criterionforum.org

Up now:

Interview with Salvador Allende: Power and Reason (1973) Greco
Assassin(s) (1973) Kassovitz
Come and See (1985) Klimov
Welcome, or No Trespassing (1964) Klimov

It looks like they're quickly adding films that weren't available on Hulu. I do miss Hulu's settings that let you know what picture quality you're getting. Can't find a way to establish that.

I was watching the print of Le Samourai they have up on Filmstruck. It looks HD to me. The picture quality looks pretty sharp, it looks like there's film grain. Can anyone else see this? This looks to me like a potentially decent HD print of Le Samourai to me, but I can't tell for sure.

Completely happy with the protocol Filmstruck is using, I've watched two films now with no problems to speak of. Considering chipping in for an Apple TV as I'm fed up hooking my computer to the TV via HDMI (which has its own problems). How is the quality over AirPlay?

As well, Welcome, No Trespassing had a resto in Cannes Classics this year. I wonder if Filmstruck has the new master; likely if it was only recently delivered by the rights holders.

jwd5275 wrote:Up now:

Interview with Salvador Allende: Power and Reason (1973) Greco
Assassin(s) (1973) Kassovitz
Come and See (1985) Klimov
Welcome, or No Trespassing (1964) Klimov

I hear Come and See has a Criterion and Janus logo. Is this news to anyone else?

For clarification sake, all those films (and any others I post to this thread in the past or future, unless noted) have Criterion and/or Janus logos.

Is anyone experiencing sound issues with the app on an iPad? Namely having no sound at all? I just updated my iOS thinking that might solve the problem, but no luck.

ranaing83 wrote:Is anyone experiencing sound issues with the app on an iPad? Namely having no sound at all? I just updated my iOS thinking that might solve the problem, but no luck.

I was having the same problem with the iOS app for my iPhone. I tweeted at FilmStruck - turns out my ringer was off! I had no clue it had to be on in order for the FilmStruck app to have working sound.

Give that a try; if that doesn't work, email them at [email protected] and they'll help you troubleshoot. They've been very responsive and proactive in replying to questions, concerns, and comments.

bradass wrote:As well, Welcome, No Trespassing had a resto in Cannes Classics this year. I wonder if Filmstruck has the new master; likely if it was only recently delivered by the rights holders.

It looks really good so I assume it is the restoration.

I've been popping into the audio options on different films to see how many feature commentaries (it's the only way to find out on the desktop site at least), it's hit and miss but the ones that I've found so far are,

Lord of the Flies
Kwaidan
Silence of the Lambs
Les enfants du paradis
Red beard
The Thief of Bagdad
Sanjuro
The man who knew too much
39 steps
Lady vanishes
City Lights
Testament of Dr. Mabuse
Stagecoach
Sanjuro
The Hidden Fortress
Mona Lisa
The Player
Shoot the Piano Player
Beauty and the Beast
The American Friend
Wrong Move
Black Narcissus
Chungking Express
Ikiru

While it's streaming via MGM, the recent phantom pages and the fact that it's up on filmstruck in a new transfer has me thinking that a bells and whistles release of Huston's Moulin Rouge is definitly coming sooner than later.

COME & SEE (CC/Janus logo) looks like an old SD master.

ANDREI RUBLEV (CC/Janus logo) is the 3hr shorter cut (in HD), a first for Criterion. Was hoping for a new HD scan of the longer 'Scorsese print' (3hr 25), which is hopefully coming on Blu alongside the shorter cut.

THE DEVIL'S EYE (Bergman, 1960) (CC/Janus logo) looks like a bad PAL > NTSC transfer with nasty aliasing and has horribly blocky SD subs.

A man stayed-put wrote: I've been popping into the audio options on different films to see how many feature commentaries (it's the only way to find out on the desktop site at least), it's hit and miss but the ones that I've found so far are,

Also, when looking at themes (pic is of Filmstruck themes), it lists how many supplements are in the group - so you still have to figure out (or know) which one(s) do.

I've noticed occasional frame-skipping during streaming on FilmStruck, which can be distracting. This was a common issue on Hulu as well. I never experience this with Netflix though. I'm going to assume it's a buffering issue of some sort.

rrenault wrote:I've noticed occasional frame-skipping during streaming on FilmStruck, which can be distracting. This was a common issue on Hulu as well. I never experience this with Netflix though. I'm going to assume it's a buffering issue of some sort.

I've noticed it too. Can't imagine it's anything other than an encoding issue?

ranaing83 wrote:Is anyone experiencing sound issues with the app on an iPad? Namely having no sound at all? I just updated my iOS thinking that might solve the problem, but no luck.

