reach the web! ”
torrc
# This file was generated by Tor; if you edit it, comments will not be preserved
# The old torrc file was renamed to torrc.orig.1 or similar, and Tor will ignore it

# If set, Tor will accept connections from the same machine (localhost only)
# on this port, and allow those connections to control the Tor process using
# the Tor Control Protocol (described incontrol-spec.txt).
ControlPort 9051
# A list of preferred nodes to use for the last hop in circuits, when
# possible.
StrictExitNodes 1
ExitNodes 0000000000Marauder,anonion”

the right corner of firefox : ” foxyProxy: patterns Tor enabled

How to fix the problem, I just know about tor from your blog, it is the modern knowledge for me..
Thank you
I can enter to anyweb through firefox
but when I enter to http://www.bbc.co.uk
“Network Timeout

* Could the server be experiencing high demand or a temporary failure? Try again later.
The operation timed out when attempting to contact http://www.bbc.co.uk.

The requested site did not respond to a connection request and the browser has stopped waiting for a reply.

* Could the server be experiencing high demand or a temporary failure? Try again later.

* Could the server be experiencing high demand or a temporary failure? Try again later.

* Are you unable to browse other sites? Check the computer’s network connection.

* Is your computer or network protected by a firewall or proxy? Incorrect settings can interfere with Web browsing.

* Still having trouble? Consult your network administrator or Internet provider for assistance. “

@calaf1982:

If you are getting your “Your IP is NOT identified to be a Tor-EXIT.” it’s because you didn’t add the http://torcheck.xenobite.eu/* pattern to foxyproxy.

I definitely recommend only adding these two BBC patterns rather than the one in the OP.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/*
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/4/mtis/stream*

That will help with the network timeouts.

Thanks, works brilliantly. I have one problem with trying to download programs. I have downloaded the download manager but when I try and save a program I always get the same message ‘BBC iPlayer Download Manager cannot download this programme as it is not available. You can try playing the programme instead.’

It plays fine in flash but wont let me save it, any ideas?

It work now, I change firefox 3.0.6 to 2.0
Thank you

It works now, I change firefox 3.0.6 to 2.0
Thank you

Does anyone know how to fix foxyproxy so that you can watch BBC channels live through iPlayer?
Thanks

hello there…I finally did manage, thanks to both steps 1 to 7 and all the tips in the blog, to see BBC iplayer with no problems at all since february the 13th (see my posts). Tips were great and they work indeed very well up untill today march the first.

Question: It is something happening at TOR network? When I run the test indicated at step 7 server answer says something about “time delay”. Should we change the 127.0.0.1:9050 at foxy proy details? If so, any suggestions? or do you think that BBC guys have already detected us and are blocking these entries?

bw and lffya

Thank you Cherie for the instructions.

Has anyone tried doing this with a Mac? I’ve only had mine for two months: I’ve completed every step apart from editing the Tor config file, as I cannot find it. I can only open Vidalia as an application.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Jimmy – I have done it perfectly on a Mac but to access the TOR file you need to use Terminal and get Finder to show Hidden files, amend the file then make sure you get Finder to hide the hidden files again in case of future mishap.

@PaulB

Thank you so much, you’re a legend. I’m still halfway up the learning curve with Macs, and now a little higher thanks to you.

Hello everybody! So far I’ve set everything up to the letter.

When I load up the TorCheck at Xenobite it says ‘Your IP is identified to be a Tor-EXIT.’ However it is not a GB relay, I get various European ones. I haven’t landed a GB one with pot luck yet either.

