Tag: streaming
0 Redbox Instant: All the hype with none of the calories … I mean, content
Through multiple press releases and interviews in 2012’s third and fourth quarters (July-December for you non-business folks), a number of high-ranking executives for Verizon and Coinstar (owner of Redbox) state that the Redbox Instant service, currently in customer BETA testing, would focus on quality over quantity.
“Do you really need 100,000 titles? I mean, really,” said Paul Davis, CEO of Coinstar.
As I wade through the RB Instant library, I’m glad Davis stuck to his word, offering such featured titles as “Soccer Nanny (unrated)”, “Demonic Toys 2”, and “Biebermania”. Upon further investigation into the library, which will be available to subscribers for $8 per month, I discovered the well-honed tastes of Davis and others comes out in spades with a plethora of B-, C-, and even D-list thriller and horror titles, with little else to distract viewers.
Alright. I jest. I have no idea of that which Davis calls quality entertainment. However, based on that which has been made readily available during this BETA test, it’s hard to imagine that RB Instant will pose any sort of threat to Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu (especially since Redbox currently has no plans to add TV shows to its concoction).
The service does offer a few recognizable titles (using “few” in its strictest definition), including “Thor”, “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”, “Rango”, and the recent remake of “True Grit”. Sadly, (and I’m being 100 percent sincere about this) beyond those four films, there are only a handful of additional movies that I recognize. Plus, all four listed above are already available on Netflix AND Amazon Prime.
Before I rag on this service TOO much, there are two additional tiers to the RB Instant account: monthly Redbox kiosk credits, and the ability to pay-to-rent and/or purchase videos electronically.
First, the RB Instant subscription, as I’ve stated before, runs you $8 per month and includes four DVD rental credits to be used at any Redbox kiosk. At roughly $1.20 per DVD (plus tax), you’re technically investing more than half of that $8 on DVD rentals, while throwing $3.20 at the subscription service, which actually starts to explain the quality of films available for streaming. The RB Instant site really hammers it home that you will receive four free DVD rentals, which means you will most likely experience an additional charge if you opt for Blu-rays (usually about $1.50 at the kiosk).
From afar, this piece of the puzzle seems appealing, as everyone likes getting something for nothing. However, at its core, it is a contradiction to the service’s name: Redbox INSTANT. Through most of my Redbox kiosk experiences, very little has ever been instant. Limited and/or poor selections at my nearby locations, not to mention long lines, have deterred me multiple times from using the service spontaneously; in my world of movie consumption, pre-selecting and reserving a movie is like picking a restaurant for dinner at 12:30 PM. I really don’t know what I want until I’m hungry. That’s why I already ditched the Netflix DVD delivery service. I have yet to utilize the four credits bestowed upon me, but as you can probably understand, I’m hesitant. I’ll give it the ol’ college try this week and will give an update IF my experience differs from the norm.
The remaining feature is the ability to purchase or pay-to-rent films electronically. This service is not available on Netflix, but has been a part of Amazon Prime since its release and is also a large part of the Apple iTunes store experience.
The renting aspect is fairly straightforward: I would pay $X amount for a film, either in standard- or high-definition, and then I can watch it when I want within a 30-day window. As soon as I start to watch it, I have 48 hours to complete it as many times as I want. Standard stuff. However, there is little to no documentation as to the purchase process. From the looks of it, I’m not even sure the movie is technically downloaded. I believe, if I’m reading the site correctly, that it just goes into my RB Instant library, and can only be viewed with an Internet connection. Not much of a selling point there.
I also reviewed pricing, and found RB Instant tends to charge MORE for both rentals and purchases. I picked a few titles at random (“Ted”, “The Amazing Spider-Man”, and “Juan of the Dead” [yes, it’s a real movie]), and here’s what I found:
Across the board, RB Instant is more expensive than Amazon Prime and iTunes. In some cases, it is cheaper to rent or purchase the HD version from either Amazon Prime or iTunes versus the SD version via RB Instant. No points awarded there.
Before I wrap things up, I know some folks out there will want to know about the user interface, as the ease of use is a big part of the streaming game. Here’s my take: it isn’t bad, but there’s nothing new there. I tested the web site, as well as the iOS app, and I found nothing special about it. It comes across as cluttered, like most streaming sites, and includes the hover-over for cryptic descriptions.
