Excuse this off-topic post but if you ever don’t feel like watching k-dramas and think “Hm, maybe I wanna start following an awesome, fabulous rookie girl group already lauded for their performances, music, and super fun online content” then look no further than this master playlist I have made and will be maintaining for LE SSERAFIM, 5 hilarious and talented and super hardworking idols who deserve all of the love and support in the world. Just hit shuffle and no matter which video you land on you’ll have the time of your life. Thanks!
You seemed curious about darkside options, so I thought I’d commandeer an old fan wall post of mine to try and be a bit more discrete and share some of my secrets with you.
The ways of the high seas are not for everyone, and I totally understand. I personally prefer to do legal streaming (not for any moral reasons but just for ease of access) but I am a student on a shoestring budget and I can’t afford to subscribe to the 10 different platforms needed! And, of course, there are the ones that aren’t available in my region anyway.
And even when I stream legally, I have to download HD files in order to make high quality gifs and the like, so I’m pretty well-versed in what options are out there… anyway!
There’s a bit of hoop jumping for all of these, but I think it’s worth it.
My newest discovery and current favorite: goplay.ml
This is a private streaming site with NO ADS. In order to gain access you do have to join their Discord server to get the access code (let me know if you can’t find their invite link and would like it), but that’s really the only hoop you have to jump through. The videos are in beautiful quality and run super smoothly.
The downside is that this website does not give you access to the shows that are exclusive to the big, international media juggernauts like Netflix, Disney, and Amazon. They do this to maintain a low profile. However, you can access ANY dramas that are available on Viki, Viu, OnDemandKorea, Kocowa, iQiyi, WeTV, and Gagaoolala, in any region.
I love this site.
But for the other shows…
The best of the best is AvistaZ, which is a private torrent tracker for Asian media. Because it’s private, you need an invite to join, and sadly I’m terrible at torrenting and so I have no invites to spare. They do occasionally have open registration, though, so keep a look out. It’s definitely worth it if you can get in. I guarantee you can get nearly any drama or film you could ever want here. I even have HD files of Sandglass and Eyes of Dawn from this place.
But again, I’m terrible at torrenting, so I pretty much only download the “free” files (free as in they don’t affect your upload/download ratio–you don’t have to pay for anything here). They always have the first episodes of current dramas as “free” and then they also have the bundles of all episodes as “free” when the show is completed.
But if I don’t wanna mess with my ratio and I want to download shows that are currently airing, I go to… dramaday.me
Now, BEWARE with this website. I believe they have many ads if you don’t have an adblocker, and even if you do, getting through their links is a minefield. If you want to use this website, I heavily suggest having something like FastForward downloaded. FastForward is a “universal bypass” browser extension. You know those link shorteners that website hosts use to make money? This website has those in spades, and they’re a pain in the pass to get through…
FastForward lets you bypass all of those so you don’t run the risk of clicking on something you shouldn’t. I wouldn’t really recommend dramaday unless you’re an experienced internet pirate.
In a nutshell: goplay and AvistaZ are perfectly safe and are great, 100% recommended. However, goplay won’t get you everything, and AvistaZ is invite-only. So dramaday is sometimes a necessary evil.
But really, for the darkside websites, as long as you have a couple of really good adblockers and antiviruses, you should be fine. I just like to be complicated.
@mindy: Thank you for taking the time and for generously sharing your post again. I really appreciate having the benefit of your insights and knowledge. I haven’t gone sub-rosa as yet because of ease of access being my priority but I might if push comes to shove. Thanks again and I hope your studies are going well.
No problem! I’ve been a drama fan since before legal streaming even existed, and I also basically grew up on the internet, so I try to share the info I have accumulated.
I also think this means I’m more willing to jump through hoops than the average internet user, though, so I try to be careful when recommending stuff like this to people. Most will go “nah, I’m good” and just go to dramac**l or k*ssas*n or whatever sites the kids use these days. Which, again, should be totally fine if you have the adblockers and antivirus. But there are other options out there! Especially if you’re as obsessed with having the highest quality files as possible as I am, haha.
I can generally find somewhere to watch nearly anything I want – let’s face it, I’m never going to get around to Sandglass or other dramas from that era – but the big issue for me with my main sub rosa sites is video quality, which is often lumpy, bumpy, and jumpy even for relatively recent shows. The good news is that some of the oddball streamers like Tubi and the Roku Channel (a web site, not to be confused with having a Roku device) are starting to add older dramas with much better quality so they’re worth checking, too.
Some beanies swear by MyAsianTV using the Opera browser, and I may try that eventually, too.
mindy
December 15, 2022 at 6:57 PM
Excuse this off-topic post but if you ever don’t feel like watching k-dramas and think “Hm, maybe I wanna start following an awesome, fabulous rookie girl group already lauded for their performances, music, and super fun online content” then look no further than this master playlist I have made and will be maintaining for LE SSERAFIM, 5 hilarious and talented and super hardworking idols who deserve all of the love and support in the world. Just hit shuffle and no matter which video you land on you’ll have the time of your life. Thanks!
mindy
July 18, 2023 at 5:37 PM
@dncingemma
You seemed curious about darkside options, so I thought I’d commandeer an old fan wall post of mine to try and be a bit more discrete and share some of my secrets with you.
