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How to Watch Live Japanese Television (For Free!)

Started by tofugu · 10 months ago

This article is all thanks to rjhoolan, who tipped me on this via Twitter. First off, thank you rjhoolan for this tip. It’s freakin amazing! Anyways, if you’re reading this, you probably want to watch some Japanese television. Not only that, but you probably want ... Continue reading »

59 comments

  • y

    10 months ago

    Gasp! A boxer who seduces a nun? Sounds like 1Pound no Fukuin/One Pound Gospel!! <3
    Say no more, some serious J-drama watching awaits.

    Thanks to you and rjhoolan for the tip!!
    reply
  • TDoWF

    10 months ago

    OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH
    I am posting a link to this page on my fav BBS hope it is ok with you...... cuz i done did :)
    reply
  • yuka

    10 months ago

    can you give us a follow-up when the mac version is ready?? thanks ;-)
    reply
  • Mathias

    10 months ago

    Awesome! Thanks for the hint. Not only can I watch Japanese TV now, but also American TV, even though I assume that you can't watch all available channels, 'cause I don't see ABC or NBC. Great anyways. ^^
    reply
  • astrorainfall

    10 months ago

    Awesome idea but too bad this doesn't work on Macs. Zanen...
    reply
  • Mrwindupbird

    10 months ago

    Great find :D
    reply
  • Rob_Hoolan

    10 months ago

    Hehe I'm happy you all enjoy my tip off.
    reply
  • クリス

    10 months ago

    This is a good alternative to watching Japanese media. Normally I'd ask my friend to record a couple stuff for me on her DVR and send it to me. Maybe this will lighten up her load. Thanks for the tip, I'll be sure to check it out when I get off work.
    reply
  • TheJF

    10 months ago

    Hmm, I've tried this on Windows XP running from VMWare on a Mac, but it's incredibly unstable. :( The WMV channels work, but when it comes to the TVU ones, 9/10 they crash the app while it connects, and if it does connect (like it did with Asahi where some guy was wearing a bikini and sliding down a waterslide) it randomly decides to freeze up and crash (which led to hearing a splash and then "すごいーごいーごい" as the audio stuttered in the dying moments of the application :P)

    Thanks for the tip still though.
    reply
  • JackTamaki

    10 months ago

    Too bad I have a Mac. :( I still like Macs better, but a lot of great applications out there aren't available on the Mad yet. My family has a communal Windows computer, so maybe I'll try to see how it will work on that one. Hopefully a Mac version of TVU networks will come out before I go to college and lose access to my family's home computer. XD
    reply
  • Syntobu

    10 months ago

    Anyone know how this compares to keyhole tv?
    http://www.v2p.jp/video/Viewer/ for those who haven't heard of it, no mac version, but there is a linux version.
    reply
  • Rob_Hoolan

    10 months ago

    The quality is a tiny bit better and there are channels from all over the world on TVU player.

    But its doesn't have some of the station that keyhole TV has.
    reply
  • BZou

    10 months ago

    Dude AMAZING FIND!! Mad props to you and rjhoolan.
    reply
  • lmazon

    10 months ago

    I had problems getting this to work. I couldn't watch many channels, and the application would suddenly shut down, sometimes with an error. I hit the forums, and found this is a common issue with the latest version of the application. Somebody has posted the previous version. It's an executable, so just download it an run it. When it asks you to upgrade, say no. This seemed to fix things for me. It's missing a couple new features, but it works. Here it is: http://rapidshare.com/files/97838113/P._TVUPlay...
    reply
  • CuriousKitty

    10 months ago

    Amazing find! I was able to get it up in running in a little under 3 minutes. I'm currently watching Lost dubbed. lol
    reply
  • pestonio

    10 months ago

    Wow, it works so easily, nice find guys.
    As if i needed another reason to watch TV...
    reply
  • Maciel

    10 months ago

    thanks you Koichi for the post and rjhoolan for telling Koichi about this lol
    reply
  • Tatsuri

    10 months ago

    I love TVU Player. I was able to watch Last Friends because of this program.
    KeyHole TV is another one, but the quality isn't as good.
    reply
  • Viet

