Odds and Ends: This video is not available in your region

1 civ0726

October 11, 2014 at 8:12 PM

I personally have found it easier I've been able to find everything I want. From going to Hulu and having dramas episode uploaded 2 to 3 days after they've aired with subtitles or dramafever and I have website that pretty much uploads them all. When I first started back in 2006 it was difficult no netflix or Hulu. Even when I was in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011 late at night I was able to log in and download when the Internet restrictions were less. Of course that's just me I don't know about everyone else. It's harder to find Korean movies if anything those get subtitles much more less.

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tee

October 11, 2014 at 10:22 PM

"It’s interesting that there seem to be more sites where you can watch dramas these days, but somehow fewer shows you can actually get access to."

This comment is so true. I subscribe to both viki.and df yet none is carrying the show I am enjoying the most now. That sucks. In particular, it seems VIKI is getting lesser licenses to the US region which is so annoying. So why the hell am I paying? I prefer V*** to D* cos they have better subs and also cos of the timed comments.
But if I can't access shows, I will cancel my sub with both in fact.

And don't even get me started on both of them not carrying cable shows. Spent the whole week looking for bad guys

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tee

October 11, 2014 at 10:23 PM

P.S sorry for jacking your post

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PL

October 12, 2014 at 3:26 AM

Just imagine the headaches for those of us outside the US and Canada. True, there are VPNs, but from what I've heard, they slow down your internet connection speed, as if it isn't already slow enough.

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Mareina

October 12, 2014 at 4:26 AM

I live in Europe and there's an awful lot of content that's not available, but there's ways to bypass restrictions. It's true that many VPNs are slow, but if you test a few you'll easily finde ones that are not.
And there's also quite a few sites that are not restricted and rip subs from DF.
If a show gets subbed, then you can always find it somewhere.

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PL

October 12, 2014 at 4:35 AM

How about quick, safe and free? Are there that many VPNs that meet all three criteria?

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PL

October 12, 2014 at 4:44 AM

Thanks a lot though for your help! :)

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Mareina

October 13, 2014 at 8:42 AM

Firefox add-on Anonymox works best for me. I hardly notice the slow-down and it works just fine even without buying the full version. Didn't encounter any safety problems either.

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sarah

October 12, 2014 at 5:33 AM

VPNs are amazing, but you have to pay for the really good ones, of course (I know a couple that only cost about 10 a month). I think if you can afford it, it's the best way to go. I would do some research to find the best one for your needs.

I feel so lucky to live in the U.S. so I don't have to worry about this ^^;;

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Jay

October 13, 2014 at 6:23 AM

if not vpn, which am not using... a simple add-on like Hola on Chrome does the trick : you just change your IP's country of origin to the one desired...and voilà !! ;)))

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Waiting

October 12, 2014 at 6:02 AM

"In particular, it seems VIKI is getting lesser licenses to the US region which is so annoying."

I have found this to be true lately. I prefer V as well, but the georestricting is happening more and more.An example, it seems that The Three Musketeers allowed certain more active viewers access and then it became restricted. The viewers who were most proficient in English lost access and could not help to sub. I can't blame V as it may have been a restriction from the dramas owners. This is driving me to watch more things on alternate sites even though I don't want to. If they make accessing shows more difficult, some of likely will lost interest. I know i likely will. I wish they did a better job negotiating licenses or the show owners need to understand they are doing themselves an injustice by playing hard to get or pricing themselves too high.

Thanks for bringing this up JB and GF. Perhaps you can be our voice to anyone who may have influence or will listen.

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Aigoooo

October 12, 2014 at 10:21 AM

I find it weird that the more money they invested into Viki, the worse the website got. I hardly go there anymore to watch.

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laraffinee

October 12, 2014 at 2:26 PM

Yep - I used to love Viki and happily became a paid subscriber with them but since all of those changes, the viki site has only gotten worse and worse. I canceled my subscription once because of so many viewing and access problems, and then gave them another shot, but recently canceled for good because it is just not worth having SO many problems with lagging or stopping or no access even for the paid subscribers. I just had it. They even have a twitter site to post Viki site problems - I think that says it all.
They were bought by Rakuten or some such company. It seems the problems may have started then. I have given up on them and have gone over to DF and no problems with them.

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Ivoire

October 12, 2014 at 4:58 PM

@ laraffinee,
I am sorry to read that you have had "SO many problems" with viki (to use your own words), yet I am also relieved to know that I am not the only one who has had an unpleasant experience with them. It makes me feel that I was not dreaming all those challenges I experienced with that site.

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phjfever

October 12, 2014 at 6:49 PM

i agree w/you - i also hardly go to V anymore, the other day i wanted to watch one of the dramas & it's so frustrating to see 'it's not available in your region' yayy

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Ivoire

October 12, 2014 at 2:03 PM

Unfortunately, I have had a horrible experience with viki as well, and I have been a paid subscriber, for quite a while now. I do prefer their subs, however I have had all kinds of problems with the site. I have found myself constantly writing to them, and at times, I don't even get a response, like my complaint does not matter. My last complaint (written 2 or 3 weeks ago) has still not gotten an answer.

I once complained about my lack of HD images, though I was a subscriber, and I had to send pictures of dramas for which the quality of the image was not good (and images of scenes in dramas that were actually HD for me). I had to take some tests, to make sure that my computer was not at fault/not the problem and that my internet connection was good. I am not very computer and technology savvy, however I did comply and submit all the evidence that was required of me. I did all that work to be told that they could not help me (bummer). And they did not reply to me right away, I had to wait some weeks to hear from them.

I was considering being a subber for Kdramas, from English to French, now I am reconsidering that thought. It would be hard for me to want to dedicate my time to subbing (though I would like to try it), when I feel that as a subscriber/customer I have not been treated well. Yet every month, without fail, money is deducted from my account for my subscription (I am rethinking that one too).

In the past 2 or 3 months, I have watched dramas on other sites (with a lesser image quality, and sometimes a lesser subbing quality as well), more than I have on viki, which has been extremely disappointing, and I am a very patient person in general. I was one of those who had said in a poll that I would support viki having a paid subscription, if it would help the site. Now, based on my experience, I am wondering if I was not wrong about my assumptions and my expectations.

It has gotten so bad that I am actually now surprised, when I can watch a full ep. on viki, without having that wheel turning thing on the screen every 7 seconds or so, or the ep. crashing and when I refresh the page, I am told that there is an error, and that I should try again later. I have lost count of how many times I have gotten that message. I was such a fan of viki a few years ago. Now, hum...

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ck1Oz

October 12, 2014 at 11:13 PM

It's not only you all of us long time volunteers had the same issue. It's the server not you. It's worse for us as we couldn't sub the episode. Or design or make changes on the cover page. Or write to anyone. For months. It gave us all the shits. I don't know what viki is coming to. The viki app was crashing as well. I am used to doing the server check, screenshot etc but we couldn't get a timely answer as well. Of what the issue was. After like 20 to 50 attempts a day considering some days we have airing dramas- I might be more homicidal towards viki than you.

