What is Real Debrid and Why You Need a VPN to use it
What is Real Debrid?
This unrestricted downloading service works with most Kodi add-ons and will allow you on-demand content meaning you can watch television shows and movies to your heart’s content. You can install Kodi’s software package on all the most popular platforms which include your PC, Android, iPhone, Roku, Amazon Fire TV and USB flash drive amongst others.
Real Debrid With Family Link
Third-party add-ons and apps such as Family Link often use unofficial links which makes content incredibly slow to get going or you can only watch them in low quality. This is where Real Debrid comes in. By offering you access to additional file hosts, you will have a much better experience when watching all your favorite movies and shows.
This subscription service is paid, and while there is a free version available it is only in function between the hours of 6 am and noon. As soon as you choose to watch something from Kodi, Real Debrid will offer links from as many as 56 additional supported hosts. These same links are less used resulting in less buffering and even higher quality streaming.
Sounds perfect, right? Well, there’s still the legal issue with Kodi using third party add-ons which stream copyrighted content that isn’t supposed to be free, for free. When you stream this media, your IP can easily be seen by your ISP as well as the government which can lead to legal action which includes fines and even jail time.
According to an article by Express, the statistics speak for themselves.
“Millions of Kodi users are putting themselves at risk from legal action with many still watching premium content without permission. Kodi itself is perfectly legal with the team behind the player actively distancing themselves from illegal streams.
According to a report from Torrentfreak, around 70 percent of all Kodi users still stream content illegally. The statement was made by MPAA Senior Vice President, Government and Regulatory Affairs, Neil Fried, who explained that there are around 38 million Kodi customers across the world.
If the MPAA calculations are correct it would mean around 26 million people are still streaming content without permission – whilst only 11 million are playing by the rules.
Kieron Sharp, the chief executive of the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), said those who use illegal Kodi add-ons “are committing criminal offenses”. Speaking to The Independent earlier this year, he said: “What we’ve been looking at in conjunction with many of our clients and members are the different levels of crime being committed.”
So is it all worth it just to watch the whole last season of Game of Thrones? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean that you still can’t access this sort of content. This can all be achieved with the help of a VPN.
You probably know that your ISP is monitoring your internet activity and limiting your speed based on your streaming habits, sometimes reducing them to the point where your video is constantly buffering forcing you to give up altogether. While this can be frustrating, a reliable VPN will hide your online activity by rerouting your traffic to a completely different location.
A VPN will also allow you to access any regionally restricted content when you connect to a server in that location. So, which VPNs are the best to use for Kodi? We’ll get to that in just a second, but first, let’s see how you can install Real Debrid Kodi.
Installing Real Debrid Kodi
- Go to https://real-debrid.com and click ‘Sign Up’ button on the top right
- When the signup form appears, enter your personal details
- You will receive an email asking you to validate your account. Click the link provided to validate and activate the Real-Debrid account
- Head to their website and click the ‘Login’ button on the top right of the page. Log in with the ID you created when signing up.
- Run Kodi on your device and open up Settings
- Select System settings
- On the bottom left click until you see Advanced
- Select Add-ons on the left sidebar
- Choose Manage dependencies on the right
- Scroll down to the bottom and select URL Resolver
- Choose Configure and Universal Resolvers on the screen that pops up
- Scroll down until you find Real Debrid and hit Priority
- Enter 90 and hit done
- Press OK on the right or the value will change back to 100
- Click Configure
- Select Universal Resolvers again and go down to Real Debrid once more
- Make sure to sign in to your Real Debrid account
- You’ll find a code on the screen which will only be there for two minutes and cannot be copy/pasted, but it’s not case sensitive
- Head to the authorization page and click continue
- As soon as you see that Real Debrid has been authorized go ahead and get the popcorn ready
Now that you have Real Debrid activated it’s time to find out which VPNs are the best to use to keep your steaming activity on the low. Keep the whole family safe and happy whilst streaming online or using apps like Family Link by heading to the links provided below.
Top VPNs For Real Debrid
#1 ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is one of the top-rated VPNs with its easy setup and huge platform support. It has a large server network that features over 3,000 servers in 160 locations throughout the world.
The company is based in the British Virgin Islands. Regarding the privacy, ExpressVPN does not collect the timestamp of connection, the source IP from which the user connected nor the VPN IP the user connected to. The data that they do collect (connection times, apps used, and VPN server locations) cannot be used to associate a user to a specific activity on their network, which means that the user’s online activity remains private and unknown to them and to authorities.
ExpressVPN is compatible with Kodi, Amazon, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, ESPN, HBO and Sky Go. It can be installed on Windows and Mac, provides apps for Blackberry and ExpressVPN MediaStreamer which supports Playstation, Xbox, AppleTV, and Amazon FireTV. It is also possible to install it on Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
Other features include simultaneous connections on five devices, unlimited bandwidth, peer to peer software such as BitTorrent, apps that make it possible to install ExpressVPN on mobile devices and split tunneling which allows geographically restricted content to be accessed no matter where you are located.
A very important feature is the Network Lock switch, a kill switch for Mac and Windows which automatically blocks internet traffic whenever the VPN connection drops. This ensures that your browsing activity is kept under wraps from ISPs.
