Maybe this scenario sounds familiar: you have a Netflix, Hulu or Disney Plus account but still cannot find half of what you want to watch. You subscribe to multiple streaming platforms only to find that shows are divided into different platforms, content disappears from service providers’ platforms, and there is confusion over geographic restrictions. All of this means that you are paying as much for streaming services each month as you would for an additional rent payment. As if that’s not enough, most of us know people who have watched great shows or videos, but those shows or videos aren’t available on any platform that we pay for.
Clearly, this is not how the streaming revolution was originally promised. Instead of the promised increased accessibility and affordability of entertainment, we now seem to be dealing with fragmentation and higher prices as well as the feeling of being nickel and dimed for content we should be able to access more easily.
This is where platforms such as VKdeo work to change every aspect of how video can be viewed. When you learn how to watch videos online for free, you won’t have to settle for bad quality or a sketchy site. You will have access to a legitimate, diverse library that will rival any monthly subscription service for variety if not exclusive new releases. The only catch is, you need to learn how to effectively navigate through the system.
I have spent over a year using VKdeo as my primary video platform, so I know what works to help you with your free streaming experience vs. what wastes your time. Here are seven strategies that will help transform your free streaming experience from frustrating browsing to enjoyable viewing.
Understand What Free Streaming Actually Offers Before You Start
One of the biggest mistakes users make when using free platforms is expecting them to operate similarly to paid services such as Netflix or HBO Max. Users often enter into VKdeo with an expectation of having the same interface or options as they would with a paid service, and this ultimately leads to disappointment in the experience when they discover that the interface doesn’t match and/or that they cannot get to the content easily. By setting realistic expectations prior to using a free platform, you can eliminate frustration during your experience and appreciate what is available.
Free streaming services typically offer a different kind of content than traditional pay-for-use services. You won’t find a new Marvel television series or new movie release on a free streaming service because the majority of those features are available only via a paid subscription due to their popularity. What you will find are thousands upon thousands of international features, independent productions, older movies/television shows, user generated content, and every niche genre that mainstream services do not offer.
VKdeo offers thousands of video files across 23 different categories which consist of everything from mainstream entertainment to hyper niche interests. It isn’t as important to find the depth within a single category as it is to take advantage of the breadth of all categories (meaning that while you may not find a thousand variations of a sitcom type comedy, you will find comedy content, animated content, documentaries, gaming videos, educational videos and other forms of entertainment).
The technological capabilities of this platform are superb. Its available content supports HD, 4K and 8K formats depending on what is uploaded, as well as 360-degree panoramic VR and 3D produced video. In other words: Not a grainy, low quality video stream like you would have seen in the past decade. If you find videos that were properly uploaded, they should look amazing on today’s televisions!
Understanding how the supported ad-model works will assist you in evaluating your expectations. VKdeo must generate some kind of income and because you aren’t pay a monthly subscription fee, the site incorporates advertisements as the method of generating income for a business. In general, the ads are far less obtrusive than the commercials you see on traditional television while at the same time, you will be far more tolerant of them than you might be if you paid a monthly bill. If you can come to terms with a few advertisements breaking into your viewing experience for receiving free videos, this will completely change how you think about watching videos online.
Availability of content is much more erratic on free streaming than it is on paid services due to numerous factors including copyright issues and upload patterns. Your previously booked video, for example, may no longer be accessible…, or a video that you wanted to watch could have suddenly appeared. Due to this constantly changing availability of videos on free platforms you’re viewing habits will be somewhat different than those used to viewing videos from paid services that have a more stable library of videos.
Following your understanding of how to use this free video platform will offer you additional advantages over using a paid service. For example, paid services like Netflix increasingly cater to specific niches, e.g., series or original content for families, HBO is known for their original content with prestige type of drama programming while VKdeo does not cater to any particular category. Thus, you will be able to gather together very different types of programming – e.g., Korean drama, documentary short, game streaming, independent movie, etc. – into one viewing session, without changing or paying for different video streaming services.
Master Category Navigation Instead Of Relying On Search
Many visitors to VKdeo arrive at the platform, instantly initiate a search request using the search box, do not find what they are looking for and immediately leave due to the belief that the platform has nothing good on it. They are using the platform in reverse fashion. Searching for specific titles is effective; however, browsing through categories uncovers many more possibilities for discovering new content.