I’m assuming this means my Tor .cfg file is not set up properly? Here’s what the last few lines look like:

#ORPort 443
#BridgeRelay 1
#RelayBandwidthRate 50KBytes
#ExitPolicy reject *:*
StrictExitNodes 1
exitnodes
0000000000Marauder,AfricaBombata,agostino,(<–etc, long list of names)

Could anyone please recommend any simple checks to work out what’s gone wrong? Have a not checked a box along the way? I’ve spent hours doing this, it feels like I’m so close but I’ve finally hit this wall I can’t get past. Any help would be genuinely appreciated.

this works for me:

exitnodes agostino,anonion,anotherlink,cobald,colinwillsdorkyahoo,docTor,fixOgum,fredsarran,FuzzyWuzzy

Hi…Cherie. I’m Linda and thanks to you, I finally managed to watch bbc iplayer! Bless you! But well.. It seems I still manage to watch it but something is wrong with https://torstat.xenobite.eu/ I opened this web today and there was no CC option at all.(so I couldnt choose GB) I just did torcheck and I noticed my ip is identified to be a tor-exit but it was not like before. There was no GB’s host name like anonion and flag. am I the only one who’s having this? good day, everyone!

Thanks a lot for the clear instructions.

iPlayer is working for the archived programmes, but not for live watching. Any thoughts?

@Daz:
Great post helped me loads,
Your tip on how to set up my Proxy IP & Port worked for me.
I though I had to find a UK Proxy site
Thanks very much

Hi, I’m having trouble doing this on a mac! Basically I’m stuck on step 3, config file. I’ve read PaulB and Jimmy’s earlier comments but I don’t know how to use Terminal and show hidden files. I’m wondering if someone could guide me through this step by step please!! Thank you!!

Hi Rebecca,
to show the hidden files in MAC OSX, run Terminal which you will find in the Utilities folder (at the bottom of your application list) or type ‘terminal.app’ in the Spotlight finder.

Type the following 2 lines into terminal:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
killall Finder

Finder will then restart but will show you all files and folders. When you have changed your torcc file simply type the same 2 lines into terminal replacing TRUE with FALSE

Hope that this helps

Paul

Hi everyone. I have the same problem as jase described: it works for archive shows, but not for live streaming. Tried everything, doesn’t work. Any ideas please?

Hi Cherie, I set everything up carefully, but all that happens when I turn on Tor and Vidalia and Foxy is that my internet connectivity completely stops working, let alone BBC iPlayer working. would appreciate it if you email me on a few questions that I have, as I’m really keen to get this stuff working ? Cheers.

Hi Cherie, great post! I finally managed to watch the apprentice last night on iPlayer, after hours messing about on other websites. I wish I'd had it for the Wimbledon 2008 final as it wasn't on regular Swedish TV and we had to listen to the radio!

I've also been trying to access the Guardian premier league webpage but have had no luck after changing FoxyProxy to in the same way as was required for BBC iPlayer. Any suggestions?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premierleague

Yours guides work only recordings programs. Bbc live stream dosent work this options. It is might reason my tor configure is wrong.

I have try watch live stram this link but dosent work.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/watchlive/

Please tel my right tor settings.

Thank you for this Cherie! Is there a reason that BBC Watch Live doesn’t work with this method? Or perhaps there’s a pattern that can be used to view the live programs. I notice that on the site it says that the flash service is “currently in beta.”

I get

“You need to install Flash to play

Download the Flash player now. You can try downloading this programme instead – see the Download options below.”

Flash is installed. and works without a problem on other sites. http://torcheck.xenobite.eu/index.php says I’m using a GB exit proxy.

On firefox 3.0.8. Any help?

Thank you very much for this post. It worked well. Most posts describe using uk proxy’s but that seldom works, if never. But this is a more perm. solution. Once again, thanks a bunch.

hello,my problem is that cpu temperature goes up while exploring the bbc through firefox 3.0.the severity of this affair is that my pc does overheat.what am i supposed to do deal with this problem?bios is up to date.no virus,no spyware.cpu temperature sometimes goes beyond 95-97celcius.it looks serious.

Tranquila you should physically open your computer and check your cpu heatsink fan. It will be the big one facing you. It could be dusty or broken all together. Anything aver 60ºC is very serious and will eventually result in a dead cpu and/or motherboard.

