TVU Player is a free media player that uses P2P technology to stream tv channels like ABC, ESPN, Disney and HBO. Everyone using TVU Player will recieve and send data from the streams in order to be able to stream the tv channels to an almost unlimited amount of users. I recently wrote about tvu player, first in a Worldcup Preperations article that explained how one could view the worldcup using tvu player, and then in first version of the tvu player faq.
I recieved some new information about the tvu player and thought it would be best to write a new tvu player faq article instead of updating the old tvu player faq. It addresses all major problems people have with the tvu player and tries to find a solution for most of them.
TVU Player FAQ
TVU Player Requirements:
- What are the requirements for tvu player ?
- TVU Player 2.2 runs on Windows 2000 and higher and requires at least 256 megabytes of ram. A fast internet connection is advisable, usually 500 Kbs+.
TVU PlayerConnection Problems:
- I do not see a channel list after installing TVU Player
- This error only occured in previous versions, install the latest version of TVU Player and everything should be fine.
- If the error persists download the following files from rapidshare and put them in your tvuplayer directory, they are a channel list filled with channels, this helped some users. Replace the new files with the old ones.
- It seems that this fix is only temporary, the problem returns when you restart. A tvu player user wrote a small start script that copies both channel files and starts tvu player afterwards. You can download it here.
- Put all the files in the same directory and create a shortcut to TVURunIt.exe.
- Whenever you want to start tvu player you do it by clicking on the shortcut of tvurunit.exe.
- If you experience bad or no picture problem with download/upload data, you may try:
- Upgrade your Windows Media Player to Windows Media Player 10
- If the problem still occurs, try the following steps
- Have VLC player installed on your computer. (Video lan client)
- Right click the “TVUPlayer� icon on your computer’s Desktop
- Select “Properties� -> “Shortcut�
- Append � -v� (with a leading space) at the end of the line in the “Target� box If the line in Target box is: “C:\Program Files\TVUPlayer\TVUPlayer.exe� then after appending, the line should be like this: “C:\Program Files\TVUPlayer\TVUPlayer.exe� -v
- The Buffer up to 100% with no picture and sound
- This is most of the times a temporary issue, try again later.
- The streaming stutters / stops, buffers all the time.
- Try the (low) bandwidth channels. Please note that you need a broadband connection.
- TVU Player cannot be initialized, please check the network connection
- This can have two causes as far as I know. First you need to check your firewalls settings if it blocks the ports that tvu player needs to connect to the channel list and the streaming clients. Second it could be that you are using a proxy server which does not allow connection to the tvuplayer at all. Quoted from the comments of Worldcup Preparations post. (thanks gornea)
- At start TVU Player uses UDP 3950, 3951 and 3952 then at least one of TCP 3950, 3951 or 3952. The TV channels list is obtained from a connection on port TCP 8080. All those connections are made to the server previously mentioned by others. When you choose a TV channel it uses UDP 3940 and then a TCP connection to 3940. Then you just get a rain of connections to other servers using UDP/TCP combinations. In the end it settles to only UDP streaming between peers and an brief TCP reconnection for control and status I guess.
- Why did nothing happen, when I selected a channel?
- Could be a problem with your network connection, you need to grant TVU Networks the right to access the network by opening the ports mentioned above. It could also mean that the network connection is down, try to restart the player or try later again.
Known TVU Player Bugs:
- I have no sound on certain channels
- A bug exists which should be addressed in the next update. 1.5. users update to TVU Player 2.2.
- My screen is almost green, and cannot see the picture.
- Press refresh button often resolve this issue.
Misc TVU Player Topics:
- TVU Player Log file.
- TVUplayer creates a log file which might help you in finding out why something is not working. It is located in the tvuplayer directory. You can check on the ports that the player is using on your system, you see if it was able to show the channel list and more.My player is working fine and my log file is showing some problems , the following could be normal and temporary. Try closing and starting again.Failed to update the channel list data in memory
Failed to update the channel list data, when initiating
Failed to update the peer server list data, when initiating - What does the CMD button do in TVU Player ?
- Nothing. The feature has not been implemented yet.
Related Articles:
Little TVU Player FAQ ListTVU Player Beta Invites
TVU Player 2.20 is out
Music Player XMPlay Updated Adds Crossfading Support
Democracy Player
TVU PlayerConnection Problems:
* I do not see a channel list after installing TVU Player
o This error only occured in previous versions, install the latest version of TVU Player and everything should be fine.