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Ivoire

October 13, 2014 at 7:21 AM

Hello ck1Oz,

As I said to laraffinee, I am not rejoicing that you also experienced SOOOOOO many problems with viki, however I feel relieved to know that I was not the only one. The customer service has gotten so bad, I honestly wonder how and why they might think it is OK to run a business in that manner *Shake my head*

I totally understand you about feeling homicidal towards viki, after what you, other people and I have experienced. Do you still volunteer for them? (I was just curious). You could also private message me on viki, I don't know if you remember my name there. I have written to you a few times in the past. Thank you for sharing your experience with us, so sad (and so very disappointing) to read.

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Cyoon

October 12, 2014 at 4:48 PM

Hmm... I haven't really noticed this issue with Viki (maybe the fact that I am a QC gives me more access?) but I can see how that can be an issue.

At the same time, I feel that as a general rule the subs at Viki are better than those at other websites because more people can contribute. I personally sub on Viki occasionally, which I would never do if I had to join an official team and commit to a project (I work full time and am preparing to go to law school). I prefer quality to quantity, though I realize my position as a native speaker of Korean gives me a privileged perspective on this.

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Ivoire

October 12, 2014 at 7:29 PM

Hello Caroline,

I am glad for you that you have not experienced the kind of issues I mentioned in my post, because I suspect that you might have given up on the site a while ago, or by now (maybe). As I mentioned in my post, I can be very, very patient, and I would always write to the Help Center when I had an issue.

Thing is though, after a while, one becomes a disgruntled customer, if you find yourself having to complain or ask for help so often, because you can't have access to the HD option (even though you are a paid subscriber), so viki had to do something about it, because I couldn't. And that happened quite a few times. You add to that the other issues I mentioned, and you seriously wonder why you are even putting up with it, when you are actually paying to get a service. They are not doing you (meaning me) any favors, and many of us subscribers are not asking for the moon. We just want access to dramas (when we want to watch them), and HD quality, since we are paying for it.

We also want dramas and episodes we can watch from beginning to end, without the lagging, and other issues laraffinee and I mentioned. Laraffinee even gave viki a 2nd chance, that is how much she wanted it to work. And as for me, I have been delaying my cancelling my subscription as well, and wondering if I would still like to become a subber. I have read that it can be time consuming, etc... and so it would be easier for me to be enthusiastic about that prospect (at this point) if I had had a good experience with viki.

As you said, maybe being a QC had to do with you having a really good experience at viki, and that is great (for you :-) ). I too prefer quality to quantity, and to be honest, I do not watch many dramas a year to start with. I can count on one hand (or maybe two) how many I watch in a year. So for me, when I am watching a drama, I would really like to be immersed in it, and that desire is killed when your effort to watch the drama of your choice leaves you feeling very frustrated.

As I said to laraffinee, I am glad to know that I was not the only who had been very disappointed with my experience with viki. I wish there were someone (or some people) we could contact, who would actually pay attention and care about our complaints.

October 16, 2014 at 2:40 AM

Hello Caroline,

My response is late, however I do hope that you will get to see it. I appreciate your response, and your sympathizing with the struggles we (non Korean speakers) experience, in trying to find and have a good streaming site that would deliver in quality (both of the subtitles, and the HD image) of the dramas we are trying to watch. I am particularly sensitive to this, as I am a linguist myself. I speak four different languages fluently, and Foreign Languages were my major when I was in college.

Thank you also for clarifying your comment on quality over quantity, and I feel the same way you do. When it comes to viki though, I also find sad that not only have some viewers had a negative experience with that site (as of late), but so have some of the managers of the subtitling teams, as I read among the commenters (one of whom directly responded to my comment. She has been volunteering for viki for many years, as I have seen her name on Dramabeans and on viki for a few years at least).

I do think that quality subs are a must, especially if you have viewers who are willing to pay for such a service. I would have to also add that I had noticed a few times that either the comments were not well segmented on viki, or the subtitles were not complete. There would be words I would recognize, that I did not see subtitled, and at times, the characters spoke for a long time, however the subtitles were not as long.

I used to think that the quality of the subtitles on viki were top notch, and now, even though I think they might be a little more detailed than the subs on DF, I am not sure that they are as good as they might have once been (just my impression, I could be wrong).

I also find it disappointing that it has become harder to fix subtitling mistakes on viki in recent years (as you mentioned), though I would imagine it became so, to restrict or avoid a big number of people being able to just change some of the subtitles (not everyone might be as good as you are, regarding the Korean language). What I really find sad, is that once again, the viewer is the one who loses out in the end, when it comes to quality subs. Kdramas have been one of the ways I have (slowly) been learning the Korean language (in which I am very interested).

So, when I am given inaccurate subs or not given subs at all (especially, as you pointed out for important scenes), I am losing out on some words or expressions I could have learned, yet, I am paying for that service. I really deplore how poorly the customer service has been at viki. I really wish they would truly care more about their customers.

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Ivoire

October 16, 2014 at 2:48 AM

Caroline, part II of my response:

I would add that I watched an Indian movie on viki once, and the segmentation of the subtitles was horrible. So, the problems are not only with the Korean shows, they seem to extend to other languages as well. That makes me feel like viki does not care about the quality of their site, as they proclaim they do, or at least as we are let to believe. Again, I am speaking based on my personal experience. When will we, the viewers be taken (truly) seriously? That is what I would (really) like to know.

Thank you for your time, Caroline, and for this conversation. All my best to you, getting into law school and doing well once you are in. Caroline, Fighting!!! :-)

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whatsthescenario

October 12, 2014 at 9:52 PM

Very late to the party but...
This entire Odds and Ends Post is so timely, bc I found myself wondering about this very subject A LOT lately. It seems that V doesn't get as many series anymore. For my region, they keep promoting and pushing us to watch Indian dramas. Nothing wrong with that, but not my interest right now. They use to get so many dramas and now it's only a few.

I loved V because of their speedy, accurate subs. That is my biggest problem with DF. Their subs suck!!!! They just paraphrase long sentences into a few short lines, when you KNOW that's not what the character said. They fail to use terms like Oppa or Unni by just inserting the characters' name instead (it's frustrating). They try to use the most horrible versions of American slang too, like "Hey dude!" or something equally as corny, instead of using the korean terms ("Daebak!" "Heol!") etc. They Americanize the subs a little too much. I've tested their accuracy by comparing their subs to other sites and they're context is so off the mark sometimes. It changes the point of the scene altogether.

I've always been in DSS (I wish they could finish Childless Comfort...PLeeeeeeeeease!) and a few new ones tend to pop up every now and again. Like everyone else said, the quality of their vids are the problem and they steal subs from other sites.

Yes Darksmurf subs are fine but they are way way behind the actual drama that's airing.

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MIKEY

October 15, 2014 at 1:21 PM

I found Bad Guys on mysoju. It is annoying that Dramafever doesn't get the cable channel programs.

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2 Mama J

October 11, 2014 at 8:15 PM

I don't know how you'd call them, but the nighttime, weeknight, 2-ep dramas, they seem to get covered pretty thoroughly for the major networks - less so for cable.