I did find one major fault to the site that rubbed me the wrong way. Every time I performed a search query for a new movie, multiple entries for said movie would pop up, forcing me to sift between the physical, Redbox kiosk copy, and the digital copy, which was usually buried beneath the former. On some occasions, I had to run multiple attempts to locate that which I sought. As the search occurred on the Instant site, I had hoped (and assumed) that the digital copy would trump the physical.
Also, you cannot purchase or pay-to-rent movies on the iOS app. A lot of people will see value in that, so to prevent unintentional pocket purchases, but it stinks if you’re on the road, or out and about and want to watch something new. It’s a nit-picky issue, but it’s something that can be completed elsewhere through alternate services.
Based on the hype surrounding the service, as well as statements provided by leadership leading up to the release, I had high expectations for this service, and RB Instant has fallen short. Buffering does not yet have an in-house rating system, but RB Instant has set the bar for how low it can go. The most positive thing I can say about RB Instant right now is that the first month is free, and it includes the four DVD credits. However, I am setting a reminder on my calendar to cancel my subscription the day before my month is up, because I have no want or need to keep it.
My recommendation to you is to exploit the loophole, get four free rentals, and cancel it too. Otherwise, it is not worth your time. Most, if not all, of its library and features are available elsewhere.
0 Episode 66 – 1/1/13 feat. Kia Hammill & Zach Hammill
Kia & Zach join Dan and Adam in the studio on New Year’s Day to kick off 2013 with an episode of the Buffering Podcast! Kia & Zach talk a bit about their journey from California to Minnesota for the holidays, as well as what they are watching online. Zach also gives us the inside scoop on A&E’s upcoming show, “Bates Motel”, starring Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga. From there, the quartet plays an excellent round of “Movie Bluff”.
Taped at The Wheels Brewing Co Studio, Minneapolis, MN on January 1, 2013.
Check out photos and this week’s bonus tracks by clicking here.
Click here to listen: Episode 66
0 Episode 66 – A recollection of Narnia and Easter Spiders
Good morning, listeners!
We’re glad that everyone survived everyone survived that whole Mayan end ‘o the world bit, and have transgressed into 2013 with us!
We’ve been pretty busy in the new year, having already taped TWO EPISODES in the first week, PLUS, we’ve released the tracks to the Buffering Christmas Party Karaoke Caroling! Make sure to follow us on Facebook or Twitter to get updates as to when new and bonus content is released!
Also, we’re looking to start a contest on our Facebook page, but we need to hammer out the details (and rules) before we can get rolling there. Stay tuned!
On to Episode 66! Adam and I had a great time on New Year’s Day with Kia & Zach Hammill (Adam’s sister & brother-in-law) in studio as we worked to recover from the previous night. Having survived the holiday season as a whole, we opted to take the Mic Check to remissness over holidays past, and some of our favorite memories. It’s a quick, but straight from the heart, Mic Check that you should check out.
(As an added bonus, we will be posting episodes on our site EARLY for you to check out before they head to iTunes, Stitcher, etc., so make sure to jump over to the Episode 66 page to take an early listen!)
Enjoy! And Happy New Year!
0 Episode 65 – 12/19/12 A Commemorative Clip Show!
To celebrate the fact that “Buffering …” is now an AWARD WINNING PODCAST (check out category #14), we decided to look back at the past 64 episodes to some of our favorite conversations and games. Here’s a quick overview of all of the episodes we used in this clip show (not the order in which these tracks appear): Episode 2, Episode 13, Episode 16, Episode 22, Episode 39, Episode 41, Episode 43, Episode 46, Episode 49, Episode 52, Episode 54, Episode 61, and Episode 62.
Taped (& compiled) at The Wheels Brewing Co Studio, Minneapolis, MN on December 19, 2012.
As this week’s episode is a compilation of previous episodes, there were no bonus tracks this week.
Click here to listen: Episode 65 – 122012
0 Episode 64 – 12/11/12 feat. Steve “Frank” Frankenfield & Bennett Wadekamper
Bennett and Frank join Dan and Adam in the studio, where Frank and Bennett bond immediately over their common passion for “League of Legends”, and Adam and Dan learn a thing or two about League of Legends. We test out a new format with a commercial break in the middle, and then jump in to a round of Movie Bluff.
Taped at The Wheels Brewing Co Studio, Minneapolis, MN on December 11, 2012.
Check out photos and this week’s bonus tracks by clicking here.
Click here to listen: Episode 64
0 Episode 64 – Happy “Ocarina of Time” Episode!
(Get it?)