Any help on my question above?

yes,probably.it needs a clean over cpu fan.maybe not one of the fans is not working properly. thanks

Can anyone please help? I have followed the above instructions and have had Tor working, but whenI et to the BBC player, it tells me I am not in the UK? I check the IP address and the site tells me I am going through Tor with a UK IP address?

Also, when I swith computerback on, Tor will not connect for some reason??

Can anyone advise? All was working fine and I was able to download programmes with downlaod manager..BUT… the BBC have just replaced it with iPlayer Desktop and the technique adivised for downloading won’t work anymore!

@Rebecca: did you succeed in getting Vidalia working on your mac. I discovered that the default torcc file was not being pointed to. Put it in a differed folder and point to it then you can change the settings as you require.

@Sam: goto the torbutton preferences, security settings and click on disable plugins during Tor usage…Poldark57 kindly brought it to our attention..see entry above.

i cant watch any video of the bbc i player since yesterday despite same configuration

I tried the method explained above and it all worked well for a couple of weeks. Now when I go to the iplayer website, the show loads fine and starts playing. But I only hear audio and the NO VIDEO at all!!! The counter seems to move alright and audio also moves synched with the counter without any stuttering or jitters but there is no video, what so ever. When I press pause followed by play again, the video moves one frame and then freezes again while the audio will move perfectly. Any ideas why this is happening? Is it a bug with firefox or with the new flash version or with bbc website? I don’t think I’m alone in this cause it was working just fine and suddenly this happened.

I had this working fine for 1 day and thanks by the way cause its the perfect solution BUT…. now whatever I do, When I check my ip location it is anywhere but the uk, usualy germany. Ive reloaded all the gb exit nodes twice now. When i go into torcheck.xenobite it tells me that i am conected to the tor network correctly but its not a gb exit node….. heeeeeeeeelp…. what on earth am i doing wrong???? Please please help. I have lived in sweden for 5 years and miss the old beeb something rotten.

@DarkKnight: I found what was wrong. BBC seems to be changing or updating its iplayer website so they changed the bandwidth settings in it. Just chose ‘use low bandwidth’ and it should play fine. By summer, they will have this done automatically depending on the broadband speed of the recipient.

From TOR 0.2.0.34, file torrc.txt:

“# This file was generated by Tor; if you edit it, comments will not be preserved
# The old torrc file was renamed to torrc.orig.1 or similar, and Tor will ignore it”

Thus, we cannot modify this file and step 3 is useless > it doesn’t work!

This used to work on my Firefox (Ubuntu Linux) perfectly, but stopped working few days ago.
I am connected to Tor network and FoxyProxy is configured correctly by the iPlayer still tells me I can not watch BBCTV from outside UK.
Has anybody had same problem recently?

It works perfect! After some tweaking and going through the comments it has been working brilliant for a few days now. Thanks for this great post!

I have the same problem as you Bibi and am now ready to give up. Been trying for over a month now. Had it working for a couple of days and now nothing. Tried everything. Read all these comments and tried it all. Wish I knew what Michael is doing that we’re not. Going back into the net to try and find another way. If you find a sulution please post it.

Well, the only thing I can do is say what i did extra except from the comments above. I made a couple of additional patterns in my bbc iplayer proxy, such as http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/* and http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/* (make sure they are enabled) furthermore i have Quickadd enabled (tab in foxyproxy) and when i found the program i wish to see only then do i enable Vidalia, Tor and foxyproxy, with foxy proxy set to ‘use proxy “BBC Iplayer” for all URLs. Apart from that i followed the above comments (like opening ports for my firewall). Hope this helps!

When adding the lines StrictExitNodes 1 and exitnodes blah,blah,blah do you use a # or two ## or none at all?

Ok…. that all checks out, Tried the torcheck again and my exit node is “motown” USA.
I dont get it!!

Thanks for these very helpful instructions.

