Author Topic: NHK World - Cycle Around Japan series  (Read 2496 times)

NHK World - Cycle Around Japan series
« on: 14 September, 2014, 09:17:58 am »
I discovered this recently in the depths of my Virgin EPG.  NHK is available on Virgin, Sky, Freesat, etc.

Saw a very interesting 50 minutes about a tour of Hokkaido, Japan's far north, by an Aussie called Zac who works for a Japanese cycle company (maybe begins with $/S?).  Anyway, a 400Km credit card tour on a rented road bike with a train ride in the middle.

Interesting travelogue along the way.  Would be a nice thing to do but would help to have Zac's fluent Japanese.

Excellent production quality as with all NHK stuff.

On the back of this, I recorded a tour of Uzbekistan on NHK but that was a complete bust.  Interesting tour but I found the young Japanese actress/cyclist to be plain annoying - a stereotype of cultural self-deprecation.

Seems to be irregular programming but worth keeping an eye on.

Re: NHK World - Cycle Around Japan series
« Reply #1 on: 14 September, 2014, 05:42:48 pm »
Only on the Virgin XL package, unfortunately I only have M+!

We do have Japanese satellite TV for Mrs O, that has a regular series by an actor who cycles around Japan. There are shots of him cycling along trailing four production staff on their bikes! At least they appear to genuinely cycle, unlike the programs I've seen on our TV where I'm sure they are transported between shoots.


Re: NHK World - Cycle Around Japan series
« Reply #2 on: 14 September, 2014, 07:15:09 pm »
@orienteer - if you are getting your Japanese satellite as JSTV from 13 East, then NHK World is free to air on 11137 MHz Horizontal at 27500 3/4 (not HD though).  It's also free to air on 28 East if you have a Sky dish.

Pretty stingy of Virgin :(

Re: NHK World - Cycle Around Japan series
« Reply #3 on: 14 September, 2014, 08:42:12 pm »
JSTV via a Technomate TM-5400 CI+, but I'm afraid your info doesn't mean much to me  ???

Is it just a matter of changing some menu settings?

I only recently discovered that by plugging a USB stick in, we can record JSTV programs.  :facepalm:

Recently got a smart TV, but it doesn't seem so smart to me - or maybe it's me that's not smart enough.

Virgin just want subscribers to pay more, but M+ is enough for me. It would be great to get Eurosport HD to watch the cycling, but it's not worth the extra cost to me.

Re: NHK World - Cycle Around Japan series
« Reply #4 on: 14 September, 2014, 09:39:50 pm »
Yes, if you are watching JSTV then you should be able to scan the frequency with the parameters I gave to add NHK World to you channel list.

There is a ton of other free to air stuff on the same satellite as JSTV, mostly rubbish but that seems to be 21st century TV.  http://www.lyngsat.com/Eutelsat-Hot-Bird-13B-13C-13D.html lists all the channels on the Hotbird satellite at 13E (actually to be pedantic it is a constellation of 3 satellites but that is not important!).

BBC World is on the same frequency/transponder as JSTV - do you have that?

This will all be possible but I do not know the menus of the Technomate and would not want to interrupt Mrs O's viewing!

Re: NHK World - Cycle Around Japan series
« Reply #5 on: 15 September, 2014, 01:01:42 pm »
Can only get 7 channels: JSTV 1 & 2, Euronews, BBC World, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, Dubai Sports.

LNB frequency range options seem to be limited to 9750 - 10700, is that the problem?

Re: NHK World - Cycle Around Japan series
« Reply #6 on: 15 September, 2014, 05:41:48 pm »
You are getting the "Multiplex/MUX" on 12597 vertical. this is "high band vertical"

LNB frequencies are a bit complex, but you almost certainly have a Universal LNB, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-noise_block_downconverter#Universal_LNB_.28.22Astra.22_LNB.29, although it might look quite different from the picture shown.  Almost every satellite dish in Europe in the last 10 years has a Universal LNB.

NHK World is on low band horizontal but for most sat receivers this level of detail is irrelevant, you just set the LNB type to "Universal" and everything else is worked out automatically.

If you are really stuck then I could call by with an 18 mile training ride - might need a cup of tea though.

Re: NHK World - Cycle Around Japan series
« Reply #7 on: 22 December, 2014, 10:44:02 am »
Spring cycle ride around Mt Fuji on NHK World tonight (22/12/14) at 23.10.

Have ridden around there on a Moulton Club Japan meeting, very scenic!

Virgin HD 625, Sky 507, Hotbird satellite 155, Freesat 209

Re: NHK World - Cycle Around Japan series
« Reply #8 on: 19 December, 2015, 08:19:41 pm »
Just spotted a few of these on YouTube (...or 2015 remixes or something):

Tomioka to Nikko https://youtu.be/VKabSY8dq-U
Noto Peninsula https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyKBxDTQtzA
A Journey Across Hokkaido https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga50e5L-Jzg
 (This one doesn't have the subtitles chopped off the bottom of the screen http://dai.ly/x25jghr)

Also this one, for completeness  ;D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NZUx7EwDB0

Re: NHK World - Cycle Around Japan series
« Reply #9 on: 20 December, 2015, 04:23:28 pm »
And a few more:
Lake Biwa and Kyoto http://dai.ly/x2ip5ye
Izu Peninsula http://dai.ly/x2ip5q3