It comprises its library of content in categories constituting somewhat of their own separate purpose-built platforms. The “Entertainment” category, for example, is filled with sufficient number and varieties of pieces of content so as to keep busy entertained for ages, including celebrity interviews, live concerts, variety shows, full concerts and more. By treating each category as a mini-streaming service, you will see that this way of exploring the platform will completely change your experience.
Here is how I typically approach a weekend when I want to watch something: First, I consider what kind of mood I am in rather than think about what specific video(s) I would like to watch. If I feel like learning something, I can find all of that in either the Education or Science & Tech category. If I just want to escape reality, I can spend every single minute of the next week & months watching videos in either the Entertainment or Movie Categories. And if I have decided to make dinner and want a video to watch in the background, I can find many people, blogs and vlogs that will provide content that does not require my full attention throughout the entire video and therefore is very good background video to cook with.
The categories help with discovering content types that may not have been previously known. For example, one day I clicked on the “True Crime” category while just browsing and ended up bingeing an entire weekend watching documentary series in that category. I wouldn’t have found that type of content through a search because I would not have been searching for it specifically; however, the sheer volume of this content inside of the category allowed me to make this discovery.
Exploring categories can yield more rewarding experiences than conducting searches for international content. For example, VKdeo offers countless amounts of Asian Entertainment, including Korean Dramas, Japanese Variety Shows, Thai Series, Chinese Movies, and Bollywood productions; browsing these two categories of content (Entertainment and Movies & Shows) with an open mind can provide you with amazing content from different production types and cultures that you may not be able to find on Western-focused platforms.
Each of these categories has its own area that displays what’s currently in-demand in that specific category; this is referred to as micro-trending. Trends in Animation will appear different than trends in Sports, and this will allow you to discover the hottest, in-demand content in specific categories that interest you.
Don’t discount any category because it sounds boring or not related to you. For example, Activism and Charity may not be the first category that comes to mind when considering your sources of entertainment, but you would be surprised by how many emotionally charged, significant documentaries you will find in this category. Similarly, the Commentary and Essays category has a variety of video essays that rival those you could purchase through Nebula or Patreon. Give the “weird” categories of video a chance occasionally, and you will likely find some very surprising gems.
Optimize Your Viewing Setup For Consistent Quality
You can successfully watch videos online for free, but it takes a little technical optimization, and there are small adjustments to the way you are set up that will result in a vastly improved video watching experience.
The speed of the internet connection is the most important factor in streaming video compared to all other factors combined, video streaming services (VKdeo) require stable bandwidth in order to stream videos without a lot of buffering. If you have an unreliable wireless connection, try moving closer to your wireless router, connecting your computer to a 5 GHz wifi network (if your wireless router supports it), or using an ethernet cable to ensure maximum stability. There is nothing worse than trying to watch a video and having to keep stopping every three minutes because of buffering issues.
The choice of a web browser will greatly affect the performance of the video player. In my experience, Chrome has been the most stable web browser for the site’s video playback; however, Edge and Firefox have also worked fairly well. Safari on a Mac can be hit or miss when trying to play specific video formats, and if you are having problems with playback, switching to a different web browser may solve your problem.
If you are having issues with buffering while watching videos, you can manually adjust your video quality according to your device and connection speed. VKdeo provides options for video quality (resolution) ranging from 360p to 4K or higher, depending on the quality of the video uploaded. Automatic quality selection does not always make the best choices, so if you are continually having buffering issues, you might want to change your resolution to 720p or even 480p. While these are both a lower resolution, you are still going to be able to watch your video without interruption. On the other hand, if your internet connection is able to seamlessly support video at a higher resolution, raise your resolution to 1080p to get the best overall video quality.
Ensure you close any other browser tabs and applications before launching a longer video. Free streaming services use more resources than Netflix, Amazon Prime or Apple+ to stream, therefore if you are running 15 tabs in Chrome, downloading torrents, and streaming music, you’ll make it impossible for these providers to deliver your video. By providing VKdeo with your available system resources, performance will greatly improve.
When it comes to actual size of displays providing a quality experience when watching video, you’ll be amazed at how much difference matching the display size to the perceived resolution makes. If you watch 480p (Standard Definition) on your phone, that’s an acceptable level of quality, but if you are watching that same video (Standard Definition) on a 55″ display, it appears horrible. You should match your resolution expectations with what your actual display can support. You can get by with lower resolutions on mobile, but the minimum you should expect if you are using a laptop or TV is 720p with 1080p being ideal if you have enough bandwidth.