Step 6 did not ask me if I wanted to add Tor Proxy, so I had to do it by hand.
But, I’m not sure it is completely right.

A) It passes the UK server test.
But it shows me first “TOR is not an HTTP Proxy�. When I delete this warning, then I see “Your IP is identified to be a TOR exit.�

B) It can also access the BBC iPlayer.
But I see first “Error Page Not Found�. When I delete that page, then I see the BBC iPlayer page.
When I click on one of their programs (and I tried many, always the same outcome), it takes a long time.
There is action indicated right above the vista button (like connecting to, transferring data from
stats.bbc.co.uk). Finally it announces: “This content does not seem to be working. Try again later.

I used in both Default and Tor Proxy the same IP: 127.0.0.1 and Port: 9050.
The only difference in Tor Proxy, I selected Manual and Socks proxy as well as Socks v5.

TIA Gerhard

I forgot to add these pictures. Thanks agai
Gerhard

Thank you! Works like charm!

The latest release candidate of Tor (0.2.1) makes it even easier. Rather than having to supply explicit exit nodes you can put the following in torrc:

StrictExitNodes 1
exitnodes {gb}

and Tor will use only GB exit nodes from its current list of exit nodes. Note that you have to use curly brackets.

It also works for any other two-letter ISO country code like us, de, fr, and so on.

Please tell me whether the proxies are correct!!

I used in both Default and Tor Proxy the same IP: 127.0.0.1 and Port: 9050.
The only difference in Tor Proxy, I selected Manual and Socks proxy as well as Socks v5.

Finally got it: Default is set to “Direct internet connection (no proxy)”.
Everything works fine.
Thanks

Can this be modified to watch American TV from outside the US?

You’re having the same problem I was with hulu! I ended up getting a VPN account. There are tons of places to get VPNs from. I choose to go with http://www.hidemynet.com. Activation was instant, so I could start watching hulu right away. Their site says they also offer a UK vpn, I suspect it’ll work for iplayer just like it did for hulu.

Hi all,

I am trying to set whole thing up. I have set the FoxyProxy up and it seems to work. I have also set up TOR ant that seems to work. I have read all the output here and tried it, but i stll get the error “This content doesn’t seem to be working. Try again later”

please help

hi there,
vidalia has been working fine but lately im having a problem with live streaming on bbc. if i use iplayer, then it’s fine. if im live, then it says “this content doesnt seem to be working.” it used to say u need flash but with the link poldark57 provided i solved the problemn. i need to fix this error which occurs only in live streamign on bbc, this content doesnt seem to be working. please try again later.

i think it has something to do with tor. because when i use a software called mask surf pro which uses tor technology, it says the same thing, the same error. but when i use a private proxy then it works fine. someone???

Been trying to do this for ages and followed the above instructions and still no luck.
Found the below site and followed their simple step by step photo instructions and BAM!!! straight onto iplayer and watching “Two pints of Lager…”. I know this sounds like I am affliated with this site but I am not (took a bit of surfing).
I have this set up on Firefox and leave that as my BBC browser and use Chrome for my other stuff. Obviously it is a bit slower going through a proxy but I find the audio/video I want on Chrome and copy it into Firefox and from their it streams without any problem or lag. And I am in New Zealand.
Hope this helps someone. Cheers.

http://time4fun.googlepages.com/torsetupguide

Hi, I’m trying to do this on a mac and have gotten the hidden files to show, but can’t find the Tor file, can anyone tell me where it is saved?

Oh, just saw that SPR has the same prob.

Oh, just saw that SPR has the same prob.

configuration file in /Library/Tor/torrc

Ok, found the config file and thats it. Didn´t get through it on a MAC. Just leave the PLayer to the UK….

Great tutorial! Finally a solution that works. Thanks.

This works perfectly for recorded programmes. However, like a few others, I can’t watch live TV streams, either through the iPlayer webpage or at http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/watchlive/. But I can listen to live radio streams.

