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March 2020 update: I have found a better way to watch Japanese TV Online, check out AQ Stream!!!
Have you ever wanted to know how to watch real-time, live Japanese TV for free? Maybe you’re trying to learn Japanese, but want to hear real Japanese and not the type you hear in Anime. Well, there is a free program called KeyHoleTV that will let you do just that. KeyHoleTV is part of a project by Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs testing out P2P (peer to peer) technology. You can also stream your live video using the same technique with a program called KeyHoleVideo. While the audio and video isn’t the highest quality, it is watchable. KeyholeTV has a decent, but limited selection of channels. The more prominent channels are TBS, TV Tokyo, TV Asahi, and Fuji TV. There are also a few smaller channels and user broadcasts that change randomly. If you’re interested in downloading it, here’s a step by step guide.
1. Download KeyHoleTV
Head over to http://www.oiseyer.com/index3-win10-e.php and download the file labeled “SetupKHTV4.26.exe ” or you can click here: Download KeyHoleTV.
2. Install KeyHoleTV
3. Run KeyHoleTV
When you run KeyHoleTV for the first time, you will see a window like the one below. Just type in a username and password and click “Start Registration” to sign up. You will need this username and password each time you start the application, so don’t lose it!
4. Channel listings
After successful registration, you will see the channel listings for KeyHoleTV. On this screen, you will see the channel name, a preview picture of what’s currently playing, and the number of viewers watching that specific channel. When you see a high number of people watching, it usually means something good is on. Remember that here in the United States, we are about 14 hours behind JST (Japan Standard Time).
So a lot of the popular shows and Anime will come on at odd times for us. Here is a listing of the current channels as of today. The channels are always changing. Match the beginning of the channel name with the English in red:
Once you have started watching a channel, you must click the blue stop button to select another channel to watch.
5. Premium Module
New with this version is a Premium module key. By purchasing this key, you will get a faster bitrate. You are probably wondering how much faster it is, so I decided to buy a premium account to test it out. Is it faster? Yes, but not by much. I do not notice any skipping what so ever where I did see very choppy sound sometimes on a standard account. If you are serious about watching Japanese TV Online, it may be worth the purchase.
So there you go. If you are using this to help you with learning Japanese, I hope you get a lot out of KeyHoleTV. I will be updating this page when I see new channels, so bookmark the page or subscribe to my RSS Feed, so you don’t miss anything. Below are a few TV Guide Japan type websites so if you know Japanese, or can figure out what the kanji means, you can have a better idea of what’s playing.
(OUTDATED) A brief explanation of the buttons:
Logs you on and off of the server. Sometimes you will see errors saying that you are not connected to the server. Just click the button Off, and then back On to log back in.
Allows you to mute the sound. Trigger On and Off.
Allows you to stop and start the video.
The channel listings refresh every now-and-then. Use this button to manually update the channel listings for KeyHoleTV.
After you have selected a channel in the channel listings window, click the Watch button to view the channel.
Right now, you don’t have to worry about this button as there are not many channels available on KeyHoleTV. However, in the future, this button is going to be a must-have.
I haven’t seen any broadcasters chatting, but I assume that KeyHoleTV has the option of allowing the viewers to chat with the presenters. There is a popular channel that features actress Risa Ishimoto, not sure if you can chat with her or not.
This tab allows you to view the video window.
This tab allows you to view the channel listings.
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ok from what i get is that on sundays the guy whos hosting tv tokyo takes a day off. atleast he did last sunday
what is load libray error error for?
i really don’t get it!
what should i do?
i need help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thanks for the program..but I can’t see the japanese letters and I tried with the link you provide …but my windows xp is not original.. does anyone know what should I do?
T_T
(sorry for my english) :X
Can some one help?? It keeps saying login is timed out. Check your Network
Halp!
Hello, please help. I would like to see this channel here:
http://i35.tinypic.com/2ufx5yc.png
But I cannot figure out the password.
Please tell me the password, or how I may be able to the password.
well… when does the tv tokyo come on? just like to now beacues it is not showing … up rofl and i was just seeing how… to wach this or some one tell me if its on or not beacues i cant even see any game shows either?
Love the program, and it did show me just how bad Japanese tv is. :p When they do it right though, it really does it right. Seems to be based on extremely bad, or extremely awesome.
Anyways, the ONE thing I think that would improve this would be full screen. The quality and stuff can be bad, but I can get around that. I just can’t stand it flickering everytime I move my mouse.
Is there any way to get english subs?
Hello can someone help me, See i just DL the program. and opened it up and was using it but my network unconnected. But that not the problem so I tried to open it up again Because it wouldn’t let me log in again. so i clicked to load it again but the program wouldn’t load so i opened up TaskManager and in the processes it said KeyHoleTV.exe was running but the program wasn’t showing up so i checked my processes tab in taskmanager and that didn’t show KeyHoleTV.exe I am Running Windows Vista Home Edition.
Thanks for this program =)
Sorry to bother you but I just uninstalled it and reinstalled it and the program now shows itself but when it loads it says “Logging out of Server Please wait” And i cannot log in. Please Help Thank you.
I’m experiencing the same problem as Jamie
I just checked my client and I got the same thing. I have seen it happen before. The Keyhole TV login servers are down. Give it time, and it should be back up.
i’ve downloaded it but somehow i can’t find those channels! i’ve tried looking at which word/character is which, but they’re all different!
what should i do? please help and reply to my email.
cookie.tomapi@hotmail.com
How Can I Watch TV Tokyo. I Cant Find It TT^TT
Awesome fucking program!! :D LOVE IT SOOOOO MUCH!!!!! ^o^
IM GOING FUCKING CRAZY! :D
Might want to check out TVUPlayer also. Higher quality video and much higher quality audio. Free, no spyware and no government connection.