Nope! That problem was not fixed with v2.2.0 … at least not for everyone. And, as I pointed out in the previous post regarding this program, trying to get help from their “support” department is a waste of time and not worth the effort. They simply do not respond.
I thought the channel list was permanent in 2.2 ?
Is this a legal program?
I can´t seem to find the reference but I read somewhere that TVU Networks has an agreement with the companies and that Disney owns a share of TVU Networks. Will try to find this again..
Any luck yet?
Max the only reference that I was able to find that fast was from digg were a user commented on this. take a look http://digg.com/tech_news/Watch_Streaming_TV_Online_for_Free_HBO_ESPN_ABC_etc
and search for the comment from user fatdog789
A user of the TVU forum is reporting that he had no channel list because of missing files. He downloaded the the missing files from a different source and added them to his tvu player directory and was able to see the channel list afterwards.
http://forum.viidoo.com/viewtopic.php?t=1035
Could someone try this out and tell me if this workaround is working ?
yay this works
May I know whether there is any program to capture the streaming video from TUV Player? – TIA.
I’ve found out that P2P TV Recorder 1.6 and WM Recorder 11 can record from http://127.0.0.1:8901 when running TVU Player. – FYI
When I try to load TVUPlayer, I’ll get this error.
“TVUPlayer has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.”
The error log is as below: –
[02:04:20.203 20060910] ============================== Applicaton start running. ==============================
[02:04:20.203 20060910] Applicaton start path = ‘C:\Program Files\TVUPlayer’.
[02:04:20.203 20060910] Start parsing command line: ”
[02:04:20.406 20060910] CTVUSkinManager::LoadSkinFromModule – Load xml file skin.xml failed.
Hi, I just installed the TVU Player and everything seems fine: strong signal, channel list..
but: nothing starts playing?!
it’s just buffering a lot of megabytes but I neither have a picture nor sound or anything alse..
I may hit the > (play) button as often as I want to without any effort.
What’s wrong?
haveing the same problem as above ^ dont know what to do? do you have to have a cable connection? i have a fast dsl connection will this work?
Just like JY says on the 10th. Been a week now. I’m having this problem as well. I’m dying to hear from any one whom knows what the heck is happening and how to fix it. Thanks.
When I try to load TVUPlayer, I’ll get this error.
“TVUPlayer has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.�
The error log is as below: –
[02:04:20.203 20060910] ============================== Applicaton start running. ==============================
[02:04:20.203 20060910] Applicaton start path = ‘C:\Program Files\TVUPlayer’.
[02:04:20.203 20060910] Start parsing command line: ‘’
[02:04:20.406 20060910] CTVUSkinManager::LoadSkinFromModule – Load xml file skin.xml failed.
what version of ESPN Asia do you get with TVU Player? I realise that different Asian countries have different TV listings
The “playing-without-output” problem does only occur with one of my computers, on all others it works very well. AWESOME. I like it.
For all others that do not have a picture or sound with the embedded player, you may try this:
Get the VideoLAN Client and open a http connection to “localhost:8901″
where can i find the video lan client?
here dude -> http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
So 2.2 loaded fine and all the channels are there, but I can’t get a channel to download or buffer. The status bar always reads “Ready”. The picture on my TVUPlayer screen has changed from the green TVU logo to the orange construction cone that used to show on the older version as well. Any ideas?
Matt i feel ya man. im having the same exact problem minus the orange cone. no buffer just a ready sign. i just dont understand. hopefully the vlc martin hooked me up with will do the trick.
Dude, Did the VLC patch do the trick? This is very frustrating because I had the first version working just great, now that I have ran the update to version 2.2 nothing works, even if I go back to 1.5!
i got the VLC but i cant figure out how to iopen an http connection :
i’m having the same problem with no 11.When I try to load TVUPlayer, I’ll get this error.
“TVUPlayer has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.�
[02:04:20.203 20060910] ============================== Applicaton start running. ==============================
[02:04:20.203 20060910] Applicaton start path = ‘C:\Program Files\TVUPlayer’.
