TVU Networks, the maker of TVU Player, have created a web platform as well which can be used to watch the very same channels on the website without having to download and configure their PC TV client. An add-on was required to make the service work in Firefox and the same happened when trying it in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. After that it worked perfectly though.

The interface lists the channels on the left side. Don’t expect to see many popular US channels in the mix with a few exceptions like the Comedy Channel. The majority of programs offered are in Chinese though. The channels can be filtered by language to only display channels in a selected language. That filter is not working correctly. Selecting English from the language selection will also yield different language channels. Not many though but still noticeable.

Other options provided in the interface are a search form to find specific channels faster and a TV guide that is available for some channels. The verdict is that TVU Networks provides free access to a working Internet TV platform that concentrates on non-English TV stations. It does however offer a great way for sport fans to watch their favorite sport events over the Internet.

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 “TVUPlayerâ€? icon on your computer’s Desktop
• Select “Propertiesâ€? -> “Shortcutâ€?
• Append â€? -vâ€? (with a leading space) at the end of the line in the “Targetâ€? box If the line in Target box is: “C:\Program Files\TVUPlayer\TVUPlayer.exeâ€? then after appending, the line should be like this: “C:\Program Files\TVUPlayer\TVUPlayer.exeâ€? -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.

I think they have added some additional channels in the new release, can´t remember for instance that the Cartoon Network or HBO were available in the previous tvu player version. TVU Player Channel List: ESPN, CCTV-5, Cartoon Network, ABC, HBO, CNN 1-4, Disney Channel, Hollywood Movie channel and many lesser known ones. If you are looking for a free ride tvu player is exactly what you are looking for.