We were pretty surprised to see that NO ONE was carrying OCN's Bad Guys, and then it popped up after a few days at DSS. We actually got involved in helping edit the translated lines just to keep it moving! Which was fun, and felt good to help - but I really don't need to add yet ANOTHER activity to my list. I devote hours as it is to KDrama and related subjects.

Dailies and long weekend dramas seem to have less availability as subbed programs, and aren't as fast as the others when they are subbed. I don't watch many of those but I think that's what I hear.

There's a LOT more 'you can only watch it here' going on, and that started with those D-whatever notices.

Whatever it is, it goes back to the people who own the dramas and sell the rights: if they can get more money by giving exclusive access to one outlet than they can get for selling it to several, then that's what they're going to do. That is the bottom line for them.

I have a lot of friends who torrent; it's not something I want to get into. If availability of shows dries up then eventually, sadly, I will probably change from being immersed in the community of watchers to being an occasional participant.

By the way...all the streaming sites carrying subbed Episode 1 of Bad Guys now? They took those subs from an early version of the still not yet fully translated set at DSS. So if you think the subs are terrible, complain to the sites about their behavior - and if you have an account at DSS, go watch it there. They're much better there as more work has been done.

One thing i found out about DSS - u need to have created an account to see the Beta version of the site that would then show the Cable drama option. If u do not sign in to account - only the Free to Air Drama option shows on their site. Found this out by accident really when on my tablet (which is signed into my accouhnt) - i was able to watch Yoona's Street but could not for the live of me get the Cable option on my desktop. After some observation (i am an IT person) - i saw the difference.

Hope this helps.

Marathoned Yoona's Street once i saw the DSS had them sub - it is a very good series.

Caught Bad Guys there this weekend. Will be watching!

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Mimi

October 13, 2014 at 6:35 PM

Try dramacool.com. They are pretty good about uploading raw videos and then later adding the subs which they get from other sites such as DF, DSS, etc. Admittedly, sometimes the subs are less than par. Also, you don't have to sign in with an account like DSS. The first episode is subbed which I'm assuming is courtesy of DSS.

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sogazelle

October 11, 2014 at 8:46 PM

MYASIANTV has all those dramas sub the same day for free without ads...

It's one of the best websites.

I stop my subscription with dramafever when I saw that I could watch the same dramas at myasiantv the same day subbed and ad free while I had to wait 1 or 2 days with dramafever as a paying member.

It was a no brainer for me.

They carry korean, japanese, hong kong, taiwanese dramas and movies.

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Mama J

October 11, 2014 at 8:57 PM

Not true, actually. They do no subbing of their own, from what I understand, so they only have subbed episodes when someone else does.

October 12, 2014 at 2:18 PM

Dramacool deleted my comment and blocked me when I mentioned that the subs in one show were incomplete and identical to Viki's subs. It really upset me that they blocked me from making comments.

Lately I've been alternating between Viki and kdrama (now Soompi TV) because Viki has been having a lot of technical problems and their subs tend to get delayed. But the new ipad update for Soompi TV tends to get stuck in the commercials. Since I already pay for Viki I don't want to pay for Soompi too, so I just watch commercials. But Soompi is getting stuck and I'm getting frustrated with Viki and Soompi. So Dramacool keeps calling my name, but I hate them so I can't seem to find a solution. I also hate the idea of supporting a site that is basically stealing from others.

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revlow

October 12, 2014 at 2:05 AM

Hi Frustrated with Span Subs,

This is an explanation StarlaBlaise gave in another post:

-------------------------------------------------------------------
You go to the drama’s page. Click on “01” link in the english subs section. DSS Translated column means translation by dictionaries (like Goggle translate). After or during dictionary translation fans edit this. And it shows in FANS
Edited column. So, you go to this “01” link and download drama. There’s option by sourse (DTV or IPOP or any other). :)
-------------------------------------------------------------------

If you haven't already, you need to create an account.

I found the site confusing too. I'm still learning the ropes. If I can think of any tips I'll let you know.

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Noelle

October 11, 2014 at 8:44 PM

what's dss?

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canxi

October 11, 2014 at 8:53 PM

DarkSmurf Subs

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October 11, 2014 at 8:15 PM

Yeah, sometimes it can be hard finding subtitles and you want to cry. I feel a certain sense of dread when this happens with a show I really want to watch (it's especially damning for, like, Taiwanese or Hong Kong dramas). Even the popular subtitles sites seems to only try to pick up what's going to be/has the potential to be popular? I guess they browse around and try to see what people are talking about most? So, sometimes they don't have a thing. Sometimes they get competitive and get rights to a drama *~EXCLUSIVELY~* which I think is silly and leaves out a huge junk of audience. It can be hard.

Yoona's Street didn't have subs for a while, I think, but now it's on track right? And I know everyone is tryna search up subs for Bad Guy right now which I'm surprised hasn't gotten picked up because Park Hae Jin is in it and I am of the opinion that he's quite popular now. Was I wrong? Lol, I guess you have to bombard your favorite site with recommendations sometimes.

October 12, 2014 at 5:25 AM

Namely Spring Day subbing which seriously sucks. I know what you mean re " M". It's still getting done but slower.

The thing is right... I am happy doing legal stuff and helping in a legal site in order to watch my Kdrama. But when another legal sites " shoves elbows and knuckles " over the competition but produces inferior goods- that's when I say it's trying to monopolize the market. They are ruthless businesses and it doesn't help the average Kdrama fan.

And oh... another thing- I cannot even watch a drama from a streaming site ( if they are having the subs) because the sole person on the Internet getting the subs doesn't have the time to get it from both V, D and C. So they most of the time get it from the easiest source. Who doesn't actually produce consistently good translations or makes up stuff on the go.

There is one drama I am watching now which as so many expletives per episode. Because the subber obviously has a limited vocabulary. The character is not even saying those words- it's appearing on screen. Do they even know the common Korean exclamations? I do not want to hear " J Christ and G " every episode. Ergh.

So yeah access is restricted. Then when you have access or rather can find the show- then you can't find good subs.

Money money money. The 2 big guys currently paying the big bucks are the ones responsible for all this. I lay it soley on one company trying to monopolize the whole K drama whole namely the US according to them.

Pity we can't name names. And yes GF and DB, access is more difficult, I cannot watch any streaming shows because of the numerous ads and I've resorted to other methods.

See you all from jail one day at the rate we are going.

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Jaeminuf

October 12, 2014 at 4:15 AM

See you all from jail one day at the rate we are going.

LOL. I miss you.

Yeah, I'm watching it legally but not necessarily getting every little nuance for some of the sageuk terms and/or very technical professional terms. Which sort of dampens the impact since those nuances are the DUN DUN that the viewers are supposed to hang onto for suspense.

