Streaming devices that permit "clean" play through?

[Ryan Gallagher]

Anyone aware of any 1080p or 4K streaming devices that don't do annoying things like clobber the credits with menus and ads, with no way to disable them?

I would use it at home if I knew which ones behaved nice relative to the content. But also shopping for a booth streaming player that can pass as a backup in a pinch for 35mm/70mm screenings. Getting all the way through credits would be ideal. Holding a pause indefinitely would be a plus too. Must have wired internet.

My Personal AppleTV 4K+Ethernet doesn't fit the bill. Clobbers credits, but it does let you set it to never sleep or screensaver, and can be set to forced 24p, it's HDMI only audio out is a bit of a bummer though.

How are Roku, Android TV, Fire-Stick in these areas?

My worry is that the credits behavior is app/sub-platform dependent, so maybe the question is which purchase/rental streaming platforms don't do that?

Amusingly the cleanest 1080p feed I can manage is on my mac using the apple TV desktop app, with the primary video on a 2nd monitor... the UI stays in another window elsewhere and it gets the clobber like updates over there. I'm not sure if the app will support 4K, my mac is too old to try.

[Randy Stankey]

To be honest, most of the things you don't like are because of software, not hardware.

You can use the VLC app on your AppleTV and you should be able to get a movie to play through, seamlessly. It should be able to play at any resolution your Apple TV can play. If your original content is 24 FPS, the AppleTV with VLC should be able to play that, too.

AppleTV/VLC can play from NAS (network storage) if you hook an appropriate hard drive up to your local network. It might take a bit of fussing to point the app to your NAS but it does work.

I ripped some of my old DVD and BluRay collection to my NAS and I watch movies in my living room on a regular basis.

It might take some practice to show movies to the public without showing menus on the screen but you can do it. You'll just have to work out your own methods, depending on what you want to do and how things are set up.

[Ryan Gallagher]

To be honest, most of the things you don't like are because of software, not hardware.

You can use the VLC app on your AppleTV and you should be able to get a movie to play through, seamlessly. It should be able to play at any resolution your Apple TV can play. If your original content is 24 FPS, the AppleTV with VLC should be able to play that, too.

AppleTV/VLC can play from NAS (network storage) if you hook an appropriate hard drive up to your local network. It might take a bit of fussing to point the app to your NAS but it does work.

I ripped some of my old DVD and BluRay collection to my NAS and I watch movies in my living room on a regular basis.

It might take some practice to show movies to the public without showing menus on the screen but you can do it. You'll just have to work out your own methods, depending on what you want to do and how things are set up.

But the VLC app can’t play Apple purchased content can it? Maybe I’m not aware and there is a way to download purchased films, but I feel like we are in the “you’ll own nothing and like it era”.

We have playout methods when we own media or have made a local rip. We try to buy blu-rays for all that.

But shipping errors happen, or sometimes simply not available. I’m asking about emergency use when 15min till doors the original plan falls apart and there is a high quality stream available to rent or buy via the various platforms. Another use case is we often slap on Disney+ films for summer camp kids, but the menu overlays are less an issue there.

Maybe Google/YT movies is another provider I did not mention that behaves better.

A booth NAS and app connected to a local library is an eventual goal too, avoid physical media glitches, and faster than converting to DCP. But not a resource we have yet.

[Randy Stankey]

VLC can play streamed content: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-appletv.html
Whether it can play streams from Apple, I don't know. I think it would be more an issue of getting the right link/address of the stream than whether the device/app can play said stream.

I don't know because I don't do monthly subscriptions. If I want to watch something I buy a gift card to pay for NetFlix, et. al.

[Ryan Gallagher]

I expect "rented" titles ability to stream in 3rd party apps is pretty limited. But I've never investigated. Purchased titles from the various platforms might be in a slightly different category with a few more options available.

Most platforms don't even let you download a file. But Apple still does. However the iTunes file that shows up for HD or better content is a .movpkg DRM'd file that will only play within Apple ecosystem apps. So yes you own it, as long as that ecosystem still has a player.... and doesn't really solve anything towards avoiding the AppleTV device bad behaviors with "watch next" ads on top of credits.

They really don't want you doing 3rd party stuff it seems, even if purchased at full price.... so my original question still stands if there are any 1st party apps (on any platform) that don't clobber credits with UI elements? We'd prefer to rent in emergencies than purchase, unless purchasing solved the "clean" playback criteria differently than renting did.

This all points to physical media being king. But it's not always in the cards.

I've never explored PLEX, but apparently they have a rental library now too. Will have to investigate.

[Randy Stankey]

When I worked at Mercyhurst, I used to use a generic streaming box that I plays alternative content. Most of the time, it was used for trailers, ads and PSAs but, occasionally for movies if we couldn't get them in any other way.

The box has an ethernet port, a web interface and a USB port. You can upload content to the box, via network/browser and make a playlist. When you hit the play button on the web UI, it just runs whatever playlist you selected. If you have content on a USB drive of some ilk, it will automatically load and play.

For "regular" movies, the box just runs a playlist that shows the ads and trailers then, when showtime comes, you just switch over to your other source. If it is the whole show, you make a playlist that includes the ads, trailers and the feature.

The box was made by a company called "Technovare" and it is just a generic, black box about 4x6 inches. I don't know if the company is still in business, nor do I know whether the thing still works but I still have it, right here, by my desk. If anybody is interested, I'll send it just for the asking.

Disclaimer: The box goes to its new owner, strictly "as-is." I don't have any instructions for it, anymore. I can't find the power supply. At one time, there was a remote control for it but it's long gone. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't.

