Leon

I have always considered myself a person who enjoys watching movies and TV shows. As I have watched more and more works, I increasingly seek the highest possible quality and the best experience. Since I simply deployed Alist on my server, I feel that both the quality and experience have greatly improved. Therefore, I want to write a blog to briefly discuss this.

My Needs#

Although I consider myself a movie fan, I certainly cannot be called a hardcore enthusiast. I do not have a top-notch screen, projector, or sound system, so I do not pursue the ultimate picture and sound quality of the original discs. However, my slight perfectionism always hopes to achieve the best possible effect within the existing conditions. Therefore, I do not want to watch movies on some easily searchable small websites while also learning about Macau casinos, nor do I want to watch mosaics with Baidu Cloud's "Ultra Clear" online quality. My largest screen—my laptop—has a 1080p display, so I am satisfied as long as I can see true 1080p content.

However, I am also a relatively lazy person. I want all resources to be stored in the cloud, easily accessible when I want to watch, and I do not want the content I collect to take up too much local space, nor do I want to worry about the hassle of organizing and making choices in the future.

Alist Before#

Before using Alist, I had roughly figured out a method that could meet my needs, which was to find a way to stream the original files of cloud storage resources. The online playback of Baidu Cloud met my needs in terms of picture quality and subtitle/audio tracks, so I found an application called Air Explorer that could directly call the default media player to play the corresponding Baidu Cloud resources. I still remember my thoughts the first time I used this application to play "We Bare Bears": "So this is how clear the resources I found are."

Later, when Alibaba Cloud Drive became popular, there were many resources available for a while. I participated in the internal testing of Alibaba Cloud Drive and received quite a bit of storage, so I stored some classic resources I wanted to collect. However, after trying the online playback, I found that although it claimed to be unlimited speed, the transcoded resources still had a significantly insufficient bitrate, just like Baidu. Fortunately, I later discovered the Aliyun Drive Little Sheep Version, which also provides direct playback of original files and has a significantly better experience than Air Explorer. It does not require moving the resources I want to watch to a specific path; online playback is just a click away, and it supports custom players, making it essentially a more user-friendly third-party client.

As a result, I gradually accumulated more resources on Alibaba Cloud Drive, even downloading many resources from Baidu Cloud and uploading them to Alibaba Cloud Drive. Then, by sharing and transferring ¹, I gained a significant amount of storage, allowing me to gradually rely solely on Alibaba Cloud Drive.

Everything seemed fine until Alibaba Cloud Drive suddenly seemed to realize it needed to review content, and the resources I had spent some effort organizing began to disappear. Many collections were missing one or two parts, and almost every screen of the IMDb Top 250 had been marked for violations. Moreover, I seemed to be forever unable to upload "Lust, Caution" in a form that could be played online. Even after several attempts to wash the code, changing the file name didn't work. If all resources had to be uploaded encrypted, then using the cloud drive would lose its meaning.

At this point, another cloud drive became popular, which many people might laugh at: PikPak. I had some experience with BT/PT downloads, but downloading to local storage felt troublesome and time-consuming. Baidu Cloud's offline feature was almost useless, and I had never tried the famous 115, so I relied on shared links from others to transfer resources. At that time, PikPak was also giving out membership redemption codes every week, essentially allowing everyone to use it for free. I thought it was worth trying, so I downloaded it. Generally, the updates for TV shows on RARBG were quite timely, so I tried a few popular torrents, and the speed and success rate were very satisfying, so I continued using it. The only regret was that at that time, the official app was only available for Android, but fortunately, many developers provided third-party clients for various platforms that could basically achieve most functions (for me, it was the direct link extraction function), so I won't recommend any specific ones here.

For a long time, this was almost my norm for using cloud drives—Alibaba Cloud Drive and PikPak complemented each other. I used Little Sheep for resources that Alibaba Cloud Drive did not flag as violations, and for resources flagged by Alibaba Cloud Drive or those that could only be downloaded from specific torrent sites, I used the third-party PikPak to obtain direct links and then played them with my local player.