The error message I get is:
“This content doesn’t seem to be working. Try again later.”

The full error message is:
“Title: GenericKind:FMSConnectionError.FMS_CONNECTION_API
Description: CDN Failover, final connection failed
Code: 222222″

(FMS refers to Flash Media Server. CDN is Content Delivery Network.)

It’s not a problem with patterns as I’ve tried using a proxy for ALL urls and it made no difference.

Could it be a bandwidth problem? Traffic through Tor is slow – is it too slow for live streaming but enough for watching recorded programmes?

Could it be a plugin problem? Does live streaming use a different plugin from recorded streaming? (The technology for the two differs). Is this blocked by Tor or FoxyProxy?

Could it be a blocked port on my firewall? Or a blocked port within Tor? Does live streaming use a different port number from recorded programmes? Would using a different node in Tor make any difference?

Any ideas? Would be great to watch the BBC coverage of Wimbledon live!

I still can’t get this going. Tor is running and when I start Vidalia, it asks for a password.

Foxy Proxy also didn’t go to the setup option when started. I added the 2 patterns, but not sure I added them in the right place and when I went back, they were gone.

I still can’t get this working. I thought I had done all as described above, but I get a request for a password by Vidalia and there are other options I don’t understand. Can I call someone and go through the settings ?

I THINK that my problem may lie in the FoxyProxy settings. When I look at the add-in, there are several options:

Use FP based on their pre-defined patterns & priorities
Use proxy Tor for all URL’s
Use proxy “New Proxy” for all URL’s
Use proxy “Default” for all URL’s
Completely disable FP.

I have selected the first.

When I go to FP options, and use the wizard, I add the 2 patterns.

After checking if I am going through the proxy, I get this:

65.39.67.100
Your current FQDN [?] dent.mbxip.com (Lookup/reverse correct)
CONCLUSION
Your IP is identified to be a Tor-EXIT.
So you are using Tor successfully to reach the web!

When I try to connect to the BBC, I receive the message that I am outside the UK.

When I go back into FR, the two patterns are missing.

Where am I going wrong ?

Found a couple of problems, such as the TORCC text file somehow changed and did not save the settings I entered. I am slowly getting somewhere. I can watch recordings, such as Top Gear, but can’t download them. Receive the message saying that it is available only to users within the UK. For the live TV, I receive a message saying “This content doesn’t seem to be working. Try again later”.

Any thoughts ?

@CraigS
You are not alone! I can only watch the recorded programmes, not the live ones – see my post just above yours. I’ve not tried to download, but there are posts about that – I think there is an extra pattern to add.

A further update. I can watch the BBC News, and Parliament channels, but not any others. I can also watch videos, but when I download and try and play them (not visible on the iPlayer) with Windows Media Player, it downloaded a security file that obviously blocks it. Seems strange I can watch some live TV but not others. More work needed it seems !

Cherie, great tutorial, it works fine for the iplayer. but, like a few posters above, i’m curious as to how to get it to work for Channel 4 on demand, because despite adding a pattern for Channel 4, it still says i’m outside the UK. any ideas?

It seemed to start working after I set port forwarding for my router. Look up “port forwarding” on the web, there are tutorials on how to do it. Basically, go to 192.168.1.1 in the url bar, then go to security, then tell it which port you’re using (9050).

@CraigS: Have you gotten any further with trying to get live streaming? I’m getting the same problems you are, I can watch BBC Parliament and BBC News but nothing else. Any news at all on this?

Thanks for posting this! I, too, had some issues with step 6 as the Tor wizard didn’t start with Firefox. You maybe could add to step 6 that if the wizard doesn’t start automatically go to the FoxyProxy Options dialog and select File->Tor Wizard. In the end, it worked like a charm! Thanks again!