The sound system should not be an afterthought or just ‘adjusting the volume’. Generally speaking, the built-in laptop speakers will sound terrible if you are watching anything worthwhile. However, using basic headphones or external speakers will improve your experience tremendously. For content that contains dialogue (where you must hear/understand what is being said), also great music, and/or atmospheric audio, the audio quality is as important as the video.
When you want to immerse yourself in watching the video, use full-screen mode. The default playing window has side bars and other interface elements surrounding the video, which detracts from the viewing experience. By switching to full screen mode, the experience of watching the video will feel much more like you are at the movie theater rather than simply browsing a website with embedded video.
Build Playlists That Match Your Actual Viewing Habits
The VKdeo app contains organizational tools that are often under-utilized. Using these playlists can turn your random browsing experiences into personalized streaming experiences.
When creating your playlists, consider organizing them by context rather than genre. For example, having a playlist titled “Morning Coffee Videos” (10-15 minutes of viewing time while guzzling your java) will be more useful than a playlist titled “Entertainment.”
I use playlists for “Lunch Break Viewing” (20-30 minutes of total video length), “Winding Down After Work” (longer videos for unwinding after work), “Cleaning With Background Noise” (videos that don’t require much attention), and “Deep Focus On The Weekend Material” (series that require my full attention).
When you are discovering videos during lunch and find five videos you want to watch but can only view one; instead of taking the time to remember those four videos, add them to the “Watch Later” list. Later that evening when you have time to watch videos online for free, you won’t have to worry about noting down what you found helpful six hours earlier because now you will be able to access them seamlessly.
Make a habit of clearing out your “Watch Later” list so it doesn’t become overwhelming with abandoned bookmarks. I recommend reviewing your “Watch Later” list every Sunday and deleting any videos that have lost your interest. Having hundreds of videos in your “Watch Later” list can create decision paralysis on what to watch. On the other hand, if you only have about 15-20 videos that you vetted as acceptable to view, you are then likely to want to watch them.
Find creators and channels who regularly make videos about the kinds of things you like and then subscribe to them. Your subscription feed on VKdeo will show you only the new videos these subscription-based channels have uploaded (much better than going to the Home screen, where you’ll just see random trending videos from all over and all video categories). The more subscriptions you create, the more personal your subscription feed becomes.
Group your playlists based on either mood or energy… I have one for “Brain Power Needed” (difficult-to-understand documentaries and/or video essays), and another for “No Brain Power Needed” (extremely non-intellectual programs to watch when I’m exhausted), etc., etc. If you match the playlist you’re going to use with how you actually feel at the time (i.e. let’s say you’re having a bad day; in that case, watch a funny program), it makes it significantly easier to select what type of content you want to watch.
When someone suggests an excellent video, share that individual’s channel or video with your friends and/or family. The VKdeo development team has made it very easy to share content through playlists. Also, you can facilitate shared experiences between you and a friend(s) even if you are not watching that video together. My buddies all share a “funny video” playlist that we use for lolz guaranteed!
Learn To Assess Video Quality Before Investing Time
Not all videos uploaded to the platform are worth your time. Some of the videos posted are simply bad videos. Others have technical qualities that make them impossible to view, and some of these videos are misleading clickbait. Learning quality signals before clicking on a video will save you an incredible amount of time.
Thumbnail design can be a great indicator of upload quality. Any time that you upload a professional or carefully curated video, you will have an intentionally designed thumbnail for it that includes proper framing, clear text if you have added text to your thumbnail, and purposely composed images. You can compare these designs with thumbnails that are simply a random frame of a video that is likely to be blurry or poorly lit. While neither thumbnail style will guarantee good quality video, generally speaking, most of the time the quality of the video you produce will match the quality of your thumbnail.
Descriptions for videos allow you to better understand what type of video you are downloading if you take the time to look for the description. Quality uploads will have appropriate (real or created) titles for the video they uploaded, will provide some context about the video they uploaded, will provide information about the creator of the video, and will provide timestamps for the video if it is longer than 10 minutes. Descriptions for videos that are full of keyword spam, full of random characters, or that are completely blank generally suggest that the creator of that video did not spend the time necessary to upload a video of good quality.