And I am turning away a bit from Korean drama as a result. Life is already hectic, so other than the one drama that I find myself dedicated to every once in a while now, I want entertainment that's a bit easier to access (literally in terms of access as well as figuratively in terms of language). I've been more productive in my real life, which is a good thing. I've also been turning to my Amazon Prime membership, catching up on my list of to-watch films and TV shows, OR reading my backlog of novels.

The reality is, in the 21st century, there's more than enough that people can find easily to occupy themselves. K-Drama, by making access harder, will lose out to those alternatives.

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ck1Oz

October 12, 2014 at 7:40 AM

Turning away? Yeah like me. I am reading more ebooks as well.

Come hang out with me in Jan for Hyde, Jekyll, Me.

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Jaeminuf

October 12, 2014 at 10:29 AM

But it was written by the Cheongdamdong Alice writer... :(
I'll go check your pipeline because I do want to hang out with you.

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Jay

October 13, 2014 at 6:47 AM

agree agree agree... and it's greed greed greed...

will not resort to a socio-political indignation here but you are so right.. money is the nerve of the war as we say in French... and they are not even descent enought to provide the best product possible

am still resorting to the old old ways like a dinosaur and filling up my external harddrive the best I can with .ass and .srt

for posterity ;)

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October 11, 2014 at 8:29 PM

when i saw this article, i can't more
agree

What's you called georestricted that's happening in my country

Hufttt...hope this can't be worse, cause already in critical stage, and it's really upsetting

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9 Haru

October 11, 2014 at 8:31 PM

Living in Australia its a pain in the buttocks to try and watch streaming K-drama. Every legal site is "This video is not available in your region" for the new shows. J-drama is a bit easier as I watch some of them on crunchyroll but I've been doing the same as I have done for the past 10+ years. Download torrent files, download softsubs and if its a kdrama i'm going to watch a billion times i'll end up buying the box-set.

I have a question though for dramabeans though~ Do kdrama's get released in Blu-ray quality box-sets? Because I haven't been buying the ones I really want in hopes that it will be released in blu-ray :( I know movies are being released in BR as I have a ton of kmovies but it would be so nice if I could watch my favourite kdrama in sparkly high definition with all the pores & imperfections visible. You can buy japanese release kdrama in BR but w.o english subs & the prices range from $150-$300+ X[

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dramabird

October 11, 2014 at 11:30 PM

I have noticed that since September, subbing has slowed down significantly on Viki. Maybe because subbers are back in school? If that is the case, patience is called for since school should be more important :)

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Neha

October 12, 2014 at 1:11 AM

I did mean just for J-dramas. I'm a QC on viki and I know I haven't contributed because of exams though, so that's entirely possible.

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Jaeminuf

I am one of those with the geographical problem but thankfully am Chinese, so I can deal with Chinese subs. I've pretty much given up Eng subs - never available, too slow. Except dramacool if my Chinese website/app doesn't work.

Maplestage is very good and fast, usually available for major shows. Pptv, Tudou etc all have the same problem for me as the end subs - wrong region! If you use your phone or Mac (or android) I use qianxun (千尋) app - it will gather all the dramas from diff sites and then allow you to play it.

Another option is one of those qvod sites requiring an program download to watch, but subs up within 3-4 hours of finishing the show

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ladyluck

October 12, 2014 at 12:14 AM

I am in the same lucky boat. I much prefer Chinese subs too, somehow even the best English subs seems to lose something in translation. Korean borrows so many Chinese words that its much easier for Chinese subs to get the point across, especially for sagueks.

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Jaeminuf

October 12, 2014 at 4:22 AM

@ Ladyluck,

That would make absolute sense. Perhaps I should learn Chinese.

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galen

October 12, 2014 at 5:30 AM

Chinese subs are an option for me, but a distant second choice, since I read Chinese at a much slower speed. -.- I end up having to rewind and pause whenever there's too much speech going on.

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rainerust

October 11, 2014 at 10:20 PM

If all else fails I turn to natnatvip. Although the quality of their videos leave much to be desired. And the videos are split into bits too. I find tudou and youku too slow, and now they started to do the georestricting thing too. Same problems apply to the Chinese apps I've been using to stream - some shows get yanked halfway cos of licensing and I'll find that only ONE app carries the subbed drama and it may not come out as fast. Sigh. I'm thinking about investing in a VPN app...

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Nina

October 11, 2014 at 9:12 PM

Youth Over Flowers Laos is being subbed by yeoniverse and banasubbers , they have released 3 episodes already ( ep 7, 8 and 9 )
Meanwhile , and thanks to the darn silence of Hulu about the show , fans of Youth Over Flowers Peru are currently working on subs for the first 6 episodes .... it'll take a while since it's the first project for MeToo Sub Team(they usually only translate small vids ) but hopefully they'll finish it without problems .... since they don't have kor - eng subbers they're translating from chinese to english

So if there's a kor-eng or chi-eng subber who wants to help to make the process shorter ... we'll be seriously thankful ( [email protected] for volunteers XD )

#ninjaout

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aen03

October 11, 2014 at 9:17 PM

Someone shared this link under one of the Youth of Flowers recap... they give you subs of the episodes with Chilbongie in it...
http://ggotbodachungchoon.wordpress.com./..
I found it very helpful, waiting for ep 10 subs...

I'd really like to watch the Law of the jungle series... I get to see some parts when a certain fanbase subs the episodes with their idols in it, but I wish someone would take the time or put in the effort to sub the complete series... :(

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coby

October 11, 2014 at 9:50 PM

that site is like a gift to me. are you that one that posted that link here the other day? thanks a bunch!

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14 Stuart

October 11, 2014 at 8:44 PM

The country I live in has a habit of actually being physically omitted from infographics maps of the world, which might be why the only way I can watch any of the streaming sites is through a proxy that lets me pretend I'm in the US.

The exception is DSS. LikeJoAnn, I've been helping out there on Yoona's Street and Reset. AFAIK only DSS is subbing those shows, other sites I've seen offering these two have been using DSS subs. I'm very happy that DSS lets me watch w/o a proxy and to help out in return by editing the subs when I have the time.

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15 kanz

October 11, 2014 at 8:44 PM

I have difficulties to find old dramas, say, older than 2009, because I'm the one who wouldn't stream drama but download and store it in my HDD so I have to find the download link. Sometimes Youtube can help sometimes not.

For about a year now, I download drama from my local forum and it have really huge database of dramas, variety shows, movies, etc. When I can't find there I would download the torrents at d-addicts or searching on YT. I don't watch through Viki, DF, or Hulu, the internet connection here is slow, I would pull my hair out. If I really like a drama, I maybe will watch live-streaming. Oh and now there's kdrama.com, soompi TV on soompi, gooddrama.net, dramafire, dramacool, etc. But I don't like if kdrama have many parts, so I still prefer to download whole ep without getting cut in parts.

DramaFever co-produces Tomorrow's Cantabile with KBS
http://www.dramafever.com/news/dramafever-co-produces-tomorrows-cantabile-with-kbs/

So now they are actually "producers"?

Also...

October 12, 2014 at 10:26 PM

"I really appreciate being able to watch the drama specials, which aren’t usually subbed by any of the licensed sites."