Thanks, this is all working fine for me except downloads do not work. I get “you cannot download if not in the uk” error. I’ve searched for a fix but no luck, anybody got any suggestions?
Thanks

Now then guys. If you want to watch channel 4, or 5 or BBC and a few more channels for free then visit this website
http://www.filmon.com/tv/index.php. Currently BBC 1 isnt working however so far I have had no problems with the other channels (including channel 4). You do need to download and install the software and register as well (its free). Plane sailing after that. Hope this helps a few of you. Please give some feedback.

how do you edit the torcc.txt file successfully? after doing this the first time tor changes the file and renames the old file. i cant find the old file anywhere and every time i change the new one i am unable to connect to the network. so i have to revert back.

Watch French TV???

I changed gb to fr in torrc to get French proxies, and tried to watch Chaîne télé France 3.

But get:� Accessible only from European Union�

What is missing?

I also had changed the time zone to Europe and replaced the BBCiPlayer pattern URL with
http://www.tv-direct.fr/live_france*.php

Hey Cherie, great post—finally someone who can put into plain english a way to work around BBC’s geo-bias. But I do have a problem—when I install foxy proxy I don’t get the dialog box asking me if I want it configured with Tor. I have searched for screenshots thinking that maybe I was missing something and that it was asking me and I didn’t realize but there is no option to configure with Tor or add a Tor proxy at all. any thoughts? I’m trying to watch the second series of Green Wing because hulu only had the first!

Ergh! Was so excited to find your advice but can’t get it to work!

I Can’t find a ‘torcc’ file but I did find a ‘torrc’ file. I pasted in the list of servers there- do I need to preface it with hashes as everything else in the document seems to?

When I go to the Torc check page it doesn’t tell me where my exit is, just that I am successfully using Torc. Is that a clue?

Any help greatly appreciated.

hello. this whole instruction had worked so fine but after tor updated their program around june, it stopped working.
—->finding ‘strictexitnodes1 exitnodes’ part in torrc file<— there WAS this part, so you could actually type 'exitnodes’ part in torrc file beforeseveral months ago)
but new version of torrc file doesnt have that part at all. this is the huge difference.

Torrc is supposed to accept ‘strictexitnodes exitnodes’ part but I downloaded new version of tor, torrc seemed it didnt accpet exitnodes anymore. that means ‘exitnodes’ part doesnt work like the way it did before.

so in this case, this whole instruction won’t work anymore to further users.

am I the only one who has this problem?

are there Tor users who have used torrc fine so managed to watch uk tv till recently? If there are, I think only difference between it works or not is ‘torrc file’.

hello. this whole instruction had worked so fine but after tor updated their program around june, it stopped working.

—->finding ‘strictexitnodes1 exitnodes’ part in torrc file<— there was this part in torrc file so you could type exitnodes in torrc file several months ago but new version of torrc file doesnt have that part at all.

Torrc file is supposed to accept exitnodes but new torrc file seems it doesnt accpet it. that’s why some here have problems with running vidila after they type exitnodes in torrc file.
this is the huge difference.

am I the only one who has this problem after download new tor version around this june?

Are there tor users who have used tor fine and could manage to watch uk tv till today?

If there are, I think only difference between some gets worked tor fine and some don’t is torrc file.

please someone help!!

Hi.. Firstly like everyone else just wanted to say thanks for this info. However, I am struggerling on 1 issue. When I installed the addon foxyproxy it did not detect TOR. So I used the options in the addon box to go in & insert the 2 patterns. When I click on OK it says Hostname/IPaddress and port must be specified. I must be missing something simple here as your instructions are pretty clear.

Hope you can help

regards

I do have this problem too.
It seems tor file doesnt accept exitnodes so vidila doesnt work properly after you edit it..

Same problem as the last two comments: I install FoxyProxy but it doesn’t detect Tor… Tried manual config but to no avail.

@auster:

I have the same problem here. Works fine for streaming but when I try to download the program it reports “This programme is only available to download by users within the UK” Anyone know how to get around this?

Does it also work with Channel 4 4oD?