The ways of the high seas are not for everyone, and I totally understand. I personally prefer to do legal streaming (not for any moral reasons but just for ease of access) but I am a student on a shoestring budget and I can’t afford to subscribe to the 10 different platforms needed! And, of course, there are the ones that aren’t available in my region anyway.
And even when I stream legally, I have to download HD files in order to make high quality gifs and the like, so I’m pretty well-versed in what options are out there… anyway!
There’s a bit of hoop jumping for all of these, but I think it’s worth it.
My newest discovery and current favorite: goplay.ml
This is a private streaming site with NO ADS. In order to gain access you do have to join their Discord server to get the access code (let me know if you can’t find their invite link and would like it), but that’s really the only hoop you have to jump through. The videos are in beautiful quality and run super smoothly.
The downside is that this website does not give you access to the shows that are exclusive to the big, international media juggernauts like Netflix, Disney, and Amazon. They do this to maintain a low profile. However, you can access ANY dramas that are available on Viki, Viu, OnDemandKorea, Kocowa, iQiyi, WeTV, and Gagaoolala, in any region.
I love this site.
But for the other shows…
The best of the best is AvistaZ, which is a private torrent tracker for Asian media. Because it’s private, you need an invite to join, and sadly I’m terrible at torrenting and so I have no invites to spare. They do occasionally have open registration, though, so keep a look out. It’s definitely worth it if you can get in. I guarantee you can get nearly any drama or film you could ever want here. I even have HD files of Sandglass and Eyes of Dawn from this place.
But again, I’m terrible at torrenting, so I pretty much only download the “free” files (free as in they don’t affect your upload/download ratio–you don’t have to pay for anything here). They always have the first episodes of current dramas as “free” and then they also have the bundles of all episodes as “free” when the show is completed.
But if I don’t wanna mess with my ratio and I want to download shows that are currently airing, I go to… dramaday.me
Now, BEWARE with this website. I believe they have many ads if you don’t have an adblocker, and even if you do, getting through their links is a minefield. If you want to use this website, I heavily suggest having something like FastForward downloaded. FastForward is a “universal bypass” browser extension. You know those link shorteners that website hosts use to make money? This website has those in spades, and they’re a pain in the pass to get through…
mindy
July 18, 2023 at 5:40 PM
FastForward lets you bypass all of those so you don’t run the risk of clicking on something you shouldn’t. I wouldn’t really recommend dramaday unless you’re an experienced internet pirate.
In a nutshell: goplay and AvistaZ are perfectly safe and are great, 100% recommended. However, goplay won’t get you everything, and AvistaZ is invite-only. So dramaday is sometimes a necessary evil.
But really, for the darkside websites, as long as you have a couple of really good adblockers and antiviruses, you should be fine. I just like to be complicated.
mindy
July 18, 2023 at 5:47 PM
@elinor you might also be interested in some of this, although you seem to be in a good position with your piracy already!
DancingEmma
July 18, 2023 at 5:43 PM
@mindy: Thank you for taking the time and for generously sharing your post again. I really appreciate having the benefit of your insights and knowledge. I haven’t gone sub-rosa as yet because of ease of access being my priority but I might if push comes to shove. Thanks again and I hope your studies are going well.
mindy
July 18, 2023 at 5:51 PM
No problem! I’ve been a drama fan since before legal streaming even existed, and I also basically grew up on the internet, so I try to share the info I have accumulated.
I also think this means I’m more willing to jump through hoops than the average internet user, though, so I try to be careful when recommending stuff like this to people. Most will go “nah, I’m good” and just go to dramac**l or k*ssas*n or whatever sites the kids use these days. Which, again, should be totally fine if you have the adblockers and antivirus. But there are other options out there! Especially if you’re as obsessed with having the highest quality files as possible as I am, haha.
Elinor is trapped in the timeslip
July 18, 2023 at 6:31 PM
Thanks for all this great insight!
I can generally find somewhere to watch nearly anything I want – let’s face it, I’m never going to get around to Sandglass or other dramas from that era – but the big issue for me with my main sub rosa sites is video quality, which is often lumpy, bumpy, and jumpy even for relatively recent shows. The good news is that some of the oddball streamers like Tubi and the Roku Channel (a web site, not to be confused with having a Roku device) are starting to add older dramas with much better quality so they’re worth checking, too.
Some beanies swear by MyAsianTV using the Opera browser, and I may try that eventually, too.
DancingEmma
July 18, 2023 at 6:44 PM
I realised I assumed you are still studying as your post was an old one!
mindy
July 18, 2023 at 6:57 PM
I am!! Haha