Jan 21st, 2011 by flingsoft
We are pleased to announce that Movie Vault is now available on Roku. This is something that has been in the works for a while and before we go into whats including and whats coming, I wanted to give a little personal insight on this lovely little box.
I have personally owned a Roku since almost day one. All it really was in the beginning was a way to stream Netflix content and soon took a back-burner to the Xbox, PS3, Wii, and every other device that offered Netflix content as well. Over the last year, Roku has come on strong with a new focus on embracing developers, opening a true “store” system, and releasing three new models. Now the little box that felt like it was struggling has emerged as what I think is probably the best reason to cut cable on the market. With a low price point and super simple interface it is probably the most attractive internet TV box out there.
So what’s included…
There are over one thousand movies in the library all available at no additional cost to you. They range from really obscure classics to great B horror flicks. Check out some great films from John Wayne, Jack Nicholson, Vincent Price, and many others. All the content features original cover art and full listings of Actors, Directors, and Plots. Here is a sample screenshot of the video listing.
And what’s coming…
We are quickly going to be adding a Search functionality to the channel and also moving to streaming to accelerate playback. Let us know if you have any ideas for new features. We will also try and keep content updated as we find new/great stuff.
So go get your classic movie fix for only $3.99 on your Roku device from the Channel Store now!! And make sure you give us a 5 star rating when you find you love it!!
Update 1/30/2011 - Note that we launched the app at a $1.99 monthly subscription, but due to customer feedback we decided to switch to a one-time purchase model on Thursday 1/27. It seems like most customers didn’t like the idea of automatically getting billed every month. Thanks for all the feedback!
Filed under:
movie vault,, roku,
Jan 14th, 2011 by flingsoft
Much to our surprise and excitement, the Thursday cut over in the iTunes app store showcased a new category named “Apps for Movie Lovers” and inside was Movie Vault. The iPhone and iPad versions were both named “App Store Essentials” and the response has been great.
In honor of being selected, we are discounting both apps for a limited time. The iPhone version is now $1.99 (down from $2.99) and the iPad version is $2.99 (down from $4.99). Please show your support and pick them up now!!
Filed under:
iTunes, movie vault,
Nov 17th, 2010 by flingsoft
We just wanted to let everyone know that Movie Vault for iPhone 1.1 has been released into the App Store. The new version features:
- Updated graphics to support retina displays on iPhone 4.
- iOS 4.2 ready with AirPlay support!
- In-app rating system, show us some love!
- Flurry analytics added.
We are working on the iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2G streaming issues people are experiencing, so please stick with us. The good news is it is all server side, so we will update as we complete the re-encoding process.
Enjoy!!
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Nov 16th, 2010 by flingsoft
A number of Movie Vault users have been reporting streaming issues under various network connections and I wanted to give everyone an update of our progress. Many users/reviewers are referring to this as “crashing”, but in actuality it is an issue with the actual streams. In all our testing we never experienced any issues and Apple never identified any issues during review, so we leaned heavily on them to help identify the issue.
First, we started by increasing our infrastructure. We moved from our multi-server environment to a content delivery network (CDN) allowing us to instantly increase our availability worldwide. We saw a definitive speed improvement for most users, but again still “crashing” issues came in.
Next, we moved from the CDN into a video on demand (VOD) service much like Netflix, Hulu, and others use. More expensive for us, but well worth it as we immediately saw even faster response time from the servers. Yet again, “crashing” issues still came in.
At this point, several users were very helpful in tracking down some potential issues which we then communicated to Apple. Apple was still at a loss, but thankfully we just had an internal breakthrough the other day.
The majority of the issues reported are coming from 3G, Classic, and iPod Touch 2G users which was our first clue. We had tested on a 3G though so it was a bit perplexing as we could see it working. So we started isolating each stream independently, and there was the culprit. To understand the streaming on the iPhone, imagine there are multiple versions of every movie on the server each created to handle different bandwidth levels. The iPhone is smart enough to switch this as you watch dependent on your connection speed.
As it turns out one of the streams has a slight different encoding than others. The “mid/low” stream was encoded with x264 Main 3.1 (as a user this means nothing, but it means a lot for the streaming experience). It turns out Apple didn’t make their video player consistently backward compatible due to hardware issues. So the 3GS, 4, Touch 3 and higher, and iPad all can play 3.1 but the 3G and older cannot. This means when your phone switches you to this stream and you are on an older device, it will “drop” or “crash”.
SO…..
Thankfully we can fix it, but it will take some effort. We basically need to re-encode all the content for this low stream and then re-upload to the servers. Note that we have over 1,000 movies so its going to take a few weeks, but we will do it in a rolling fashion. As movies get completed, then we will push those videos up. Note, if you are on a strong Wifi connection with limited latency, then it probably won’t be an issue for you. Also, it will work if you upgrade your phone ;) (kidding)
I hope this clears things up and again, just wanted people to know we are on it!!
