# Watching American TV



## Rube

There are a few ways that one can get American TV shows here in Japan and I thought I would share some and my opinions on them. 
*
1) Cable TV / Skypa (skyperfect)*
About 80% of the cable programming seems to be from the states. Discovery channel, cartoon network, CNN, and a lot of Fox programming can be found.

Pros: Super easy to order with many apartments with lines ready these days. You can get the same programming through your internet or with a small satellite dish. 

Cons: 
Expensive!!! I pay about 7,000 yen a month for my Skypa 
Rotation hell; It seems they fill the whole year with about 1/4 new material so expect to see the same shows over and over and over.
*
2) Hulu*
Very easy to get hulu if you use a VPN service, tons and tons of programming

Pros: It's free for basic and probably has your favorite show that you can't live without.
Cons: Unless you have Hulu plus the quality is really bad on a computer and horrible on a big screen. PLus since you have to use a VPN the speed will be a problem regardless of how fast your connection is here, expect buffering and problems.
*
3) XBMC with various add-ons.*
X-box media center is a home entertainment software that was original made for the x-box but has since been ported to many devices such as computers win/mac and apple-tv and i-phones and such. But XBMC alone doesn't give you TV, you need add-ons for that and the 2 that work are called "free cable" and "Ice-films". Free Cable just grabs the free feeds off of the various network homepages for you. 

Pros: It's free and if you have a lap-top you can connect to your TV you can start right away. The feeds are usually better quality then hulu as well, but there is a hulu add-on for it as well. 

Cons: Since it's freeware there are times when it doesn't work, you can expect a crash time to time and there is no way to forsee when the sources for the feeds will be turned off or changed and stop working. 

Personally I have Skypa and an apple-tv loaded with xbmc and a VPN service so I got it all. I love my apple tv because it also has netflix as well. If my wife spoke English I would quit the Skypa tomorrow though, the only reason I keep it is for the subtitles. 

Any way that is all I can think of. If you have any more add them.


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## Kathrinjapan

Thanks Rube for all that info. I tried Hulu, but they said something about not being able to have subscribers overseas due to legalities. I don't know if this is just a warning or words and peopl do it anyway or what, but that was my attempt. 

I also wondered if you or someone you knew had any experience with the netflix option. 

Finally, (btw I just relocated about 6days ago) I am wondering about the Internet search options. My iPad continues to default to Japanese when I do searches. My language settings are all English. 

Thanks again for all the sharing,
Kathryn


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## Rube

With Hulu and Netflix they won't let you watch from overseas so you need a vpn address in America and that warning won't come up. Around $10 a month for a VPN service. 

I use the netflix in my apple-tv fine but I do find that I often can't see in HD but the quality is still very good. My slowness might be because of my router setup, some routers work better than others I'm told so if you want to use a VPN service I'd go to their homepage and ask what router works best with them or search around. Mine works but my 80mbps drops to 10mbps and HD is at least over 5

Google will give you Japanese sites first but you can download "Google English" search engine that will give you only English sites.


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## Rube

Thought I would explain what a VPN is in case you don't know. Stands for Virtual Private Network or somerthing like that and it basically connects your computer or router to a site that rents IP addresses in the country or city you want your IP address to be. Seems like some U.S. sold routers come with software to use VPNs while they are harder to find here in Japan, even from the same company. For eaxmple Buffalo routers bought in Japan will automatically detect when you try to use an English firmware and reboot to Japanese which doesn't support VPNs. Mac and I assume other computers have native support so it's not a problem. 

For an example I have a Japanese bought router and an apple TV. I have one LSDN line from my router to the apple tv and I share my vpn connection with the apple tv through my i-mac. When I want to appear to be in the USA I disonnect the lsdn line and my apple tv then uses the wireless network which is a US IP. When I don't care where my IP is I connect the lSDN line for faster speed. 

It's a waste to leave the computer on for the IP but I find I only do that these days for the netflix. You'd be surprised that apple does'nt prevent it for their rentals but they are on the honor system I guess or just have the good enough sense to realize the only people who would use it are ex-pats anyway.


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## bst

*Best solution tv expat*

Unotelly

is the absolute best! All these years as an expat suffering in the wilderness with pathetic mindless television.

Unotelly allows me to watch American and British and more tv. Including Netflix, hulu, amazon, Tagesschau ect.

NOW I am back from the dead.

Thanks Unotelly. the best part is that it uses dns so the speed of your internet is utilised fully and no degradation from the older VPN solutions.

give it a try, they are better than the competitors, and have the best speeds.





Rube said:


> There are a few ways that one can get American TV shows here in Japan and I thought I would share some and my opinions on them.
> *
> 1) Cable TV / Skypa (skyperfect)*
> About 80% of the cable programming seems to be from the states. Discovery channel, cartoon network, CNN, and a lot of Fox programming can be found.
> 
> Pros: Super easy to order with many apartments with lines ready these days. You can get the same programming through your internet or with a small satellite dish.
> 
> Cons:
> Expensive!!! I pay about 7,000 yen a month for my Skypa
> Rotation hell; It seems they fill the whole year with about 1/4 new material so expect to see the same shows over and over and over.
> *
> 2) Hulu*
> Very easy to get hulu if you use a VPN service, tons and tons of programming
> 
> Pros: It's free for basic and probably has your favorite show that you can't live without.
> Cons: Unless you have Hulu plus the quality is really bad on a computer and horrible on a big screen. PLus since you have to use a VPN the speed will be a problem regardless of how fast your connection is here, expect buffering and problems.
> *
> 3) XBMC with various add-ons.*
> X-box media center is a home entertainment software that was original made for the x-box but has since been ported to many devices such as computers win/mac and apple-tv and i-phones and such. But XBMC alone doesn't give you TV, you need add-ons for that and the 2 that work are called "free cable" and "Ice-films". Free Cable just grabs the free feeds off of the various network homepages for you.
> 
> Pros: It's free and if you have a lap-top you can connect to your TV you can start right away. The feeds are usually better quality then hulu as well, but there is a hulu add-on for it as well.
> 
> Cons: Since it's freeware there are times when it doesn't work, you can expect a crash time to time and there is no way to forsee when the sources for the feeds will be turned off or changed and stop working.
> 
> Personally I have Skypa and an apple-tv loaded with xbmc and a VPN service so I got it all. I love my apple tv because it also has netflix as well. If my wife spoke English I would quit the Skypa tomorrow though, the only reason I keep it is for the subtitles.
> 
> Any way that is all I can think of. If you have any more add them.


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## clairerach11

Hi guys, I use wemissourtv.com, the quality is quite good and pretty cheap too


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