HOW TO DMM!!
(updated version 7/8/2020)
How to rent DMM video streams! A (fully) illustrated guide for those who don't understand Japanese!!
WHAT DO YOU NEED: 1⃣ PC + INTERNET 2⃣ PAYPAL OR CREDITCARD
STEP 1
Go to http://www.dmm.com/en/ and get yourself a DMM account.
Choose Login > User Registration >Register now (…right upper corner of the screen)
Fill in your email address and password, and choose “send a certification email”.
Now go to your email inbox, confirm your account and login. (You probably know the drill)
STEP 2
Which “Item” are you going to buy?
First of all, LOG OUT!
If you don't log out of your account, you'll receive an error message the video page isn't available in your region! (You could also fire up your VPN, see step 4, but it's far easier to just LOG OUT. If you still get an error after you log out, you don't have a choice though.)
Second, set your language to English (if you hadn't already...) Scroll down on the TOP screen until you find what you need (this'll work for new releases), or go to http://www.dmm.com/en/digital/ and use the navigation bar at the top to choose what kind of medium you're looking for. Movies, stage play, you name it!
Now find whatever you want to buy! If you have the language set to English, you'll get crappy auto-translated pages, but it'll be enough to get you going.
At this point, I'm going to assume you're buying an archived stream. (Scroll down if you’re buying a live stream)
ARCHIVE STREAM
If you’re buying an archived stream. Most musicals come with 3 options. (BUT NOT ALL!! Some are (HD) streaming only!)
1) HD stream + HD download [unlimited HD streaming + HD download for XX days] 2) Stream + download [unlimited streaming + download for XX days] 3) HD Stream only [unlimited HD streaming for XX days]
Price and license duration differ per musical. Stream-only is usually 7 days, (HD) Stream + (HD) download is usually 30 days or 1 year. BUT NOT ALWAYS! And prices may change depending on that.
ALWAYS CHECK THE LICENSE DURATION AND PRICE BEFORE YOU BUY!
For example, in case of Musical Touken Ranbu -Shinkenrabusai. Stream-only license is 7 days, but stream + download is a year. Stream-only price is 1400 yen, but stream + download is 3000 yen
See how the license/streaming period & prices change?
Made your decision? Good! REMEMBER THE PRICE of the item you want to buy!
(I prefer to go with the HD stream + HD download. Because 1) if you download the file, you won’t have to connect to a VPN server every time you want to watch it. 2) even if you bought the HD download, you can still download a non-HD file... 3) HD streams can take a long time to load. Downloaded files don’t have loading time.)
LIVE STREAM
However, if you’re purchasing a live stream, you usually only get one option. The pack will consist of a live stream, maybe a re-live stream and a delay stream. Please take note of the specified dates, because you can only watch the show within that specified time window!
For example, Uta-Awase Ranbu Kyoran 2020′s live stream page looks like this. (minus the English, that’s my doing...)
You only get to push the big orange button to pre-order a license for the live stream. While the red text suggest you’re only buying the live stream, the title includes the words 見逃しパック付き which indicates you’ll at least get a delay stream with your live stream, but possibly a re-live too.
What’s included in the pack can be found in the description box. ライブ配信 = Live stream 再ライブ配信 = Re-live stream ディレイ配信 = Delay stream
Live and Re-live streams run from the start time till the end of the show. If you’re late, you miss part of the show. Within the delay stream period you can watch the show as often as you want. Contrary to its name, delay streams can in fact be downloaded too. The delay period is often lasts only a few days, so make sure you take note of the dates. You don’t want to end up ordering something you can’t watch.
Good, want buy it? REMEMBER THE PRICE!
STEP 3
Now that you know which “item” you want and how much it'll cost, let’s buy some DMM points!
(You could do this later in the process, but then you’ll be stuck with the Japanese page...Also, I actually got an error when I tried to purchase points while connected to my VPN... so I had to disconnect my VPN halfway through the process and then reconnect again to finish the purchase... So let’s just do it now!)
Go to: http://www.dmm.com/en/ & LOG IN!
Click on the coin-shaped symbol with the P (right upper corner of the screen), and choose “Charge Points” or scroll down an click the large yellow “Charge Points” button on the right side.
Choose your form of payment: 1) Credit card 2) Paypal (click the paypal button.)
Either choose one of the pre-filled options, or use “Appoint the amount of charge” and fill in the amount of points you need. (1 yen = 1 point, so... for example, I need 3000 points (3000 yen) to buy the HD download + HD stream of Shinkenranbusai 2016)
Click (next) > check out with paypal.
Log into your paypal account, and OK the transaction again. Congratulations, you just bought the needed DMM points!
Purchasing point using a credit card works roughly the same way. Just follow the instructions on your screen, it shouldn’t be too hard. Though it’s possible DMM may not accept (certain) foreign credit cards.
STEP 4
Now it’s time to set up a VPN connection. There are probably many ways to do this. You have browser extensions (like SetupVPN) or you could us software (like Tunnelbear).I personally like the SoftEther VPN client. But any VPN would do the job as long as you can set your location to Japan.
Anyway, let me explain SoftEther, because it’s slightly harder to figure out. Downloaded the software (this one: http://www.vpngate.net/en/download.aspx) and install it. Start the software and choose “VPN Gate Public VPN Relay Servers”, you’ll get a long list with all kind of servers you can connect too. Search for one that’s located in Japan. (Preferably one with a high line speed, and low ping.)