So Adam, Bennett, Frank and I had a great time this week in the Wheels Brewing Co Studio, where Bennett and Frank turned out to be a great pairing, due to their common bond over “League of Legends”. With Bennett joining for the first time, and Frank having not been on in ages, it was great to get a fresh perspective on how other people devour streaming media compared to the diet Adam and I follow consisting primarily of Netflix.
Since this is a late posting, you get a BONUS Bonus Track right now! We had a fantastic riff after riff Mic Check this week, roaming from 90’s TV on Nickelodeon to “Machete” to Christmas trees, and on, and on, and on. Lots of great laughs in that Mic Check.
We also taped an instructional audio clip tied to “Movie Bluff” so we no longer need to explain it in EVERY episode (this means more time for GAMES!). We’ll make a lot of noise (a la postings) when it is available.
Until then, enjoy the Mic Checks for Episode 64.
0 Episode 63 – The gang’s all here!
First, sorry for the delay. With today’s weather-related traffic, and technical issues plaguing the studio this week, it took a few extra minutes to get everything up and running.
The good news? Now you get EVERYTHING from this week AT ONCE! All bonus tracks, and the episode have been posted simultaneously to give you hours of entertainment while you avoid the Minneapolis roads during the first legitimate snow of the year. (To all those in not-so-snowy areas, I wish I was there)
As I mentioned above, we had a few tech issues this week with John Egan joining via Skype. It was the run-of-the-mill “signal cut out a lot” stuff, so we’ve learned our lesson for the second time, and will put all of our energy toward FaceTime in the future, if we opt to phone guests in.
But that technical issue gave way to an additional bonus track this week, so go listen to that. And, of course, we have our Mic Check available on our site. We talk about beer. Preferred beers, to be specific.
AND, if you enjoy the “Buffering …” Podcast, go vote for us on Vita.MN’s “Best of 2012” list for Podcasts. You can check out the list, and vote, here. Vote! Vote! Vote! We don’t need first, but we’d love to hit top 10 in our second year! Voting ends on 12/9.
0 Episode 63 – 12/05/12 feat. John Egan & James Wheeler
James joins Dan and Adam in the studio, while John joins via Skype from Green Bay, WI. Unfortunately, there were a few tech issues regarding the connection, but we still had a solid episode overall. John and James mention what they’ve been streaming lately, and everyone discusses Disney’s partnership with Netflix. After a break, we jump right in to Movie Bluff.
Taped at The Wheels Brewing Co Studio, Minneapolis, MN on December 5, 2012.
Check out photos and this week’s bonus tracks by clicking here.
Click here to listen: Episode 63
0 Disney’s exclusive deal with Netflix
Netflix has returned from another content hunt with massive bounty as the result of a huge bidding war. They have locked in an exclusive streaming contract with Disney for a large catalog of content, including movies from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, and Disneynature, according to CNN Money.
The catch? Netflix users won’t see a lot of this content until 2016, when Disney’s current agreement with Starz (a la Sony) expires.
This reads a lot like the deal between Netflix and Dreamworks to post their computer animated library by 2013. It’s also mirroring that deal, as Disney has already provided Netflix with some recognizable and notable content, including “Alice in Wonderland”, “Pocahontas” and “Dumbo”, to name a few.
The deal also includes many sequel-heavy series, like the “Air Bud” sequels, and the “Brave Little Toaster” sequels, but not their originals.
A big piece of this agreement is that it yanks a lot of future content out of the hands of premium cable TV channels like HBO, Showtime and Starz, as they lose access to new Disney/Marvel/Pixar content released after 2016 that would usually linger on their channels between each film’s exit from the theater, but before they hit DVD/Blu-ray. It also blocks streaming sites like Amazon Prime and Crackle from access to the content as well.
It’s nice to see Netflix experiencing success through this agreement (including a recent rise in the company’s stock), but there will still be the gaggles of nay-sayers uninterested in waiting four years for the overall payoff.
At the same time, there are speculators wondering how this will affect Disney’s recently acquired gold-mine of the Star Wars universe. Although LucasFilm was not listed among the content providers (as far as I have seen), the release of Episode 7 in 2015 may lay the groundwork for future negotiations and deals to continue to feed us desired content.
I am, personally, among those excited now, as two of my childhood Disney favorites, “The Great Mouse Detective” and “The Rescuers Down Under” are among the titles already available on Netflix. The fact that the voice talents of Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor, John Candy, and Vincent Price are just a click away makes me wish I wasn’t at work so I could start a Disney binge right now.