I could not follow your instructions past step 2. There was a page full of writing and I could not follow, “Go to start Menu…”. What does that mean please?

I can't get it to work on my mac. the instructions do not follow what I get on the mac. any ideas?

a quicker version would be to download tor and torora (http://torora.com). If you have the latest version of Tor, you will see a blue globe beside the address bar in Torora, it allows you to select which country you want to browse from. give it a try

Ach this is too pain full to even be worth getting to work. It's far too slow for me and I feel I would be fiddling with for hours to get it to work. I don't think you explained what you're actually doing very well, I am left with an application 2 firefox addons and a painfully slow proxy connection.

This is far too complex a way for using proxies, There is much much better ways. Hell just manually trying proxies is better than installing a so much bloat on your system.

wow. what a great guide. thanks a million!!!

A question for bssquick. You say:

To run flash go to Tor settings within the firefox plugin and under the security settings tab (dynamic settings tab) uncheck disable plugins

I don't see a dynamic settings tab in the foxy proxy plug in. I have everything else working, but the bbc site says I need to upgrade flash, even though I did update flash, it still wont play it. So flash must be disabled as you are alluding to.

Can you be more detailed and specific about how to enable flash using this set-up please?

Thanks!

so followed every step except that when i installed foxyproxy it did not ask me if i want to add a tor proxy to its settings. is there any way i can do this after? also because my firefox is in french to help me learn, its quite difficult for me to navigate the foxyproxy options and actually make any sense of it, given that i know very little about the program and the ideas/technology behind it. so if you could be as explicit as possible would be great. many thanks

Oh yes, before you do that, you have to add the patters listed in the article above under “new proxy” and save as “tor” in the foxy proxy options box.

I can't watch bbc live but That's ok the same.

Name, I installed
1. firefox 2.0 with no update.
2. And after i followed this guide: http://time4fun.googlepages.com/torsetupguide
3. Then go to the folder Vidalia>Tor> Torcc , (scroll down to the end) and write, just below the last line this:
StrictExitNodes 1
exitnodes {gb}

It should work.

You have to take into account that I installed only Vidalia plus two plugs Torbutton and User agent switcher for Firefox and
To run flash go to Torbutton settings within the firefox plugin and under the security settings tab (dynamic settings tab) uncheck disable plugins . Check you have to see Proxy on, as well.

I can watch bbc iplayer but not BBC live.
Good luck!

Does Anybody know how watch BBC live???
bye, from Italy

first of all, thank you very much for your excellent post, i've managed to enjoy a show from BBC2. unfortunally, that one show is all that i could see.

i can't watch another show because in the player, it keeps saying “this content doesn't seem to be working, please try again later.” and it happenes on every other shows. i've try to change the exit nikename and in the TorCheck it says “Your IP is identified to be a Tor-EXIT.
So you are using Tor successfully to reach the web!”

but i am still unable to watch another show, any idea of how to fix it?
thank you

I've tried installing FoxyProxy twice and it didn't ask if I wanted to add any tor settings. It just tells me I need to restart Firefox, which I do. Then FoxyProxy is there but not configured, so useless for our purposes. What am I doing wrong?

Hi Cherie, just came by to say that this is still working! Just to say, its 17th December 2009, more than a year since you've posted this tutorial.
I'm in Serbia and have tried many things to do this, but only with your tutorial worked just fine!
At first, when I do all the things you said, opening pages was too slow, I just couldn't believe, like with an old Dial-UP modem, but when the final page has opened and the video starts to buffer, my connection works just normal, just like without going through the proxy. I don't understand that, but it WORKED!
Thanks a lot…

Nice One………

I agree with you!

Cherie.
Though your descriptions above are more than detailed and easy to follow, nothing of it works out. I downloaded and configured to the word, checked and double-checked, but the torcheck keeps telling me that there is no exit.
What might I have done wrong? I'm so eager to watch BBC (I'm in Germany), yet, I still can't.
Please help me.