@AuntieMame... agree with you about these drama specials. Some are really great to watch. The writers are very clever delivering a story and developing characters all within the short time frame (normally one hour, though on occasions spanning 2 or 4 episodes).

And with a busy life, they feed the drama fix nicely. But sometimes, oh those subs, LOL! You get some great laughs. The distribution company's translations can certainly be... 'interesting'!

So, those two reason brought songbird & I back into subbing... Call us crazy, gluttons for punishment, etc. but at least we're not up till 3am finishing one episode only then to start onto the next! Oh those heady days of torrenting and fansubbing!!

Do I miss them? Well maybe... a little.. every now & then. ssshhh, just don't tell anyone, lol.

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Peridot

October 12, 2014 at 6:01 AM

Just great! I'm not sure that I want to create a DramaFever account. I never was a fan of that site.

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Auntiemame

October 12, 2014 at 1:48 PM

Hahahaha . . . California Almond Board.

It had always puzzled me why Eun Sang brought almonds back to Korea, as a present for her mom. It was 'product placement'! LOL

And, also, they filmed in an almond orchard.

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revlow

October 13, 2014 at 7:58 PM

I just watched the 1st episode of Cantabile. Did anyone catch the almond appearance? I sure didn't. Of course I don't want to be playing "Where's Waldo" while watching a drama, but I was curious so tried to pay attention. Anyone see it?

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submonkey

October 12, 2014 at 6:25 PM

DF is one of the big reasons it's harder to find subs. About 2 years ago they went on a rampage trying to pull content from everyone who had any competition with them. Remember the stick figure drawings here on DB for that terrible drama that shall not be named? (7th Level Civil Servant - haha) The same thing happened on DarkSmurfs and that site was only subbing. They had to divide cable shows from the major network shows and make access more "underground" to keep from getting takedown notices. Ridiculous stuff like that is what has made it so hard in the last year to find places to watch.

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Jay

October 13, 2014 at 7:39 AM

which shows it never ends... their cash cow might actually kill the whole thing..,.

they first started by stealing subs from others.. then crack down on anything and everything under the sun with their lawsuit or threats...

Now they are cashing in big bucks for crappy subs, still killing others in the process...

Producers now ? OMO can only imagine... for one, their First Award Gala was such a sham and shame of selfpromoting, all the awards went to their own Heirs... nothing much else... VIP tickets selling 1grand to attend...

again greedy capitalism for only a few elite in the end while artistry and creativity is only viewed with how much $$$ it's generating

October 11, 2014 at 9:29 PM

Psst: if you get a browser extension like Hola, it will get around the region restriction on Viki (it's how I've been watching Three Musketeers, not to mention Doctor Who). Unfortunately they have a looooot of ads.

October 12, 2014 at 7:48 AM

adblock works well for me on viki!

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spazmo

While the licensed sites are great for no longer having to watch 'underground', it also meant that only select dramas would be available. And, those dramas are the ones that can bring in big money, for the 'bottom line'. Not necessarily the well-executed or well-written dramas, but ones based on popularity of the cast.

Fan-subbing didn't have to be mindful of the 'bottom line' and could be more selective about quality.

I've kept my hard-drives, in anticipation of the day when we sort to fan-subbing again. I'm ready to edit again, WithS2.

There's an ironic adjunct to all of this. Fan-subbing started as a result of the lousy subs provided by the content owners. Well, we're right back to where we started, with the lousy subs provided by a couple of the streaming sites. Talk about sins of omission and commission. LOL

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kanz

October 11, 2014 at 11:42 PM

keller, I use subtitle edit to retime and edit the subs.
I also download and use soft subs from subscene.

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Jo

October 12, 2014 at 1:07 AM

Aegisub... fantastic. Love it :-) It's worth the small amount of time to learn how to use it, I can change 1 line or all of them, edit the text, change the font etc. Freeware (I loved it so much I donated).

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mary

October 12, 2014 at 1:07 AM

*butts in* VLC has a built in option to advance or delay your .srt file. I think it's in Tools > Track & Synchronization. Then you specify the milliseconds delay.

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patinalee

October 12, 2014 at 1:23 AM

@keller

- subtitle edit- retiming tutorial here : http://www.sub-talk.net/topic/3143-how-to-sync-a-file-using-subtitleedit/

October 11, 2014 at 9:02 PM

LOL! Old ways? I never moved on from getting raw videos as well as the synced softsubs, although admittedly streaming sites like viiki makes life easier. Sadly dramafever never worked for me except for a very short time when they did a trial period for my region, but then they shut it down so I guess it wasn't profitable enough T____T Thanks for making this post though, ppl are recommending streaming sites that I had no idea about so I'll definitely be checking them out and hope they won't be georestricted!

Btw, I'm tearing my hair off in frustration because no one is fansubbing Bad Guys and while the raw files are pretty to look at I want to know what they are talking about! So I hope you guys will continue recapping this really promising show!

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Mama J

October 11, 2014 at 9:05 PM

Fan subbing is happening at DarkSmurfSubs

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Gasenadi

October 21, 2014 at 6:51 PM

I KNOW!! I've learned SOO much from the comments section alone! I don't think I'll sleep tonight just from the exitement!

"They" can try but I don't think the fans will let kdrama fade away. I also have a humungous To Read list and a loooong Netflix queue, but I'm not going to let "them" get between my kdramas and me.

I'm also saving dramas for "posterity" on my external hard drive(s) just in case and will probably learn to torrent and use soft subs, etc. while I'm at it. Thanks so much to all for the info and tutorials.

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21 kikidee

October 11, 2014 at 9:07 PM

I think a lot of people also haven't noticed that these sites have started to compete over the license. For instance Viki and kdrama.com (Now soompi tv? I'm so confused about that) have been battling it out. A ton of people thought and still think Three Musketeers wasn't available in the U.S., when it just wasn't available on Viki. Viki isn't about to advertise someone else's site, so it was up to viewers using word of mouth to pass along that Three Musketeers was on kdrama.com. Now whenever I see "This show is not available in your region" on Viki, I know that actually means, "kdrama.com got an exclusive license, rotten bastards."

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themarchioness

October 11, 2014 at 10:45 PM

kdrama.com (Now soompi tv? I’m so confused about that)

kdrama.com was originally created/launched by Crunchyroll.com.

Crunchyroll.com acquired Soompi.com in May 2014. As a result, it decided to move its K-drama streaming site to Soompi.com.

And that's how Kdrama.com turned into SoompiTV.com.

It's a little convoluted, I know. :)

Sources:

https://gigaom.com/2014/10/07/crunchyroll-brings-korean-drama-streams-to-soompi-com/

http://www.soompi.com/2014/05/29/soompis-found-a-new-family-now-part-of-crunchyroll/

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john

October 12, 2014 at 5:31 AM

I was surprised to learn that AT&T , yes, that AT&T, is the behind the scenes purchaser behind the Soompi-Crunchyroll-Kdrama thing. Not sure if that's good or bad.