Just pay postage. I don't have any use for it. Might as well, put it to good use if it can be.

[Ryan Gallagher]

When I worked at Mercyhurst, I used to use a generic streaming box that I plays alternative content. Most of the time, it was used for trailers, ads and PSAs but, occasionally for movies if we couldn't get them in any other way.

LOL Randy. Thanks for the offer. But that digital signage box is really tackling a problem we don't have. If we have a file or disk its no big deal to get a playback and playlists sorted. It's when no file or disk is available (or what we had is foobar), but a rentable/purchasable stream is available last minute... that comes with all the gotchyas of the streaming platform DRMs and app indiosyncracies. Emergency use only, though I'm sure once we had something we'd find other uses for it.

[Randy Stankey]

That's okay.

The offer still stands for anybody else. The thing is just sitting under my desk, collecting dust.
If anybody else wants it, just pay postage and it's yours.

Remember: As-is.

[Ed Gordon]

Movie Theater Appears to Use Amazon Prime Video to Show Film, Fails in Viral Video

In a now-viral video, one TikToker said their local movie theater attempted to use Amazon Prime Video to show Dr. Seuss' the Grinch to no avail after receiving the message that the account had reached the maximum number of videos playing at once.

"Movie theatres splitting one subscription like the rest of us," one commenter said on the video now viewed over 2 million times.

Dr. Seuss' the Grinch came out in 2018, as another iteration of the classic Dr. Seuss tale. As some commenters pointed out, going to the theater to see the film was more for "the experience" given it is available to view at home.

National movie theater chain, Regal, offered audiences a chance to catch already-released holiday films in theaters on Saturdays in November and December for $5. Movies included Elf and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

In the viral video, TikToker @rachel.m00re wrote "actual footage from our local movie theatre" in text overlaid onto the video. Muffled voices can be heard as the video is being searched for and selected on Amazon's Prime Video Platform. After the video is set to play, a message appears that read "maximum videos playing," and explained that too many users are accessing the account and attempting to play a video.

A voice is heard off-camera laughing.

"Apparently our movie theatre runs off fire tv & renting Amazon prime movies," the caption read.

A few commented on the legality of a theater using the service to show audiences films on the big screen.

"This is extremely illegal and against Amazon ToS and copyright in general," one commenter wrote. "Also hilarious."

According to Amazon Prime Video's Term of Use, "You may not (i) transfer, copy or display the Digital Content, except as permitted in this Agreement; (ii) sell, rent, lease, distribute, or broadcast any right to the Digital Content; (iii) remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Digital Content; (iv) attempt to disable, bypass, modify, defeat, or otherwise circumvent any digital rights management or other content protection system used as part of the Service; or (v) use the Service or Digital Content for any commercial or illegal purpose."

"Digital Content" as explained in the document, refers to " digital movies, television shows and other video content offered by Amazon Prime Video.

Source: https://www.newsweek.com/movie-theat...-video-1663394

Video:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UNUV6iZaKaY

[Ryan Gallagher]

Source: https://www.newsweek.com/movie-theat...-video-1663394

Video:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UNUV6iZaKaY

2021 article. Haha yeah. Rock and a hard place. Who knows what that cinema was doing...

But at least here we've paid the studio their license, they are satisfied, the streaming platform TOS is another story... these days for back catalog films studios don't seem to care what media you have available to play it, but i'm sure "from stream" is an exception to that not caring position.

Our only semi-legit use case is a digital backup for an analog print we have licensed that we can't score a Blu-Ray or DCP of. And only semi-legit because there is actually no "intent" to show it, unless something goes horribly wrong. We've considered stream backup because it's higher quality than DVD backup for most films.... punting to a stream for a KDM issue at an otherwise public and "full" priced event as I almost did recently is definitely dodgy, but sometimes those calls are made above the operator. I'm not empowered to cancel a show unless I have zero means to play it (even stupid ones). ;-)

To be honest if the need is known in advance for a backup that is only available via stream, I just rip one and make a DCP as the insurance policy, but to do so cleanly involves some hardware and methods we don't keep in our booth, nor can be done in a hurry.

Edit to add: We've only once "shown" a stream in an emergency. Our prior Barco in the small venue died in a non-recoverable way. We scrambled to transfer the smaller event projector from the larger venue and get a rented stream copy up and running. It was off a laptop in a browser, so SD playback due to webDRM stuff. But it was Home Alone 2. No one even commented on the quality difference!!!! Saved Christmas yada yada. I guess the lesson there is if you have to do weird shit in weird situations... do it professionally unlike the operator in the article did. Hence the desire for less menu-heavy playback methods.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Aside, when I was setting up a fire-stick emergency backup before a corrected KDM arrived the other day, I too hit an error about concurrent viewing limit. I still had it open on the laptop I had used to purchase it right before that, and exiting that browser fixed it. But all this was while holding the house. And then the fixed KDM showed up 30 min into the scheduled doors, and didn't have to subject anyone to a stream. Phew.

I also think there are a lot of independents that will rent out a space for private use... and offer stream connected devices as one source of a possible movie to play. But a private audience that knows they are watching it on an AppleTV is not gonna care about credits being interrupted etc, even if there is a cleaner way to do it.

To really get into the legal weeds, even DVDs and BluRays are not legal to screen to the public, the outfit that licensed it for blu-ray distribution may not be the same rights holder as the people you pay for the studio version etc. They are strictly for home use, but plenty of venues do it under certain circumstances, including us.

[Ed Gordon]

Yes, the studio does not care what media you use as long as the license fee has been paid. Streamers like Amazon do care. They get annoyed if you share your password with your family. Sharing with a theater full of strangers? Get a good lawyer.