Filmstruck / Criterion Channel

I actually don't mind when streaming selections rotate, it helps me focus a bit better. The choice paralysis of the entire Criterion Collection, which would take how many years to watch their entirety, is overwhelming. Basically as it is with Netflix and Amazon not keep adding stuff to my watch list, and if it happens to be unavailable when I want to actually watch it, that's when I resort to downloading.

Yeah I can't imagine being in a situation on Filmstruck where it feels like there was nothing to watch. Rotate away.

23 films under 4 banners added on the Filmstruck side --

Alain Resnais
Errol Morris
Cinematography by Rudolph Maté
Behind the Iron Curtain

Withnail and I added on Criterion

Todd Haynes' Safe available until the end of this month, plus the supplemental bits (incl. Haynes' 1978 short "The Suicide") and the commentary track from the home release.

Come on, Roku ...

Haven't read the thread, but I skimmed this piece from a while back, which was not hopeful: http://www.thestreamingadvisor.com/2016/04/26/another-film-buff-service-really-turner-is-getting-streaming-wrong/

I dunno. I hope it sticks around. But I've got to admit, from a so-called "cord-cutter" perspective, I'm not a fan of the slow creep of services. Netflix, plus Amazon (which, granted, comes with many other benefits), plus Filmstruck, plus internet, plus phone, plus satellite radio, etc. Something has to give, eventually.

Putting a lot of energy into being a service for film buffs is like starting an athletic shoe company that specializes in turquoise equestrian gear.

This guy is full of shit. That analogy shows he is way outside Filmstruck's target demo and can't relate to anyone who's in it.

We just cancelled DirecTV on Sunday, freeing up $$$ to get what we actually want minus the home shopping and religious channels. I think that's a pretty common situation for cord- and dish-cutters.

That's how I feel, basically. I'll spend, as least to some extent, just not on the 90% of sports and reality shows and other bullshit I don't want. But I do agree Filmstruck's target demo is somewhat limited. Not a growth model.

really enjoying this service. agree it's not the biggest target demo, but every time i look for a movie on amazon or netflix it's just wall to wall shit so something like Filmstruck feels like an embarrassment of riches by comparison.

I had a brief Roku daydream that maybe Filmstruck's channel would be integrated with the Watch TCM channel, which according to TCM's device-activation page is "coming soon." But that's not really possible so I woke up.

Yeah people who CUT DA CORD to live on Netflix is like throwing out all your records to listen to Pandora

My wife is always trying to get me to listen to Pandora "if you like x, then ..." channels or whatever, and I keep telling her, I have the music I like and if I want to hear music I like I'm going to put on music I like, not hope that the algorithm driving the Dolly Parton channel or whatever will stick to classic country and not follow "Coat of Many Colors" with, like, something from Florida Georgia Line's Christmas album.

IDK cable TV seems to me to be at least 90% garbage or stuff totally outside my interests, at least whenever I'm at my relatives' for Christmas and spend any time surfing through it. So if I had that cord, cutting it would be more like getting rid of Pandora than getting rid of my record collection. I'm still interested in Filmstruck when it hits Roku and will almost certainly give it a try for a month or two, I mean it's cheaper than a single movie ticket or a few rentals so I don't have to watch THAT much for it to be worth it.

Might finally punt Netflix tbh - that's kept me looped in mostly because the person I share it with watches a fuckton of old TV shows on it while she's working, and because there's always at least ONE thing floating around in current rotation that I'm into, like my recent ill-advised Robotech binge. But my actual queue has had some of the same stuff in it for YEARS and if I've never felt compelled to finally sit down and watch it that's probably a sign. The overwhelming majority of new arrival stuff is about as interesting to me as what might be found clicking through the cable movie channels, nope, nope, nope, nope, ehhh maybe if I'm in the right mood, nope.....

DiretctTV/ATT app might be the best solution. Cut the cable cord (or just pay for internet), subscribe to DirectTV app for 30 bucks/mo and get all the live TV you want more or less? Just no DVR recording ability.

At this point I'm basically paying $8 a month for the Internet and $10 a month for Netflix, but I guess I should also count going to the movies in my budget for these things...

$8 for internet? How do you do that?

My wife last night, when we were going through these things, was asking if I was getting enough value out of Netflix, and I was like, what do you mean, like how many things do I have to watch for it to be worth it? And she said, yeah, I don't know, maybe three to make it make more sense than a la carte purchases? And I said whether I watched enough or not was moot, because I've downloaded a shit ton of stuff over the years for nada, and if paying a few streaming services makes me feel better then dammit, I'd say they're a bargain.

