FilmStruck is my favorite streaming service and though there is always room for improvement, I'm very happy with it.371229 wrote:So far, I have not been very impressed with Filmstruck. I have been using it for about 2 weeks now through our Roku. The streaming quality is not very good (watching it on our 55" Plasma TV) most of the time, and it is difficult to find stuff. You can't do a search by director or year. You also can't search by Criterion release number in the Criterion Collection section. I'm not sure how good the app is on the AppleTV, but the app on the Roku just seems very buggy. I realize that Filmstruck is a new venture, and Netflix had it's issues when it first started too. But it seems like Filmstruck is starting from a vantage point where streaming is a new concept or technology or something. We are new to all this streaming stuff (we got our first Roku about 6 months ago), so maybe we have unrealistic expectations. However, both of our Netflix and HBOGO apps work great and we have never experienced problems navigating through their apps or with their picture quality. When we signed up for Filmstruck, I was under the impression that I may never have to buy another Criterion release on Bluray again... but it seems like this will not be the case. The picture quality of a Criterion Bluray disc looks better than any streaming Criterion movie we have seen so far. Oh well...
Just a few thoughts:
Actually, you can search by director, cast or year. I just typed in Mifune and then Chabrol - got all their films available on FilmStruck and/or Criterion Channel; searched for 1936 - got all films they have from this year.
I use Apple TV and it streams fine. Quality might depend on your internet speed. I also have Apple TV directly wired to my modem because using wi-fi can lower the quality if the signal is not strong enough.
Having said that, I noticed that when I use FilmStruck on my laptop in a place with weak wi-fi (hotels for example), the streaming can be choppy. Then I would watch a movie on Prime or Netflix which usually work better. Yes, please improve, FilmStruck.
Picture quality on my smaller 50" TV is pretty good when the film is in HD. Note that not all films are in HD and some are indeed in very bad shape. But this is due to the available copies I guess and not FilmStruck's fault.
FilmStruck has only a selection of Criterion films on streaming at any given time. If you want to see more CC titles you should extend the subscription to the Criterion Channel. Most film that were released on disc have also the extras available for streaming. But there are some CC disc releases that are not on the Criterion Channel. It is probably a licensing issue.
At the end of the day the satisfaction with such a service depends on what you are using it for. I'm watching German silent films and NY Independent Cinema as well as Japanese New Wave and Classic Hollywood. So, I'm not worried that I'll run out of films in the foreseeable future.