However, there were still some issues. First, I could not play on mobile devices. Although I always prioritized using my laptop's screen whenever possible, there were times when I wanted to use my iPad or phone. At that point, I could only choose to use their respective online playback features. PikPak's online playback function was relatively complete, while Alibaba Cloud Drive's could only be described as barely usable. Secondly, various resources were scattered everywhere. Although I could remember where they were, sometimes opening several software applications at the same time and closing and reopening the web version was a bit annoying.

Most importantly, I had been eyeing Alist for a long time. Even before I started tinkering with VPS, I had seen it on GitHub. It was one of the first self-hosted projects I encountered. When I looked at its demo, I thought it was so cool. It allowed for online previews, and resources with hard subtitles could be watched directly online. It was also easy to share a link with friends, and it even provided WebDAV functionality, which solved the need for mobile use.

Alist After#

So after finally getting my server, I started working on Alist. The installation process was relatively simple. As long as you have a basic understanding, you can follow the Alist Document to operate. Whether using a one-click script or Docker, it can be completed in a few minutes. For specific setup methods, you can refer to GuGu's article, so I won't elaborate further here. The documentation also provides specific steps for how to mount each cloud drive (the author even built a tool to obtain the Alibaba Cloud Drive Refresh Token), so you can quickly complete the setup by following the steps.

Once everything was deployed, I added almost all the cloud drives where I might store film and television resources to Alist. The main ones were:

• Alibaba Cloud Drive: All resources transferred from various channels and previously manually uploaded resources; new drama resources are generally found here.
• PikPak: All prohibited resources from Alibaba Cloud Drive, as well as offline resources from RARBG and 1337x.
• Google Drive: Added a team drive from a netizen.
• A server storing PT resource download directories.
• Baidu Cloud Drive: Various hard subtitle resources accumulated over a long time and some resources from PT sites (the membership still has a year left, so I just left it there).
• Quark Cloud Drive: I impulsively bought a membership, so I just left it there...

Since my needs are limited to streaming video, I personally do not choose any proxies when adding services unless necessary, so the server's own line and traffic do not significantly affect playback.

After going through this tedious process and using it for a few days, I can say it completely meets my needs. During daily playback, I just need to open the address, enter the directory, right-click to copy the direct link, and then load the link in mpv.net using my custom shortcut Ctrl + L, and I can start playing.

Based on my experience, Alibaba Cloud Drive and PikPak can load the ordinary 1080p resources I saved in a short time and allow me to drag the progress bar freely under normal internet conditions. The experience of x265 10bit resources is even comparable to that of a local mechanical hard drive. However, the experience with Baidu Cloud Drive (using a cracked interface) and Quark Cloud Drive (which requires server relay) is relatively average, often resulting in a black screen for nearly ten seconds before loading. Even when it loads, playback must be done cautiously, as jumping or changing audio and subtitle tracks generally causes significant lag. Fortunately, I mainly do not use them, so the impact is minimal.

Later, when watching TV shows, I wanted to be even lazier and did not want to copy and paste the direct link for each episode. I used RaiDrive to mount Alist to my local machine. This not only allows me to quickly switch episodes using the playlist function in MPV, but also enables external subtitle files to be read normally under the right settings. Aside from needing one more software to run in the background, I have no complaints.

Many people might ask why I don't use Emby, Kodi, Jellyfin, or Plex. I guess I might still be too lazy and have no need. For me, being able to manage my film and television resources like managing files is enough. I do not have devices like TVs or projectors, which means I do not need remote control operations or unnecessary elements like poster walls and media information. What matters most to me is that I can easily find the files and play them normally, which is completely sufficient.

