FilmStruck

News on Criterion and Janus Films.
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albucat
Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2011 12:06 am

Re: Filmstruck

#1151 Post by albucat » Fri Feb 02, 2018 12:04 pm

Tropical Malady is there now at least.

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MichaelStockCA
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2017 6:23 pm
Location: California

Re: Filmstruck

#1152 Post by MichaelStockCA » Fri Feb 02, 2018 5:12 pm

The Olympic films that were announced here in the forum were up this morning, plus a few more under Recently Added. Now these additional films seem to have disappeared and I get error messages when I try to access FilmStruck on tablet or computer. Maybe they are just working on the website ... Let's hope everything is up and running again when I'm settling down for my evening movie :wink:

unclehulot
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:09 pm
Location: here and there

Re: Filmstruck

#1153 Post by unclehulot » Sun Feb 04, 2018 2:24 am

jsteffe wrote:
movielocke wrote:I know nothing about Roku. But the Apple TV is amazing, it can hardwire with Ethernet and as a result I have never had any buffering issue.

Navigation is better now that they have abandoned the Netflix style horizontal scroll in favor of tabs with full grids.

Chrome cast is a cheap option, and integrates with my phone or iPad really well.

but WiFi is the variable there. Chrome casting any app didn’t work consistently well in our apartment because of so many neighboring WiFi networks (and no, buying a bigger WiFi router to blast more signal didn’t help overcome the congestion), but I also sampled it at work (to confirm it was problems with WiFi limitations) and it worked great—except around updates which sometimes impede service to chromecast for some reason.

If you’ve got great WiFi, chrome cast is a cheap option, if you can wire Ethernet, the Apple TV is by the far the best option.
I had an older HD Roku, which was not bad, but I went ahead and purchased a 4K Apple TV based on the comments here. It was worth it. The interface is mostly superior, and having wired ethernet is a huge advantage over WiFi for streaming video. I have no buffering issues now, and very high quality video playback on Netflix as a result.

I also prefer the Apple TV interface for Filmstruck.

The only potential downside is the thumb trackpad on the Apple remote. It's easy to overshoot and select the wrong title, though I imagine that I'll get more used to it over time. It's just me, but I'd probably still prefer click navigation over thumb scrolling.
That Apple TV remote does NOT get easier to deal with, IMHO. It’s particularly bad on FilmStruck’s app. I can’t tell you how many times I overshoot, undershoot, fail to shoot at all.....most frustrating. On top of that, I constantly get playback error screens when switching titles (or using the global TV app which keeps track of titles over multiple apps). The only fix is to completely quit the Filmstruck app and start over. I also have a 2nd gen Fire TV stick, and far prefer the handling on that platform. A friend has an odd bug with the new 4K Fire TV. When he first starts to play a title it will not “kick in” to HD mode. Only after stopping and restarting the film does full resolution playback initiate!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

flyonthewall2983
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
Location: Indiana
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Re: Filmstruck

#1154 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Sun Feb 04, 2018 10:43 am

The app for Amazon TV is really good. It improved once they fixed their audio issues, and feels even more slick now. There are some things I'd tweak and change, but nothing major.

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OldBobbyPeru
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2018 1:15 am

Re: Filmstruck

#1155 Post by OldBobbyPeru » Sun Feb 04, 2018 4:17 pm

I've been going back and forth between the Apple TV app, and the app on my TCL Roku TV. I like the Apple app better, but for some reason, it doesn't decode films that are in Dolby 5.1, whereas the Roku does. BTW, my Apple TV is the 4th generation, the one just before the new 4K version. It decodes 5.1 tracks on Netflix just fine.

Anyone else not getting 5.1 on Filmstruck on the Apple TV?

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OldBobbyPeru
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2018 1:15 am

Re: Filmstruck

#1156 Post by OldBobbyPeru » Sun Feb 04, 2018 11:47 pm

Once again, the Filmstruck help desk provides the answer. From the email I received:
I've looked into this and found this error may be tied into one that users are experiencing on Apple TV. We have had users report that the following workaround resolved the issue in some cases. You may change your settings back once we have released the next update.

· Go to Device Settings
· Click on Video and Audio
· Click on Surround Sound and select Stereo or Best Quality Available (stereo works on my Apple TV 4K, but best quality has worked on older models)
· Return to FilmStruck app and try again

In the meantime, we'll continue to work on this issue. We appreciate your patience with this situation. Please let us know if any problems arise or you need anything else and I'll follow up with you.
So I set the Apple TV sound setting to 'best available', and that resulted in my receiver getting multi channel PCM. I don't know whether multi channel PCM is better or worse or the same as Dolby Digital--I'll have to do some comparisons. It would seem that the difference is that the Apple TV is decoding the Dolby signal rather than my AVR.

I am often reminded that we are in a brave new world in the streaming diaspora. First world problems abound, but sooner or later, they get solved.

flyonthewall2983
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
Location: Indiana
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Re: Filmstruck

#1157 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon Feb 05, 2018 3:28 am

Is there a display available on the Apple app to let you know if it's in mono, stereo or surround?