October 11, 2014 at 9:08 PM

I haven't had any trouble finding Korean dramas that I wanted to watch, though I have had trouble finding some reality shows like Korea's Next Top Model. The ones I really get frustrated with are the Chinese, Taiwanese and other countries that aren't as big. Even if they have a fan channel on Viki, they somehow never actually get fully subbed and I start them but can't finish them.

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bloop

October 12, 2014 at 12:03 AM

You can find most Taiwanese Dramas here: http://sugoideas.com/

:)

They are usually subbed. Hope this helps.

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At a certain point, I just couldn't watch a single Drama on DramaFever, so I turned to greener pastures.

Their unpaid service is sluggish at best, and limited in content. In my country Internet doesn't have a high speed to start with, so a direct streaming is out of question.

Anyway, thanks DG and GF for creating this space for us and thanks to this community.

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Orion

October 11, 2014 at 10:50 PM

Except the rise of DF and apparently its aggressive shutdown of other places screwed people over it had no right to take entertainment away from, given they have no legal and affordable access to it.

Meaning we unworthy ones in Europe and other places lost many good sites, sites which used to be our only solid way of enjoying this entertainment, because the Korean side (through DF) wanted to sell to North America.

Meaning even if it's not their fault and they are a business, their rise was detrimental to people the site does not even provide for, who might feel a bit pissed about that.

So I do understand the frustration, but it does ultimately fall on the content creators who place boundaries, but do not provide to those outside of them. But they are the ones losing potential, ready and willing to pay customers, so it's their loss in the long run. Hopefully, they will realize that some day.

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fgb4877

October 13, 2014 at 8:20 PM

Hello and sorry to bear bad news, but the content creators in Korea don't pay much attention to the long run but the short one. Tamra the Island and more recently Surpluss Princess were victims of this short-sighted philosopy.

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eJc

October 12, 2014 at 9:39 AM

Even though, it's a vaild point that DF is a business and has the legal right to execute its rights given by the content owner, the Korean networks, I still want to point out that this is two way road. Meaning you cannot just say, eventually it's the fault of the networks for restricted access. Because not only the Korean networks could have asked for exclusive streaming rights on DF, but more likely DF tried to get the competitors out of business by demanding to have this rights exclusively for a higher fee. Even more so, if you take into account what business practices DF has executed and what they have done to the whole kdrama community like others here have already pointed out. DF has much more to loose if more legal (or illegal) competition is widely spread on the market with the same content but at a higher quality (better and faster subs!). Therefore, DF is in need of exclusive content. Whereas the networks just want to sell at the highest price. If DF offers that, why not take it? Very shortsighted, though!!! I don't say that this is the way only DF works, but they have get themselves notorious for their aggressiv business behavior.

At the end of the day it is about money for both sides (network vs. streaming site) and the best negotiation terms they can get out of each other. And what pisses me of is that it's not about us, the international viewers, but solely about money. We're left out!

I personally tried everything, except torrenting, because I live in Germany where even most of the general music content on YT is restricted. To get access here legally is really hard. So, yes, I tried to use VPN and created accounts on legal sites. And from my experience DF has not the best subs. They confuse me at times. And with all the ads popping up every 8 min or so (adblock doesn't work), I was quite annoyed. Then I discovered Viki. I loved it! Legal, fast and an awesome community!!! (Besides the increasing number of Spanish comments which excluded everyone else) Everthing was fine on Viki until VPN didn't work for me anymore. What to do? In the end I'm forced to use sites I don't want to use for my favorite shows. Or to quite dramas all together.

It can't be the goal of either the legal streaming sites nor the networks that an increasingly small number of people can have access (for a higher fee?) to their contents. It doesn't serve anybody in the long run. It's just creates piracy!

October 11, 2014 at 11:53 PM

The international kdrama community is becoming a victim of its own success. Because kdrama viewing has grown exponentially in recent years sites such as Dramafever is now trying to cash in. What they and other similar sites will increasing try to do is ensure exclusivity.

A good example of this trend is Dramafever investing in the upcoming Nodame Cantabile remake. (They also invested in Heirs.) In doing so they secure exclusive rights for North America (as they also did with Heirs). Exclusivity drives subscriptions, and I think we can be sure to see much more competition for exclusive licensing deals in the future. The days of finding everything in one place is over.

Unless, of course, that place is Google!

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HFS

October 12, 2014 at 7:56 PM

I think DF would have been better off securing a license to the show (but not an exclusive license) and then acquiring the rights to sell stickers, pictures, toys, and other physical goods in their gift shop. Yesasia is too darn expensive.

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eleanor

October 12, 2014 at 6:14 AM

Rather blame the DMCA and the corporatisation of the Internet. Large companies who are completely out of touch with who actually watches television are looking to make a quick buck. DF, Viki, any legal streaming site have to follow DMCA regulations and the people in the system. They are just part of the system. If you really care about creating fairer Internet access, then you have to go after FCC rulings etc. that limit Internet access and that restrict international film and television access. The FCC is basically single-handedly trying to break the Internet with their stupid fast lanes. So don't blame DF or Viki (because they are also corporate). The corporations are the new rich class, and human beings are the proletariat, for want of better terminology.

The free market is a scam, but it is what is driving the FCC as well these days. The current chairman of the FCC is a former cable industry lobbyist. So the DMCA, FCC, and the free market are all in bed together screwing the customers over, and in then end themselves.

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August

October 12, 2014 at 11:22 AM

Why it matters...FYI:

DramaFever, the Next Digital Video M&A Mega-Deal?
Here’s Why ("Korean Drama” Matters)

http://digitalmediaupdate.blogspot.com/

http://digitalmediaupdate.blogspot.com/#sthash.BUBVQqkp.dpuf

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Auntiemame

October 12, 2014 at 6:46 PM

Excellent article. Nothing is ever simple, in the world. But, it sure is darn interesting. LOL

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August

October 14, 2014 at 10:17 AM

SoftBank Buys DramaFever:

http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/softbank-to-acquire-online-video-startup-dramafever-1201329438/

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/91f991b8-53b9-11e4-8285-00144feab7de.html#axzz3G8llt4yl

http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/14/softbank-snaps-up-korean-video-site-dramafever-to-increase-its-entertainment-focus/

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/japans-softbank-acquire-streaming-video-740595

http://deadline.com/2014/10/softbank-buys-dramafever-continuing-its-hunt-for-entertainment-850976/

http://venturebeat.com/2014/10/14/softbank-to-buy-online-video-giant-dramafever/

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25 whatis

October 11, 2014 at 9:09 PM

I primarily watch dramas with Chinese subtitles 'cause they are subbed very quickly. Almost within 12 hours of the show's airing, the subs are available and up online. I haven't had the problem where I couldn't find the Chinese subs for stuff I wanted to watch... and may it never happen!!!

My biggest hurdle is finding OLD dramas subtitled. I'm 100% sure they're out there but they're either made private, or I'd have to join a forum and earn points in order to see the links, etc etc etc.