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Oct 20th, 2010 by flingsoft
After a lot of hard work and some significant re-engineering, we are happy to announce Movie Vault for iPhone. Featuring all the great benefits of the iPad version, but we now also have access to the multitasking feature of the OS. This means you can take a call, read some email, check your texts, and then come back and pick up right where you left off. We kept the same visuals, kept the same simple to use interface, and just made things a little more iPhone friendly.
We are now live in the iTunes App Store and the price is $2.99! The iPad provides a bit of a premium experience, so we decided to bring the price down a bit. Apple has already given us some love by naming us to New & Noteworthy in the iPhone->Entertainment section, so thanks to the editorial team.
We will now get back to updating content, improving on our backend, and keeping things running smoothly. We are also thinking about a holiday version so look for that coming soon!
App Store Link (Only 2.99)
Filed under:
movie vault, iTunes,
Oct 7th, 2010 by flingsoft
We have been brainstorming for a while how to offer a “Lite” experience of Movie Vault for iPad to our users and it has always been a challenge. When one of the team suggested the Halloween theme, we knew what to do next. So we are now proud to present Halloween Movie Vault.
At only .99 cents, Halloween Movie Vault brings you over 100 classic horror films streamed straight to your iPad!
For you existing Movie Vault for iPad users, it is basically the Horror content from Movie Vault with a cool new design. There is no reason for you to buy it unless you just want to support us, that bandwidth doesn’t pay for itself after all!
Thanks and enjoy!
App Store Link (Only .99 cents!)
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Sep 13th, 2010 by flingsoft
Tonight we submit Movie Vault 1.1 to the app store. We have gathered all the feedback from users and reviewers and tried to capture as much as possible with this release. Our first and foremost priority was stability. The following will be the release notes for 1.1:
Bug fixes:
- Major improvements to application stability during usage and movie watching.
- Eliminated an issue where you can lose the movie detail window forcing a relaunch.
- Fixes to the player screen to move up the scrubber and remove the textured back ground during playback.
- Improved back-end and increased bandwidth for faster updates and installation.
- Updated movie covers and details (thanks for the e-mails!). AVAILABLE NOW!!!
Features:
- NEW Genre backgrounds for a number of categories have been updated. AVAILABLE NOW!!!
- iPad to VGA out support as well as component out support. This is our first pass at this, so we will keep refining it.
- Improved the location of search by moving it to the title bar. This was a big one for a lot of people.
Those marked with AVAILABLE NOW are actually items you can refresh via the icon in the top right of the interface. These do not require an application update in order to experience.
With this release, we are also using our new CDN in order to speed up movie watching, updates, loading, etc. As more users get on board the faster the more complete the cache will be. This is just a first step in improving performance! We continue to work with Apple and other partners on adding more bandwidth.
Thanks to the community for staying committed to us and to all the great reviewers who have been so kind in their feedback.
Filed under:
movie vault, iTunes,
Aug 28th, 2010 by flingsoft
I just wanted to post a quick update and let everyone know we are quickly working on Movie Vault 1.1 as well as 1.2 and also an iPhone version. The reception within the app community has been well above what we expected, so we are spending our time making sure this next version resolves some of the issues people are seeing. We are also working on our backend servers to make sure the streaming experience is as good as possible.
For version 1.1 we are focusing on:
- Improved application stability during app usage and movie watching.
- Bug where you can lose the movie detail window forcing a relaunch.
- Fixes to the player screen to move up the scrubber and remove the textured back.
- iPad to VGA out support as well as component out support.
- Improved backend and increased bandwidth for faster updates and installation.
- NEW Genre backgrounds for a number of categories and updated.
- Updated movie covers (thanks to our passionate community for helping on this!).
There are a number of items people are requesting which will take us a bit more time, so our first focus is to improve stability and get these fixes out. We will keep everyone post and thanks again for the awesome support!!
Filed under:
movie vault,
Aug 16th, 2010 by flingsoft
When the iPad was first announced, it quickly became clear to most people that this device was going to be more about consumption than it was about creation. Sure people have done some amazing things with apps like Brushes and of course the entire iWork suite is available, but everything feels very scaled down. It just wasn’t there to be a creation device, but it was the perfect platform to consumer content. Comics, news, social, and especially TV and Movies.
The device was perfect for consuming media. No one ever loved watching movies on their iPhones, they simply tolerated it. Now we have a device and a big beautiful screen to play with and media never felt better. The one problem we have though is that content is lacking. Even if you subscribe to Netflix, the library is finite. The Apple Store is a little overpriced for most to purchase from, so we found a hole in the app marketplace and tried to fill it.
And so, we are proud to present Movie Vault for iPad. Its all about FREE movie content for you, no strings attached.
All about Movie Vault
Movie Vault is an all new iPad app with the single purpose to provide access to a catalog of over 1200 movies and television shows from the last 100 years. We have fully catalogued these movies including fully-searchable information on directors, actors, writers, and more. We also hunted down the cover art for a truly awesome experience.