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OldBobbyPeru
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2018 1:15 am

Re: Filmstruck

#1158 Post by OldBobbyPeru » Mon Feb 05, 2018 1:47 pm

flyonthewall2983 wrote:Is there a display available on the Apple app to let you know if it's in mono, stereo or surround?
The film description page on the Filmstruck app will indicate 5.1 if the title has 5.1 sound. Then, your receiver should indicate what sort of signal it's getting.

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A man stayed-put
Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2010 9:21 am

Re: Filmstruck

#1159 Post by A man stayed-put » Thu Feb 08, 2018 6:23 am

Filmstruck Curzon/UK appears to be up and running.

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HitchcockLang
Joined: Tue May 28, 2013 1:43 pm

Re: Filmstruck

#1160 Post by HitchcockLang » Wed Feb 14, 2018 3:11 pm

Tried watching Come and See today on the Filmstruck app via my TCL Roku TV and Vizio 5.1 soundbar and the sound was badly out of sync. I had recently had some weird audio sync drifting issues while watching the blu-ray of My Fair Lady so I turned off my soundbar and listened through the TV speakers. Still out of sync. I tried pausing and playing, rewinding, exiting and reentering the app. Still out of sync. I watched a piece on my laptop. Still out of sync. The audio seems to be lagging behind the video by several milliseconds. It's most noticeable about 12 minutes in when one of the soldiers twists his nose and screams to entertain the young twins. His mouth opens before the scream begins and then his mouth shuts and the scream continues.

Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me? I don't know that I can continue to watch the movie like this.

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HitchcockLang
Joined: Tue May 28, 2013 1:43 pm

Re: Filmstruck

#1161 Post by HitchcockLang » Wed Feb 14, 2018 6:37 pm

Seems to be weird luck with Filmstruck glitches day for me. After giving up on Come and See (see my post just above), I decided to watch Whiskey Galore! instead. I was relieved to see that the audio sync was perfect (leading me to believe even more that there is a problem with the stream of Come and See--hoping someone can confirm).

However, about 27 minutes in (at the tail end of the scene when the clock strikes midnight and the men realize it is the Sabbath), the screen fades to black. But then, the screen never faded back in. Suddenly, I was treated to dialogue over a black screen (it took me more than a minute to realize this was not intentional) so I paused the movie to see if the progress bar would show up or if my display had failed. The progress bar showed up fine; it was just the film that wasn't showing. So I backed it up and got the picture back and watched the striking midnight scene again. Screen fades to black (as I'm sure it's meant to) and once again, stays black. Pausing and playing would not restore picture. The only way I was able to get the picture back was by tapping the fast forward button and immediately pressing play again which caused the movie to reload and voila, the picture returned without any further issue.

How does such a bizarre yet consistent (every time I watched that one fade to black, it triggered the blank screen) glitch even happen?

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HitchcockLang
Joined: Tue May 28, 2013 1:43 pm

Re: Filmstruck

#1162 Post by HitchcockLang » Thu Feb 15, 2018 10:51 pm

After trying to watch Come and See on a few different platforms and finding the audio sync to be the same across them, I sent a detailed report to Filmstruck and this is the worthless reply I received:
Filmstruck wrote:Thank you for contacting FilmStruck. My name is XXXXX I will be happy to assist you today. I understand that you are experiencing an audio issue with your Roku TV. I am sorry you are not enjoying your FilmStruck viewing experience. Although you might have been able to stream Filmstruck on your RokuTV it is not one our supported devices. The Roku device itself is supported but not the Roku TV. The current and up to date devices that we support are available on our FilmStruck site.

We appreciate your patience as our team works diligently to bring our wonderful library to your specific device of choice and an expanded variety of different platforms and viewing preferences. In the meantime, you can visit http://www.FilmStruck.com/devices" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; to sign up to be notified when we become available on this platform.
Should you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact us.

Thanks in advance, and we look forward to your reply.

Best regards,
XXXXX

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mfunk9786
Under Chris' Protection
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: Filmstruck

#1163 Post by mfunk9786 » Thu Feb 15, 2018 11:03 pm

I love the "current and up to date" as if anything about Filmstruck's interface is current or up to date. Man oh man. I would happily pay for this service if they got their shit together but that is sad

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Big Ben
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2016 12:54 pm
Location: Great Falls, Montana

Re: Filmstruck

#1164 Post by Big Ben » Sat Feb 17, 2018 5:54 pm

Some Peter Greenaway films just got put on the site:

The Falls
The Pillow Book
A Zed and Two Noughts
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
The Draughtsman's Contract
A Zed and Two Noughts
Prospero's Books

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Magic Hate Ball
Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:15 pm
Location: Seattle, WA

Re: Filmstruck

#1165 Post by Magic Hate Ball » Sat Feb 17, 2018 10:50 pm

I'm desperate for this to mean a potential future release.

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Big Ben
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2016 12:54 pm
Location: Great Falls, Montana

Re: Filmstruck

#1166 Post by Big Ben » Sun Feb 18, 2018 12:26 am

Magic Hate Ball wrote:I'm desperate for this to mean a potential future release.
I looked at all of the films and they leave a lot to be desired streaming quality wise. The Falls looks worse than my DVD copy.