Hello, I'm watching my dramas on Dramafire. How come it doesn't seem to be popular here? Hardly anyone mentions that. I have georestrictions on a lot of sites, but so far so good on dramafire for me. Most of the shows I want to watch are there, including some of the latest animes, Japanese and Taiwanese dramas too.

No youths over flowers though :(

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vanillasalt

October 11, 2014 at 9:23 PM

Yes! i go on dramafire for jdramas and they have most of what i want there, but the pop up ads kinda bug but hey w/e it's free what can ya do haha!

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revlow

October 12, 2014 at 12:44 AM

I use Dramafire from time to time, but the video quality isn't as good as others.

In case you missed it, you can see Youth Over Flowers here:
http://ggotbodachungchoon.wordpress.com/

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27 wonhwa

October 11, 2014 at 9:18 PM

As one of the odd people who loves long sageuks, it was frustrating not to be able to find subs for Jeong Do Jeon this year, even though it was getting rave reviews (and apparently airing with English subs in some US markets on KBS World). The first k-drama I encountered was several episodes of Age of Warriors airing on an independent public television station in Philadelphia, but I've never been able to find a streaming version of the complete show on any site, licensed or not.

Thanks!

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28 jubilantia

October 11, 2014 at 9:23 PM

I haven't had as much time lately for dramas, but I wanted to try Three Musketeers and had a hell of a time finding it.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: You can get around the region thing if you use a browser extension like Hola to fool the site into thinking your computer is in a different country, which I ended up doing for Three Musketeers on Viki.

I've come to trust Dramafever, and I'm bummed it let me down with that one. I guess it's getting competition with other sites, or they're getting complacent and not hammering out the negotiations soon enough. I was watching High School King on Good Drama, because it was the only place I could find it.

I've been seeing this happen a lot with American streaming, too. Shows and movies will be pulled off Netflix (Battlestaaaar!) and then maybe put on Hulu (which has ads even if you pay- ugh) or Amazon. They're rarely on more than one service at once, so you have to commit and pay for all three- and even then not everything is available. It hurts everyone when it's not available everywhere. I wish they would get everything hammered out so you could pick a streaming service and stick with it.

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revlow

October 12, 2014 at 1:26 AM

LOL. Boy I've made that mistake, too!

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Adal

October 12, 2014 at 6:13 AM

Thanks. I'll definitely check it out.

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Because of Reasons

October 12, 2014 at 5:34 AM

I've never encountered an ad on kdrama.com; every now and then I see a little hiccup in the video where I assume an ad is supposed to go, but I have an adblocker extension installed for Firefox, so I get to watch ad-free. It's great!

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panda

October 12, 2014 at 9:00 AM

I never got adds with Kdrama.com but I'm now getting with soompitv

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revlow

October 12, 2014 at 1:17 AM

Hi jubilantia,

I love Good Drama--can find almost anything there--but I try other sites first because the video quality is usually better.

Besides Viki and DramaFever I check:

* Kdrama (now called soompi TV)
* MyAsianTv.com -- can find a lot of things here I can't find elsewhere

Those are my 1st choices. (King of High School was available at both.)

After that I'll check:

* DramaBay
* Sensen
* epdrama
* Drama.net
* DramaCool
* DramaFire

But I have to say I've had a few buggy problems at times with these.

There are other sites, but for now I've whittled it down to these. I try to balance availability, video quality, and readability of subs--some are just atrocious!

And then of course there's Good Drama. That still is my go-to when I want to find older Kdramas and movies.

Other people have pointed out darksmurfsub.com and I'm just getting used to that. It seems a lot of the subs start from there.

Thanks for the tip about Hola. I'm going to try it! :-)

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revlow

October 12, 2014 at 1:25 AM

Oh, realized I could have been more clear...

There are other sites, but for now I’ve whittled it down to these. I try to balance availability, video quality, and readability of subs–some are just atrocious!

Actually there are 2 things I look for in subs:

1) The "quality" of the subs? What do I know...I don't speak Korean. Still sometimes I get a sense that one might be better than the other. Or more poetic? Or?

2) The readability. Fonts, size, colors. That's what I meant by some are just atrocious.

Hope this helps.

October 13, 2014 at 12:15 PM

They do that? Most of the ones I see they just write "Oppa", but I haven't watched all of them by any stretch of the imagination.

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eleanor

Sometimes you can switch to a different VPN, or try it from a different country. I'm currently running one from Great Britain, and it seems to be working.

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29 vanillasalt

October 11, 2014 at 9:25 PM

Anyone remember kimchidrama.com or Mysoju? They used to have almost everything and a lot of kmovies that are unavalible on the legal sites or weren't subbed elsewhere. Mysoju had A LOT of movies and jdrama, but sadly both are gone bc they were idk illegal i guess? I miss them

October 12, 2014 at 3:01 AM

RIP to Mysoju, kimchidrama and Dramacrazy - they made it a lot easier for those of us who were geo-blocked back in the day.

I could stand Mysoju going down, but dramacrazy, that really hurt.

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vanillasalt

October 13, 2014 at 11:33 AM

omg dramacrazy is gone too? I didn't even know till now, how depressing! I guess it's only a matter of time till Dramafire is gone too.

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lucertola

October 12, 2014 at 4:39 AM

Yes, I miss Mysoju, Dramacrazy in it's original shape and kimchidrama too. And I miss especially Jdrama live journal community. At that time you could find everything on one web site.

I think the best would be a combination of nowadays options (viki, DSS, etc.) with the old free access sites for all East Asian dramas, not only Korean.
Crossing fingers that this will be the future development for it.

Side note: I am disappointed in Japan because they still don't have YT sites as KBS World which goal is to promote Hallyu wave, and that they don't let their music/shows/etc. to be available for free on YT channels.

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Yeah, I think in the US we've got great access, compared to the folks I'm hearing weighing in from other countries.

October 12, 2014 at 12:05 AM

The Ouran anime is on Netflix, but they did do a pretty good job with the live-action. I wish the same things, although I lean more towards ones like BOSS, Nodame Cantabile, and Nobuta wo. Produce.

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Anju

October 12, 2014 at 8:47 AM

The live-action for Ouran cracks me up! Tamaki looked awfully familiar, until I realized that it was the aura-seeing guy from Hana Kimi!

BABAYYYYYY!

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40 Melbeanie

October 11, 2014 at 11:03 PM

I became a kdrama addict when I was still in the Philippines where I had CDs and DVDs copied from my cousin's archive. Yes, I had 23 CDs of Goong, etc. Luckily, DVDs are already available when I watched Jumong (just imagine, 81 CDs!)! Now that I've said that, there is still Kim Myung Min's Lee Shoon Shin (or something like that) DVDs that I haven't watched and I couldn't bring them here in Australia for fear of being fined.