I am also struggling to figure out how to hear my iPad. AirPlay to Apple TV seems to work but unsure how well toggling between audio tracks works. My struggles to hear audio commentary led me to try to play the app directly on the iPad -- and hear no sound at all.

And there's no ringer on the iPad(?)

'Jimi Plays Monterey,' 'Marriage of Maria Braun,' and 'Silence of the Lambs' indicate they include audio commentary. Is there a way to identify other titles rather than clicking into each one?

(Speaking of "clicking into", one of the most irritating things about the beta tvOS -- and I think also iOS -- app was each time you selected a title and then clicked out of it you were placed at the top of the page. So, for example, if you were on the Browse menu and wanted to read the synopsis of a title in the Thriller section after arrow-ing out of that selection you were placed at the top of the section -- the leftmost title in the Adventure section. This is not the case for iOS version and hopefully has been addressed on tvOS.)

EDIT: Nevermind -- there is a mute button for notifications, etc. on the bottom "thumb up" menu. That has to be turned off to hear FilmStruck on iPad.

peerpee wrote:

rrenault wrote:I've noticed occasional frame-skipping during streaming on FilmStruck, which can be distracting. This was a common issue on Hulu as well. I never experience this with Netflix though. I'm going to assume it's a buffering issue of some sort.

I've noticed it too. Can't imagine it's anything other than an encoding issue?

Do you access Filmstruck through a VPN or proxy? Everything OK speed-wise?

perkizitore wrote:Do you access Filmstruck through a VPN or proxy? Everything OK speed-wise?

UltraSurf (free Chrome extension), paid via Paypal. Everything plays okay, but isn't too speedy scrubbing through to different parts of a film – I presume that's the same for everyone?

I'm using ExpressVPN, and it works fine for accessing FilmStruck from outside the US, although it's a bit spotty with Netflix of course. Then again, maybe we shouldn't discuss this publicly, since the licensers may start forcing TCM/CC to start cracking down on proxy users like they did with Netflix earlier this year.

Personally, I'm sick of licensees moaning – they should be building something as good as Filmstruck, instead of whinging. Down with regions and restrictions, and up with choice.

peerpee wrote:Personally, I'm sick of licensees moaning – they should be building something as good as Filmstruck, instead of whinging. Down with regions and restrictions, and up with choice.

God forbid anyone starts building something on the quality level of what we've seen from Filmstruck so far.

mfunk9786 wrote:

peerpee wrote:Personally, I'm sick of licensees moaning – they should be building something as good as Filmstruck, instead of whinging. Down with regions and restrictions, and up with choice.

God forbid anyone starts building something on the quality level of what we've seen from Filmstruck so far.

I was referring to its potential and promise. It definitely could have done with another 6 months baking in the oven!

Hard Eight certainly looks like it has a fresh new HD transfer. Despite the lack of CC banner, must be only a matter of time.

There's quite a bit of Mirimax films on Filmstruck. I saw Sonatine up there, and the print looked hi-def to me. The Nasty Girl was there, clearly standard-def. Smoke Signals looked Hi-def, but I couldn't tell on Holy Smoke.

Cure appears with the Criterion logo. It's standard-def, though. I have the spanish blu ray, which is hi-def, but badly interlaced. I wonder if this one is a possibility for Criterion to release on blu ray?

Crazed Fruit looks a bit higher-than-standard-def. It also features the excellent Donald Ritchie commentary track as a supplement.

I saw two versions of Jeanne Dielman posted, one with the Criterion logo and one without. The one with the logo must be a correction, I'm thinking. The transfer is the same, disappointingly standard-def.

Gonza the Spearman appears with a Criterion logo, in high definition, from the look of it. So do Deprisa, Deprisa and Mon Oncle D'Amerique. I wonder if these are possible future blu rays?

THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC is a new, previously unseen Gaumont HD transfer. No music tracks though.

Bresson's L'ARGENT is an average looking SD transfer.

peerpee wrote:THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC is a new, previously unseen Gaumont HD transfer. No music tracks though.

Bresson's L'ARGENT is an average looking SD transfer.

I saw The Passion of Joan of Arc at the Cinematheque in Paris a few days ago, and it had no music there either.

rrenault wrote:I saw The Passion of Joan of Arc at the Cinematheque in Paris a few days ago, and it had no music there either.

Yes, it's a silent film and Dreyer preferred no music on it – but the appearance of a new HD transfer here might also coincide with new music tracks being prepared for CC's long-awaited Blu-ray release.