Need computer advice

[Coyote Chris]

This is a very long intricate story so I will shorten it up.
NBC will no longer stream figure skating coverage on demand. Only live.
IF I had a VPN, for instance maybe the free one in Opera, I can watch the International Skating Union coverage of the season on demand...pretending I am in the Neatherlands, for instance.

Anyone use an inexpensive intuitive VPN?

 

[DirtFlier]

For several years, I bought a one-month subscription to an Australian VPN to watch daily coverage clips of the Dakar Rally but it never worked out. I ended up watched the daily clips on YouTube (free!) and decided that I didn't care if it was a day late!

 

[Tenmilsocket]

I've been using Private Internet Access for probably a couple of years and have been happy with it. That is to say, I have had no "problems". I don't use it all the time but when I need it, I just start it and it auto selects the fastest available connection but you can choose from a list of domestic and international servers ranked by latency. I don't stream but generally my download speeds top out at 800K/s while using it on their recommendation. I signed up initially for a couple of years and then took them up on a multi year special they were running but it looks like it's a little over $2/month currently. I'm running Linux Mint as my OS and it works fine on it but I have no experience running it on Windows/MacOS.

 

[Hondafan]

This is a very long intricate story so I will shorten it up.
NBC will no longer stream figure skating coverage on demand. Only live.
IF I had a VPN, for instance maybe the free one in Opera, I can watch the International Skating Union coverage of the season on demand...pretending I am in the Neatherlands, for instance.

Anyone use an inexpensive intuitive VPN?

I tried opera vpn years ago and it was too slow. I now pay for NordVPN, mainly for privacy, and accessing some world content that is firewalled in Canada. You can choose an IP for almost any country and access content. It works well. When you watch something in the Netherlands, the narrative may be in Dutch. I think Nord has a free trial.

 

[Coyote Chris]

I've been using Private Internet Access for probably a couple of years and have been happy with it. That is to say, I have had no "problems". I don't use it all the time but when I need it, I just start it and it auto selects the fastest available connection but you can choose from a list of domestic and international servers ranked by latency. I don't stream but generally my download speeds top out at 800K/s while using it on their recommendation. I signed up initially for a couple of years and then took them up on a multi year special they were running but it looks like it's a little over $2/month currently. I'm running Linux Mint as my OS and it works fine on it but I have no experience running it on Windows/MacOS.

Thanks for your input! I will look into it.

 

[Coyote Chris]

I tried opera vpn years ago and it was too slow. I now pay for NordVPN, mainly for privacy, and accessing some world content that is firewalled in Canada. You can choose an IP for almost any country and access content. It works well. When you watch something in the Netherlands, the narrative may be in Dutch. I think Nord has a free trial.

Thanks! I have a 10 mb download speed and Opera may not work....this is all predicated on whether or not the ISU broadcasts on youtube the GP circuit on demand. Right now, they are broadcasting on youtube live and on demand the entire JUNIOR Grand Prix for free, no geo blocking, and the quality of the video and audio is excellent.
I can watch Skate America and Skate CAnada on Peacock live but I dont get USA or E! channels so I cant record them and time shift. Bummer.

A US skater used a piece of music without permission last season....the minor rock group sued them, NBC, and the US figure skating association, who sold the broadcast rights to NBC...now everyone is scared over replays. Europe is fine and Canada is fine.

 

[Hondafan]

A lot of hockey players up here (me included), took figure skating. It taught you how to get full power into your skating (speed), taught you different ways to turn, and improve balance. Nowadays hockey players are very competent skaters, 25 years ago not so much.

 

[Coyote Chris]

A lot of hockey players up here (me included), took figure skating. It taught you how to get full power into your skating (speed), taught you different ways to turn, and improve balance. Nowadays hockey players are very competent skaters, 25 years ago not so much.

Thanks! Interesting factoid!
Jennifer Wester, who set 17 shooting records in metallic sillywette shooting in one day at the Penn. state matches, and held 20 records at one time, took up figure skating to improve her balance. She switched disaplines and did very well nationally and internationally as a skater.