TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Directv in SXM

I use Directv as my tv provider for a variety of reasons, However, for the sake of the post my question is whether there is a way to watch tv in SXM without obtaining another type of streaming service.

I have the NFL package and besides watching live TV on network stations I'd like to be able to watch football games.

Is there a way to easily do this?

You can sign on to Directv on your laptop and cast it to a stick in an HDMI port....Chromecast or Fire stick....channel availability will be determined by location but we use a VPN that helps. Hit and miss regarding channel availability

I will try to watch the Patriots game one in France on NFL package and I will report back

I thought Directv blocked casting all-together - even in the US?

We have been able to access NFL Sunday Ticket in the past from our laptop, INSIDE the US. I don't think that Direct TV works outside the US, unless you have something to fake your IP address. I think that is what boucharda is talking about, but I'm pretty tech stupid.

Correct....but with a VPN say in Connecticut there is potential for it to work outside the US since that is where it sees you located. France in a few weeks and I will give it a go

Definitely has zero potential without the VPN

Edit: just found this...kinda pushing product but you get the idea:

https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/watch-directv-stream/#:~:text=As%20a%20result%2C%20it%20is,server%20in%20a%20remote%20location.

boucharda--Let us know how it turns out.

We use SurfShark VPN (no plug as lots of VPNs work just fine, that's just the one we happened to buy) and have used it in Europe and St Martin for streaming Amazon on our tablets and we loaded it into our Firestick and used it in both places too. That said, the last Airbnb we had was super and had tons of streaming so the Firestick stayed in the luggage.

Ok.....verdict is in. I am in a nice 200 year old home in the Dordogne Area of France (Sarlat) and hoped to watch my Patriots defeat the Fish using a VPN and NFL Sunday Ticket on Directv...VPN was set for Atlanta and the feed worked perfectly on my laptop. I had also uploaded the Android app on my phone but that didn't work at all even with a VPN but the laptop was a better choice anyway

I also tried to cast it to the tv but the Chromecast connection had issues with the wifi sign in but that probably is possibility using a different local internet provider....could work in SXM but laptop definitely will

Sooo.......I did have success ...the Patriots didn't

When you cast, the stream is initiated by the streaming device (chromecast or Roku) not your laptop or phone. The laptop or phone becomes little more than a controller in the relationship. So for it to work you need to have both behind the VPN.

As far as I know I cannot download a VPN on to a Chromecast dongle. It just mirrors what I am using to cast (laptop/phone) . I just have to sign in to the wifi with the Chromecast and the laptop does the rest. Done it MANY times. This internet service would not allow it. I normally can cast to the device with or without the VPN which was only used to access NFL Sunday Ticket on the laptop...not the Chromecast which, again, just mirrors what I have in front of me....and definitely not ever initiated by the Chromecast which only requires me to sign in to the wifi

Edit: Soooo after some research the VPN has to be uploaded onto the physical or virtual wifi router (not the Chromecast) so that both the Wifi router and the laptop/phone are on the same network. WAAAAY too complicated an install for a football game

i hooked up my firestick last year at LaPlage, and got every tv station i get home. Was nice to have choices...and we watched a few movies too

i guess it depends on the aggressiveness of your US provider, or maybe the effectiveness of your vpn...we spend a chunk of each summer in europe, and while accessing US tv is not an interest of ours, just out of curiosity i've tried streaming our Xfinity cable tv channels using a vpn, and Xfinity still blocks us due to identifying us as being outside the US

we never even turn the tv on in SXM, but am now curious, so will try it next time

Boucharda - I probably should have been more precise - sorry, I'm a networking guy/engineer so I'm a lousy teacher. :-).
(for sake of this discussion I am going to assume we are in a locale that the content provider restricts and requires us to use a VPN -- that is totally dependent on the stream provider - some are locale restrictive others are not)

Chromecasting has two different modes - Screen mirroring and full streaming (Casting):

Mirroring: If you mirror your device to the chromecast, then yes only your laptop has to be 'behind' the VPN. Basically it will 'mirror' your display to the chromecast. That means the content is streamed between the streaming server and your laptop, and the screen content is 'copied' and sent to the chromecast. While this works, it can result it stuttering, and resolution loss, and it puts all the load on the client device (laptop or phone). It also results in higher network loads because the content goes from server->laptop->chromecast. You should use this mode only when whatever you want to cast does not support casting natively (see 'Streaming' below) -- I believe that is the case with DirecTV unless that has changed recently. This mode was originally put in place to support casting content like Spreadsheets, and Powerpoints in meeting situations, and while it works for video, like I said it may not be the best. ..but if it's all you have then there you go.