Back then, I would watch the current dramas at mysoju.com without any problems. Then I moved here in Oz where internet fees are humongous (and where mysoju is not available). But I was able to watch from another site which I could not remember (probably dramacrazy - dramafever and vikii were not available back then, I'm not so sure now). Watching through the internet cost me $650! Good lord, and that's for watching Glory Jane which I didn't even finish! I was still a student then and was just renting a room so I didn't have a "proper" internet connection. I just used my phone for my wifi which was the biggest mistake I have ever made. Yes, bigger than watching Five Fingers seriously (I now have a clear understanding of what makjang really is, big thanks, Five Fingers! The title should have been a giveaway but it's Joo Ji Hoon's, what can I say? Yup, I blindly followed the face...).

So that "tragic" incident straightened my twisted addiction (I would watch kdramas in the library until closing time but could not wait for the next episode so I would watch it using my phone's wifi, cost be damned, but when I saw the bill, well, that's an eye-opener, to say it mildly, uh, an eye-popper is more apt, actually).

Yes, I now have four external drives full of Korean Dramas from my wonderful cousin. I don't have the heart to delete any dramas (even if they're crappy) so my external drives don't really move back and forth. There's always a new external drive each time. With my situation, I could only read recaps of currently-being-aired dramas and watch them when someone would come over to bring the external drive or if I have my holidays back in my country. Would you believe, I just finished Gentleman's Dignity? I know, it's so Jurassic but these external drives work wonders for my sanity as I could always "review" my favourite dramas or scenes or just ogle at Lee Kang To or Lee Jae Ha or Choi Han Kyul mwa ha ha! It just comes late, that's all so I'd look like the first photo when I'm waiting for my external drive to arrive, then if my cousin would include unfinished dramas and I'm on the last episode she sent, I'd be like Sung Shi Won on that last photo, lol!

Actually, dramas are not too hard to find (except the cable ones) but variery shows that are subbedare very rare. I mean, Grandpas Over Flowers!!! I still haven't found anything that works. Well, finding subbed videos has always been a task so I did my best to learn Korean, even just by myself, so I dont need to completely rely on subbed videos. I still need my dramas so just needed to do whatever I can.

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Japanese News video⇒http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soVKNVV1yaE&feature=youtu.be

A 52 year old unemployed Japanese man was arrest by the Japanese police cyber crime unit for uploading 2600 videos of sports programs and Fuji TV's dramas illegally and posting the videos to a video posting site of France without permission. He was arrested on suspicion of violation of Japan's copyright laws. Feel so sad.

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43 JoyBells

October 12, 2014 at 12:29 AM

Yes,its becoming a bit difficult these past years. Sites like "mysoju" i used to frequent when i got into Kdrama no longer work.
I wouldn't mind paying to watch dramas in sites live Dramafever but the problem is they don't work in my country. :(

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44 conan

October 12, 2014 at 12:32 AM

I actually have more trouble finding movies, but that's a given. Movies are by nature restricted, and since it's not as heavily fan-based as dramas, a lot of the Korean movies I want to watch are most often unavailable and/or unsubbed. Note to self: start learning Korean seriously.

In terms of dramas, there was a moment a couple years ago when the Dramafever shitstorm of shutting down everything made it difficult to watch (or at the time download) my favorite dramas. These days, those free, non-georestricted sites are quite easy to come across (I have a favorite) which makes me a happy camper. Yes, I'm not watching from an "official" drama source, but since those can't be watched legally from my country anyways, I don't care.

Although, there have been some shows that are exclusive to Hulu and I can't, for the life of me, watch from there no matter what kind of VPN/proxy server I try. It sucks. Georestriction is still new-ish but as of now it's not looking so good.

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Lizzy4e

October 13, 2014 at 7:17 AM

I live in the US and watch gooddrama all the time. Their android app for tablet and cell is the bomb.

I download the 3 or 4 segments of a show and the app stitches them together with a tiny hiccup. and because it is downloaded there is no buffer wheel.

Viki used to be my goto but between lack of content, site glitches, and all the subbers going back to school it is no worth the effort.

And do not get me started on those slash and burn Huns over at Dramafever. (joy sucking party poopers)

Okay, to be fair, gooddrama does not do their own subs, as far as I can tell they steal them, and if I knew where they were coming from I would watch there instead.

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47 Aly

October 12, 2014 at 1:28 AM

I can't watch dramas on Viki or DramaFever because "It's not available in your region". -___- So annoying!

Right now the «easiest» way I have of watching dramas is merely one or two streaming sites which divide each episode into 4 or 7 parts... and are FILLED with ads.

Ever since MU went down, it's become harder and harder to watch dramas. It's a huge step backwards.

At least KBS is making an effort by putting a few dramas on its KBS World YouTube channel.

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48 Angélina Eang

October 12, 2014 at 1:46 AM

And this is one of the reasons why I am currently learning Korean lol.
Seriously, I just can't stand it anymore.

This past summer, I had such a big love for Real Men and even decided to screw it all and watch it in raw for a couple of episodes but because I couldn't understand a damn thing, I just gave up and gosh', it was so heartbreaking.

And now, I also have to deal with not finding Bad Guy with subs. I HATE YOU WORLD. SERIOUSLY !
No but I am grateful for subbers' works though. If it wasn't for them, I would be having a better social life, sure but without any joys in it ... LMAO. No but yeaap', people are subbing much faster than in the past so it's pretty amazing but yeap', it's so annoying to have the "video is not available in your region". It's the first time of my life that I am regretting living in France lol.

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Angélina Eang

October 12, 2014 at 1:49 AM

Oh gosh', I am too damn happy.
If anyone interested, dramacool has subbed the first episode of Bad Guys. YEAAAAAAAH <3

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revlow

October 12, 2014 at 2:11 AM

Bad Guys also at DramaFire, MyAsianTv.com, and darksmurfsub.com

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revlow

October 12, 2014 at 2:15 AM

I loved Real Men too. I could only find a handful of episodes.

http://realman-show.blogspot.com/2014/01/real-man-english-sub-video-list.html

http://kshowonline.com/category/59/real-man

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49 lostexpression7

October 12, 2014 at 1:57 AM

Been there, done it all.

Seriously,
Torrenting (with the hj split thing), srt files, withs2, haru subs etc
I even used ti email strangers asking for subs lollll.
Sugoideas (tdrama)
Mysoju, dramacrazy, veoh, dailymotion

Ah life back then.

These days, since i live in america
Hulu, dramafever, viki, netflix carry what i want mostly.
Myasiantv if i cant find it...
Or youtube.
Youtube actually has a lot of full ep qith eng sub old dramas on there (i watch ones from japan)

The geo restriction thing has gotten to me and now im taking korean at school.. yeah.

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50 dkaoru

October 12, 2014 at 2:01 AM

agreed with many comments here. It's harder for people outside north america to access eng sub. Dramas are not so bad, it's variety shows and movies that are a pain in the a$$. I can't find eng sub for Witch hunt and I really want to watch Sung Shi Kyung in it.

What i've been doing is downloading the dramas from the Dramania app (i think it's only for android but i could be wrong) and streaming from gooddrama.net

I hope kdrama is not going the way jdrama did. I was an avid jdrama and anime watcher and then basically lost interest because at some point they made it so difficult to access. Now it's not as bad but I've already said goodbye to them. I hope i won't have to say bye bye to kdrama.

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