[02:04:20.203 20060910] Start parsing command line: ‘’
[02:04:20.406 20060910] CTVUSkinManager::LoadSkinFromModule – Load xml file skin.xml failed.
from the tvu player faq for the new beta version:
If you experience bad or no picture problem with download/upload data, you may try:
1) Upgrade your Windows Media Player to Windows Media Player 10
2) If the problem still occurs, try the following steps
a) Have VLC player installed on your computer. Click here to download VLC
b) Right click the “TVUPlayer” icon on your computer’s Desktop
c) Select “Properties” -> “Shortcut”
d) Append ” -v” (with a leading space) at the end of the line in the “Target” box
If the line in Target box is: “C:\Program Files\TVUPlayer\TVUPlayer.exe”
then after appending, the line should be like this:
“C:\Program Files\TVUPlayer\TVUPlayer.exe” -v
I resolved my problem with getting version 2.2 to work. I am using a Verizon broadband card along with the Venturi client. Once I removed the Venturi program 2.2 worked great! There is some conflict with Venturi and 2.2.
Im getting an error when I try loading this player? am doing something wrong? or is the hack over? Please help
When I try to open TVU Player, I get the message: “Application failed to initialize: Error Code 0xc0000034. Click close to terminate the application.” Have tried reinstalling and running registry mechanic and all antivirus software, but this doesn’t resolve the problem. Please help.
i’m having the same problem with no 11.When I try to load TVUPlayer, I’ll get this error.
“TVUPlayer has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.�
[02:04:20.203 20060910] ============================== Applicaton start running. ==============================
[02:04:20.203 20060910] Applicaton start path = ‘C:\Program Files\TVUPlayer’.
[02:04:20.203 20060910] Start parsing command line: ‘’
[02:04:20.406 20060910] CTVUSkinManager::LoadSkinFromModule – Load xml file skin.xml failed.
Try to download from here, http://dl.tvunetworks.com/TVUPlayer.zip
After running the second time, I am able to get the channel list. Hope it helps.
Installed all components correctly (in opening all req ports). No errors reported via dialogue. Log shows errors as below. NOTHING happens when selecting channels…PLEASE HELP…
[19:49:41.843 20061012] ============================== Applicaton start running. ==============================
[19:49:41.843 20061012] Applicaton start path = ‘C:\Program Files\TVUPlayer’.
[19:49:41.843 20061012] Start parsing command line: ”
[19:49:42.000 20061012] CTVUResourceManager::GetPicture – Load resource min_disabled.png failed.
[19:49:42.031 20061012] CTVUResourceManager::GetPicture – Load resource min_disabled.png failed.
[19:49:43.218 20061012] CTVUCore::Initialize – Service port(8550) initialized; Local play port: 8901
[19:49:49.265 20061012] CTVUCore::Initialize – Peers has been initialized.
[19:49:49.406 20061012] CTVUGroupManager::UpdateChannelData – Send message to notify UI: Clear all items.
[19:49:49.406 20061012] CTVUPlayerWindow::OnChannelChanged – Channel list changed, Clear all at first.
[19:49:49.406 20061012] CTVUGroupManager::ClearAll – 0 groups, 0 channels and 0 streams are deleted.
[19:49:49.437 20061012] CTVUGroupManager::UpdateChannelData – Success to update channel list, count = 46
[19:49:49.437 20061012] CTVUGroupManager::UpdateChannelData – Send message to notify UI: Reload all items.
[19:49:49.437 20061012] CTVUPlayerWindow::OnChannelChanged – Channel list changed, refreshing all…
[19:49:49.718 20061012] CTVUGroupManager::LoadFavourites – Cannot open favourite channel file.
[19:49:49.718 20061012] CTVUGroupManager::Initialize – Failed to load favourites list, when initiating
[19:49:49.718 20061012] CTVUGroupManager::UpdatePeerserversData – Failed to load xml file ‘C:\Program Files\TVUPlayer\PeerList.xml’.
[19:49:49.718 20061012] CTVUGroupManager::Initialize – failed to update the peer server list data, when initiating
[19:49:49.718 20061012] CTVUGroupManager::UpdateDataProc – Staring update channel thread…
[19:49:49.796 20061012] CTVUSkinWindowImpl::Draw – Updating whole client(count=1)…
[19:49:50.562 20061012] CTVUGroupManager::UpdateDataProc – Response is unexpected: ‘HTTP/1.1 200 OK