better quality livestream

[tympsa]

I found out that Chinese internet TV program called" 3TV VIP Vista 7.01" broadcasts NHK channel in internet.I even had opportunity to watch their live broadcast in Sopcast free of charge when they evidently tested their channels there. Program itself is not free, it costs 280 Hong Kong dollars (about 36 US$), and there is many popular channels.You can download it, try, then register and buy it here.They say that they accept international VISA/Master cards.

http://www.softreg.com/en/product.aspx?id=...B-56CF36043F34/

They assure that its only 1 time charge and after you bought it ,you can watch it free , also future update versions are free. Their help and user manual is here, but their English is even worse than mine ,isnt it?:)

http://www.3tv.cn/3tv-en.htm

I downloaded and installed it, plays promo clips and some wellknown Chinese channels fine, but You cannot watch NHK or other popular channels without registering and paying.

I havent opportunity to buy it yet, but I certainly shall do it in november , when my new paychecks will arrive.

Please dont consider this post as advertising, suggestion or recommendation, I just told You what I find out.There are many sumofans who cannot watch bashos via their cable or satellite TV (myself included), and who are not satisfied poor quality of official NSK livestream.

P.S Please excuse my poor English ,I was never any good in learning foreign languages.

[Gernobono]

very interesting

i tried various chinese internet streams, but could not find any nhk-streams....

on basho days i mostly do not dare to check any of those programs as i am glad to have the tiny stream and do not want to spoil this...

thanks for posting

[Exil]

I've seen software like this before, and they do work. I tried one (a free one) about six months ago, and had mixed success. Some channels worked fine, others didn't. Bandwidth was a problem in some cases, but I was restricted to a 512k DSL line at the time. Only Chinese channels were available.

Standard caveats apply. If you install software from unknown sources or send your credit card numbers to companies in other countries, you face the (possible) consequences. Also note that using this program outside China might be illegal.

[tympsa]

I've seen software like this before, and they do work. I tried one (a free one) about six months ago, and had mixed success. Some channels worked fine, others didn't. Bandwidth was a problem in some cases, but I was restricted to a 512k DSL line at the time. Only Chinese channels were available.

Standard caveats apply. If you install software from unknown sources or send your credit card numbers to companies in other countries, you face the (possible) consequences. Also note that using this program outside China might be illegal.

Well, I have fast inetrnet connection (8-9 Mbps measured by Numion), and those "ordinary Chinese channels" works fine in my PC. About creditcard : there is online service called "virtual VISA card" in my bank. I can open this virtual card, put on it exact amount money I want,card is valid 40 days and do my internet shopping using this card. I have done lot of shopping using this type of card, it always works fine in Amazon and other internet stores.About legal -illegal : as far as I know its legal to watch internetTV, especially if You paid money for it.At least it is in European Union.And they do sell it to foreigners , dont they? Of course , there is always risks (channel might not work or something is wrong with Your firewall or Windows conf ) and I repeat myself : I do not recommend or suggest anything, I just told to other sumofans what I found out.

Me personally, I

[Chiyozakura]

That sounds interesting. Is there an additional cost for subscribing NHK or is this for free in this service?

[tympsa]

That sounds interesting. Is there an additional cost for subscribing NHK or is this for free in this service?

I understood that there are no additional costs whatsoever , after you buy it and register all the channels are free to watch. I dont know exactly how their system works, I understood that after registering and paying for it, they will send Your login username and password to Your e-mail address.But there is a problem and problems name is TVAnts.In their help page 3TV says that some channels are broadcasted using TVAnts technology , but TVAnts might not be safe.Internet stream specialists claims that TVAnts public and free channels are spreading viruses and adware.But 3TV help page says that they are streaming from separate server, their channels arent public and they provide their own download link for TVAnts too.Its hard to understand everything they trying to explain in their help page but I found 2 NHK channels in 3TV player.Maybe one is direct link to their server and other" TVAnts technology link" is for those people who cant watch channel via direct link because of low connection speed? In any case,people who are eager to try it, please be extra careful downloading any executive files, scan them with Your virus protection before You open them and think twice before You install anything !After all, it is Chinese internet invention, and You must be extra careful to avoid viruses and adware.

[Jejima]

I did something similar for the football World Cup. Here in Hong Kong, it was only shown on channels you had to pay for.

I downloaded the software, and was able to watch the ESPN and ATV broadcast of the matches.

From what I understand, they are not paying any fees to the host, but pocketing all of the cash.

They claimed it was legal, using some dodgy (in my opinion) loopholes, in that they had paid (if necessary) the subscription for themselves (legal). They then had it showing on their computer (legal). They were allowing others access to their computer (also legal).

It does feel similar to pirating though.

Having said that, I would definitely be interested in a better feed - with replays no doubt (Shaking head...)

[tympsa]

I did something similar for the football World Cup. Here in Hong Kong, it was only shown on channels you had to pay for.

I downloaded the software, and was able to watch the ESPN and ATV broadcast of the matches.

From what I understand, they are not paying any fees to the host, but pocketing all of the cash.

They claimed it was legal, using some dodgy (in my opinion) loopholes, in that they had paid (if necessary) the subscription for themselves (legal). They then had it showing on their computer (legal). They were allowing others access to their computer (also legal).

It does feel similar to pirating though.

Having said that, I would definitely be interested in a better feed - with replays no doubt (Shaking head...)

