Post by Soju on Jul 13, 2007 12:57:35 GMT -5
This gets asked often enough that I figured a it was about time to sticky an answer.
To view Video On Demand (VOD) on KBS's site, you first need to register with KBS.
In the upper left, click on "English". This takes you to the KBS Global page. In the upper left, click on "Register".
Once there, click on the "Foreigner living abroad" option. Agree to the terms and conditions to bring up the registration form: fill it out.
NOTE: You don't have to give your real Social Security or Passport number, but be sure to make a note of what you do enter. You will need this number if you ever want to make changes to your account, such as changing your password.
After you submit your information, it usually takes about two weeks for your registration to be processed. You will receive an E-mail confirming it. Some people say they never get confirmation; I don't know why.
Once you're registered, when you go to KBS's site, click on "로그언" (Log on), and you'll stay logged on until you exit your Web browser, even if you go to a different site. As for as I know, you can't stay logged on permanently, though.
To actually watch the VODs (Video On Demand), sorry, no English navigation. All KBS dramas follow pretty much the same navigation scheme, though: the first group is information about the show, staff, and cast (in that order). The second group has videos: previews; VOD; and NGs and interviews, etc. VODs are marked "다시보기" ("Re-view").
The remaining groups include Photos, Wallpapers, Korean message boards, and merchandising.
It used to be easier to navigate KBS's site, since the link of what your cursor was pointed at would be displayed in the browser's Status bar, and the links were usually in English. Now, KBS uses a Flash-based design, which does not display the links in the Status bar. Not to mention that they take forever to load, and often fail to load completely .
The VOD page looks like this:
The first time you try to watch a video, you will be prompted to install the "KBS VOD Player". You have to set your browser to accept Pop-Ups from KBS's site to use this. Be prepared to see a LOT of Pop-Ups from KBS from now on Also, the VOD Player is strictly Internet Explorer for Windows; Mac users are out of luck, and I think Firefox users are in the same boat. Sorry.
To watch the VODs, click on the colored buttons. The Blue "700K" buttons go to Conpia, KBS's pay-to-download site. Foreigners like us can ignore this. The Red "300K" buttons give you quite good video, but they're only available for two weeks after a show is broadcast in Korea.
The Green "56K" buttons stay available for years, but the video quality is frankly horrible. Nonetheless, they are useful; I use them to watch eps that ch41 have "lost" .
In addition to the VODs of individual shows, you can also watch a live feed of what KBS is now broadcasting. In the upper left, where it says "On Air" (in English! ;D), hover the cursor over "TV", and select 1TV or 2TV (the two KBS networks). You can also listen to KBS Radio. Remember the Time Zone difference: we see a show in Chicago 14 hours earlier (by the clock) than they do in Seoul; 15 hours in Winter, since Korea doesn't observe Daylight Saving Time.
To view Video On Demand (VOD) on KBS's site, you first need to register with KBS.
In the upper left, click on "English". This takes you to the KBS Global page. In the upper left, click on "Register".
Once there, click on the "Foreigner living abroad" option. Agree to the terms and conditions to bring up the registration form: fill it out.
NOTE: You don't have to give your real Social Security or Passport number, but be sure to make a note of what you do enter. You will need this number if you ever want to make changes to your account, such as changing your password.
After you submit your information, it usually takes about two weeks for your registration to be processed. You will receive an E-mail confirming it. Some people say they never get confirmation; I don't know why.
Once you're registered, when you go to KBS's site, click on "로그언" (Log on), and you'll stay logged on until you exit your Web browser, even if you go to a different site. As for as I know, you can't stay logged on permanently, though.
To actually watch the VODs (Video On Demand), sorry, no English navigation. All KBS dramas follow pretty much the same navigation scheme, though: the first group is information about the show, staff, and cast (in that order). The second group has videos: previews; VOD; and NGs and interviews, etc. VODs are marked "다시보기" ("Re-view").
The remaining groups include Photos, Wallpapers, Korean message boards, and merchandising.
It used to be easier to navigate KBS's site, since the link of what your cursor was pointed at would be displayed in the browser's Status bar, and the links were usually in English. Now, KBS uses a Flash-based design, which does not display the links in the Status bar. Not to mention that they take forever to load, and often fail to load completely .
The VOD page looks like this:
The first time you try to watch a video, you will be prompted to install the "KBS VOD Player". You have to set your browser to accept Pop-Ups from KBS's site to use this. Be prepared to see a LOT of Pop-Ups from KBS from now on Also, the VOD Player is strictly Internet Explorer for Windows; Mac users are out of luck, and I think Firefox users are in the same boat. Sorry.
To watch the VODs, click on the colored buttons. The Blue "700K" buttons go to Conpia, KBS's pay-to-download site. Foreigners like us can ignore this. The Red "300K" buttons give you quite good video, but they're only available for two weeks after a show is broadcast in Korea.
The Green "56K" buttons stay available for years, but the video quality is frankly horrible. Nonetheless, they are useful; I use them to watch eps that ch41 have "lost" .
In addition to the VODs of individual shows, you can also watch a live feed of what KBS is now broadcasting. In the upper left, where it says "On Air" (in English! ;D), hover the cursor over "TV", and select 1TV or 2TV (the two KBS networks). You can also listen to KBS Radio. Remember the Time Zone difference: we see a show in Chicago 14 hours earlier (by the clock) than they do in Seoul; 15 hours in Winter, since Korea doesn't observe Daylight Saving Time.