Disney+, long-rumored Disney streaming service, launching in late 2019

Watched The Mandalorian.

Not being a big Star Wars geek, the ep1 ending was interesting!

 

I haven’t seen it in 30 years, when we got to watch it in our third-grade class, so I barely remember it. Maybe I’ll give it a watch this holiday season.

 

Is there a Disney+ app on Firestick?

 

Yes

 

If you enjoy the classic era of The Simpsons, DisneyPlus ain't for you.

 

Well, I don't like the cropping. But I want to watch the Simpsons from the beginning and I'm not going to buy the dvds, so the chopped version it is.
Thankfully, I don't really care how the Simpsons look. I always seen it on a lousy SDTV channel and it has never looked good

 

Got the 7 day free trial just to see the Mandalorian and I gotta say...I dig it. New 4k scans of the Star Wars films and the entire classic run of the Simpsons? Yes....yes I think I'll like it here....

 

I've been very much looking forward to Disney+. Before work I checked and it wasn't on my Sony Smart TV and no app to download was found on my Sony blu-ray player. All day long at work I was reading angry FB posts from people who couldn't get it to work, were on hold with support for hours, etc.. Just chaos all around. I feared the worst.

On the way home I picked up a Roku Express for $25 and about 10 min after setting that up, I was in and watching "Steamboat Willie." I am VERY impressed by the layout and the insane amount of content. No glitches at all (knock on wood) and super easy. Maybe I'm lucky. Maybe all the problems have been worked out? And the Roku offerings are also impressive. Boomerang? Hell yeah.

It's much faster than Netflix and Prime to me and the more things I see offered, the more impressed I am. Very happy I had a good first day unlike so many who pre-ordered and built their entire day around this just to be disappointed.

Of course, once the kids go to bed and I go for the Mandelorian, all hell could break loose.

 

sadly the 4:3 episodes are cropped. Personally that would be a deal breaker for me

 

Is there a way to change the aspect ratio or other settings to get more information ? I wonder if this is being done with other shows on other services too. Missing screen information has been an issue with some other releases on disc. Always maddening when they can’t be bothered to get it right - lack of care or whatever - same with music. I’ll prob give the service a chance in the new year when I have more time.

 

No, those are the only copies on there. Who knows why they pulled those masters when plenty of content on the platform is 4:3. Like a screw up on Fox’s side.

This has happened quite frequently but usually with open-matte framing, IE the show was shot widescreen (16:9) and cropped down to 4:3 for TV. This can work well with some clean up if the filmmakers intended to protect the area outside the frame, and horribly if they didn’t. The X-Files looks quite good reframed to 16:9, if a bit airy, but Buffy the Vampire Slayer is horribly comprised with crew frequently in view. IMO the only time cropping is acceptable is when meticulous detail is paid with the original creative team weighing in, like HBOs reframing of The Wire. Still I’d rather have the whole image for artistic reasons and for the added clarity and detail.

 

Pretty good movie so far, @malcolm reynolds, but I’m kind of surprised my teacher showed it to a bunch of seven-, eight-, and nine-year-olds (it was a second and third grade combination class). I just got past the bank scene.

 

Well, I've watched a few things on Disney+ and it's still a little glitchy searching for and loading things, but once it's playing it looks great. Sorry to hear that they've cropped older shows like the Simpsons - I say let 4:3 be 4:3 - but so far this is far superior to the DisneyNOW app which required a cable subscription.

 

I saw somewhere that the cropped Simpsons versions were done by FOX prior to the Disney purchase. Did anyone subscribe to Simpsons World when that was a thing? Did they use the proper 4:3 versions on that or did they use 16:9 as well?

 

I agree with this. In 2007 there was a huge uproar when Dragon Ball Z got a remastered re-release and the footage was cropped (rather poorly) among other issues with the restoration they used for the sets. Its a shame execs at these services feel the need to have everything in 16:9 or whatever even if it causes footage to be cropped out.

 

Apparently you could choose the original 4:3 or 16:9 on the old Simpsons World service.

 

Okay, So why couldn't Disney offer a similar option not just for The Simpsons but other content that was originally 4:3 but is now 16:9.

 

How about a talking moose?

NSFW

 

Hulu does this to their pre-HD content as well. Old SNL is absolutely unwatchable not only from a resolution standpoint, but the inept cropping of top and bottom content. Gags, props and titles are gone or partially obstructed.

Maybe Disney "remastered" The Simpsons from film elements instead of simply zooming in? This has worked well with shot-on-film sitcoms like "Friends" and "Seinfeld" when it's done correctly, but Hulu's practice of simply zooming into 4:3 content is infuriating.

dan c

 

So I'm guessing the Zorro series and the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh will now be easily available?

 

So far watched:

The Mandalorian (aka "IG-88: Intergalactic Droid of Mystery")
Spider-man and His Amazing Friends
Born in China (awww, look at the cute pandas!)
That's So Raven
High School Musical: The Series

Well, okay, I watched two of these programs and my daughter watched the rest while I read a book, but I'm quite pleased with the steaming quality and the amount of programming we have at our disposal. Can't wait to start showing my daughter some of the films I remember from my youth like "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" and "Pete's Dragon". Looking forward to the Marvel series', but its going to be a long wait. This should keep us busy for a long while.

 

Watched "The Love Bug" , "Fantasia", and a few National Geographic documentaries.
As per some AV forums my oled b8 lg had some wonky remote control problem that will get sorted out.
Picture quality seemed the same as Netflix with lower bitrate compression quirks.
Waiting for a major 20th Fox load in the future especially the original "Planet of the Apes" films and an eventual 4 k bluray disc release. John M.

 

Looks like I'll have to go the Roku route for 4K content; no app for my Samsung TV and I only have a 3rd gen Apple TV.