Still, there are a number of additional Netflix releases to look forward to this month, as we’ve discussed on the show before, including “ParaNorman”, “Looper” and “The Campaign”. All three of these will be on Netflix around Christmas or New Years, according to movieinsider.com.
Looks like we have at least 1,121 days until we will reap the benefits of this deal, but we’ll keep an eye on things here in the Wheels Brewing Co Studio.
0 Soundtrack your life with Songza
Originally, the article was going to include a sub-title: “Why don’t you have Songza yet?”, because, really, why don’t you have Songza yet?
During a conversation in Episode 62, Matt Walstead mentioned that he was using Songza (www.songza.com) as one of his recent primary streaming services, and based on his description, I decided to investigate.
I had mentioned Songza on the show before, from a news story long past (most likely a launch story, or something of the like), but I had never played around with the iPhone app or the web site.
It’s AMAZING. It’s what a song discovery service SHOULD be. It’s the contextualizing of music into the rest of your life, based on “Playlists by Music Experts”, as the site claims, and, honestly, they are not giving the playlist generators enough credit.
For example, there are SEVEN different ways you access these playlists, including lists based on Genre, Activities, Moods, Decades, and Culture. After messing around with this app, I’ve determined my favorite playlist group is aptly named Record-Store Clerk, as its suggestions of playlist sub-groups include “Dance Music That’s Not Assaultive”, “Indie Music That’s Not Too Weird”, “Mustache Music (Or: Cool In The ’70s)”, and “This Will Piss Your Parents Off”. It really is that organization of music that you expect to find in the hipper realms of metropolitan areas, in the mostly deserted record shop where the staff knows exactly what you’re looking for, based on the two notes stuck in your head.
ON TOP OF THAT, there’s MORE. I know what you’re thinking: “But Dan, there are TOO many features already. This is too good to be true.” And you would be wrong, generic infomercial seeded audience member. For there’s the Concierge service. Based on time of day, with a dash of societal paradigms, the Concierge service will suggest genres FOR you. For example, I am writing this on a Friday night, and the Concierge is offering me the following options: “Bedtime”, “A Sweaty Dance Party”, “Pre-Gaming with Friends”, “Putting on Your Party Dress”, “Creating a Cool Atmosphere”, and “Unwinding”. Seeing as I already have my Party Dress on, in a manner of speaking, I went with the Cool Atmosphere one, and, as a result, it is narrowing down the tunes I should listen to into ANOTHER six categories, this time based on genre.
I spent the work day today bombing through the multitudes of dubstep available, to give it an honest chance, and I was really impressed by the volumes of music available in these playlists. But that’s the catch that I’ve mentioned a number of times: it’s a pre-set collection of playlists. You don’t experience the flexibility of Pandora’s lists, or the “control EXACTLY what you want to hear” of Spotify, but when used properly, it fits comfortably into most situations.
Like most streaming music sites these days, there is a social media aspect included, where everyone on Facebook knows you’re listening to the “Cry Yourself to Sleep” playlist, unless you disable the feature. It isn’t as invasive as Spotify’s “POST EVERY TRACK” setting, but it’s also not a feature I’d actively seek out.
There are also a few extra clock-related features, where you can set a specific playlist to start playing as an alarm at a certain time, and the ability to play music while displaying the app’s built in clock, but they aren’t anything to write home about. I imagine you could go through the Concierge service (which you can also set different days of the weeks, and times of day, kind of like looking at future traffic on Google Maps) and set certain appropriate playlists to pop up when you expect to be commuting to work, or doing housework, or what have you.
Right. So it’s great, right? Now let’s get down to brass tack. It’s available for iPhone, Android, Kindle, and computers for free (with clickable, but not audible, ads). So far, I’ve played with the iPhone app and the web site, and the user interface is nice. Not too complicated to navigate; not to noisy to sift through. “Nice” is really the most appropriate word for it. It also has the Pandora “You’ve Skipped Too Many Tracks For Now, But If You Switch Over To Another Playlist, You Can Keep Skipping” license restrictions, but with the number of playlists available, this shouldn’t hold you back.
I don’t think it’ll replace my iCloud use, or the occasional Spotify use, but I do think this may replace Pandora in my eyes, at least until I exhaust the playlists I am actually interested in hearing. I say it’s worth checking out to see how well the Concierge matches your moods, and to laugh at some of the playlists and categories. It’s not like it’ll cost you anything. I’m with the folks on the Apple App Store: 5 Stars for this one.
The Buffering Podcast 