View count is a great signal as to whether or not you should watch a video on VKdeo. Generally speaking, videos that have had 100,000+ views have had a very large audience and therefore can be assumed to be of good quality. However, it is not safe to assume that you will like a video that has had 100,000 views, it simply indicates that the video is popular with a large number of people. Videos that have been viewed less than 5,000 times could be wonderful treasures or they could be terrible trash. Therefore view count alone should not be used as a signal; other quality signals should be used along with view count to determine whether a video will be of good quality.
Look at the video quality options beforehand to see if the footage is acceptable rather than committing to longer videos without knowing this first. Go into the player settings and see which resolutions are available. Videos will generally look nice when uploaded by creators who put a lot of care into the presentation and may be able to reach 1080p or 4K. Conversely, videos that max out at either 360p or 480p probably won’t look good on anything larger than a phone, and probably indicate that not much effort has gone into the production of that piece of content.
Upload date is also an important consideration for video types that are time sensitive. Video types like tech reviews, news commentary and so on require recent uploads to be relevant. However, entertainment content usually last longer than other types, but older uploads occasionally have some quality issues because they may be compressed using older formats or the uploading of their content has changed since then.
Also, check the comments section for a brief look at quality through crowd-sourced means. Many times the negative comments can warn you about misleading content, scam-type content, or content that is so terrible do to technical issues, that you don’t want to waste your time. Positive comments that also have many responses means that the audience “resonated” with the content enough to stick around to comment.
A quick 30 seconds spent researching the creator channel can also indicate the level of quality. Review what else the creator has on his/her channel by clicking on the creators name, and if they have a lot of similar content or upload schedules, as well as the number and quality of comments for different videos is a pretty good indicator that they maintain higher levels of quality. If a creator has all sorts of completely different types of content, the creator will likely have relatively low levels of quality or quality control for them.
Navigate Around Common Free Platform Limitations
When using free streaming services, there are some things to consider that are different than what you would get from a paid streaming service. Being aware of these issues ahead of time and being prepared to work around them will help reduce your level of frustration while using free streaming services.
Free streaming services will have content that will not be available due to the current copyright protections of major motion picture companies. Many times the titles you are searching for may be available and then suddenly no longer available. Understand that if you are using these services, you need to accept the fact that you will not be able to access many of the current major motion pictures available on paid streaming services.
One important piece of information about free streaming services is that there are advertisements that support the service and help pay for free streaming. Since free streaming services do not have subscription fees, there needs to be a source of revenue to continue to operate. With that said, the amount of advertising on a free streaming service will generally be significantly less than the amount of advertising that you would see on a traditional TV program.
Finally, it is important that you do some quick quality checks before you settle down to watch any movie that you found on a free streaming service, as the quality of the video from upload to upload can vary greatly. Depending on the uploader, a movie (same title) may exist as one pristine 1080p version while, at the same time, the identical title may also exist in a horrible looking version (similar to a recording from 2003) by another uploader. To save yourself from watching a movie for an hour and then realizing that you were watching a horrible link to that movie, it is well worth the 30 seconds it takes to check and verify that you have the correct version of the film.
On free services there can be times of buffertime, but more often than not occurs when a lot of users are on the same platform during peak hours (for example, 8:00 pm when millions are on at that time will most likely experience some levels of buffering). You may be better off watching at other times (like midnight, 1:00 am or 2:00 am). Small adjustments in your viewing habits can result in a much greater chance of receiving a quality stream.
Missing subtitles or languages on some of the content that you have access to can severely limit the scope of content available to you when viewed internationally. Some videos have multiple tracks for subtitles; however, others do not. If you require subtitles for watching Looney Tunes or any foreign language film for access reasons or other reasons; make sure that you check for subtitles before you start. How frustrating is it to be ready and prepared to watch a Korean drama only to discover later on that there are no available English subtitle tracks?
Licensing agreements or other reasons can cause owners of content to remove their content from the providers. That video you saved to watch later might not exist any longer upon you returning to watch it.The way that content is available requires each & every individual viewer to watch the content when they find it as opposed to wait until a future date (the window for viewing content on free services is far less than what you would expect to be there when using a paid service).
