Are there any tricks to access sites like Hulu and NetFlix outside the US? It’s true that folks outside of United States can access the content of Hulu, NetFlix, and Pandora comfortably using Media Hint, a proxy extension that’s free to use.
Media Hint is a free browser extension available for both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browser. The extension, once installed, promises to bypass geolocation restrictions and brings the contents of Hulu, NetFlix, and Pandora on your browser.
Does Media Hint Really Work?
After installing Media Hint on Firefox, restarting the browser (you don’t have to do this on Chrome), and typing Hulu.com in the address bar, we were welcomed to a rich page full of videos. The magic, unfortunately, doesn’t happen right away.
When trying to watch a video on Hulu, we were introduced to a message: “Sorry, currently our video library can only be watched from within the United States.” Just when we thought the extension doesn’t work, the message disappeared and was replaced with a video player.
Hulu’s video player started streaming the video, which was a surprise. Media Hint works.
Even NetFlix’s homepage — shows “only for US” message for non-US users — now redirects to a signup page. We did not test NetFlix as much as we would like to.
Pandora, not a huge fan of this site either, played the radio station we chose.
If Hulu.com still welcomes you with “not available in your country” message, then you may have to disable plugins that changes your network settings. For instance, Jason was not able to access any of these sites from Australia even after installing Media Hint on Firefox, but disabling FoxyProxy — a proxy management addon — did the trick.
Subscribing to VPN services still remain as one of the popular way to access US-only sites, but such services can burn a hole in your pocket. Free proxies out there are not helping either, as they often expire quickly or simply doesn’t work as advertised.
There’s something special about Media Hint. The service was launched at Garage48, a startup incubator that swims against the tide to convert ideas into reality.
There’s no need to configure anything after downloading Media Hint. The extension works as advertised, but for how long we don’t know. The Privacy Policy of Media Hint reveals that our data while we browse through Hulu, NetFlix, or Pandora is not collected.
The page further states that “We [Media Hint] collect data only about your behavior on our site and information you submit to us yourself.”
Note: Test we did indicates that some Hulu videos didn’t stream at all. The black video player appeared, although video didn’t load.
Proxy extension like this will probably be blocked in the near future or stops working when Hulu, NetFlix and Pandora refines their website’s algorithm. Take advantage of this extension immediately, if you have desire to watch episodes that’s airing in the US television, have a thing for music, and love watching US-only videos.
Download Media Hint Addon:
Have you downloaded Media Hint? Are you able to access all the Hulu videos, Pandora Music and shows on NetFlix? Let us know through your comments below!
Update 1: Has Media Hint stopped working on Chrome? Clear the cache and cookies and restart the browser. This should fix the problem.
Update 2: Pandora doesn’t work on Google Chrome browser but works fine on Mozilla Firefox at the moment.