    10 months ago

    I don't remember the last time a show made me want to beat the shit out of one of its characters.
    reply
  • Kazen

    10 months ago

    Imazon, thanks so much for posting that link. I was having the same problems, but they're all fixed now. So begins an unhealthy obsession! ^_^
    reply
  • ch1ka

    10 months ago

    My mum loves you!
    reply
  • justin

    10 months ago

    i put it on both my vista and xp box, it randomly crashes at between 15 seconds and 5 minutes on both :( exactly the reason I can't use keyhole.
    reply
  • K3NJ1

    10 months ago

    That's awsome - can't wait to get home to try it out, but it sounds too good to be true - have never had consistent results with streaming software, especially on a wireless set up...

    Thanks anyway
    reply
  • Mai

    10 months ago

    Oh noes! My poor Mac ;__;~ I shall go to the campus computer labs to watch :D.
    reply
  • lawnmowerlatte

    10 months ago

    This is fantastic. I can't wait to fire up VMWare. Do you think anyone is broadcasting childrens' shows?
    reply
  • insomniacgamer

    10 months ago

    i've used this program since forever... works great :)
    reply
  • Finlay Clark

    10 months ago

    Wow nice! Thanks Koichi and rjhoolan!
    reply
  • Ledzep1

    10 months ago

    Thank you so much!!! I was just about to shell out like 20 bucks a month for TV japan... My only question is that if this is live and I live in LA that means the best shows (primetime) are on at like three in the morning right?
    reply
  • Lauren

    10 months ago

    Mine is constantly freezing, closing itself, and asking me to send error reports! Anyone else have this problem and know why it's happening? I can't watch a channel for more than 20 seconds without it having an epi!
    reply
  • emiko

    10 months ago

    yay! now i can watch japanese dramas! still looking for the hana yori dango movie! it came out in the beginning of the summer and i STILL cannot find it! poor me :( . . . lots of good drama coming out of japan though! so i'm really excited!
    reply
  • WOTDsctoo

    10 months ago

    !!! Wow! Thank you so much Koichi and rjhoolan!!!!

    Japanese TV rocks. Major props!
    reply
  • Chris

    10 months ago

    For all with problems, I had very similar issues. However, lmazon, a user here, posted somewhere above amidst all the thank you's (and for my part, THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!!!) with a solution that worked for me. Here it is again:

    "I had problems getting this to work. I couldn't watch many channels, and the application would suddenly shut down, sometimes with an error. I hit the forums, and found this is a common issue with the latest version of the application. Somebody has posted the previous version. It's an executable, so just download it an run it. When it asks you to upgrade, say no. This seemed to fix things for me. It's missing a couple new features, but it works. Here it is: http://rapidshare.com/files/97838113/P._TVUPlay...
    reply
  • Lana

    10 months ago

    This is so cool. I wish there was a way to see subtitled shows on this, though.
    reply
  • Tonio

    10 months ago

    This is a great find! Thanks soooo much!
    By the way, I also had problems with the program randomly shutting down, but the advice given above is what solved it. Just get a slightly older version of the program and things will work fine. The version I have doesn't display a drop-down menu for languages, but I can still search the list manually for the Japanese flag.

    This will help alot with listening practice!
    reply
  • Sukotto

    10 months ago

    I can't believe I didn't know about this sooner! I love it!
    reply
  • Sougen02

    10 months ago

    Whoa-ly crud. Thanks!
    If only I knew about this before! lol


    What I worry is... how long do you think it will be before eventually you will have to pay to watch live?? 0.0
    reply
  • Kash

    10 months ago

    will this rape my bandwidth?
    reply
  • Viet

    10 months ago

    depends how long you watch...
    reply
  • solstyce

    10 months ago

    Awww.. oh well. That's too bad it won't work on Macs yet, but I can wait for it.
    Luckily I have both platforms :)
    reply
  • Elliott

    10 months ago

    You don't need to download the application to watch it!
    I'm watching it on firefox via a plugin. Maybe the same will work on Macs?
    (Just go to the Watch TV section)
    reply
  • Kazen