Has more Japanese channels although at the time of writing this the main ones are down. Thats how I found this keyholeTV actually, googling for another option until it came back up :) To be honest though i’m not sure how you can watch this with the quality being so poor?
I love this. I downloaded it in order to help me learn the language, and I can say I’m very pleased. Plus I get to watch baseball, which is always awesome. :)
Great program.. only problem is some of the channels area bit laggy =/
Just wish the framerate was a little better
Please, I need to somebody to help me! D:
I am not able to see more keyholeTv, all the time shows a strange sentence: “Login timed out. Check your Network”
I don’t know more what I do, I am getting desperate.
Please, HELP ME!
That same thing is happening to me, the Login Timed out., im sad.
The KeyholeTV login servers are down. Give it some time, and they will be back. It has happened before.
KEYHOLE isn’t so useful, it never works!! It gives many connection problems, and my favourite Radio programs always disappears in the list… Someone should make a better version of this software.
I hope Keyhole gets back on!! I cant live without this!!! Ekkk im going to die!
I’m watching CD TV…is it right that the channel called CD TV??? is it one of japanese tv cable channel??
And where i can find the schedule of the channel??
Seven months and you’re still replying to new comments, I’m amazed. I’ve actually found KeyholeTV a while ago, but I stumbled here and felt like adding a comment. I usually don’t get too many problems when I want to use it… maybe I’m lucky. Either way, I like the program, I’ve been learning Japanese and been using it more lately. It would be nice if it got popular and stations would broadcast more frequently. Good to see it’s getting spread around though.
Thank you so much.
I want to know for NTV channel that i want to see some programe but almost not appear.
Someone in your comments gave out bad information – there is a native Linux version of KeyholeTV it even shows how to get it in the screenshots – Click where it says Linux and you have the linux version. I had to install libglitz.so.1 before it worked but I found that quickly in my repositories.
Thanks for the application! Can someone tell me which channel shows all the wacky Japanese game shows and the time range for it in Japanese time?
Still having problems with Framerate.. the framerate on some of the channels is horrid and is laggy as hell. =/
After installation of KHTV3.08, i’ve got blank buttons without text. Somebody can tell me the how to repair it please ?
very nice; picture is stable but i would appreciate more channells from the big ones[nhk ?]and full screen option with more permanent transmissions would be perfect.
i have already download keyhole TV ,but at the bottom it said “login timed out .check your network”
what can i do for it ?
I’m having the same problem too, can’t login. It worked perfectly yesterday, so I’m wondering if there’s something wrong in the other end (although most problems tend to have sth to do with my dear old computer)…
Thank you for your kindly sharing and do you have the address which we can record the TV program which is online JIT?! Or have any other way to record the program that we want to see? Thank you for your time to read this question and expect to hear from you soon!! Thanks and people will appricate your help!!
Has anyone tried installing the Linux version of KeyHole TV?
I’ve dowloaded the Linux version and trying to install on Ubuntu 8.04, but, with no luck so far. Any help or hints would be appreciated.
yo i just downlad the key hole ok but its always off line when i try to login it says {lgin timed out chek your network} someone plz answer
yo i just download the key hole ok but its always off line when i try to login it says {login timed out chek your network} someone plz answer
Is there anything that MAC users can use? Recommendations?
what happen to tv tokyo? why is it taken out? will it be back cause i need to watch most of the anime from there
Good but still no NHK :-(
THANK YOU for this.
Now let’s wait and hope for a somewhat higher bitrate
Thanks a lot! The video/audio quality could be better but like you said it is completely watchable. To make the video larger, just double click on the video screen and it will open in a new window, then just expand that video (you have to drag the edges). There you have it, a nice big picture. The quality of the picture is still good, but I noticed it does skip a little more, the larger it is. Also the “x” doesn’t close out the new window, for me anyway. To close the new window just right click at the top to bring up options and just click close from there. Hope this helps.
Oh BTW, I stumbled on your site last week and am really liking it so far, keep it up. ^ ^
Hello. Thanks for telling me about KeyhOLE TV. I have it installed and it works!
I have a request for help though. I want to see UK artist Duffy on Keyhole TV. I have this webpage:
http://www.universal-music.co.jp/u-pop/artist/duffy/news/index.html
But I don’t speak Japanese. :-( I think it says Duffy is on WOWOW TV December 19th – is this TV or radio? Where can I watch WOWOW and is it on Keyhole TV?
Also it says Duffy is on FujiTV 10/05 (I can watch that on keyhole TV I think – it is a lunchtime show@10am?). But please what is NHK? What time is it on and where can I watch/listen on 10/10
Help is much appreciated!
I’m so glad I’ve found this program but it turns out that it doesn’t have audio…my speakers are working perfectly fine…and I am using Windows Vista…bummer :(
i’m sorry if someone already asked but just wondering. all the channels that have passwords on it are just test channels?
Hi! I installed KeyHole months ago and it worked fine… until several weeks ago: since then, it always returns the message “login time out. check your network”. Anyone knows what can we do? Please, help. Thank you in advance! (some friends of mine don’t have this problem, so I thought it maybe the computers… I work on XP)
hey can you tell me the schedule? for animes?
does all of them have english subtitle??