The easiest way to watch Vietnamese TV channels in Australia is an IPTV service with a Vietnamese section: one app on your TV, Fire TV Stick or phone gives you live news, dramas, music and entertainment channels from Vietnam, with a programme guide and on-demand titles. About 10 Mbps per screen is enough for HD.
More than 300,000 people in Australia speak Vietnamese at home, according to the 2021 Census, with large communities in Sydney's south-west, Melbourne's west and south-east, Brisbane and Adelaide. Here is how to bring TV from Vietnam into your home.
What families watch most
Vietnamese channels on IPTV are usually grouped into these types:
- National and regional channels from Vietnam, including news and current affairs.
- Dramas and series, both Vietnamese and dubbed foreign series.
- Music and variety shows.
- Children's channels and cartoons in Vietnamese.
- Buddhist and other religious programmes.
Three generations, one TV
Vietnamese-Australian households often have three generations under one roof, each with different tastes. Grandparents may want news and traditional music from home, parents follow dramas, and children born in Australia prefer English-language programmes. IPTV puts all of these in a single guide.
Create a separate favourites list for each person. It takes a few minutes and makes the TV much easier for everyone, especially for older family members who do not want to scroll through thousands of channels.
Tết on Australian time
The Lunar New Year, Tết, is the biggest holiday of the year, with special programmes, music shows and New Year's Eve broadcasts. Vietnam is only 3 to 4 hours behind the east coast, so the midnight countdown in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City reaches Sydney around 4 in the morning, and Perth around 1 am.
Where a channel offers catch-up, you can play the countdown and the specials the next day with the whole family. Test your devices before the holiday, as that week is one of the busiest.
Getting the guide times right
Vietnam uses UTC+7 all year with no daylight saving. It is 1 hour behind Perth, 3 hours behind Brisbane, and 3 or 4 hours behind Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide depending on Australian daylight saving, which runs from early October to early April.
If the programme guide does not match what is on screen, open the EPG settings in your IPTV app and change the time offset. Check it again when the clocks change in October and April.
The internet speed you need
Vietnamese channels use about 10 Mbps per screen for HD, 15 Mbps for Full HD and 25 Mbps for 4K. Our IPTV speed calculator shows what your home needs when several people watch at once.
Most freezing comes from weak Wi-Fi, not a slow plan. Connect the main TV with a network cable, keep the router out of cupboards and restart it every now and then.
Devices that work best
A Fire TV Stick 4K or a Google TV with TiviMate gives the smoothest guide on the main TV, and Samsung and LG Smart TVs can install IPTV apps directly. IPTV Smarters is easy to use on phones and tablets.
If grandparents want the news in one room while the children watch cartoons in another, choose a 2- or 3-screen plan.
Help your children keep Vietnamese
Children born in Australia often understand Vietnamese well but speak it less as they grow up. Cartoons and children's programmes in Vietnamese are an easy way to keep the language part of daily life. Put the children's channels in their own favourites list, and use the app's parental controls to hide categories that are not suitable.
Movies and series on demand
Beyond live channels, the on-demand library has 98,000+ movies and series. Use the search to find a title, and add series to your favourites to continue from the last episode. It is a good option for evenings when the live schedule from Vietnam does not suit your family's routine.
Common problems and fixes
If something does not look right, try these first:
- Programme times are wrong: change the EPG time offset in the app settings.
- Picture freezes at busy times: connect the TV with a network cable and pause big downloads in the house.
- Too many channels to scroll: search for the channel name or use your favourites list.
- Your TV has no IPTV app in its store: plug in a Fire TV Stick, which supports the main IPTV apps.
Watching on the go
Many people in Vietnamese-Australian families work shifts, run small businesses or study. With IPTV Smarters on a phone or tablet, you can catch the news or a drama during a break, then carry on watching on the TV at home. Each device that plays at the same moment counts as one screen, so choose a plan that matches how many people watch at once.
Try it before you pay
Make a short list of the Vietnamese channels your family watches, ask for our free 24-hour trial on WhatsApp and check them in the evening. Plans start at A$24 for one month, or A$99 for 12 months on one screen, and you can ask for a full refund within 7 days.
Frequently asked questions
Can I watch Vietnamese TV in Australia?
Yes. With an IPTV service that includes Vietnamese channels, you can watch live news, dramas, music and entertainment from Vietnam over your internet connection on your TV, phone or computer.
What is the time difference between Vietnam and Australia?
Vietnam is 3 hours behind Sydney and Melbourne in winter and 4 hours behind during Australian daylight saving. It is 3 hours behind Brisbane and 1 hour behind Perth all year.
Do I need a fast internet plan for Vietnamese channels?
No. About 10 Mbps per screen is enough for HD. An nbn 50 plan easily handles two or three screens. Stability matters more than speed, so connect the TV with a network cable if you can.