# American TV???



## Longhorn (May 7, 2008)

OK folks, serious question!

I am not the type to go out very often, I'm not a real social animal outside of work and for that matter I work a ton and intend on working even more in dubai since I will be single and have no friends...but when I get home what I do like to do is sit down and watch all my favorite shows, especially in the fall. I was just going through my tivo here and realized that I may be missing out on this modern day miracle once I settle in there.

So, how do those of you that are homebodies like me cope with the lack of good non-censored American TV in Dubai? Does anyone have a slingbox set up in the states and if so how well does it work? Are there other ways of getting major shows like Lost, Heros, Big Brother, House etc without paying an arm and a leg for it? And what about college football...any way to catch the games on Saturday or do I HAVE to learn to watch soccer...err _football_?

I really don't imagine I will mind the weather or the other little annoyances of day to day life there but I sure am going to miss my tv!

On a side note I am about a month from moving there and this is about the biggest concern I have....is that bad?


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## Mac (Jul 6, 2008)

I was chatting with some friends last night and they asked me what one thing I think I'm going to miss when I move to Dubai....

... I answered unequivocally, "TV".
(I think they may have been a little upset that i never said them) They all laughed tho and said, "yup, that makes total sense".

I'm a very social person but have Sky+ here in the UK which means I never miss any of my shows.

I'll be honest & say I too am a little worried what I'm gona do without Sky. Especially now I've read BBC iPlayer doesn't work in Dubai.... I was planning on keeping up to date with Doctor Who, The Apprentice etc. 

I've came to the conclusion that a move to Dubai is also means a total change of lifestyle & I'm just gona have to go with the flow, as they say. When I was in Dubai in May there were advertising KnightRider on TV like it was the new season of 24! Don't get me wrong, I think KnightRider is brilliant... but that's why I already have them all on DVD!

So, to sum up mate. I say you do the same as me & just get out and about. Make new friends & see what else the world can offer other than quality, well written programmes with awesome special effects! If you're like me & like having a couple of beers whilst you watch the box after work you could find this difficult in Dubai as you pretty much need to go to a bar to get a drink!

Oh yeah, become a "soccer" fan! The Toon Army's always looking for supporters around the world!!


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## Elphaba (Jan 24, 2008)

Long horn - For many of us, the main complaint about TV is that there are too many American shows!!  It is probably a season behind, but you will find Lost, Heroes, Grey's Anatomy & far too many reality shows, as well as Oprah and her ilk. And there really isn't that much TV censorship.

I know of people who have a Slingbox from the Uk, so I presume it would work from the US. You can also learn the 'dark arts' of downloading.

Other than that, I would suggest that moving half way around the world gives you an opportunity to get out and meet different people and have new expereinces. Why bother moving if all you plan to do is to watch US TV? 


Mac - Knightrider is being shown on a low-rent channel and is certainly not of interest to most people! Shows are usually just a season/series behind the US and UK. I believe UK soaps are aired just a few days later.


Honestly, why expect the Middle East to be like 'home'?


-


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## Longhorn (May 7, 2008)

Well, all I really plan to do is work and my way of relaxing after a 14 hour day is a little mindless television, doesn't matter what part or the world I sit down to do that. Like I said I am much less of a social person than most and a bit older than a lot of the expats so going out and meeting people will be something I do on occasion but not a nightly thing. I will however enjoy exploring the country and learning the culture of the U.A.E. on those rare days when I do venture out.

I am going to try to set up a slingbox to see how that will work and I'll keep y'all posted


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## Longhorn (May 7, 2008)

Also I don't expect the middle east to be ANYTHING like home...just want a little bit of home while I am there...too much to ask?


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## Shuja (May 29, 2008)

Longhorn, you'll be surprised to see the number of American shows played here on different stations. By the way, see if you can get your hands on an AFN (Armed Forces Network) Receiver. You'll never miss American television, except the ads off course.


