Toss out those old DVDs! With video streaming, you can catch your favourite shows and movies online whenever you want. AMANDA JAYNE LEE tests four sites.
Toss out those old DVDs! With video streaming, you can catch your favourite shows and movies online whenever you want. AMANDA JAYNE LEE tests four sites.
NETFLIX
www.netflix.com, $10.98 a month. Available on smart TVs, as a streaming site, and as an app.
CONTENT Fewer shows are available as compared to the US site. For example, a favourite Netflix original, House of Cards, isn’t offered. Even so, there was enough to satisfy me. There are kiddie faves like Spongebob Squarepants, Shrek and more; a huge variety of movies from classics like Good Will Hunting to the recent Aloha, and a great mix of TV favourites like Netflix original Jessica Jones, old-school Gossip Girl, and current series like Arrow and The Flash.
WEBSITE INTERFACE The homepage features a “show of the week” with a trailer running silently in the background, giving me a sneak peek without forcing me to listen to it. There isn’t a programme list, so I had to rely on its recommendations based on my watching habits, which I found accurate enough. Or, I could use the search function to locate a particular show. I appreciated how I could create separate profiles on the site for different people who use the same account – personalised recommendations for all.
STREAMING Click on a show and it starts streaming in full-screen right away. After an episode or a movie, the site automatically recommends other films that might interest you, with a small box in the bottom-right corner playing the trailer with a countdown button. Simple enough to skip, but it can get annoying when you’re watching back-to-back episodes of a series. The site also has a tendency to freeze mid-episode if you haven’t moved your mouse in a while – to prompt you to continue watching or return to the homepage. I really like how Netflix remembers where you stopped at each episode and resumes playing from that point.
VERDICT The perfect streaming app or site to share with the family, with personalised recommendations and a wide variety of shows to choose from. 8.5
STARHUB GO
www.starhubgo.com, free for those with a Starhub TV subscription, or sign up for it as a stand-alone from $9.90 a month. Available as an app and as a streaming site.
CONTENT You’ll find what you’d get on Starhub TV as its channel “packs” are live-streamed on the site. It helps that the site and app come with a TV guide so you can plan what you want to watch. The catch-up section offers a few of the latest shows from several channels, but only a handful of episodes are available. But while the number of episodes is limited, the range is worth looking at: international shows, local programmes like Star Awards, Hong Kong movies and even Chinese variety programmes like I Am A Singer.
WEBSITE INTERFACE It wasn’t easy using the site. I struggled with loading the page, and had to constantly refresh it. Categories were also confusing – shows are not divided into genres but by whatever is showing on the channels at the moment. I couldn’t search for the shows I wanted, and it took some time for me to figure out what I wanted to watch. STREAMING Live-streaming the channels was simple on the site but more enjoyable on my smartphone, making watching TV everywhere possible. The only downside is the constant ads. I found that watching catch-up episodes worked better – there are no ads and streaming is smooth.
VERDICT Perfect for couch potatoes. It’s like taking the television set with you everywhere, although the interface could be improved. 7
VIKI
www.viki.com, free with ads or US$3.99 (S$5.60) a month without ads. Available as an app and as a streaming site.
CONTENT It’s drama and more drama serials – from all over the world – here. There’s the hot Filipino soapopera favourite The Two of Us, plenty of Korean, Taiwanese, Chinese and Japanese dramas, old shows dating back to the 1930s (The Adventures of Robin Hood) and more. The amount and variety are just astonishing. Thanks to user-friendly filters in the Explore category, you can find what you need by sorting the year, country (there are even shows from Bulgaria!), format, subtitles, genres and more. It’s definitely an adventure.
WEBSITE INTERFACE Viki started as a site for fans to write their own subtitles for Korean dramas but has since evolved. You can still write your own subtitles and the community portion is going strong as active participants get invites to special showings, celebrity meet-and-greets, and other Viki events. Despite the overwhelming amount of content, everything is well-organised and browsing the site is easy.
STREAMING The videos run smoothly with fan-made subtitles running at the bottom – I like how there are subtitles in so many different languages. If you stick to the free version of Viki, the show sometimes gets interrupted by three to four ads at a time. But like Youtube ads, you’re allowed to skip them after a few seconds.
VERDICT Great for new discoveries, whether you’re looking for a new series to start or to watch an older show you’ve been meaning to catch. 8
VIU
www.viu.com, free. Available as an app and as a streaming site.
CONTENT The focus is on Korean dramas and variety programmes, albeit newer content, so old K-drama favourites like City Hunter and Winter Sonata aren’t available here. Even so, I was heartily entertained – variety shows are in abundance, although Viu only shows 10 to 12 episodes for each programme, despite most programmes having hundreds of episodes. You can catch the latest episodes of Return of Superman, Running Man, Roommate, and others.
WEBSITE INTERFACE Simple and straightforward. The navigation bar gives you fresh releases, dramas, variety programmes and even trailers. But scroll down further and you get Catchy K-drama Theme Songs and Notable K-drama Scriptwriters. Not quite what I was expecting for a video site.
STREAMING Videos run smoothly, and I like how each one has a side panel of all the available episodes. But the site doesn’t remember where you stopped watching so it can be a hassle when you resume viewing. It’s made even more tiresome as each episode starts with an ad that can last up to a minute.
VERDICT Great for those who like to stay updated on the latest Korean shows. 8