And then she asked to watch The Crown, and I restrained myself from saying "see, you need Netflix!"

Ha, it's an unusual situation - it's a big house, so we're splitting reasonably fast broadband twelve ways. Generally haven't had any speed issues or anything.

I pay for Hulu, Netflix, Filmstruck and Fandor.

Because I like throwing away money.

i am finally paring down but i had been doing hulu, netflix, filmstruck, amazon prime, hbo/showtime/cinemax/starz, cable, mubi

oh yeah I have amazon prime as well. My mom's HBO GO. And trying out seeso right now.

My biggest problem is I have Time Warner Cable which is now owned by Spectrum, and certain TV apps require a spectrium login but I don't have one.

6 months ago: Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, DirecTV - $125/month
Now: Amazon, Netflix, HBO, Filmstruck, Vue - $78/month

i pay for hulu and netflix

cancelled prime

if you want to penny pinch you can create new email addresses and sign up for free trials every so often

i opened a free trial acct on filmstruck and just cancelled

just cancelled this and Nightflight due to the terrible buffering problems on both platforms.

my issue is i have a kingsize tivo and options like vue that don't allow me to timeshift aren't of much use.

Yeah, losing the ability to record from TCM is a big downside for me.

I briefly borrowed a friend's dwindling Hulu subscription, since he didn't use it and was about to cancel, and I was shocked to find not just mandatory commercials, but mandatory shit commercials. It drove us nuts.

That's only if you're cheap. If you pay the extra few bucks you don't get commercials, or maybe only a few commercials on certain big shows, but I never see commercials.

ugh just gimme a damn roku or chromecast app ffs

I wish Criterion was still on Hulu so I could just, you know, watch this stuff on my TV.

Why can I not just stream TCM's catalog? Even just their on demand movies

If you have Fire TV, you can.

tbh, you can't so much. TCM's on demand program is pretty shitty.

yeah it's a shame. missing HD stuff too

Well this is a sucky development (from someone else's post at criterionforum.org):

http://i.imgur.com/dK6I3gZ.png

What's the hold up?

welp that's another six months I can spend ignoring this

oh fughaghdfhgkajrheruigh

does TCM at least have a Roku app I can use w/ a cable login?

Nope -- it's "coming soon"

we have Vue, Amazon & Netflix, and a hd antenna for local tv. we just did a free trial on hulu to see how it compared to vue but even though hulu has tons of channels, they are very patchworky on what *shows* they offer which is annoying. idk, i'm not sold on it. for my own viewing choices, i think i prefer vue.

fire tv is like 90 bucks if you really really want filmstruck now.

I mean, Ex0dus + access to a university library will tide me over until it's out, but I STILL WANT IT RN

I just ordered a Fire TV box (not only for FilmStruck, but it was a motivator), so now I'm getting ready to sign up for FS. What's the verdict from people who are on it, in terms of the different plans? I'm inclined to just go ahead and do the year subscription, which comes out to a little more than $8/month, but is there any reason to do a monthly plan in terms of waiting for them to work out technical issues or anything else?

Also, how good is the picture quality of their stream? Comparable to Netflix?

i just put on 8 1/2 on mute while listening to music and i was just thinking it looks great.

(im running ethernet into an apple tv)

Also, how good is the picture quality of their stream? Comparable to Netflix?

Yeah, though some of the transfers of minor films that don't rate a restoration are horrible. I watched Big Deal on Madonna Street last night and it looked bad, but not because of the stream. I should go ahead and bump my subscription from monthly to the annual price.

BTW, 25 films added Friday on the Filmstruck side under 5 banners:
— Paris, City of Love (including Billy Wilder's Irma La Douce and Martin Ritt's Paris Blues, for the people who want more TCM-type stuff)
— Directed by Terry Gilliam
— Directed by Dušan Makavjev
— the Qatsi trilogy
— The Yugoslav Wars and their Aftermath

Cool, thx. Guess I'll do the annual and see how it goes! I figured there would be variations in picture quality depending on the prints.

Logorama, the short added for today's short + feature, is one of the funniest things I've seen in a while.

Very excited that Ingmar Bergman's "The Magic Flute" (1975) was added to the Criterion section this week. Always wanted to see that.

Kiarostami's Certified Copy added on the Criterion side. Supplements include his 1977 feature The Report.

All the Kurosawas are leaving the Filmstruck side after this coming Friday, but Ran is the only one not on the Criterion side as well.