Streaming (Casting): This is the mode where the application you wish to stream has built in chromecast support (Many do) - the little cast icon shows up as part of the application (Netflix, youtube, SiriusXM,...). This is the mode I was referring to in my first post. When streaming, the controling device (laptop or phone) simply acts as a remote control, and it sends the stream info to the chromecast, and the stream is handled by the chromecast. This is the best mode for streaming content (and primary intended mode for media) in that the content only moves between the streaming servers and the chromecast. (Server->Chromecast), and is of the highest quality. However, in this case the chromecast device and the controlling device (Laptop or phone) must be on the same network and if a VPN is required, the same shared VPN.

Yes, you are correct, you can not install a VPN client on the Chromecast. I used the term 'behind' above when I was referring to the VPN. As you pointed out in your edit above BOTH devices have to be on the same network. So even if you could put a VPN client on the Chromecast, it would not work - which is why you can't. VPNs are not a simple discussion in that there are a lot of ways to set them up. I'm crazy, and I usually carry a travel router with me - I setup my own Wifi network with it, put a VPN on that router, and then connect that router to the hotel or villas Wifi. Then EVERYTHING that I attach to MY Wifi network is 'behind' the VPN and on the same network. I am not recommending that, just saying that is what I do. The VPN server I connect to is my own at home. So I have access to all of my home services and I have an encrypted VPN tunnel to home wherever I am, and my locale is always in Raleigh. Like I said, I'm crazy, but you know how engineers are - if you can do it, then why not.

The point to all of this is that yes, you can mirror when you cast - with DirecTV that is likely your only option. It's the simplest - in this case, and mostly works -- just understand the limitations.
For those of you Roku users - conventional casting does not apply at all, but they do have something called "Play on Roku" which is the same as mirroring in Chromecast - with the same limitations. ...and they do not support a VPN on device.

Hope this helps a little.

That definitely covers the topic completely...but I will probably just watch the NFL on my laptop and save the brain work...thanks

Yes, all of that definitely made my brain hurt! I'm glad next month we're going to the beach here in Florida, and I can watch NFL Sunday Ticket on my laptop without any shenanigans!

PnPinNC, and here endeth the lesson, great job and explanation. Wow I’m surprised you didn’t charge a fee for that, LOL (just joking). That reminds me of what happed to me and my wife in Charlotte waiting for a flight to SXM many, many years ago. This was right after Apple just released there first laptops, I turned my laptop into a router and packed it with all kinds of stuff (to long to go into) including our VPN at the time. At time we were living in Raleigh and flew to Charlotte for our flight to SXM. When we arrived in Charlotte, my wife wanted to watch a live tv show, so out the laptop came, fired it up and opened up the program, and presto she’s watching live tv and changing channels from our tv in Raleigh. Several people walked by inquiring on how we were able to do that, the norm questions, she could hardly watch her show, then after awhile we looked around behind us and there must have been 75 people standing behind us watching tv on our laptop. After that it was like class was in session,LOL. Thank the lord, shortly after that our flight was called to board. That’s still funny to this day, but technology has advanced to much, that when I look back at that, it looks like we were rubbing sticks and stones together. But that year we were able to sit back and watch the super bowl in Sxm with the owners of the villa we were renting from.

But once again, GREAT explanation!

SXMFOX - Thank you sir. I totally get your story - happens all the time. IT help is never one and done. There is nothing like being the family support guy. :-)

For those of you seeking to watch sports while in SXM, I discovered a simpler option. The web site www.streameast.xyz works anywhere and is totally free. I was able to watch games on Sunday with my Amazon Fire Stick.

Probably should use a VPN when viewing.....

Google Chromecast opinion link