Best Way To Encrypt Data To And From My TV?

[meths]

I'd like to encrypt the data coming to and from my TV using a VPN service that I subscribe to but what's the best way to do this?

I thought about getting a router that I could install the VPN on which would have course apply it network wide and although I like the idea of just encrypting all network traffic at router level, from reading through threads on here that seems to be a bad idea for a number of reasons e.g. reduced bandwidth across the network and problems accessing websites and apps. I don't want to do anything that will cause my wife or kids problems when using their devices on the network.

As I'm happy to use the VPN provider apps on individual devices as and when required how can I deal with the TV as there is no corresponding app available?

I thought about just buying one of these and sticking it between the Virgin router and TV with Open VPN (or Wireguard once it's available on my VPN service) installed so it would only apply to that device but I don't know if it's what I'm looking for or more importantly if it can cope with the required bandwidth for a 4k stream. My starting point is Virgin's 200Mbps connection and I'm also not bothered about getting around geo-blocking so any solution involving the VPN would point to a UK server which I assume would minimise issues to an extent.

So, bearing in mind that I know next to nothing on networking what would you guys recommend as the best solution?

 

[tom_e]

Is using a Firestick with the TV and installing a VPN client on that an option?

 

[meths]

Is using a Firestick with the TV and installing a VPN client on that an option?

Yes, in fact I already have a Firestick doing just that but I'd like to do away with it if possible because the apps on the TV offer a better user experience, I can just work everything with my tv remote and I wouldn't need to switch devices depending on what I want to watch.

I'd also need to invest in a 4k Firestick but I suppose Black Friday can take care of that.

 

[BigT]

I've no experience of that box so can't comment on it from a strong position of knowledge. Looking at the specs it's basically a low spec router running DDWRT, so it'll work but it'll be slow running OpenVPN. My guess is you won't want to use it as your main router so you'll be double NATing the TV behind that and your super hub - shouldn't think it'll cause you a problem but it's not desirable. Alternatives you can consider:

1. The VPN on a firestick you've ruled out
2. A different router as you suggest. This'll get expensive since to do it well you'll probably want to put the super hub into modem only mode and then you need a VPN client capable router and a solution for WiFi. Even going with an all-in-one that can do it will probably cost a fair bit more than that yellow box. The network wide VPN problems may be a red herring though. A router worth its salt will let you do policy based routing. Set reserved IP addresses for your TV and other things you want going through it and just route those out via VPN and your wife and kids will be unaffected.
3. Maybe you have a device/appliance on your network that can do the job of that yellow box. A Raspberry Pi running PiVPN would work. Equally if you have a NAS or media server then often there are containers or VMs that'll let you route through them via a VPN interface.

 

[Avalon]

First up well done for searching/reading, it’s an often ignored step.

I hate the original Fire Stick, it’s woefully under powered for anything serious, but it supports CEC by default, so you only need one remote to control it, your TV and any other CEC aware hardware connected to it (cheap HDMI cables can cause issues, Amazon Basic works well) and switching input is not really any different to pressing a button to launch the smart functions and navigating to your app of choice, so consider if what you have works, is it worth the cost/time before you go any further. Generally unless you’re spending north of £4K, smart functions suck compared to a standalone device and the unfortunate truth is the Shield is still king (it also supports CEC), even the android based TV’s tend to be woefully under powered, I like my FTV4K, but the shield is in a different league.

Do not buy the router you link to, it’s underpowered crap that was average 15 years ago as the last thread it was discussed in should cover - it’s a really low end and underpowered router running a free firmware.

If you do want to go further, a decent router (connection type/speed?) and policy based routing is your friend, or £100ish buys you a a suitable SFF and run pfsense/OpnSense/Untangle etc. either that or if you have a docker friendly environment one of the VPN dockers with Privoxy will work quite well, failing that a Pi may do what you need at a speed that is acceptable depending on the speed of your connection and VPN type. Also consider the media streaming provider who’s service you are using may not take kindly to you using a VPN for a variety of reasons, though that can usually be dealt with (not so much iPlayer/Netflix where it’s just cat & mouse).

 

[meths]

Well that's a revelation. Just went to check and CEC was disabled on my TV. I think I switched it off because it kept turning on the PS4 but I have the option to switch it on and disable the power functions.

I think rather than spend £100+ on a half decent router I'm going to look at the Shield Pro. The extra power should make it able to cope with the vpn app better than the Firestick and I'm intrigued by the retro gaming and Plex server capabilities.

Thanks for the input all, much appreciated.

 

[Avalon]

You don’t need to buy the Pro - you can add a decent SD card and merge storage. The current gen shield has better visual processing, but the original is arguably better than the revised version in both controller and feature set.