Tuesday 17 June 2014

FIFA World cup fever - Watch the game on the move (iPad iPhone Nexus 7) No Root Jailbreak required

Just a quick post for those on the move who are worried about missing some world cup action. Just a few free, yes you read right I said free, options to watch the game without having the need of a Jailbroken or Rooted device.

These apps are only available to people in the UK. I will put a few steps at the end if you want to watch and are outside the UK.


Device

Wether you have an IOS or an Android device I've found some free apps to help me watch the game when I am on the move.  Using my iPad/Nexus 7, I haven't found a truly HD compatible app and find it annoying that it's not as clear as I would like it, to make use of the resolution capable with these devices. That aside, the apps below do make a fine attempt and who am I to complain when its free.

Also, none of them seem to allow selection of playback quality, this seemed to be dependant on cellular connection.


Apps


TVCatchup - Probably the best for those wanting an all-in-one. This has all the channels you need, BBC/ITV etc and also some of the +1 hr and different variant channels for highlights.


Pros - Has all the channels you need, so no need to switch between apps. Ability to skip Ads.

Cons - Quality on larger devices is not great, but is normally dependant on connection. Quality seemed to be the worst from the three apps but definitely watchable. Sometime has buffer issues.

iPlayer - Clean user interface. This only has BBC channels but I preferred to use this when games were broadcast on the BBC.


Pros - Clear and easy navigation. Good quality. Ability to skip Ads.

Cons - Only BBC channels.

ITV Player - Clear and easy navigation. Again, like the iPlayer if a game was broadcast on ITV I preferred to use this app. Don't know if it was just me but it did seem to have the best picture quality of the three apps. Tad annoying that you cant skip advertisements and have to wait for them to finish.


Pros - Clear and easy navigation. Better quality than the other apps tested.

Cons - Cant skip Ads and sometimes displays multiple before stream. Limited ITV channels.


Using this outside the UK


To be able use these apps outside the UK for IOS you need follow the two steps below. For Android you only need to do step 2 as it will let you download and install region specific apps with other app markets.


Step 1 - Create a UK apple ID. This is so that you can download the app onto your device. If your ID is not a UK one it will not allow you to download the app.


Step 2 - Use a free VPN service (plenty of them around, google is your friend, I use www.justfreevpn.com). The apps can check your location via your ISP, and if this is based outside of the UK will not allow the streaming but using a VPN based in the UK will make your connection look like it is based in the UK.



Hope this helps and enjoy. Let me know if you have any question and I will try my best to help.

No comments:

Post a Comment