Explore Content You’d Never Find On Mainstream Platforms
Where VKdeo surpasses subscription-based streaming services is in the incredible variety of content available to viewers. By understanding how to dig for this diversity, you’ll find entertainment options that cannot be accessed elsewhere.
There are many more diverse and international entertainment options available on it than there are on traditional streaming services such as Netflix (though Netflix has made attempts to become a global service). Examples of such international offerings are Korean variety shows, Japanese game shows, Thai soap operas, Bollywood dramas, Chinese web series and European films, all of which are subtitled. On the site, I have discovered many forms of entertainment and storytelling traditions that I cannot find anywhere on Western-centric streaming services.
Another advantage VKdeo has over traditional streaming services is the number of independent creators who have populated the platform with content that would not be approved or financed by traditional film studios. You’ll find independent creators making use of tulip-shaped story structures, experimental narratives, niche documentaries, content from passion projects, and many innovative diagrams for telling stories that push the boundaries placed on them by mainstream commercial film studios. I have seen examples of creativity and risk-taking that I believe originated with independent creators that have posted their work on the site.
Educational content available on VKdeo is comparable, if not superior, to ed-tech platforms that require subscription fees for educational content. Examples include in-depth documentaries, lectures from university professors, skills tutorials and explorations of historical places; all of which can be found on it for free, and can also be searched by topic. I have learned more specific subject-related content from the series of the platform’s videos I have watched than I have from the courses I have taken for these subjects from ed-tech platforms.
Formerly only available via subscription video on demand, niche hobbies and interests now exist exclusively on free platforms; this is one of the many reasons the site outperforms all paid service providers. Would you like to spend 30 days watching only blacksmithing videos? Vintage automobile restoration? Urban exploration? Competitive cooking? It features a treasure trove of video content that enables users to conduct an endless, obsessive search for interests that would not warrant the expense of subscribing to a dedicated streaming service.
VKdeo boasts music performances and concerts spanning every conceivable genre, ranging from long-form video to underground performances to street performances to live coverage from music festivals. You can sample performances never having appeared on a streaming service or a concert streaming service.
It also features a significant amount of older films and television shows that have fallen into the public domain. Would you like to explore classic film noir from the 1940’s? British television from the 1970’s? Anime from the 1990’s? With a breadth and depth of content, the site far exceeds most modern SVOD’s that primarily feature immediate past productions.
Lastly, user-created content provides a more authentic viewing experience than professional produced content. Personal vlogs, personal documentaries, travel videos, creative experiments – video content created by everyday people for the joy of creating are often far more relatable than commercially produced studio content.
Making Free Streaming Your Primary Entertainment Source
Just because VKdeo isn’t going to offer one-hundred percent replacement value as a watching option – doesn’t mean that it’s not worth it to try out. If you’re extremely dependent on having access to major network productions on the same day, or absolutely must need to have recent streaming exclusives, you’re probably still going to maintain some subscription in those cases anyway. However, the vast majority of people who watch TV regularly should have at least one option to meet their viewing needs.
The most important thing is that you view this site as a legitimate entertainment provider, not just some sort of “back-up” when there isn’t anything available from your subscription(s). You will get more out of using it if you actually put some time into it – create playlists of your favorite shows, follow people who create things you like to watch and check the daily updates for new content and utilizing the tools it has to help organize your viewing experience. All of the time spent on these “front end” activities will ultimately lead to a more personalized viewing experience which can rival subscription services, but without the cost and the same amount of content.
The other major benefit of using free streaming services is that there are forms of entertainment available that you cannot even find on most paid services. There are many forms of entertainment being produced, but there just aren’t many avenues through which they can be distributed through commercial means (i.e. foreign content that is specific to a particular nation, independently produced feature films, educational programming, classic television/film, and user generated material). VKdeo has the ability to give you access to all of these types of entertainment within its only searchable database.
Start implementing these seven strategies today. Know what free platforms really have to offer, will learn how to navigate through categories, and will optimise your technical set up. Create smart playlists, learn about quality assessment, work with limitations of platforms, and take advantage of opportunities to discover content. Your choices in entertainment are likely to grow exponentially while your monthly bill remains constant.
While the streaming revolution has given us access and affordability, through the use of paid services we have experienced consolidation at corporate levels as well as an increase in our costs; however, by using free platforms such as VKdeo you will be able to find out if you can use them effectively – you may also find that you want to use the free services more than the high-priced services you are paying for now!
