For the lack of a better name, the Netflix of Asia, iflix has descended upon Malaysia and Philippines, bringing a boatload of movie and TV content to those who never torrented in their lives.
So to the ignorant users who have never acknowledged the true powers of the internet or people hell-bent on improving the entertainment industry by genuinely supporting it with a sliver of their salary, iflix could be the start of a revolution in the way people consume entertainment in this region—without being guilt-tripped by their favourite producers (or to exonerate their souls as a prolonged cyber criminal).
But how true is that?
Jokes aside, iflix markets their new legion of movies and tv shows from only RM8 a month. This means, by sacrificing a wholesome meal at your nearest kopitiam, you get one month’s worth of unlimited movies and TV shows. A fair trade, don’t you think? However, much is still unknown about the maximum amount of subscription you can partake, which sets the presumably minimum of RM8 to be quite an enigma for now.
Riding with the saturation of mobile-friendly softwares and applications, iflix is available on the more recent iOS and Android devices supporting the latest updated OS, which allows subscribers to pocket their content and watch them virtually anywhere given a strong data connection is present.
The supported browsers that are Chrome 40+, Firefox 36+, Safari 7+ and IE11 makes iflix a web-centric ‘Astro’ that truly celebrates an ad-free engagement that existing customers of the latter have been yearning for through the years. The setback? iflix won’t work on jailbroken smartphones or tablets.
iflix is indeed equipped with an extensive library of movies, drama series, Western cartoons, Asian flicks and reality TV shows, but most are not updated with the latest episodes screened on air on the original TV networks.
For fans of immensely popular TV series such as Game of Thrones, The Flash, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., Scandal, Community, Revenge, Modern Family and even Glee, you will be disappointed by the dearth of famous shows, which brings us to whether the subscription is even worth your interest in the first place since by torrenting you will have access to all the concurrent episodes ever released including leaked episodes and stuff beyond the Western borders like Anime.
Without prejudice, let’s put some faith in iflix since this is just their inception in the market and who knows, they might get complete clearance to air the latest shows in the near future—and that will finally halt our piracy DNA from festering into something worse. Besides, for nostalgia’s sake, there are hundreds of dated blockbusters for those who’ve missed them years ago or even way back. It’s a great place to play catch up or past the time by indulging in shows no longer available in the current networks.
Nobody should be dissuaded from subscribing to iflix but as an avid illegal downloader of content and a guy who loves keeping himself informed of the latest happenings in the entertainment sphere, the internet has just too many viable alternatives that are more cost effective and light-years ahead of the subject matter. But of course, there’s no stopping anyone should they want to give it a try.
And since Malaysia and Philippines are gifted with highly supportive people: new iflix members will be offered a free 14-day trial. I highly suggest that you sign up to serve that curiosity and hopefully you will join me in my torrenting endeavours in the aftermath.
To learn more about hacking your way for free TV shows, you can also check out these alternatives.