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## hari (Jul 12, 2008)

Watch all your channels online at justin.tv or ustream.tv


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## Abacha (Nov 9, 2008)

Longhorn said:


> Well, all I really plan to do is work and my way of relaxing after a 14 hour day is a little mindless television, doesn't matter what part or the world I sit down to do that. Like I said I am much less of a social person than most and a bit older than a lot of the expats so going out and meeting people will be something I do on occasion but not a nightly thing. I will however enjoy exploring the country and learning the culture of the U.A.E. on those rare days when I do venture out.
> 
> I am going to try to set up a slingbox to see how that will work and I'll keep y'all posted



Longhorn - moving from Louisiana in Jan, did you try the slingbox and did it work?


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## DesertStranded (Oct 9, 2008)

Shuja said:


> By the way, see if you can get your hands on an AFN (Armed Forces Network) Receiver. You'll never miss American television, except the ads off course.



And how does one get one of those?

The movies and shows that don't come on tv here I just download. Being able to download without worrying about getting busted is about the only thing I'll miss when I leave here. Well, that and the kabab.


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## amaslam (Sep 25, 2008)

I've been a US expat living in Australia for the last 5 years and all the American TV I need is via:

1. DVD boxsets (all the stuff from last year or earlier)
2. Dark arts of downloading (aka Bittorrent), I can be in sync with the US schedule within hours. What I've found is I have so much TV to watch now I'm behind at least one season. 
3. As an expat you'll find more things to do outside, it's just no fun working hard and then just vegging all the time. I've travelled MUCH more around the world while being an expat than when I was living in the US.

On the subject of TV I find some of the UK stuff is excellent (i.e. Top Gear)


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## Longhorn (May 7, 2008)

Abacha said:


> Longhorn - moving from Louisiana in Jan, did you try the slingbox and did it work?


I haven't yet, its sitting back in Houston waiting on my friend to hook it up for me, things have been crazy there as well as here. As soon as I get it working I will let you know though.

A couple things I have found out since I have been here:

1. Pal vs. NTSC - Doesn't matter what your tv is for Du, their cable box is multi format, that only matter for the DVD's here but multi format dvd players are cheap or if you do like I did and hook up a computer you can get software that takes care of that problem

2. Don't subscribe to Du if you can get slingbox working, only thing I watch for 400 dhs a month is CNN, CNBC and Fox movies, the rest of the channels pretty much suck and the arabic subtitles at the bottom of the screen irritate the hell out of me. There are more american shows available but what you get for the price isn't worth it.

3. When you live in Dubai you really don't have a lot of time to sit in front of the tv...most of your free time is spent in traffic 

email me when you get to town and I will help you out as much as I can


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## Abacha (Nov 9, 2008)

Thanks Longhorn, that's what I'm thinking with the slingbox - paying the obligatory $100/mo for Tivo/cable in the US instead of over there and then beaming all my stuff (read: sports!) over the internet and into my laptop (then television) to watch when I so choose. I love my Tivo/slingbox set-up now, and if it works over there as well then hopefully my expat days of watching Bowl Games and the World Series at 2am in the morning off of MSNBC are over!

I'm new to the site but expect I'll be an active participant, glad I found it and I'll keep in touch, landing mid-Jan. Thanks for the traffic tip, my commute is 30km and I'm told that'll take anywhere from 25 to 90 minutes depending on traffic. Mad indeed!


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## Longhorn (May 7, 2008)

Abacha said:


> Thanks Longhorn, that's what I'm thinking with the slingbox - paying the obligatory $100/mo for Tivo/cable in the US instead of over there and then beaming all my stuff (read: sports!) over the internet and into my laptop (then television) to watch when I so choose. I love my Tivo/slingbox set-up now, and if it works over there as well then hopefully my expat days of watching Bowl Games and the World Series at 2am in the morning off of MSNBC are over!
> 
> I'm new to the site but expect I'll be an active participant, glad I found it and I'll keep in touch, landing mid-Jan. Thanks for the traffic tip, my commute is 30km and I'm told that'll take anywhere from 25 to 90 minutes depending on traffic. Mad indeed!



speaking of traffic...took me 2 hours 12 minutes from Jebel ali to the marina tonight...had to drop off a co-worker in the springs first but still...damn!