Current Resource Acquisition Methods#

After saying so much, I also want to take this opportunity to sort out the various channels I use to acquire the film and television resources I want to watch:

First and foremost are streaming platforms. I currently have subscriptions to Netflix and Disney+, which can basically meet 60% - 70% of my needs. Especially since Disney+ in Singapore supports Star, it has significantly expanded many shows that were previously unavailable on Netflix. So when I encounter a film or TV show I want to watch, I generally search for its name in a search engine. If there are links to Netflix or Disney+, the problem is directly solved. The only downside to this method is the difficulty in customizing subtitle styles. Perhaps due to watching many fan-subbed works, I prefer the feeling of bilingual subtitles. I can use the Dualsub plugin to achieve this on the web version, and this plugin also has rich options for customizing subtitle styles. With this plugin, the web experience of Netflix is perfect. As long as I use the Chromium-based Edge and enable PlayReady DRM in flags ², I can watch 1080p content normally, which is sufficient for me. I even think the web version's interface is more complete than the UWP version. Unfortunately, the downside is that I cannot find a way to play Disney+ content at 1080p resolution in the browser. If I want to customize subtitle styles, I can only watch 720p content on the web, which I find unacceptable. Therefore, I still have to use the UWP client for Disney+.

The second priority is to search for resources on Alibaba Cloud Drive. If the show I want to watch is not available on Netflix and Disney+, I will search for the English name of the show on Telegram. Since I follow some resource channels, I can generally find shared links for resources that are not too obscure. I usually make some simple judgments about the quality of the resources based on the file names ³, and if it looks reliable, I can directly like and take it. Transferring resources on Alibaba Cloud Drive is convenient, and playback is fast, making it my preferred option.

The third priority is the all-powerful torrent sites. This topic is a deep rabbit hole that cannot be explained in just a few words. However, from my personal experience, RARBG and 1337x can basically meet all my needs. RARBG is mainly known for timely resource updates. For American dramas that I need to wait for updates, I usually find them on RARBG (I personally prefer NTb releases). On 1337x, there are two groups that specifically release x265 10bit resources (QxR and UTR ⁴). When I want to watch some movies that were released earlier, I search for movie name + year + qxr / utr, and I can generally find torrents that are relatively small in size but still of high quality. Then I just paste the magnet link into PikPak's offline feature ⁵, and nowadays, many torrents are basically downloaded in seconds. Once the offline process is complete, I can directly obtain the direct link from Alist and start playing.

Here are some torrent sites that might be useful for reference:

• 1337x: See above
  • QxR
  • UTRCorp UTR
• RAR BG: See above
• Pirate Bay: The famous Pirate Bay
• Pian Yuan Wang: A domestic film and television resource site, seems to have closed registration
• TorLook: A relatively useful torrent search engine; I found the open matte version of "The Matrix" trilogy here
• Grab4k: 4k films and TV shows
• YTS YIFY Official: Small-sized films, really small
• Torrent Downloads

There are also some methods that are not quite suitable for the above order.

First, there are some online resource sites. Well, not some, just Low-End Movies, which many people may already know, but I still want more people to discover this treasure. As I mentioned earlier, I can no longer be satisfied with online sites because common online streaming sites are similar to gray market products, filled with ads and varying resource quality, leading to a less than ideal viewing experience. However, Low-End Movies is completely different. After a simple full-screen ad, you can ignore it, and the playback is smooth with no ads at all. The resource update speed is also very timely. It seems that new resources are all compressed by the site itself, ensuring high quality. It is one of the few sites where I whitelist uBlock. If I had to compare quality, it certainly cannot match the original files of offline torrents from cloud drives, but it wins in convenience and low barriers. In the past, when friends asked me for resources, I would send them cloud drive links, but now, as long as Low-End Movies has the resource, I just send them a link to Low-End Movies.

Secondly, there is the Emby public server. For a while, Emby was particularly popular, and I was lucky enough to register for an account on a public server, which I cherish, so I can still use it now. I remember wanting to watch "Twin Peaks" but couldn't find the resources. I ended up 忍耐地 watching many episodes on a small site, and finally found it on the public server, and it was even the 1080p Blu-ray version. I really admire the operators of the public server. Like film and television sites, Emby servers save the trouble of finding resources. As long as you can find it on the server, you can basically play it. However, due to the high quality or my poor network, the speed is generally very slow, and dragging the progress bar takes a long time to load, so I don't use it very often.

