Hi all,
American here, who decided to experiment with buying a month of a TSN sub to see if I could get it to work, since all I really want to watch is sports, and TSN has every sport I want, and is orders of magnitude cheaper than any other option down here.
It actually does work, for the most part. I can watch TSN on my computer with no issue. However, for some reason the VPN on my phone, and the VPN on my Firestick, don’t seem to work with TSN and so it either still detects I’m in the US, or won’t download the TSN app at all, respectively (I assume this is due to the apps detecting the VPN.)
My other solution, and what I do when I want to watch Kurt Browning’s figure skating commentary on CBC, is to just cast my PC screen to my TV via Chromecast. That’s worked with everything I’ve every tried it with, EXCEPT TSN. I can get the screen casted and mirrored fine, and everything (including the audio) shows up, EXCEPT for the video player, which is just black (even though it shows as playing just fine on my PC.)
That’s a lot of long winded background to ask this: is the black video player when casting my PC screen (screen, not tab) to Chromecast because of my VPN? Or is that a TSN player issue that you guys run into as well? Any insight (or other ideas or tips for getting the app to work on my phone with a VPN!) would be awesome, if you got 'em.
Much appreciated all.
You’re learning first hand what many people already know. Anytime you cast something especially with the Chromecast a VPN won’t work because the Chromecast does its own DNS sniff essentially ignoring your VPN and its settings on the initial device.
You don’t indicate what version of the Chromecast you are using as well as what VPN you are using. Not all VPN’s are created equal and many streaming services block certain IP ranges.
and the VPN on my Firestick, don’t seem to work with TSN and so it either still detects I’m in the US, or won’t download the TSN app at all, respectively (I assume this is due to the apps detecting the VPN.)
If your fire stick is set up with a US account then you only have access to the US App Store and TSN is not in the US App store since it’s a Canadian only app.
As others have suggested a VPN is actually not the solution but rather a DNS service. You can’t use a DNS service with Chromecast because you can’t modify the DNS. You can do that with a fire stick but you need the native TSN app from the Canadian App Store.
American in the same boat. This has been a very helpful thread.
A smart DNS service that supports TSN would be a better versus a VPN.
Your phone is almost definitely using GPS, not DNS.
American who just saw this post. I’ve got it working on my iPhone. However, I cannot get it to work on my desktop. I have disabled my add blocker and tried Firefox/safari. How did you get things working?
-app store for firestick might be region locked. Can sideload apps?
-black screen when mirroring/casting might be drm?
-try the firesticks web browser. It might work for some things but probably will just redirect you to the app?
If you use dns codes the service you use might have to offer a Canada reroute (?) to tsn. I use a dns service and not all sites are unblocked/rerouted so not all services get region changed and not all regions are available.
-apps might use google dns to locate you? Can block google dns.
Im in the UK and use a VPN to view TSN no problem
I’ve had my Samsung TV detect a VPN when screen mirroring a UK show in Canada. Could be your tv?
Ahhh all of that makes a lot of sense. Thank you so much for the info.
You know what I found really weird though, I often cast (by mirroring, not direct casting) my screen to my Chromecast with the VPN on, and that even works with TSN, except that the player is blacked out! The rest of the screen mirrors perfectly, as does the audio.
And apologies for the lack of info. NordVPN is what I’m using, with a second generation Chromecast.
Can I ask a semi-unrelated question since you’re so knowledgeable. I’m having trouble getting CBC Gem using my VPN, despite the fact that sites like TSN and SN work just fine. Does Gem do something special to combat VPNs that I would need something like a DNS spoofer to access? Or am I just having bad luck getting the streams to work?
Huh. I’ve never looked into those before. Not quite sure how they work, although I get the general idea.
Do you have one you’d especially recommend?
Y’know I’m the opposite I can’t get it to work on my phone but works on my PCs.
Tbh I didn’t do anything special. Just turned on Nord VPN to Canada, and it worked. I mean you also have to be subbed to TSN to see live stuff but yeah.
I can watch it just fine on my PC, it’s casting it that’s the issue! Do you use Chromecast with your VPN?
I don’t think so, purely because I can mirror CBC just fine. (They’re also a lot more lax I suspect though, because they aren’t broadcasting sports most of the time.)
If you search on here you’ll find plenty of posts about how awful an app / streaming service TSN is to begin with. TSN has lots of issues no matter what platform you use it on, the best version of the service is via the Apple TV.
You’ll find lots of posts on here of people having issues with TSN and casting it. The parent company that builds and maintains the service doesn’t know what they are doing…. They only just released a native app for the latest version of the Chromecast a month ago (same with the fire stick) even though the service is 7+ years old.
The Chromecast and fire stick are just not great streaming devices.
When you ask for help, you really need to specify what device you are talking about because it matters, VPN’s and streaming services operate differently when it comes to streaming devices versus mobile versus in browser versus OTT devices . Also most people in this sub myself included are in Canada and don’t often use a VPN to access any Canadian streaming services. We are doing the opposite using VPN / DNS to access US/UK services.
As such most people won’t have a lot of knowledge of how to access services they can get easily domestically without the need of a VPN/DNS service because rarely will they want to watch something like CBC while outside of the country.
I can tell you that when I do rarely actually use my VPN to access a US service sometimes I have to try multiple servers because many streaming services will block certain VPN’s IP ranges.
I use dns4me but I don’t know if they support TSN or not. Their site should say.
Hi OP,
Nord VPN provides DNS service with my VPN subscription, so I presume it’s available for all their subs. Just google the setup steps.
This should resolve any issue you might have with Canadian content. On the topic of content, I encourage you to explore other international streaming services such as BBC iPlayer and SBS on Demand
Go figure lol. I made an account on TSN website and subscribed to TSG Go for the month. I got charged $14.99 from my iTunes balance. Once everything was setup I turned on the VPN and was able to watch some hockey earlier. Can’t get it to work on my computer for the life of me but AirPlay is working on the AppleTV 4K.