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## tommygun_00 (Jan 30, 2009)

Longhorn said:


> speaking of traffic...took me 2 hours 12 minutes from Jebel ali to the marina tonight...had to drop off a co-worker in the springs first but still...damn!


Longhorn...

Any updates on the Slingbox working? Looking to bring it with us in a month. Want to hook my laptop up to the flatscreen TV via RGB. wondered how this looks on the TV?

Thanks for any advice.


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## stevieboy1980 (Sep 9, 2008)

a slingbox via a laptop to a decent size TV is really bad..

You need the sling catcher for it to be any good...

p.s uk soaps are shown like 2 months delay to the UK!


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## Abacha (Nov 9, 2008)

Longhorn - we were chatting a few months back, I'm in Dubai now and finally got my Slingbox connected, today in fact. Watching the Braves play the 'stros as we speak on ESPN and it's awesome. All the other channels work perfectly as well, watched a bit of Price Is Right this morning, a movie on AMC (Gregory Peck in MacArthur), the DirectTV football package looks like it'll work fine as well and I'm so excited. I had the unit sent to my brother in Virginia by Amazon, he's a techie so set-up was easy, he put it in one of his spare bedrooms that no one really uses (except me) so I'm not bothering him at all. Bought the Slingbox Solo for about $140. On this side I went to the website, downloaded the software, logged in and I was off, very easy. It works exactly as I expected, better even. My bro has DirectTV and I can either use a virtual remote that is exactly like the DirectTV remote or I can use the guide selector provided by Slingbox (or both at the same time, one on the left the other on the right as the Slingbox one is easier to navigate as the channel guide is downloaded on this side vs. the virtual remote which sends the command over the internet to Virginia which involves a slight delay, about 1-2 seconds between when you push a button and when it shows up on that side). Audio is perfect but the video isn't the greatest because of the slow internet speeds on this side but it's really not an issue, just like watching a good quality youtube video. No delays whatsoever, just smooth streaming as it has an optimization feature, if you happened to have a fast connection you can improve the video up to the top setting which is billed HD quality, the best we seem to do is 320 x 240, there are two lower and 3 higher including that HD quality. What I'm watching now is fine, I tried the manual settings to try the higher video settings and it was very clear, like a VCD, but it wasn't smooth so I switched back to the automatic optimization. I'm watching it on my laptop and it is fine in full screen mode but I can see how it wouldn't be so great on a big TV given the slow internet speeds and video quality issues around that but there must be a way this, perhaps with the Slingcatcher as someone suggested, you can also get a more full feature Slingbox and connect to your Tivo or DVR at home but I didn't get that as I don't have that feature over there. Another nice feature is that it saves the most recent 60 minutes that you've watched so you can go back and watch replays or walk away, come in late and still watch something. All and all this is a must have for American Sports Fans, no regrets. Hope this helps.


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## tommygun_00 (Jan 30, 2009)

Abacha said:


> Longhorn - we were chatting a few months back, I'm in Dubai now and finally got my Slingbox connected, today in fact. Watching the Braves play the 'stros as we speak on ESPN and it's awesome. All the other channels work perfectly as well, watched a bit of Price Is Right this morning, a movie on AMC (Gregory Peck in MacArthur), the DirectTV football package looks like it'll work fine as well and I'm so excited. I had the unit sent to my brother in Virginia by Amazon, he's a techie so set-up was easy, he put it in one of his spare bedrooms that no one really uses (except me) so I'm not bothering him at all. Bought the Slingbox Solo for about $140. On this side I went to the website, downloaded the software, logged in and I was off, very easy. It works exactly as I expected, better even. My bro has DirectTV and I can either use a virtual remote that is exactly like the DirectTV remote or I can use the guide selector provided by Slingbox (or both at the same time, one on the left the other on the right as the Slingbox one is easier to navigate as the channel guide is downloaded on this side vs. the virtual remote which sends the command over the internet to Virginia which involves a slight delay, about 1-2 seconds between when you push a button and when it shows up on that side). Audio is perfect but the video isn't the greatest because of the slow internet speeds on this side but it's really not an issue, just like watching a good quality youtube video. No delays whatsoever, just smooth streaming as it has an optimization feature, if you happened to have a fast connection you can improve the video up to the top setting which is billed HD quality, the best we seem to do is 320 x 240, there are two lower and 3 higher including that HD quality. What I'm watching now is fine, I tried the manual settings to try the higher video settings and it was very clear, like a VCD, but it wasn't smooth so I switched back to the automatic optimization. I'm watching it on my laptop and it is fine in full screen mode but I can see how it wouldn't be so great on a big TV given the slow internet speeds and video quality issues around that but there must be a way this, perhaps with the Slingcatcher as someone suggested, you can also get a more full feature Slingbox and connect to your Tivo or DVR at home but I didn't get that as I don't have that feature over there. Another nice feature is that it saves the most recent 60 minutes that you've watched so you can go back and watch replays or walk away, come in late and still watch something. All and all this is a must have for American Sports Fans, no regrets. Hope this helps.