Using it is simple, when you first download the movie listing is downloaded from our server. In doing this, we can provide up-to-date movie listings without the need to update our application constantly which means less work for you. You can then swipe left or right between Genres, select from the Genre menu in the top left or search by keyword which is included in the Genre menu. When you find a movie just tap it once to get more info and then tap “Watch Movie” to start it up. Give it a couple seconds to let it start and site back and enjoy. Its that simple.
The best part is, everything is streamed so you can enjoy it over Wifi OR over 3G. With Apple’s streaming technology you get a great experience and our servers take care of the heavy lifting.
What are some of our favorites movies?
I have always been a Horror guy and especially love films like George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. There are also great Sci-Fi film and if you really aren’t sure then do a search on Lugosi, Price, or Karloff.
If you are feeling a little more upbeat try some great Comedies or maybe even a Musical or too. And do not miss out on some of the great Crime, Mystery, or War films. There are a ton to choose from. I would say most of all to not let the age fool you, some of the movies in here are unbelievable and are you really going to argue with directors like Alfred Hitchcock, among others.
We really hope you enjoy it. Building this library and prepping this data for streaming has been a true labor of live. We look forward to hearing feedback and can’t wait for the next version. Get it now for $4.99!!
Filed under:
ipad, movie vault,
Aug 10th, 2010 by flingsoft
For those that have been following us on Twitter, you have probably noticed that we have a new app in the queue with the App Store review gods. I thought I would take a moment today and give you a little insight on the process and to give you an idea the sense of frustration a lot of developers feel. I am not going to talk about the app itself because well, its a SURPRISE but you may get a few hints as you are reading.
A Word About Our Expectations
Our first two app releases, FotoFling and FotoFling Worldwide took almost 2 months from submission to release. This was primarily because the store was still in its infancy and Apple hadn’t ramped up their review process. Our second and third releases came much much easier, this is due probably both to the limited complexity and timing. Basically, it was easy to review.
This new app is something altogether different. First, it is an iPad app (with the iPhone version following shortly). Second, it makes heavy use of server side interaction and in particular, it uses Apple’s video streaming technology. We didn’t need to use this, but we wanted to support 3G out of the box so we decided to go for it.
We knew this might be a longer process and we were hoping the system had stayed as smooth as our last run through… we were clearly wrong.
The App Submission Process
We first submitted the app on 7/22/2010 and at that point your app is classified as “Waiting for Review”. There isn’t a lot of clarity to the “states” and probably the first shortcoming of the process. Here they are:
- Waiting for Review
- In Review
- Rejected
- Ready for Sale
Seems simple enough right… yes, except things to stick between Waiting and In Review for a very long time.
Our Timeline So Far
- 7/22/2010 6pm - App was submitted to Apple for review. “Waiting for Review”
- 8/2/2010 1pm- App state switches to “In Review”
- 8/2/2010 4pm - App is “Rejected” due to issues with streams validating using Apple’s tool “mediastreamvalidator”.
At this point we investigate the issue and actually talk to the developer at Apple who wrote the tool. Come to find out, there is actually an issue where mediastreamvalidator is returning invalid responses when the mime type for AAC files is not configured correctly. Bottom line, this is not an issue for the app and can be resolved in about 5 seconds. If the Apple Review team understood the technology they were testing, then we could have resolved this over e-mail in under an hour. I explain to them hoping they can retest and got no response, so we were forced to re-submit.
- 8/3/2010 3pm - App (same as original) is re-submitted to Apple for review. Again, we are “Waiting for Review
As of today, we are still Waiting and based on the last timeline they should review it tomorrow 8/11 or early Wed.
How to Solve the Problems
There are some very simple ways to resolve some of the problems with the process:
- Add an additional state to the review process for applications that make use of server-side technologies where re-submission might not be necessary to fix a problem.
- Make resubmissions after rejection a higher priority than new submissions.
- Train the reviewers to think outside of the box of the tools they use, like I said in our case things could have been resolved in the reviewer understood the tool they were using.
- Add reviewers to your team and go Sat/Sun as well. It sounds extreme, but you have a lot of apps coming in.
- Look at the entire app before rejecting so we can handle multiple issues that may have been found so we don’t go through this repeatedly.
- Add a “Notes” area to iTunes Connect so we can see the issues the reviewer documented.
Our Love for Apple
Keep in mind, none of this is a bash of Apple. They have provided us with an incredible opportunity as designers and developers the likes of which we have never seen. We are simply being constructive based on our own experiences in an effort to improve the process. Bottom line, we still love you guys… but sometimes you still frustrate us to no end.
I will keep everyone updated on our process and hopefully have a nice big post about the new app shortly. Thanks for the support!
UPDATE 8/13/2010 10:30AM
We are back “In Review”, updates to follow!
Filed under:
appstore, itunes,
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