Connect to the VPN server. Once you’ve received your Japanese IP you’re good to go.
If one server doesn't connect or DMM somehow doesn’t catch on, just disconnect and try another VPN server! You have plenty of choices in the list!
STEP 5A
Now comes the hard part, because we’re going to say the English site farewell!
Go to dmm.com, and find the video you want to purchase (again).
List of all 2.5D musicals/plays: http://www.dmm.com/digital/cinema/-/list/=/article=keyword/id=74130/
List of other musicals/ plays: http://www.dmm.com/digital/cinema/-/list/=/article=keyword/id=74128/
If you’re buying an archived stream, choose which version you want:
HD版ダウンロード＋HD版ストリーミング (HD Download + HD stream)
ダウンロード＋ストリーミング (Download + stream)
HD版ストリーミング (HD stream)
Then click the big orange button that says: 今すぐ購入, to buy the item.
If you’re buying a live stream, push the big orange button that says: 予約する
In case of live streams, depending on what part of the site you are, your page may also look like this.
This orange button does the same. If you push the red button, you’ll go to the Uta-Awase 2020 page I showed you before in Step 2.
STEP 5B
Now pay for your item! Check if you added the correct item and push the big yellow button!
Since you already have the needed amount of DMM point. DMM will assume you’ll pay using those points! So, just click the big yellow button to confirm your purchase.
Congratulations, you now bought the video!!
STEP 6
Once the payment is processed, you’ll be send to "YOUR VIDEOS" page. (as you can see I bought 3 videos so far... And you can even see my license for Patilliro expired....)
Click on the file you just bought, and you’ll get a nice pop-up screen! (In this case I opened -Bakumatsu Tenroden-)
You can now choose to stream or download the file. If you bought a live stream, the files become available at the dates specified.
If you don’t want to get stuck with firing up a VPN every time you want to watch it (and have the option to download), by all means… DOWNLOAD!
Also, you can check here when your license period ends! (for example, my Bakumatsu Tenroden license ends 15 December 2017)
TO DOWNLOAD, CLICK RIGHT AND CHOOSE “SAVE LINK AS”!
Name your file, choose the location and click save. Now wait for your file to download.
(Most videos will only be 1 part, but some, like Bakumatsu Tenroden, may be split it 2 parts...)
If you think your connection can handle the large file,… You can always decided to lower the bit rate before download the file. Of course, that also means the quality of the video will decrease.
NOTE1: if you want, you can disconnect from the VPN server once your download has started. This could potentially shorten the download time (a lot). Once you disconnect you’ll receive and error and it’ll stop downloading. Don’t worry, (click right and) choose “resume download” or “try again”. (Whichever option it gives you) It should restart again and download via your own internet connection.
NOTE2: If you decide to stream, you can disconnect from the VPN server once you’ve opened the stream and the video starts loading. Depending on the speed of your own connection, this could potentially shorten the time it takes to load the file. Even after you’re disconnect from the VPN server, you can still switch between different bit-rates without problem. Just don’t refresh the page, you’ll be greeted by the region-block again.
STEP 7
Good, you have the file downloaded… what now?
Unfortunately these files only play on the DMM player. So you’ll have to download and install that one too!
(If you have Window 8.1 or 10) The link to download the player is right under your video download files, so… it shouldn’t be too hard to find it.
JUST CLICK THE LINK THAT SAYS “DMM Player v2をダウンロード”
If you have MacOS (10.10 and up), visit THIS PAGE. and click on the button that says MACOS用プレーヤダウンロード.
Even though the installer is Japanese, the process probably speaks for itself. (If anyone runs into trouble, just let me know…)
btw. once you have the installer and the video files, you can disconnect from your VPN, if you hadn’t already…
You can either drop the video file in your player, or you click on the folder in the screen and navigate to the file. The player will prompt you to enter your email address and password to see if you have the correct license. After that, you’re good to go!
If you want information about the Smart Phone player, please CHECK OUT THIS POST.
STEP 8 (OPTIONAL)
But what if I want to watch the video even after the license expires? You have two options:
1) Buy the video again! (Either on DMM, or purchase the DVD/BD if available)\ 2) Make sure to screen capture it before the license expires!
(obviously, option 2 isn't quite legal!)
Unfortunately it's not possible to remove the "copyright" of the downloaded video files. so to get yourself a lasting copy, you'll have to capture it as it plays. There is a variety of screen capture software out there, and most of them aren't free. Those that are free often come with limits.
The best I've found so far is Active Presenter. It's free, and there's no limit on the length of your captured video. After you're done capturing, you can export the file to a variety of file formats.
Note: If you capture a particularly long video (like a full musical), the software will automatically safe a mkv in your documents > ActivePresenter > <file name> (or whichever folder you specified). If it already has a mkv saved, you don't have to export your file anymore! Which is nice, because exporting long files takes a lot of time! HOWEVER, audio and video will be saved as separate files. To easily combine them, I recommend the use of MKVtoolnix-gui. (just google)
ANOTHER NOTE
You can always access your bought files again by launching your VPN again, and going to MY PAGE > VIDEOS
If something isn’t clear and you need help, just drop me a message!