That is probably true, but why dont I feel my conscience wake up ?! Maybe its because I lived 32 years under Soviet occupation and my personality is totally corrupted?:) Seriously, I would be happy to pay this money directly to NHK, but they dont stream their program in internet, do they?. I even wrote letter to NHK, I proposed to broadcast bashos in internet , to make good quality livestream for money like Wimbledon tennis tournament did, but no answer from them.I payd to Mediazone for Wimbledon broadcast, I

[tympsa]

Little more abut this potencially suspicious TVAnts thing. Some internet specialists are convinced that technology itself is clean ,but viruses and adware are spreading via popupwindows which appears when user watch TVAnts PUBLIC and FREE channels. I dont know if popups appears at all when 3TV player playing, but one french IT man teached me trick how to avoid popups from all chinese sites. Open Internet Explorer>tools>internet options>content> settings>allow sites and type to address bar there following code.I try to write this code the way it does not appear as a link in forum because this a thing that we want to avoid and ban! First type http: and then // and then type without spaces following code

pop.9v.cn/code/showpop.asp*

Do not forget asterix and no spaces between http and * !Then click NEVER >apply >OK.Then open content advisor again and disable page ranking, otherwise this content advisor appears every time you surf in the web with Internet Explorer.I dont know if it is working perfectly but that was advice i got.Couldnt to any harm either to ban all these Chinese popupwindows.

[Jonosuke]

I used to subscribe to a service that I needed to "rent" a PC and they provided the necessary equipment and connections at a TV firm somewhere in Chiba. It was around $45 per month and I could watch livestream or tape any Tokyo ground stations (including NHK).

Unfortunately just prior to the Olympics, they were taken to a court by NHK and other commercial broadcasters and they ceased the operations.

The problem with them was that they owned the equipment and had a place where they provided the service. So if you have a place in Japan and a TV connection to a PC with internet, you can watch Japanese TV programs anywhere as the source is all yours and no commercial provider is involved. This is all legit. Sony has a system like this where you set up a base station in Japan and you take around the LCD monitor anywhere connected to internet and watch Japanese TV programs.

There are others too. Basically you will purchase a PC equipped by a provider and have the provider set it up somewhere in Japan (as long as it's not any commercial facility) and have it connect to internet.

Howerver all these will not be practical to many of us here who may not know anyone to provide us a base station in Japan.

There is an Internet based provider that will let you watch NHK and commercial broadcasters but unless you are interested in watching not only NHK but all the other commercial stations, the cost will be prohibitive and it won't make sense to you. Howerver if you are willing to pay $100 US to join and addtional $50 per month for all that, then send me a private message, I will direct you to their site (but I won't help you join).

And of course anyone who is doing this type of thing is doing so until such a time as the provider gets threatened by court proceedings or such. And if that happnes then you will lose your money. However they accept Paypal or credit cards or real money if you are willing to take the risk (In a state of confusion...)

Edited October 11, 2006 by Jonosuke

[tympsa]

thanks Jonosuke, but no, thanks:) 100 $ + 50 each month it makes 700$ a year. There are 6 bashos a year, so its 116$ per basho, its way too expensive for me...To watch Wimbledon tournament in internet with special features and old classic matches I could download costs me 20$. And this tournament is once a year...

[tympsa]

more news about 3TV : I tried to buy it, but their internet-bank says :your payment service is not active. I wrote them (to softreg.com) a letter, they answered that VISA/Mastercard payment is temporaryly down with techical problems , but they promised to open it again in 1-2 weeks. 3TV manager was kind enough and sent me temporary username and password, I can watch some channels with it, but not all and unfortunately NHK is amongst the channels I cannot watch with this free temporary username and password. But hope is still alive, maybe they fix these problems before next basho starts.

[tympsa]

do You know that there is lot of children shows on NHK? I

[kaiguma]

do You know that there is lot of children shows on NHK? I

[Reki]

I recommend the one that focuses on traditional Japanese life, but the name escapes me for the moment.

nihongo de asobo B-)

[tympsa]

Well. I didnt give up so easy.I sent to them (to 3TV) one more e-mail and described the problems. Yesterday they promised to do something about it, to connect overseas viewers via another server and now I noticed there is 1 more link to NHK in their player channel list. I have watched it during 2 hours now , sometimes it starts buffering again and again , sometimes it is playing 40 minutes O.K. Player statistics says that bitrate is only 238 kbps, but picture is pretty good. Vivid colors and sharp enough for this low bitrate.I would say it is better picture quality than banzuke videos.( no offence, Thank Lord and ESPECIALLY banzuke men for GREAT video library !)This "buffering again" problem might be caused by fact, that link is quite new and there is not enough peers(viewers ) to connect.My conclusion is : this live video is not perfect, but close enough for me to use it when basho will start.Hey, I can use 2 livestreams simultaneously : if there is a problems with NHK livestream , I can minimize 3TV window and click my winamp window bigger and watch NSK video instead.

P.S. These 3TV guys are surprisingly friendly and really trying to help customers.Oops...I forgot that I am not even paying customer yet!,( because their payment service is not ready). Their system is complicated. This 3TV player I use now IS NOT demo player everyone can download from softreg.com. They have at least 2 types of official (not demo) players : 1 for "ordinary" Chinese customers, who are paying less money and who cannot watch all popular non-Chinese channels. And they have VIP official MEMBER player (player I use now),it is called "3TV VIP Vista version 7.01.06" . They said all foreign customers are VIP because they are paying( or will pay) 3 times more money than Chinese customers.

P.P.S. Does anybody know , who watched NHK World Premium via sattelite in Asia, is there replay of sumo broadcast in late night Japan time?Because , when time is over midnight in Asia, this player works perfectly.