In brief, ExpressVPN has:
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Ultra-fast streaming speeds
- Compatible with Android TV (Box) and Fire TV
- Apps available for every device
- Hides your streaming activity
- No connection logs
- No activity logs
- P2P possibility
- Ping times that are minimally affected
- ExpressVPN works extremely well in high censorship countries
- Military-grade encryption
- Large international server network
- 30-Day money-back guarantee
- Outstanding customer service
- 99% uptime guarantee
- Up to three simultaneous connections
ExpressVPN also offers a special deal, get 3 months free and 49% savings with their annual subscription plan!
Want to find out more? Check out the full review here.
#2 Surfshark
This VPN company is a newcomer amongst other VPNs, featuring 800 servers across 50 countries. Just like ExpressVPN, it is based in the British Virgin Islands. Though other VPNs can also access Netflix, Surfshark surpasses their capabilities as it encompasses not only Netflix from the UK and the US but also Netflix from 9 other countries (Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Australia, Japan, India, and South Korea).
Surfshark is a well-designed app that is easy to navigate, and it offers a great amount of advantages. It is compatible with Amazon, Mac, iOS, Windows, and Android. As far as speed is concerned, it is comparable with the most established VPN companies, and the speed connection remains high wherever the server is located.
Maintaining user anonymity is of great importance to the company, so it does not collect any of your online activity (this includes IP addresses, browsing history, bandwidth used, connection time stamps and session information).
What is of great importance for the users is that the company has added a kill switch feature, which automatically shuts down any internet connection in case the VPN connection drops and ensures that users will never reveal their identity or location. Due to Surfshark having this feature, you do not have to worry about anyone from the authorities spying on you when using Real Debrid.
What singles Surfshark out from other VPNs are its unlimited connections across devices.
Besides having unlimited connections, this VPN allows for those connections to have unlimited bandwidth as well. It also offers server switching, and is, in general, perfect for streaming content with a consistent and reliable connection. In addition, Surfshark’s servers support torrenting.
As far as customer service is concerned, Surfshark offers 24/7 customer support, consisting of a live chat feature and an FAQ page. This way, customers can resolve their problems quickly.
In short, Surfshark’s main features include:
- Great download speeds
- Zero logging
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Unlimited platform protection
- Unlimited Server Switching
- Some servers work with Netflix
- Strong encryption
- Torrenting allowed
Want to find out more? Check out the full review here
#3 CyberGhost
With over 5,000 servers in 90 countries, CyberGhost is a solid choice for using Real Debrid for Kodi. This VPN has jurisdiction in Romania which doesn’t have to comply with EU Data retention laws meaning that your information regarding streaming and any other online activity will remain anonymous.
You can find out more about this in their privacy policy which states,
“We do NOT know at any time which user ever accessed a particular website or service We do NOT know which user was connected to our CyberGhost VPN service at any given time or which CyberGhost VPN server IP they used We do NOT know the set of original IP addresses of a user’s computer.”
Compatible with platforms such as Windows, Mac, Android iOS and Linux, CyberGhost doesn’t hide the fact that it is P2P friendly which some VPNs shy away from. One of the best parts of signing up with CyberGhost is the 45-day money-back guarantee which will allow you to cancel without any questions asked or hoops to jump through.
The benefits of using CyberGhost for Real Debrid include:
- Strict No Logs Policy
- High speeds
- Automatic Kill Switch
- Simultaneous connections on up to 7 devices
- Easy to use
- 256-bit AES Encryption
- Unlimited bandwidth and traffic
- OpenVPN, L2TP-IPsec and PPTP protocols
- Apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Routers
Want to find out more? Check out the full review here
#4 NordVPN
NordVPN is based in Panama and has one of the biggest server networks – it has more than 5,700 servers in more than 60 countries. The company places its focus on maximum security to ensure total anonymity for its clients.
It is compatible with Kodi, Amazon, Hulu, YouTube, ESPN, Sky Go, and BBC iPlayer. It also provides detailed tutorials along with a 7-day free trial for mobile users. Its technology makes it possible for you to access Netflix, BBC, Amazon Prime, Pandora, etc. In addition, NordVPN has a stable speed that is well above average and has great customer support, offering a 24/7 email and live chat support, not to mention a help center has a great selection of in-depth tutorials.
NordVPN has servers for every purpose, whether you want to simply encrypt your data, torrent or access blocked websites. Moreover, you can connect a variety of devices to this VPN and are able to make six simultaneous connections to the network.
According to NordVPN’s privacy policy, they keep no logs. The only information about their users that they do keep is their email and billing information.
To summarize, NordVPN’s advantages are:
- Over 5000 servers in 62 countries
- IP Leak protection
- Double VPN
- CyberSec
- Onion over VPN
- Simultaneous connections on up to 6 devices
- Automatic Kill Switch
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Set-up and installation takes just minutes
- 24-hour customer support
- 7-day free trial
Want to find out more? Check out the full review here.
Conclusion
Watching your favorite television shows and movies can be simplified by using Real Debrid with Kodi. Whilst having legal implications that can see you fined, or worse getting jail time, using Kodi without such problems is possible with a reliable VPN service. In our experience, ExpressVPN is fast for streaming and incredibly secure.
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