Seems to me the only issues after reading about it is you have to have both the Slingbox and the SlingCatcher to make this work for TV. I'm going to see what it would cost and hope it works over there once I'm on the plane.


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## Longhorn (May 7, 2008)

Abacha said:


> Longhorn - we were chatting a few months back, I'm in Dubai now and finally got my Slingbox connected, today in fact. Watching the Braves play the 'stros as we speak on ESPN and it's awesome. All the other channels work perfectly as well, watched a bit of Price Is Right this morning, a movie on AMC (Gregory Peck in MacArthur), the DirectTV football package looks like it'll work fine as well and I'm so excited. I had the unit sent to my brother in Virginia by Amazon, he's a techie so set-up was easy, he put it in one of his spare bedrooms that no one really uses (except me) so I'm not bothering him at all. Bought the Slingbox Solo for about $140. On this side I went to the website, downloaded the software, logged in and I was off, very easy. It works exactly as I expected, better even. My bro has DirectTV and I can either use a virtual remote that is exactly like the DirectTV remote or I can use the guide selector provided by Slingbox (or both at the same time, one on the left the other on the right as the Slingbox one is easier to navigate as the channel guide is downloaded on this side vs. the virtual remote which sends the command over the internet to Virginia which involves a slight delay, about 1-2 seconds between when you push a button and when it shows up on that side). Audio is perfect but the video isn't the greatest because of the slow internet speeds on this side but it's really not an issue, just like watching a good quality youtube video. No delays whatsoever, just smooth streaming as it has an optimization feature, if you happened to have a fast connection you can improve the video up to the top setting which is billed HD quality, the best we seem to do is 320 x 240, there are two lower and 3 higher including that HD quality. What I'm watching now is fine, I tried the manual settings to try the higher video settings and it was very clear, like a VCD, but it wasn't smooth so I switched back to the automatic optimization. I'm watching it on my laptop and it is fine in full screen mode but I can see how it wouldn't be so great on a big TV given the slow internet speeds and video quality issues around that but there must be a way this, perhaps with the Slingcatcher as someone suggested, you can also get a more full feature Slingbox and connect to your Tivo or DVR at home but I didn't get that as I don't have that feature over there. Another nice feature is that it saves the most recent 60 minutes that you've watched so you can go back and watch replays or walk away, come in late and still watch something. All and all this is a must have for American Sports Fans, no regrets. Hope this helps.


Great you got yours working! I haven't been able to get mine to connect here at all. It works fine back in Houston but on the same computer here I always get a failure to connect. I have tried everything I can think of and nothing...next time I go back there I am going to try to tweak some things and get it working.


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## Longhorn (May 7, 2008)

Longhorn said:


> Great you got yours working! I haven't been able to get mine to connect here at all. It works fine back in Houston but on the same computer here I always get a failure to connect. I have tried everything I can think of and nothing...next time I go back there I am going to try to tweak some things and get it working.