    10 months ago

    Is it me or did all of the live Japanese channels (NTV, Fuji, TBS, Asahi) disappear? T_T
    reply
  • Kazen

    10 months ago

    Teach me to post without checking the forum first. This seems to happen now and then:

    http://forum.tvunetworks.com/forum/view_topic.a...
    reply
  • koichi

    10 months ago

    Yeah, maybe nobody's watching them right now, which means no p2p
    reply
  • Ana

    10 months ago

    I used this program sometime ago to watch Lost, I can't believe I didn't realize I could watch Japanese TV with it. lol
    reply
  • Kyo

    10 months ago

    Interesting I was actually looking for a App a few days ago to watch TV Tokyo or any Japanese show really. Well I couldn't find one till this guy referred me to this site, and the download link for KeyHoleTV

    Well here is the main site, but I will post the actually download as well. The only con I can say so far is the player window is quite small, and it can be laggy at times as well.

    http://xorsyst.com/japan/watch-japanese-tv-online/
    http://www.v2p.jp/video/Viewer/SetupKHTV3.08.exe
    reply
  • Chris

    9 months ago

    "The only con I can say so far is the player window is quite small..."

    you can make the player window bigger by double clicking on it to open it in a new window and then just drag the corner to make it bigger
    reply
  • Sean

    10 months ago

    It seems that the Japanese channels have all been removed,the Live ones anyway,and can no longer be viewed by anyone.The broadcasters apologized and appeared to give an explanation of why they removed it but due to my weak grasp of Chinese,can't translate to everyone here yet.
    reply
  • Chimiko

    10 months ago

    I've tried to use TVU, but it didn't work for me, so I've stuck to KeyHole for the time being.
    reply
  • LuLa

    9 months ago

    Oooooooooops!!!!!!!! This TVU thing was great! I was able to watch SMAPxSMAP live but then I don't know what happened!!!! FujiTV is not available anymore!!!!! Nor TBS or NTV!!! Nooooo!!!!!!!!! Does anybody know any other way to watch Japanese television live besides KeyHole????
    reply
  • seishunamigo713

    9 months ago

    Ah! I wish there was a Mac version! I reaaaally want to see the Hana Kimi SP
    Maybe they will suddenly offer it up for Macs tomorrow.
    Wishes wishes
    reply
  • Preypacer

    8 months ago

    This sounds pretty cool! I saw you updated on the 12th that you found a better program, but I didn't see a link to or name for the program. I would be very interested to know!
    reply
  • koichi

    8 months ago

    whoops, I added it now. Thanks!
    reply
  • ayumu

    8 months ago

    my japanese channels all disappear too. no more TBS, Fuji TV, Asahi and NTV!!! anyone with the same problem here?! i'm really upset cos all the good channels are gone):
    reply
  • Akisame

    7 months ago

    Same here my TBS, Fuji TV, Asahi and NTV channels have all gone away too! :[ I am really sad about that! Those where my favorites! What happened?!? Does anyone know why they moved them?
    reply
  • maya

    5 months ago

    Is Livestation for free too? it says trial software in the install agreement.
    i'm not sure which to download now.. i like channels like "terebi tokyo" and "fuji terebi"

    currently (22 and 23 Jan 2009) Keyhole's server is down for updating,
    i really miss it, and willing to try one of these.
    reply
  • maya

    5 months ago

    ok eew, Livestation is very slow and choppy, but if it worked nicely the quality of picture and sound would be impressive.
    i'm picky with appearance of an application too, but when the thing don't work, looks is useless.

    installed TVU this time, not many chanels, but at least it streams.. kinda..

    i miss Keyhole.
    reply
  • hey

    3 months ago

    tell us a website to watch japanese tv, no software needed, nothing needed, just open the website, choose what you want, and then you enjoy them :)
    reply
  • hi

    2 months ago

    to watch japanese tv online

    it is free

    http://www.kuhu.tv

    go there and select what you want to watch, then enjoy it
    reply
  • alterego

    1 month ago

    I found a site that has alot of currently airing doramas with english titles.

    Konoban.com
    reply

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