Well, since Netflix was having issues tonight, I thought I'd give "Crackle" a try tonight. I am not totally impressed, but it is a decent last-resort alternative.
For those that don't know, Crackle is a free TV and Movie IP service. I has all sorts of TV shows and movies available on demand. It has a "channel" on Roku" that rivals Netflix in ease of use, but has its own technical issues.
Crackle - Watch Movies Online, Free TV Shows, & Original Online Series
So first, the good part: There are a TON of movies and TV shows available. It is absolutely free. No monthly fee, no sign up fee. As I mentioned, there is a ROKU channel, it is available on line and there is an i-phone and android app available. The picture quality is very good. The sound quality is fair to just a little better than Okay--a little swooshy on my HT, but acceptable. Most of the swoosh was heard from the read channel.
The bad news is that it is a commercial service. Every 8 to 15 minutes there is a 15 second ad. With the rebuffering it can sometimes take 30 to 40 seconds. But the last couple of breaks around 11pm were no more than 20 seconds long. The breaks are reasonably placed within the movies unlike some channels that cut into commercial in the middle of a sentence. You can search through the movie to get to a different spot, but there will be a commercial before the movie restarts.
There also were some technical issues. I browsed through the movies and picked one only to find out that there was no way to play that movie. The menu only displayed the "back" option with no explanation as to why the movie was unavailable. Disappointed, I browsed some more and settled on another movie. The movie played fine for the first two segments, but after the third commercial break, it went back to that movie's intro page. The only option was to restart the movie and then scan to where it left off. VERY annoying. However, from that point to the end, it played flawlessly. My guess is there was a ton of traffic on this service too and that was the reason for the slow buffering.
So, in short, this is a reasonable last-resort option if Netflix crashes again.
For those that don't know, Crackle is a free TV and Movie IP service. I has all sorts of TV shows and movies available on demand. It has a "channel" on Roku" that rivals Netflix in ease of use, but has its own technical issues.
Crackle - Watch Movies Online, Free TV Shows, & Original Online Series
So first, the good part: There are a TON of movies and TV shows available. It is absolutely free. No monthly fee, no sign up fee. As I mentioned, there is a ROKU channel, it is available on line and there is an i-phone and android app available. The picture quality is very good. The sound quality is fair to just a little better than Okay--a little swooshy on my HT, but acceptable. Most of the swoosh was heard from the read channel.
The bad news is that it is a commercial service. Every 8 to 15 minutes there is a 15 second ad. With the rebuffering it can sometimes take 30 to 40 seconds. But the last couple of breaks around 11pm were no more than 20 seconds long. The breaks are reasonably placed within the movies unlike some channels that cut into commercial in the middle of a sentence. You can search through the movie to get to a different spot, but there will be a commercial before the movie restarts.
There also were some technical issues. I browsed through the movies and picked one only to find out that there was no way to play that movie. The menu only displayed the "back" option with no explanation as to why the movie was unavailable. Disappointed, I browsed some more and settled on another movie. The movie played fine for the first two segments, but after the third commercial break, it went back to that movie's intro page. The only option was to restart the movie and then scan to where it left off. VERY annoying. However, from that point to the end, it played flawlessly. My guess is there was a ton of traffic on this service too and that was the reason for the slow buffering.
So, in short, this is a reasonable last-resort option if Netflix crashes again.