Oh, I did upgrade to the 12mb connection through Du...I never get anywhere near that speed but its not bad and my box is connected to a really fast upload connection in Houston, about 5-6 mbps average so it shouldn't be a speed problem. I can also see the box in my account so I know the slingplayer is finding it fine.

Did you get a slingcatcher or are you just using the slingplayer?


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## Abacha (Nov 9, 2008)

Longhorn said:


> Oh, I did upgrade to the 12mb connection through Du...I never get anywhere near that speed but its not bad and my box is connected to a really fast upload connection in Houston, about 5-6 mbps average so it shouldn't be a speed problem. I can also see the box in my account so I know the slingplayer is finding it fine.
> 
> Did you get a slingcatcher or are you just using the slingplayer?



For now I'm just using the Slingbox, come football season I'll look at the Slingcatcher as well as a better connection so I can watch it on the big screen.


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## ghandi2485 (Nov 18, 2008)

Mine works well - I only have slingbox in the UK and no slingcatcher here - its all about your connection at home - I got a dedicated fibre op virgin 8mb line (don't try it through ADSL its crap unless youre lucky enough to live next door to the BT digital exchange in your area).

Here I can connect my lappy to the TV and it comes pretty good (im getting 500kb per sec reported on the bottom of the slingplayer software, and I only have a 1mb DU internet connection!!). 

Slingplayer optimises the signal, so if you have a slower internet speed (up from UK/US and down from here) it reduces the quality of the feed so that it doesn't jerk/stop


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## Longhorn (May 7, 2008)

Ok, time for an update...I went home for a quick visit last week and reconfigured my slingbox and now it is working flawlessly here in Dubai.

I've got the slingbox hooked up to a tivo back in houston and a desktop with HDMI output hooked up to my lcd here, the picture quality isn't the best but it is light years better than watching what little is available here with all the arabic subtitles that I can't tollerate 

I didn't get a slingcatcher or the HD version but I might upgrade now that I know it works and get a slingcatcher for the bedroom tv

For anyone thinking about hooking up a slingbox it is well worth the effort, I'll never ever have to leave my apartment again at least until I can escape this awful place


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## Longhorn (May 7, 2008)

Yeah....free vs. $150 a month plus $175 setup fee...I think not. nice advertising though 



habutv said:


> Hey guys...I got Habu.TV...a little pricey sure...but the reliability and quality is unmatched. Check em out.
> 
> Cheers!
> 
> Ross


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## Longhorn (May 7, 2008)

Actually no, the download speed in the states is 12mpbs and upload over 4 mbps, so thats not the issue. I say the quality is not so great here but its at least SD quality, and almost as good as what I get back home on SD channels, and again the best part is I don't pay a dime for it. Slingbox is hooked up at a friends house who pays the internet and cable already so that is free to me.

I'm sure that your service will work for those that are desperate, might have worked for me but the simple fact is for the quality I get here vs. the cost of what you are selling isn't worth it for me.

$0 x 12 months = $0

$150 x 12 = $1800

Anyhow, good luck with what you are selling.




habutv said:


> Id like to add Longhorn the reason your picture quality isnt the best is simple...bandwidth from the sending unit which is probably a cable or dsl modem in Houston correct? They are usually OK for downloading but sending are usually capped at between 256K and 512K in the States. We guarantee bandwidth to the tune of 2Mbps to each and every standard resolution Customer...which is plenty for "near HD" HQ resolution...but you can opt for more. I would suggest not upgrading to the HD Slingbox until you are sure of the sending capacity of your modem in the States can handle over 2Mbps output streaming...which I doubt very seriously.


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## Longhorn (May 7, 2008)

OK, I was wrong, they have comcast and my friend just ran a speed test on speedtest.net and only got 14.2 mbps down and 2.1mbps up. like i said, slingbox works for me, and I'm sure your service is fantasitic and you will sell plenty subscriptions, just not to me. 

