No I am not trolling lets review
- they tied up content
2 did not really care about its users - video player and website sub par
- closed without notice with no consideration
- refunds were minimal if at all
what do you guys think
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You didn’t mention the most important, for me:
- Sloppy translations, over-localized (Americanized) to the point of being weird coming from Korean/Chinese characters. No cultural notes etc.
- No comment section under each episode
- No timed comments
By the way, although I have no personal experience, there have been quite a few folks who have written here that they received a refund.
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Note i said minimal mine eventually did go through for example but i only got a dollar
DF had full-support for ultra-wide screens, though. Sure, it had less content with only English and Spanish subs, but at least it never flooded users with a billion Chinese dramas, like some other service that I know. It had both pros and cons. It’s not like Viki is perfect. Anyway, it’s gone now, so who cares?! Lament the dead all you want, but they’re still dead.
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No one said Viki was perfect in fact far from it but it does have good points for it
- better infrastructure for streaming
- better html5 player
- better user interaction through comments and forums
DF also tied up so much content
I should also point out that alot of videos in up scaled HD were bad content provided by MBC VOD was always corrupted
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At least when Viki didn’t have certain shows most of the time Dramafever had them. But yea they had too many ads.
It’s easy to put down a web site when they are gone, but was Drama fever the worst, I think NOT.
I know people are angry for not receiving a notice of a shut down, but in essence there was dramas and movies at DF that Viki did not get like GOBLIN as well as others. Drama fever has their pro’s and con’s just like Viki have pro’s and con’s.
I am a premium subscriber here at Viki and also I was at Drama Fever ( and yes I did receive a refund back. )
And if by chance Drama Fever should come back I would sign up again. And I think if Viki shut down people will probably, say unpleasant things about them.
So you can’t win either way, all we can do is be thankful that a legit site like Drama fever and Viki have given their members what they could offer in all Asian Dramas. Life is like a box of chocolate you never know what you will get.
So all you can do is “Move On” to the next chapter.
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I just switched to viki after dramafever shut down, and so far I like it… BUT I’m really sad that I can’t go and watch older episodes of Running Man now. They only have about 5 old episodes and the rest are all episodes after the KOCOWA thing happened. I want to watch some classics. I hope they’ll add them on here now that dramafever is gone. At least maybe the top 100 episodes or something.
They used to have more, but now they keep deleting the older episodes of Running Man every few weeks or so. So you need to catch up on it while you can T.T (I watch it every week now, instead of binging it)
I liked DF content only thing i really hated was the website and player is what im saying viki was always better in that regard i was kind of hoping viki could capture DF content after closure
- They didn’t “tie up” content. They won the license for certain ones as did Viki. It’s a business, they wanted exclusivity to get people to subscribe to their premium service.
- After Warner Bros bought them out customer service went downhill, which sucks but the same thing happened when Viki bought SoompiTv and was made worse when Rakuten bought Viki.
- I watched DramaFever on my tv via the smart tv app and through Chromecast so the player was pretty nice with a beautiful picture. Not as nice as Netflix or Hulu but just as nice as Viki’s. The redesigned website was horrible. Just to name a few things, the homepage was a mess, no more comments under each episode, and no more forums. However DF made it easy to see the recently added content, Viki doesn’t. You have to change the filters and it still doesn’t show the latest episodes chronologically. It still goes by popularity.
- You can’t blame DramaFever for shutting down so abruptly. They had no say so in the matter. AT&T shut them down with no notice. 22 people of 122 employees were fired that day. AT&T has shut down a few other niche streaming sites they acquired through their Warner Bros acquisition. The only one I can think of right now is Film Structure.
Also since the arrival of Kocowa, DramaFever was flooded with Chinese dramas. They really had no choice. It’s now Kocowa’s world and everyone else is just a visitor. le sigh.
It seems most of the content from DramaFever is going to (or at least they are really trying) OnDemandKorea. From an article I read, it seems that DF’s exclusive license was void after it shut down so it was up for grabs. Either Viki didn’t move fast enough or they didn’t want it.
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1 exclusivity is exactly that tieing up licences so viki cant get them granted viki has some exclusives to what i mean is DF had kind of a monopoly
2, good point
3, for me website and LG tv app were horrible Viki has the better site overall but I agree DF made it easy to see the recently added content, Viki doesn’t
4.AT&T shut them down with no notice. 22 people of 122 employees were fired that day making them a horrible company with no consideration for employees or subscribers
5. perhaps my title is a little click baity what i really want is good discussion
It’s all a matter of opinion. I don’t think Viki has the better website or tv app at all. There’s not much structure to it really. Until Viki got rid of their Samsung app I used it but it was hard to navigate. I used DramaFever’s Samsung app, it worked and looked great.
Yeah, your title is click baity. lol. You are blaming DF for things that are normal business practices (getting licenses is what they are supposed to do. Don’t be mad with them because they outbid Viki, be mad at Viki for not stepping up their game) and for something that was out of their control (AT&T is a horrible company with no regard for customers not DramaFever).
Basically it comes down to both Viki and DramaFever had their strengths and weaknesses. To me Viki’s strength is also it’s weakness, subtitles. The translations are excellent. They explain the little things (nicknames, idioms, cultural sayings) and even translate background music lyrics. Can’t beat it. But if the drama isn’t popular the subs come very slowly if at all and there is no episode description. Every streaming site has this except Viki. DramaFever had quick subs but they were very bland. No cultural nuance.
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I second all you say.
Actually Viki at some point had a feature for singular episode descriptions. I know because I used it as Channel Manager (you can still see it here). But now they have locked access not only to that but even to the main description for English, Spanish and French, because they want the synopsis given by the network - which sometimes is completely off.
For example, in Where Stars Land, it says the male lead didn’t become a pilot “because of his failing eyesight”. Nothing could be further than the truth, he has a much more serious disability which has nothing to do with the eyes. On another channel, the American film “The Last Time I Saw Paris”, the description gives a major spoiler, something which happens further than halfway. I mean, come on!
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