
Show HN: Smartflix – Watch Netflix content from any country - romaincointepas
Hey,<p>I’ve just released the first beta of Smartflix, a Mac app that lets you easily watch Netflix content from any country.<p>Here are some of the key features:
- The ENTIRE Netflix library (~14,000 movies &amp; TV Shows episodes)
- 1080p support (Google Chrome and Firefox only support 720p)
- Manual quality selection
- Media Keys support
- Mini-player (this one is pretty cool)<p>Screenshots:
http:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;a&#x2F;Hb94s<p>Download link:
https:&#x2F;&#x2F;dl.devmate.com&#x2F;com.smartflix.Smartflix&#x2F;Smartflix.dmg
(Security note: the app is signed).<p>How it works
It proxifies some www.netflix.com requests when needed to bypass location restrictions. The stream and most of the heavy other assets comes directly from Netflix. It is WAY better and safer than VPNs and “smart DNS” services (both potentially routing and&#x2F;or intercepting every requests your computer makes at any time).<p>There is a live chat inside the app for feedback or support, if you have any questions or suggestions we can talk there.<p>By the way, all the Back to the Future movies are available right now. That’s what I will be watching tonight!<p>(PS: Windows version is coming soon)
(PS 2: It is completely free for now, until you guys and I are satisfied with the quality of the app)
======
benologist
I think you are missing an opportunity by making this only work on macs, even
with a windows release. We use
[http://www.adfreetime.com](http://www.adfreetime.com) which is a dns server
that circumvents region restrictions and the value of doing it at that level
is you can put it in your router and then _all_ your netflix devices are
covered - only covering a computer just isn't representative of how we (prob.
most people?) watch netflix.

~~~
romaincointepas
Yes, that's the trade-off here basically. The experience of
browsing/searching/selecting a movie to then switch DNS is quite paintful, but
works on TV. Smartflix is one-click-play, but doesn't.

But you are definitely right when saying that most people watch Netflix on TV.

~~~
benologist
Maybe you could set your software up so people can configure their router to
point at the computer with your software so other devices can access it as the
dns server?

~~~
romaincointepas
There are already plenty of services offering smart DNS solutions (Unotelly,
unblockus), I think I will stay in my corner with my simple click-and-play
desktop app :)

But yeah, your solution would definitely work, but would be impossible to
understand/setup for the non-techy users.

------
radoslawc
Hi! Maybe you can provide some technical details? What's "helper application"
it tries to install on first run? Any source code available?

~~~
romaincointepas
The helper app is there to update proxies for www.netflix.com requests while
watching a movie. As soon as you stop playing the movie it removes that
specific proxy rule. It is better and safer than the common "smart DNS" trick
because it does not route nor intercept requests to other domains.

Also, I will remove this helper in the incoming version (found a better way).