OK what the fuck is going on? All the URL”s in the comments lead back here. Even if you copy and paste them to the address bar.

Hello

Could you let me know wht you mean by

“Go to Start Menu and open All Programs -> Vidalia Bundle -> Tor -> torcc.”

Great Guide.

Some questions. I use a Mac with snow leopard OS X

1) The website/flash is working fine, but I cannot get the download player to work, even after changing the system wide proxy in System Preferences to the localhost and port 8118 as suggested. I can download the video fine, but once it is downloaded it will not play, but says 'temporarily unavailable' Any suggestions?

2) What is the exact path to the TORCC file that should be edited? I edited one and it works, but there seem to be several copies of this file, as the one i edited was blank.

3) what TORCC file should the vidalia preferences be pointing to?

4) does anyone know how to get this working with an iphone when it is on my home LAN with the main desktop TOR/VIDALIA ia installed on? I think I need to point the iphone to the POLIPO proxy server the current TOR installs, but does anyone know what settings need to be changed in TOR/VIDALIA/POLIPO?

Oops, please ignore the line in my above post that says, “And ensure, of course, that that same class is imported in� — that was just cruft I forgot to delete. 1 and 2 are the only steps needed to get this working.

Click on the “Start” button & navigate described

If you use “use proxies based on their pre defined patterns….” instead of “use proxy tor” for all urls”, that will bypass the proxy once you video starts streaming

It works better without FoxyProxy

open the foxyproxy setting and go to file>tor wizard or something like that under the file menu in the top left.

i tried for a couple of hours to use this and had numerous problems so ended up going with tellyport.com 2.99 Euros per month for the iplayer only option. The site looks so basic i wondered if it was a scam but not to worry it's done through paypal and takes only a couple fo mins to set up……well worth the little bit of money as it's so simple and you can then set it up really eaisly on other computers or even give your friends the code.

No, you don't. So what's the big deal? You watch it whether or not people outside the UK do.

Same problem here. The Vidalia bundle has been upgraded and it doesn't work anymore. Now Foxyproxy is the problem. Fix: get rid of it. Go to the add-ons in Firefox and deinstall Foxyproxy (not deactivate, but complete deinstall). Now the Tor button in Firefox works properly.

Advantage: you don't have to do step 5 and 6 in the proces above.
Disadvantage: everything in Firefox now goes via Tor (very slow). But I use Firefox only to watch BBC or other “forbidden” countries, Explorer for everything else, so no problem.

it is interesting and informative article. This has been very helpful understanding a lot

of things. I'm sure a lot of other people will agree with me.

Thank you so much. I and all my British friends here in Brazil have been able to enjoy iPlayer because of your advice.

My PDF guide to this with screenshots
http://rapidshare.com/files/350977516/torsetup1…
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BTHMYVFV

Method works perfectly applying the instructions to linux although I used Torbutton for Firefox, instead of FoxyProxy.

Pro tip, use:

ExitNodes {gb}

instead of ExitNodes <names list> and never have to edit the servers again, that said be aware that sometimes country codes are listed incorrectly and you won't be on a UK server, but as far as I know that would happen if you were manually adding them too.

If anyone knows a way to quickly switch between a config with {gb} for BBC, and one with {us} for HULU etc please share it.

I am a recent guy to set up tor and successfully get connected to bbc.I cannot get the license part even after changing the internet connection setting.By the way I have a GPRS connection.I have played around with the settings and no success.I have both IE and Firefox.When I click the BBC iPlayer Download Manager,IE gets opened.Where do I go to change this default setting.Please try to help me,
Thanks,
Samuel

This might solve all your probs to watch iPlayer etc.

http://www.expatshield.com/

Works brilliant for me here in Germany

I have installed foxy proxy – and it’s great for managing a few proxy settings. My question is though – is it possible to also use it as an anonimizer, so foxy proxy would connect to some random proxy network for me? Thanks for any answer!