I have noticed other members talking about some shows that need to be repaired. Either the timing is off or it may need a couple of subtitles. Could the members put together a recovery team to address these issues? This way members can still enjoy the older dramas also. It is just a suggestion on how to make things a little better here on Viki.
The timing problem s a recent bug that has nothing to do with bad segmenting - dramas properly segmented suddenly started having delays. Viki is addressing it, one drama at a time.
There are older dramas which are badly segmented by untrained abusers. That is a really bad problem and I’ve worked on those many times. Beethoven Virus was a glaring example, and from when I became Channel Manager I personally, with the precious help of piranna, re-did all the segmenting. Then I set up a wonderful team to re-do the translations as well. There were subtitles so ludicrous, even including the translator’s comments and emoticons!
But I can tell you that for older dramas it’s difficult to find people. Everybody is interested in the hot new on-air dramas that everybody is watching NOW.
With very few exceptions (such as Beethoven Virus or the Drama Specials I took under my wing two years ago), projects which were abandoned or need help typically are boring old-fashioned dramas. Lots of makjang, exaggerated acting, ridiculous hairstyles, very conservative interactions, wooden kisses, women shown as air-headed endearing idiots who only dream of marriage, the characters complying with the desires of the family, society, elders and authority in general, conventional ideology and so on. There’s a reason nobody wants to work on them!
Many of us are working on on-air dramas and also have 2-3 older projects on the side, on which we work whenever we have some free time, as a labor of love, usually because we fell in love with that drama, or to help a CM friend who asked nicely.
Personally, I only work on dramas I like, my free time is too precious to waste on something I wouldn’t watch as a viewer. With on-air, it’s a gamble, you can’t be 100% sure of how it will be (I got tricked with the Undateables), but with old shows you can first watch some episodes before committing, and if I don’t like them I just say no.
That’s why I think it is not realistic to ask for a team to dedicate themselves only to those boring projects. It’s better for people to pick the ones they like.
There is a wonderful thread here in Discussions, made and regularly updated by mahoula, of dramas in need of help. So, whoever needs to, can go to that thread and pick a project.
These projects are a perfect training ground for people who are starting and need projects not behind vikipass, and projects without time constraints. The downside to this is that those new people need someone experienced to train and guide them, checking their work and giving feedback, otherwise the quality will suffer.
I’m sorry irmar, it was just a suggestion.
Not sure when something is considered “old”.
Many dramas, mostly K dramas but also some Chinese that are produced before 2017 or sometimes even 2017+ are geoblocked for me.
Why do you need to be sorry? Your suggestion is valid, and it came from genuine concern, so it is much appreciated.
It is personal, but for me dramas before 2010 are in most cases unwatchable, for the reasons that I mentioned. I still find those issues in some modern dramas, but much less. Nowadays you can get very high quality, intelligent, progressive dramas. Of course there are still vestiges of the other sort: silly fluff, idiotic child-women heroines, slapstick comedy, full of tropes or upholding the so-called “traditional values” (I understand that daily dramas are still very much like that).
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