Tigercinema.com

[Mike N]

I came across a Netflix-esque website for asian (Japanese, Korean, and Chinese) movies and television shows called Tiger Cinema. I'm curious if anyone here has heard about it or, even better, had any experience with it. If it's legit and high quality, it could be a pretty great way to get access to lots of learning material.

Here's the link: http://www.tigercinema.com/

[skylee]

Legit in what sense? Do you insist it? (It seems to me that many people are watching dramas / films or reading comics etc online and they don't really care that much about the copyright.) There are a lot of resources on Chinese websites which are probably not illegal in China.

[Mike N]

Legit in the sense that if I were to pay them for a subscription I would be getting the quality and quantity of content that I expect to receive for my money. I know that there are numerous less scrupulous sites online, but if I can sign up for the "Netflix" of Asian TV and movies and have the convenience of instant access and home DVD delivery, then I'm willing to pay for the convenience rather than spend my time chasing around content on the internet. I'm studying Japanese in addition to Chinese so the attraction to this website is doubly strong.

In addition, as I'm not currently located in China, some of these resources which "aren't illegal in China" are not available to me. I can watch the occasional movie on Soku, but a lot of those movies are restricted to viewers located in China.

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

[feihong]

I used TigerCinema three years ago would recommend it for two reasons: (1) you don't like tracking down movies and TV shows on the internet; (2) you want to make sure that whatever you're renting has English subtitles.

For many Chinese titles they have the Singaporean or Hong Kong version so there is often the choice of both Chinese and English subtitles. Some titles do not have English subtitles, but the web page for each title makes it clear what languages are available on audio tracks and subtitles. They always make a differentiation between Mandarin/Cantonese and Simplified/Traditional. Among their competitors at the time, they had the cheapest basic plan (CinFlix is the only one from back then that is still in business).

Where they tend to differentiate themselves from Netflix is in their selection of TV shows (Netflix has more and more Asian movies these days).

There are some things you need to be aware of:

• Their distribution center seems to be based in California, so if you don't live on the West Coast don't expect fast delivery.
  
• Some DVDs are region 3, so if you don't have a DVD player that can play discs from that region you'll have to use your computer to play the DVD.
  
• Sometimes there are multiple version of a movie, and you have to be careful to select the version that has the languages you want (never blindly click the "ADD" button).
  

I was a pretty satisfied customer back then but a lot has changed in the past few years. TigerCinema doesn't seem to have anything that can't be found on the web, and in fact won't have any non-scripted TV shows that I tend to watch nowadays.

[Mike N]

Hey feihong, thanks for the great reply. It sounds like you had a pretty good experience with Tiger Cinema.

I don't have an issue with finding stuff online if I know what it is that I'm looking for (maybe I should use this forum a little bit more for that? :blink:) . I also have no need for English subtitles, though the differentiation between Cantonese/Mandarin and Simplified/Traditional is an important one. Thanks for the heads up.

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience with Tiger Cinema. I'll check out CinFlix too. I have noticed that Netflix is getting more and more Asian movies, but I only subscribe to their streaming service and it seems that most of the movies they have are subbed in English. My Chinese is good enough that I can understand basic/general conversation with ease, but more advanced, complex, and specialized conversations still elude me. For that, I'd like to have the subtitles.

很感谢您啦！

[jbradfor]

FWIW, Netflix does not seem to carry movies that do not have a USA distribution. So for now that includes movies such as Hua Mulan, Aftershock, Let the Bullets Fly, and Au Revoir Taipei. Pretty common movies in Asia! So I've pretty much given up on Netflix for most Asian movies, so thanks for the information on other options.

[imron]

I like Sohu TV which has both movies and TV series. Lots of legit, free content (supported by ads) and some paid content. It only offers streaming though, which can be a problem if the connection is bad (I find mornings better than evenings).

[Mike N]

Thanks Imron, I'll check it out!