Open up a whole new world of TV and film with this little Netflix 'hack'

Got Netflix? Got a little bored with their limited content? Well, I can help you with that! There's two easy ways to get a world of Netflix, opening up hundreds - if not thousands - more movies and TV shows.

Firstly, the free method:

If you're using Google's Chrome browser you can install an extension called 'Hola'. This allows you to select, from a drop down menu, a different country for you to appear to be from when visiting websites. This little picture explains it bit better...

So, if you're in the UK and wanted to watch, say, Cartoon Network's 'Adventure Time' - which isn't available on UK Netflix - you'd simply sign in to netflix.com, click on the fire-faced fella in the top right of your browser, select 'US' and refresh the page. That's it!

Before...

After...

And now the pay way:

If that's so easy, free and works, why would you want to pay? Simple - Hola only works in the browser. You can't use it on Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, set-top-box or smart TV. For those you'll need something like Unblock Us, which costs around £3 per month.

Unblock Us will work with pretty much any device that allows you to change DNS settings. Don't worry if you don't know anything about DNS settings, I didn't until I started using the service. Usually it just involves going into a device's internet settings and changing two lines of numbers. That's it! I've done this with various tablets, Google TV, Xbox 360 and a Wii. Sadly it won't work on Roku as that doesn't allow you to change such things.

Once you've entered Unblock Us's DNS numbers, it's just a matter of changing the Neflix country you wish to watch content from. This can be done on anything that has a browser and is connected to the same network.

 

As an example, here's a bunch of Brazilian movies you can't see in Blighty, usually!

So, there you have it. A whole new world of Netflix has opened up - all for no extra cost, or just £3. On top of that you'll also have access to dozens of other streaming sites - such as the US and Canadian equivalents of iPlayer: Hulu and CTV Player. These are great if you want to see some of the best American shows a day or two after they air over there. I use CTV Player for my fix of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, and Hulu for the (original) Israeli version of Homeland - 'Prisoners'.