If the above methods are considered lazy solutions, the following one is probably a method that causes trouble for myself, which is the traditional PT/BT. I have a large disk chicken specifically for seeding PT torrents, but due to poor technology and insufficient funds, I can never grab uploads. I have to keep an eye on new torrents to increase my upload volume, which leads me to a strange predicament: I almost never watch the things I download; I only download to upload; and I upload to maintain my account, but I almost never use this account (because in most cases, I can find the resources I need through the previous methods). So PT is really a circle with a threshold, and my current situation is not very suitable for this circle, so I can only struggle through it (laughs). As for the ordinary BT torrents I seed, they are some resources I particularly like, and I don't want the torrents to die, so I just keep seeding them.

Legitimate? Pirated?#

The more I talk, the more off-topic I get, but since I've already said so much, I might as well continue chatting casually. I am well aware that a significant portion of my film consumption methods involve watching pirated content. If someone accuses me of this, I naturally cannot refute it ⁶.

Sharing a Netflix and Disney+ account with others, although I'm not sure if it fully complies with their TOS, is the closest I can get to supporting legitimate content. Besides that, when I first started college, I also tried iQIYI and Tencent Video, but even after purchasing memberships for both, I still felt like I was watching ads all day. I was not interested in the recommendations they shoved at me, and I couldn't muster any interest in variety shows or soap operas. I also tried watching movies on iQIYI, but even with my dull eyes, I could see that the bitrate of iQIYI videos was severely lacking. In complex scenes, the screen would be filled with snowflakes, and with hard subtitles and even iQIYI's ads in the upper right corner, the experience was hardly better than watching on the ubiquitous gray market film and television sites (no wonder such sites still exist in large numbers; the same experience just doesn't cost money). After those few months, I almost never touched domestic "streaming platforms" again.

The backwardness in video quality and user experience did not completely shake my confidence, but what impacted me the most was the incident when Bilibili announced it would introduce "Friends." "Friends" aired in the 1990s and can be considered one of the most classic sitcoms in many people's memories. It was once available on Sohu Video, but after some events I am unaware of, there has been almost no legitimate viewing channel in China for a long time. I personally completed it on Netflix after it was introduced there. Later, when I heard that Bilibili was going to introduce it, I was particularly excited. I had a much better impression of Bilibili than of iQIYI and Tencent Video (probably mainly due to some familiar up owners and the special subtitles and progress bars for Harry Potter), and I even noted down the airing date, planning to complete my second watch on Bilibili.

What happened next does not need further explanation. I can only describe my feelings that night when I saw the news: I was first angry, thinking how could they distort and modify someone else's work like this; then I felt unwilling, because this was a TV series from the 1990s that could be aired back then, and Sohu Video could also air it earlier; finally, I felt it was absurd and ridiculous.

I do not intend to discuss this issue further; I can only say that since that incident, my self-criticism for watching pirated content has become milder. If the official liquor is fake, my choice is either not to drink or to drink smuggled real liquor. Unfortunately, I am a person who loves to drink.

Others#

In fact, even without a VPS or Alist, I can still create a relatively comfortable viewing system using the methods I mentioned earlier with relevant software. In addition to the software I mentioned above, if the router supports it, you can also use the messense/aliyundrive-webdav project (you can even mount Alist directly on the router). If you want to mount Alibaba Cloud Drive locally, you can try the CloudNAS – Telegram application.

As for Alist, using it to watch movies is just a tiny part of its functionality. Its direct link sharing feature makes it easy to share large files with friends in China and facilitates file transfers between multiple VPS (you can directly use wget to download direct links). After some setup, it can also support guest upload functionality, which can be used to collect forms, assignments, etc. In short, I sincerely recommend this interesting project. If you haven't tried it yet, go give it a shot; you definitely won't regret it.