TVAnts, Keyhole, LiveStation, TVU and you....

UPDATED March 13, 2009
UPDATED February 6, 2009, September 7, 2008, September 9, 2008

Put new information on TVAnts since it's the only major one that shows the TBS channel I record

TVAnts (Like Television Antennae).

Update - March 13, 2009 - (3.13 for Keyhole is now out - this now gives you a resizeable window!. Also as of this date TVAnts seems to be the best solution in terms of quality recording and viewing.

Fourth Solution! - February 6, 2009 - Live Station stopped showing TBS.. /sigh.. I added a page dedicated to the finding of this thing but I'll just cut and paste the relevant information.

Long story short.. It runs like the others did where you have to have it running in the background.. To get TBS just type "TBS" on the search bar and it gives you the results. Unlike the others you right click on the picture on TVAnts and chose "properties" and it gives you an address to put in the streaming network thing. Then open up VLC and put THAT address in there. Voila.. follow instructions like the last time to record it (just remember to hit "View locally" or you won't see jack through the VLC window. There is another way to do it without using VLC.

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Update - March 13, 2009 - (3.13 is now out - this now gives you a resizeable window!) For those of you who WATCH stuff through my favorite program to watch Japanese television, Keyhole there was a problem where it didn't even want to load! Problem solved. January, 2009 they changed servers and updated the program to 3.12.. so if you have the earlier version of Keyhole and you cannot get it to work.. download the new version (3.12) and it should pop up (it automatically deletes your previous installation so that works out nicely!)

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Okay.. Update on September 7, 2008. TVU crapped out too.. so we have a 3rd solution... Live Station. This one is a little tricky.. One major bonus is that it's only 30 seconds behind KeyHole (and 30 seconds ahead of TVU) and you can also record it via VLC! The tricky part is that it doesn't come equipped with TBS first.. you have to search for it using their website and then add it to your favorites. Once it's there, every time you load up LiveStation (it takes a little to boot up) it will always start up on TBS (or can be found again via Favorites).

Follow same instructions as given for VLC to run TVU but this time while LiveStation is running and streaming video, open VLC and go to File -> Open Network Stream. At the open dialog, select HTTP/HTTPS/FTP/MMS and enter mms://stream.gundam.eu/tbs in the URL.)

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September 9, 2008. Looks like TVU is no longer carrying TBS!!!!!!! StarNetworks was the company streaming Japanese television. They are no longer doing it so as of today.. TVU no longer carries Japanese television. No word if another company is streaming it or not in it's place for the future. So far... KeyHole and LiveStream are unaffected.

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(Original post)
This morning I was all a panic... My favorite program to watch Japanese television, Keyhole, didn't show up for me at all this morning. Ube emailed me and said whoever was streaming TBS this week stopped doing it about an hour before Sasuke Maniac was ready to roll. I was stuck with TVU which in and of itself is a not exactly a problem (picture is better though it runs almost a full minute behind KeyHole) but it does cause issues with me since I cannot use Clipper for screenshots.

Then Ube emailed me this.... For those of us who already have VLC this allowed me to learn something more about this cool free program! I followed the instructions to the T for streaming TVU (you have to have it on in the background in the program you want to watch.. I had TVU's volume lowered just incase it decided to run a couple seconds off the second stream) and voila TVU was showing up on my VLC screen! Major bonus.. I can screencap it when it's running off my VLC screen (in addition to VLC having it's own screencapture option).

Second step took some doing.. You can record live video (and sound) from VLC. Follow the second set of instructions. Second set does miss one thing. As soon as I hit enter my window just show down (the actual video and sound). I went to see if anything recorded and yes.. it did.. but I couldn't see it.. and of course.. couldn't screen cap it.. until I found one button... "Play locally" (it's near the top). Once I hit that button I could see, hear AND record TVU as it played! The video is in .asf (or flash for those who don't recognize the video). I could just record in segments (hit the stop button.. change the file name to show part 1, 2, etc. in the other window) and then restart it again when I was ready.

(Edited to add: I missed the vital information about what numbers to put where: While TVU Player is running and streaming video, open VLC and go to File -> Open Network Stream. At the open dialog, select HTTP/HTTPS/FTP/MMS and enter 127.0.0.1:8901 in the URL.)

So far it worked this week.. I have a strange suspicion I will have to do this for Sasuke 21... Keyhole has been very erratic.. That said.. Ube is stuck since his TVU gets region blocked since TBS (even if it's an affiliate that doesn't show Sasuke Maniac) is technically in his area....