I'm certain that at one point a version of The Cook, His Wife, The Thief and Her Lover was forthcoming from Criterion but something happened? Does anyone know what specifically occured?

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Kirkinson
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2004 5:34 am
Location: Portland, OR

Re: Filmstruck

#1167 Post by Kirkinson » Mon Feb 19, 2018 5:11 am

Big Ben wrote:
Magic Hate Ball wrote:I'm desperate for this to mean a potential future release.
I looked at all of the films and they leave a lot to be desired streaming quality wise. The Falls looks worse than my DVD copy.

I'm certain that at one point a version of The Cook, His Wife, The Thief and Her Lover was forthcoming from Criterion but something happened? Does anyone know what specifically occured?
Do you have the BFI DVD of The Falls? I did some one-to-one comparisons with the Zeitgeist and I thought Filmstruck's transfer was a remarkable improvement. The Zeitgeist DVD is very blocky, riddled with compression issues that are almost entirely gone on the Filmstruck stream. The image seems significantly sharper, too (though that just may be because there's far less pixelation).

I believe others have mentioned (speculated?) there are rights issues with The Cook, but I suspect it could also partly be that the film is in need of some restoration that so far no one has put up the cash for. The current HD transfer (Filmstruck seems to be using the same one as Amazon, which I've watched a couple times) has some noticeable dirt and speckling in places. It may also be a little faded, though it's also possible the DVD was oversaturated (I've never seen a theatrical presentation to judge against).

ianungstad
Joined: Wed Mar 16, 2005 9:20 pm

Re: Filmstruck

#1168 Post by ianungstad » Mon Feb 26, 2018 10:07 am

Warner Archive to discontinue their streaming service and merge with Filmstruck.

http://deadline.com/2018/02/filmstruck- ... 202301824/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Roscoe
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2014 3:40 pm
Location: NYC

Re: Filmstruck

#1169 Post by Roscoe » Mon Feb 26, 2018 10:16 am

So how much will rates go up as a result?

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Ribs
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: Filmstruck

#1170 Post by Ribs » Mon Feb 26, 2018 10:38 am

Article's a little weird, coz Warner's catalog has always been part of Filmstruck. It's just that now it seems like it might be some degree of exclusive? Which is a big coup if so.

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ermylaw
Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2013 10:58 am

Re: Filmstruck

#1171 Post by ermylaw » Mon Feb 26, 2018 10:41 am

I wonder if they'll eventually have a Warner channel that is optional and adds to the monthly price in the same way the Criterion Channel does.

buskeat66
Joined: Mon Sep 14, 2015 4:18 pm

Re: Filmstruck

#1172 Post by buskeat66 » Mon Feb 26, 2018 12:10 pm

Price is remaining the same, and it just looks like they're adding a greater number of Hollywood studio classics, the likes of which haven't been on Filmstruck before, nor on the pathetic Warner Archive Instant service. They've added them as traditional curated categories and looks like they remain on FilmStruck for six months. They posted a new feature called Star of the Week, and they appear to expire after six months like other FilmStruck, non-Criterion features. This week's is Bette Davis, and it's 23 of her movies, which expire on August 24. They've also posted all 10 Astaire-Rogers pictures, expiring the same date. The Bette Davis movies are:

Hell's House
The Cabin in the Cotton
Three on a Match
20,000 Years in Sing Sing
Of Human Bondage
The Petrified Forest
Marked Woman
Jezebel
Dark Victory
The Old Maid
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
All This and Heaven Too
The Great Lie
The Little Foxes
The Man Who Came to Dinner
Now, Voyager
Watch on the Rhine
Mr. Skeffington
The Corn is Green
Another Man's Poison
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
Dead Ringer
Lo Scopone Scientifico

They've also posted "TCM Selects," which looks to be a rotating roster of big classics with new Ben Mankiewicz intros and other special features. Looks like they're up for a shorter period of time. Forbidden Planet, for one, expires on May 11. Some of them have been up on Filmstruck and the Criterion Channel in other forms, but the ones new to Filmstruck appear to be:

Forbidden Planet
A Night at the Opera
The Music Man
Rebel without a Cause
Casablanca
An American in paris

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mfunk9786
Under Chris' Protection
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: Filmstruck

#1173 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Feb 26, 2018 12:21 pm

Four streaming-capable devices in my living room. No Filmstruck support. Killing me still that I can't just give them my money. They've removed the Xbox One and PS4 as upcoming streaming devices from their website too. And it's doubtful it'll ever come to my older Apple TV or LG OLED TV's marketplace, either. Having a 5th streaming option in one room because Filmstruck won't get its act together is just a bridge too far.

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Drucker
Your Future our Drucker
Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 9:37 am

Re: Filmstruck

#1174 Post by Drucker » Mon Feb 26, 2018 12:24 pm

Is this not available on Roku?

buskeat66
Joined: Mon Sep 14, 2015 4:18 pm

Re: Filmstruck

#1175 Post by buskeat66 » Mon Feb 26, 2018 12:27 pm

Drucker wrote:Is this not available on Roku?
It is.

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