RedBox To Launch Streaming Video Service - Page 3

Redbox does not appeal to me either, it is several miles to the nearest kiosk. But they have a huge disc rental customer base (≈ 39 million). In addition to the SVOD they plan to have EST and PPV (like Amazon, VUDU, etc.) and offer Ultra Violet titles. If they pull all of this off it will make them a very formidable one stop shop competitor.

The only thing missing is disc by mail and they probably have no interest in that sector because of their kiosk but I sure would like them to procure the Blockbuster by mail business. I believe they would do better with it than Dish has.

I have two kiosks at the same shopping center just a couple blocks from me. And about 10 kiosks within 2 miles. What I do notice is that apparently all the kiosks don't get "all the movies". They'll get the blockbusters and major studio films but the indie and B-movies are often only at certain kiosks. I dropped Netflix discs because I was noticing it might be cheaper and easier to pick up the few films I could only watch on disc or wanted to at the kiosks.

I still haven't received the "code" yet but I must have signed up way after others here have.

Redbox sent me a code so I'll give it a whirl. It's interesting that they support Linux though trying to play the "How Does This Thing Work" video failed but if that was the path it was looking in the error message for it won't work. I'll also try it on Windoze and on my Android devices. But it needs to be on my BD player for the big screen. On Linux it sent me to install the Moonlight plugin since the service will use Silverlight. Netflix still won't play on Linux.

The credits will show up if you order online but only on the DVD in your cart.. if you add a BD it does not offer any option to pay the extra 30 cents. I think the only way to get BD was to choose the extra $1 when signing up for blurays.
Also pretty disappointed with their selection of streaming movies so far.. very less quantity and quality

Looks like for the moment the Moonlight plugin is not going to work on Linux because I got a message when trying to play a movie that it can't play DRM material. So unless there is another plugin in the works there claim you can play on Linux is not correct. Worked OK on Windows but started to see some rebuffering around the 7:15 PM PT period. Before that the film (in HD) played OK.

This is an AVS member trying to get his Red Box streaming apps working.







Ian
Edited by mailiang - 1/24/13 at 8:44pm

True.. i was going to change my subscription to Blurays but saw that they would cancel the 'free trial' period immediately and changed my mind. I do hope they can improve their streaming selection a bit, especially with tv shows.

I actually rent some of the DVD offerings at Redbox because they are often indies and z-movies which won't make it for a while to Netflix and RB only gets the DVD version. Some of these upscale quite nicely too. But again to keep me it there has to be an app on my BD player but given it is a Sony there may well be one once out of beta (or maybe before). Also played a little of a film on my Android phone with their Android app.

I've had the trial for a few days now. Watching on my 60" TV, streaming is acceptable. HD isn't as good as Netflix, but not bad. Looks a bit better than SD to me, with obvious interlacing on fast moving scenes. On the few occasions it's had to re-buffer, it stops, like youtube rather than temporarily reducing quality. I prefer the stream to keep going rather than stop. On titles which are SD or HD, there is no way to choose which version to play. It appears to default to something HD-ish.

Subscription streaming selection is quite limited and mostly crap. PPV streaming selection is a bit better but priced just as high as everyone else. The 4 disc credits certainly add a lot of value, but I don't think I could find more than 2 titles a month I'd want to watch, discs included. So I plan to drop it after the free trial and keep Netflix.

I watched "Zombies Undead" which is a British low budget movie not available on NF. Overall the production wasn't bad for a low budget film and acting okay but I tired of using the conceit of shooting mostly in some institution after hours for budget reasons but then doing more scenes exterior costs more. The big problem was the film was not authored right and it was scope and pillar boxed. It makes you think that some of these companies hire people cheap to do these things and they know nothing about film and just follow some list that the boss gives them. Or this was probably the version created for SD TV which gets pillar boxed on a 16:9 player.

However, Netflix does have Zombies vs. Strippers. Now that's what I call a fun Zombie movie!



Ian

I will confirm that I couldn't use the DVD credit for a Bluray as I reserved "7 Psychopaths" on BD but it wouldn't use the credit. I'm okay on that as I mentioned there are usually at least 4 indie movies a month only available on DVD I might rent and these are often ones that won't show up on NF WI for a while if ever. I also ran "Stormy Monday" and found it is also the same file that is on Netflix which was left squeezed (like an anamorphic DVD file) instead of unsqueezed for widescreen. Where do they get the dummies that do this? They obviously don't know film. Must be minimum wage workers.