Again, good luck. I wish you all the success and peace back at ya 



habutv said:


> What cable service do they have? Cox? Time Warner? I know for a fact that their basic cable/dsl uplink is capped at 512K. Your download speeds here should be fine...what do you have? Probably gigabit fiber if it's like the tower I stayed in Qatar. No, it's not on your end...your signal is degraded because your sharing bandwidth with your friend's Internet and TV.
> 
> Bottom line is you get what you pay for. Our service works anywhere in the world where our Customers have good download speeds because we guarantee the streaming uplink bandwidth at our professional NOC with a sophisticated bandwidth management system and Gigabit uplink.
> 
> ...


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## TakeItEasy (Nov 24, 2008)

*10 Different Countries*

I've posted before about the Internet streaming services of PC-Streaming.com - Your Streaming Headquarters From 9 Countries.
They do 9 different countries, UK, America, Canada, Germany etc. I'm using their UK VPN to watch `live´UK TV through Zattoo and tvcatchup. Very good quality it is. 
As far as I'm aware their American VPN will let you acess hulu.com, a massive site with virtually everything American TV has to offer.
Their American SSH accounts gain access to Fox, abc, nbc, etc.
UK SSH accounts gain access to the BBC iplayer, `live´ BBC direct from bbc.co.uk, Channel 4 and 5 on-demand and also tvcatchup (18 `live´channels in total). 
I'm about to finish my first years subscription and will have no hesitation in renewing.
I've hooked up my PC to the telly with a s-video out cable and enjoy a really good quality picture.
I highly recommend it.


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## Longhorn (May 7, 2008)

I also use a vpn from gotrusted.com to watch Hulu or any of the other services in the US when I forget to DVR something, I think its $5.00 a month, works very well plus gets you access to all the blocked sites in the UAE. My only issue with this vpn is it doesn't work with vista 64-bit, only 32-bit which is a pain cause my desktop has the 64-bit version. But for watching Hulu on my laptop it works perfectly.



TakeItEasy said:


> I've posted before about the Internet streaming services of PC-Streaming.com - Your Streaming Headquarters From 9 Countries.
> They do 9 different countries, UK, America, Canada, Germany etc. I'm using their UK VPN to watch `live´UK TV through Zattoo and tvcatchup. Very good quality it is.
> As far as I'm aware their American VPN will let you acess hulu.com, a massive site with virtually everything American TV has to offer.
> Their American SSH accounts gain access to Fox, abc, nbc, etc.
> ...


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## TakeItEasy (Nov 24, 2008)

Longhorn said:


> I also use a vpn from gotrusted.com to watch Hulu or any of the other services in the US when I forget to DVR something, I think its $5.00 a month, works very well plus gets you access to all the blocked sites in the UAE. My only issue with this vpn is it doesn't work with vista 64-bit, only 32-bit which is a pain cause my desktop has the 64-bit version. But for watching Hulu on my laptop it works perfectly.


That's why pc-streaming.com is more expensive. Their VPN & SSH accounts do work on vista 64-bit and very reliably. I know that for a fact because that's what my operating system is.


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## Blacklogic (May 18, 2009)

As far as I know..in order to watch US or UK TV in the UAE you'll need to have an American or UK Ip address.

It's also possible to use VPN with an IP address from US or UK.


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## vincetruong (May 10, 2009)

*American TV*



Longhorn said:


> OK folks, serious question!
> 
> I am not the type to go out very often, I'm not a real social animal outside of work and for that matter I work a ton and intend on working even more in dubai since I will be single and have no friends...but when I get home what I do like to do is sit down and watch all my favorite shows, especially in the fall. I was just going through my tivo here and realized that I may be missing out on this modern day miracle once I settle in there.
> 
> ...



Go to xtvi dot com. You'll need to install some software but it won't take long to get it running. You can download American TV about a day after it airs.


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## spartan (Apr 28, 2009)

Dude, thanks Vince!
The site is great. 

Instead of sleeping last night, I caught up on Entourage and Californication.


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## vincetruong (May 10, 2009)

*XTVi*



spartan said:


> Dude, thanks Vince!
> The site is great.
> 
> Instead of sleeping last night, I caught up on Entourage and Californication.


You're welcome. If you get a notice threatening prosecution, you didn't hear about it from me. Can't really tell whether the site is legal or not.


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