Type of shows: Primarily targeted at Chinese audiences, with wide-ranging categories such as drama, movies, variety shows, animation, sports and entertainment. Most shows are from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea, with some English-language movies and shows.
Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Windows Phone
VPN needed: No
Premium membership: Price plans range from 20 yuan (S$4.50) to 249 yuan per month to gain access to members-only programmes. Requires Chinese credit cards mostly but can use PayPal for subscription.
This China-based website offers a comprehensive catalogue of movies, TV dramas, cartoons and variety shows, which you can stream to your computer and mobile devices.
There are Mandarin variety shows, Hollywood and Hong Kong movies, Korean TV shows and movies, and many more. It also has dedicated special interest video channels, such as fashion, finance, cars and music. Plus, parts of it are free. The free content includes some movies, news programmes, and shows in the special-interest channels.
However, you have to register for an account and subscribe to the premium membership to gain access to members-only or high-definition programmes.
And you have to pay an extra 5 yuan to 7 yuan per month for additional features such as ad-free viewing or faster streaming.
But PPTV has one major drawback. Many of its movies and TV shows cannot be shown here due to copyright issues as they are meant for broadcast only in China.
Still, you can watch some older Chinese and Korean TV dramas, such as My Fair Princess and Good Doctor. Click on the various shows to see which are the ones that can be played.
Alternatively, you can subscribe to ViewQwest's Freedom VPN service.
According to ViewQwest, this service has been specially configured to allow local viewers to watch all of PPTV's offerings for China.