I cancelled my Redbox Instant service a few weeks ago. I'll wait until they offer it on more devices and have better billing/customer service. I had to spend over 35 minutes in chat to get billing straightened out. So I canceled since they said they could not refund me. Then magically, after I canceled, they said they would be able to refund me. But I told them to keep the account canceled. since that statement really pissed me off.

I note they have changed the kiosk interface a little. When I rented a BD today it did have a button saying "Use Credits" so now those might work. Next time I'm at the kiosk and renting a BD I'll see if the DVD credits can be applied. Prior the way to use them was to make a reservation online and the option wouldn't show (nor still doesn't) to use credits towards a BD rental. Still not much on their streaming that is any different from what is available on NF. And the BD apps need to be available before I would keep the subscription.

Tried to rent a BD with the credits and it wouldn't work ... yet. I need to use of the ones I have on some of the DVD only selections they have before the freebie runs out. They need more compelling rentals just not the same stuff that NF has to encourage streaming and get their app on more streaming players. I do note that they now list some of the Samsung BD players that have the Redbox Instant app including BD D5500. Since I have the C5500 as an extra player I checked yesterday but no RBI app yet. If I recall the only real difference between the C5500 and D5500 is that the latter supports 3D. I did notice that Samsung had added a few more apps for video streaming than I saw a week ago when I checked.

Yeah, I'm doing the Beta and so far I have streamed ZERO movies and quit honestly have no plans to, the content sucks. I may or may not use the 4 rentals, it's rare for me to go to Redbox for a BD any more let alone a DVD. I MIGHT use the service if it was on my Roku or WD, or in Playon or Plex, something other than my computer.

It really isn't ready for prime time until the apps are on streaming players. I do have the app on my Acer tablet with HDMI out but my set is too old to use that. AND one would want a remote that would work with the tablet. Seems they are targeting the millennial generation that watches more by laptop, tablet or phone because they can't afford a home theater yet.

I did once rent a movie from Google Play just to see it work on the tablet. I also watched a NF movie once on my Android phone because it didn't have subtitles with the BD player but did on the phone and tablet app. I watched two films streaming with RBI and one was a horror film that NF didn't have. I might watch one or two more but will probably cancel and am down to one credit to use. Have they asked for any feedback yet?

I just cancelled. In the entire month I could only find one or two movies worth streaming and didn't even use all of my free disc rental credits. I was hoping their streaming would include what's in the box for a lower price than Vudu or cable/satellite PPV, but that was not to be. Oh well. I guess I'll keep visiting the box every few weeks. At least I have a several of them within a couple of miles of my house that are usually on my way.

Kind of strange that there was not a good feedback mechanism for the beta. When I cancelled, I did get an email with a link to a survey.

Don't care if it happens in my lifetime or not. I'm NOT going to pay $8 to stream a movie, there is nothing out there I want or need to see ASAP. I did use some credits on Vudu and "paid" $6 for a movie, but that was a one time thing.

I took your comment to read - one movie for $8- rereading it I see your point. But, I still think current release moves in an $8 plan will not happen too.

They have a section on the site where you get to select the devices you watch on or want to see the Instant app on. BUT, you don't get to tell them which model you have. So if you select Samsung it just pops up a silly dialog saying they already support Samsung. But I'm not buying yet another BD player for this. I have a C5500 I dusted off and updated but no app yet in spite of the fact they have one for the D5500. I did check Sony which is what I currently run as a BD player.

I don't think that will ever happen on a cheap streaming plan either. But the streaming plan has two components, the really crappy stuff included in the $8 and the good stuff which is PPV. I was hoping the PPV prices would undercut other services at least a little considering redbox has the cheapest disc rentals already, maybe something in the $3-$4 range. I'm willing to pay a premium to save the hassle of a car trip, but not the $6 or more they're asking. If the PPV prices were lower than everyone else, that would really be a game changer. But offering a subscription to mostly crap and reaming you on PPV is nothing special. I have a hard time seeing their offerings pulling anyone away from Netflix.

Well sure enough, their business model based upon getting people's credit card numbers for a "free " trial worked in exactly the underhanded way they intended. I forgot to cancel and they charged me a month's subscription. Not only that, but they had the audacity to send me an email that my card was already charged instead of a notice saying that it would be charged the next day. Not a single email notification that the "free" trial was ending and that they would start charging for a service I never indicated wanting. Meanwhile they have sent multiple spam emails.

I know this isn't an uncommon business tactic but it is still based on dishonesty. We as consumers should not let it go uncriticized.