TCM and Criterion to Offer Streaming Service, FilmStruck

All of the films joining FilmStruck's Criterion channel this April

 

I see that they have added a Roku app, so I've taken the plunge for the free 2 weeks.

 

Thanks for posting. I will take the plunge as well.

 

And still no TCM app for streaming devices like the Roku. When is TCM going to get with the program and allow on-demand streaming for other platforms besides iOS/Android mobile devices and laptop/desktop computers?

 

I'm about 6 weeks in as a subscriber, and so far I am loving FilmStruck. I've gone from endlessly scrounging through the titles on Netflix and Amazon Prime to find something, to having a FilmStruck watchlist that I'm not likely to finish in a year. Works without issue on my computer, Roku, and Kindle Fire.

 

I just cancelled/put my acct on hold. I was watching 1-2 a month, sending it from my phone to the apple tv, and I'm hoping in a few months they'll have different noir titles.

 

Sad to report that the endless app crashes finally made me cancel my subscription. I don't understand how a large company in the business of providing streaming content can't write an app that works with consistency. My "favorite" defect is when none of the images load, and you get to blindly chose a movie from empty boxes. Maybe they'll get this all worked out some day.

 

How are you using it?

I use it via Apple TV, which is connected to my router with Ethernet cable so no wifi streaming involved. Control with Apple remote. It has never crashed and always loads. Films I have stopped watching show up on the home screen for Apple TV, which is cool.

I also use Sling tv this way and have to restart Apple TV occasionally when Sling freezes.

 

I used it through 4 different platforms - PC, Roku, Roku TV, and Amazon Fire TV. From my experience, the PC platform is by far the most reliable, although having the film resume in the spot I left off was a 50-50 proposition at best. A number of the ancillary materials in the Criterion Collection wouldn't load at all - they just produced error messages. Generally the Roku TV is more stable than the Roku 3 for most apps (to my surprise, the apps are not identical), but FilmStruck hardly worked at all on the Roku TV, to the point where I gave up even trying. I often (but not always) would have no images load on the Roku TV version of the app - just blank boxes. When the app would crash (most every time I used it), I would have to restart the TV. It's the only app, in fact, that has crashed the TV since I've owned it. Last night the app on the Roku 3 crashed repeatedly, even after a reboot, and then started leaving the ancillary materials in the middle and returning to the main menu (I apparently will never know the secrets behind the making of "8 & 1/2" - perhaps they've recently been classified?) I don't believe any of it has to do with my wireless network, which has no issues with a number of other streaming services.

Perhaps the Apple TV app is the one good one they have??? I really like the content (if not the way it is organized and accessed), and if the darned app didn't frustrate me so much I'd happily give them their 10 bucks a month.

 

I can see why you gave up after experiences like this.

At my home, we were always steaming things over wifi via Apple TV. And it was problematic. Maybe I could have addressed it by addressing the router but I am lazy.

Being home after surgery earlier this year and a lot of time on my hands, I realized that Filmstruck, Youtube, and Sling are built in as apps to Apple TV, which connects via Ethernet cable to our router, which obviously connects to Verizon via Ethernet cable. So, none of the content is over wifi. When I finally realized that I should use Apple remote to control these built in apps rather than streaming content wirelessly from iPad, the problems I had with Filmstruck and Sling were eliminated. However, we had to buy a newer version of Apple TV as I read Filmstruck didn't work well on the older version we had.

I still have some problems with Sling on occasion but I think this is a Sling issue and not my wifi network. Most of the time, this is resolved by restarting Apple TV. I would say that Filmstruck works the best out of all the streaming services in our home as we haven't had a problem since.

I don't know if this helps but if you liked the content in Filmstruck, might be worth one last shot. Disclaimer...I don't work for Filmstruck...just love the content. Wish they had all Criterion content all of the time but regardless, more than enough for us to watch.

 

I haven't watched much FilmStruck on the Amazon Fire TV, that might be worth a dedicated attempt. For my movie tastes, there is a bottomless amount of content I want to see on FilmStruck - I really "want" to be a subscriber.

 

I wonder if Hulu and Criterion can get back together? Probably not, but I guess I can hope.

 

WarnerMedia’s FilmStruck Subscription-Streaming Service to Shut Down

Filmstruck was one of the only things left in this world that I loved.

Every time I feel stupid for continuing to buy physical media, something like this comes along to remind me of why I'm not so dumb after all. Still, because of Filmstruck I saw so many movies I'd wanted to see since I was a teenager. Hopefully this frees up Criterion to just do their own channel apart from these penny pinching greedbag conglomerates.

 

This was never available up here in Canada (though they often promised it would be eventually.) If we wanted to watch a Criterion film, we had to BUY the darn discs, dagnabbit!

My best is that they move the catalog to Hulu, if only to guarantee that Canadians will NEVER have access.

 

BACK to Hulu. That was my sole reason for having Hulu in the past -- the Criterion Collection.

 

And don't forget, the $1,000 penalty for going beyond your data cap to stream all these channels!

 

I had paused my membership as life’s gotten crazy. But really sad it didn’t last. It was a great way to cure ‘blind buys’ of criterion and also see stuff I wouldn’t have tried otherwise.

 

This is a shame. I couldn't bear the endless technical problems, but there really should be a service for this niche audience (of which I am definitely a part).

 

When this thread was bumped my hope was it was news that the service was expanding overseas

 

Looks like the app got removed from the App Store already, but it's still on Google Play.

 

Ah, I even remember when Hulu promised to come to Canada eventually. Lying pieces of #&*%^&$^%#%$##!