Kevin C. Wong

Rakuten Viki - Free Tier [/]

Rakuten Viki is a streaming service for Asian movies and tv shows which relies on community translations. They have a free tier (limited selection with ads, 480p), standard tier ($8/month no ads, 720p), and plus tier ($12, 50% more content than standard, 1080p). I've been using the free tier for a month.

In terms of video quality 480p is not great watching on my 10" iPad screen. You can have good 480p video with the right compression but I guess Viki uses a lesser compressor with lower bit rates. Start/stop responsiveness is average for streaming (Netflix being the best). Controls don't show up for about 20 seconds at start so you have to watch a bit of the beginning of a video.

Ads are fairly standard. They tend not to play on my older iPad so the main video stops for a minute and then continues. In general more ads than Prime Video free tier.

Translations are very good, often translating pertinent text that's on screen (like signage) and sometimes adding a bit of commentary (e.g. why are some references relevant to Asian viewers).

Content is fine even on free tier. I've found entertaining shows and movies. I like that the browse interface labels free/standard/plus content so even though you can't filter for just free content it's still easy to find.

Overall given I currently love Asian romance movies and tv shows this is a service to keep around though maybe 4th on the list (Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Viki) because of the video quality.