TheBigDave

Target is testing a new video streaming service. They just opened the beta to their employees.

This is the first I've heard of it. Since they're offering New Releases and Next Day TV, it's probably not a subscription service like Netflix. I'm guessing it's a rent/own service like Vudu.

PhantomStranger

Yep, it sounds like something comparable to VUDU.

Eddie W

Yeah, new releases & next day TV is not "Neflix-like", except that it streams video from the internet. And we already have VUDU, Amazon on demand, and a plethora of PPV options. So who really needs this?

PhantomStranger

I presume Target is creating it solely so they can slap digital copies on the DVDs and Blu-rays they sell in stores. Anything Walmart does that is successful will eventually be duplicated by Target.

Alan Smithee

Too bad Target couldn't buy a streaming service that carried porn, and then drop the porn afterwards like Wal-Mart did.

Tarantino

Sounds like a fail.

Alan Smithee

I want a streaming service that can play Target's in-store video feed in my house, so I can hear that annoying music at home. I'd go postal if I worked there and have to hear it every day.

TheBigDave

Target Ticket has gone live. The service is Ultraviolet compatible. Connect your UV account and all your movies will import into the My Library section.

They're currently offering 10 Free Movies when you create an account. You'll need to sign-up with a credit card. The movies are UV compatible. You can choose from about 30 movies and there's a couple great titles. Unfortunately they're SD format.

Here's a partial list:

21 Grams
Alien
The Arrival
Blow
Cold Light of Day
Conspiracy Theory
Crocodile Dundee
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Ferngully: The Last Rainforest
Ghost
Hall Pass
Independence Day
Italian Job (2003)
Johnny English
Legend of the Fall
LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers
Man on a Ledge
Mars Attacks
Master and Commander
Mona Lisa Smile
Never Been Kissed
Office Space
Paranormal Activity
The Producers
Radio
Rango
Rudy
Soul Survivors
Space Jam
Stir of Echoes
The Tale of Despereaux

RichC2

Stir of Echoes, ID4, 21 Grams? At least the selection is decent this time, *glares at Vudu and Flixster*.

chuckd21

So Xbox 360 is the only way to get this to your TV, and that's not live yet?

TheBigDave

All the news articles mention a Roku channel. So I'm guessing that'll probably pop up in the next couple days.

kenbuzz

Yeah, even if it's only SD I could see myself picking up ten freebies.... they'd look just fine playing on my tiny iPod touch screen next time I'm stuck on an airplane.

Probably: Alien, Arrival, CTHD, ID4, Italian Job, Johnny English, M&C, Office Space
Maybe: Crocodile Dundee, Mars Attacks, Producers, Rudy, Space Jam
Meh: 21g, Blow, Cold Light, Conspiracy, Hall Pass, Legend/Fall, Radio, Stir/Echos
No: Ghost, Mona Lisa, Kissed, LEGO, Ferngully, Rango, Ledge, Paranormal, Soul, Despereaux

If that's a partial list, I wonder what the full list looks like?

Geofferson

Yeah, I'll sign up. Will be on the lookout for the Roku app as well.

RichC2

That was more or less the full list. I already had a bunch of the movies from other freebie deals so I basically picked 10 I didn't have.

MrSmearkase

/\ Where else have you found UV freebies? I only know of CinemaNow, Vudu and now this.

Thanks for the heads up, OP!

Trevor

It was hard finding 10 that I didn't own already, but more cloud stuff that I'll never remember to watch or my password for.

arbogast777

1) The Roku app IS available, you just have to do a manual search for it

2) If you look under the tech specs for each title it says their HD versions are only 720p. No thanks

RichC2

Vudu and Flixster

TheBigDave

Now that you mention it, I think they put up that channel during their beta testing. You can find it under the Movies & TV category in the Channel Store. Or you can add it at the Roku website:

http://www.roku.com/channels/#!detai.../target-ticket

It also looks like the audio is only 2.0 stereo. Even on the newest titles. I guess I'll stick with Vudu.

Alan Smithee

Tried it just to see if this would work, and sure enough the 10 free movies showed up on my Vudu account, still in SD but at least some of them with 5.1 sound. Just picked ones I didn't have at all on any format, though hopefully I'll someday have Stir of Echoes on D-VHS since it was one of the fewer than 100 titles to be released on that format. Rango's available on Netflix but not in 5.1, however Tale of Desperaux is 5.1 in Netflix but the SD Vudu is only 2-channel. But, free is free! Soul Survivors is a mess of a movie (and I saw it on September 12, 2001 to make it even weirder, at a theater I worked at where I had put in my 2 weeks' notice on September 9th thus ending my 10-year theater career) but its theatrical cut has never been on DVD.

I got stiffed on most of the free movies for signing up for the Ultraviolet account since I did it before they started the 10 free deal, only got about 3 from that, also just in crappy SD and ones I already had on HD-DVD on top of that.

TheBang

Can someone confirm Flixster? I looked all over their site, and didn't see anything about free UV movies for linking your UV account to Flixster (like Vudu or CinemaNow or Target Ticket).

RichC2

It mostly has to do with the phone app.



Their website sucks. App is alright, use it for movie theater times.

Got Space Jam, Pay it Forward and Austin Powers through them.

Can you tell which ones I got for free and which ones I didn't? Haha

TheBigDave

At the Flixster site, on the left sidebar, there's a link for Earn Gift Movies.

http://www.flixster.com/#/addtocollection/earnmovies

Flixster does it different than the other sites. They give you free movies for doing tasks. You get 5 free D2D movies. A free movie for linking your Facebook account. A free movie for adding titles to your wishlist. A free movie for installing the Android app. Stuff like that. You can choose any D2D movies. But the others are random titles. And they're all in SD format.

UPDATE - RichC2 beat me to it.

Alan Smithee

That Flixster thing isn't working- I keep clicking on the "Want to see" movies, but it keeps saying "0 movies selected" and won't give me anything. Can't install the Smartphone app either since I just have a Dumbphone.

RichC2

The website is horribly programmed, I also couldn't get it to work right and did it through the App on my Droid.