Quick Set Up of OpenVPN in Smart TVs

5 October 2018 

Update 9 Oct 2018
Understand Beijing is tightening up its rules on radio and TV commercial violating laws and regulation .  Most likely,  one would not be able to view many TV commercial programs or movies on line for quite sometiime.

Some Chinese movies, dramas  or documentary films and also, some of those from YouTube are always locked and viewable only by users in certain designated countries.  Those in other countries will have to resort to other methods to view these contents.  This article will show how to do this using VPN.

What is VPN?

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a service that will  let one access the web by routing one's network  connection through an external server; thus hiding one's  local IP address so that the "web master" of that particular web site cannot tell exactly where one is actually coming from.  

Which VPN provider?

One should always choose a VPN service provider that has a server in the host country so that one can always get the best downloading speed.  To do that one should always “ping” the VPN provider’s server to find out how their server would perform before signing up the service.    It is also good to check with the VPN service provider if their servers can receive the contents from the particular website.

How to “Ping” and Check?

Usually,  the VPN provider will provide a Host Name list of their servers in various countries for  their members.   In the case of PureVPN,   the list is shown here.

All one has to do next is to ping the particular server by using the Window's  Command Prompt;  i.e. at the Prompt,  type and ping the host name .  For example,  one could have selected the a Beijing server for Chinese movies, then type "ping cn1.pointtoserver.com" where "cn1.pointtoserver.com" is the host name of the Beijing server given by PureVPN.  .   The PC will  tell the response time which is shown attached to vary between  38ms to 49 ms.  These values are far less than 100 ms which is usually the minimum required for streaming HD movies; on the other hand,  the 1st server from Bangladesh is found not suitable as it clocked more than 100 ms.

 How to Setup?

After having found the right VPN provider,  one should first subscribe and register with VPN provider to get a username and the password from them.  

Take PureVPN for example,   there are 2 ways to setting up their VPN servers

Method 1 :  Using Provider’s APK

1.   Download PureVPN’s apk for Android TV  from google store  or from here 

2.   Log in and follow up with the instructions given  to log into the desired VPN server

Method 2 :  Using OpenVPN’s APK

1.  Download an universal VPN called “OpenVPN” from google store or from here; after that,

2.  Download OpenVPN configuration files from here. or directly from here (old)  or from here (New)

 Note that there are 2 folders marked “TCP” and “UDP” in the 2nd download.  The folders contain information files of the various servers all over the World.  Select those files in “TCP” folder because TCP is a better protocol.

Step by Step Procedure

Step	Action	Image  (Click image to enlarge)
1	Fire up OpenVPN APK and then select "OVPN Profile"
2	A list of available folders will show up,  allow users to select the correct folder where OpenVPN configuration files is stored.  Once the folder is selected,   a list of servers in various countries will show up for further selection.  Select "China-Beijing-TCP.ovpn" and press "Import" at top right hand corner
3	In the next screen,  enter the  username and then select "save password" and the screen will be extended for entering the password.  On completion,  press add at top right hand corner.
4	This request for permission to connect screen will next appear.  Click ok to accept
5	When the next screen asking for certificate appears,  press continue to ignore the certificate selection
6	On successful connection,   one should see this screen appearing to give a graph and text showing the connection speeds

Which Set up is better?

Apparently,  the OpenVPN is better set up for TV as it is not only more stable but also less cumbersome to use.

Update 8 October 2018 

Since after September 2018,  Xiaomi TV movies can no longer be watched on Xiaomi TV by changing the DNS setting of the television.  One would be faced with the following error 601 message

Understand PureVPN users and the like are also blocked from viewing Xiaomi TV movies.  However,  some VPN service provider like Transsock（穿梭TV版)  can work but the streaming speed is not good.   There might be others such as 领导者IP代理 6.6 but they have not been tested for security issues.  

Registering as a VIP member of Youku and other entertaining service provider will not overcome the problem as it is understood copyright is a separate issue from membership.



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