Flixster, an app that allows you to discover, watch, and collect movies, is now available on the Xbox 360 with Xbox Live.
Being an Xbox live subscriber, I decided to give Flixster a thorough trial. I have been a cord-cutter for some time. Therefore, I rely on streaming services to view media. Having used it for the past week, I learned that Flixster is a fabulous streaming solution.
You can create an account for free by visiting Flixster.com in your web browser. After creating an account, you’ll want to add Flixster to your Xbox 360. Do this by navigating to apps > Search Apps > and enter Flixster. Flixster will then reside on your Xbox 360 under the “tv & movies” section.
Upon opening the Xbox Flixster app, you will first be asked to connect Flixster to your account by going to flixster.com/activate in your web browser.
Flixster has a simple, user-friendly interface. When the app first launches, it opens up in the Flixster store, where you can browse through new releases, certified fresh, top sellers, and browse all.
Store
New Releases
Certified Fresh
Top Sellers
Browse All
From what I noticed, film costs vary in Flixster. If you would like to view a film, you may rent it (lowest price I personally saw was $2.99) or purchase (lowest price I saw was $9.99). The costs I listed are based upon what I experienced while browsing their library. If you purchase a film, it will reside in your Flixster library where you can access it across a variety of devices. If you rent a film, you have 30 days to start watching it. After you commence watching your rental, you will have 24-48 hours to complete viewing it.
Flixster.com offers two free films to add to your film collection via “Flixster Rewards.” Flixster Rewards are simple to earn. First, simply choose five films to add to your “Want To See” collection. This will earn you one free film. The second way to earn a free film is by installing the Flixster app on your Android or iOS device, and logging into your account.
Performing these simple tasks will give you two free films to “own” in your Flixster collection. However, you do not have the luxury of selecting your free films. The films you will receive are pre-selected for you.
Flixster also offers a neat service called “Disc to Digital.” This enables you to have copies of your purchased DVDs in the Flixster cloud. All you need to is install Flixster Desktop on your PC or Mac, then launch Flixster Desktop and insert a dvd. It will take about 30 seconds or less for the app to recognize the media you inserted.
It will then ask if you want to purchase the film in SD or HD. The first five SD purchases (worth $2.50 each) are free, whereas HD versions cost $5.00 each.
It will then automatically add a digital version of your dvd to your Flixster collection. This is quite handy, as now you can watch your film anyplace that you can access Flixster. Also, it does not “rip” the dvd and upload the large media file to Flixster. Flixster simply recognizes the dvd and matches it with a copy they already have residing in their cloud.
At this time, not all DVDs can be matched. For example, if you insert a blu-ray disc, it will not match the media to be saved to your collection. Also, certain film titles cannot be added to your collection. I tried to add “The Rocker” to my collection, and was unsuccessful. A full list of permissible “Disc To Digital” content can be found here.
In addition, burned DVDs and DVD rentals can not be added to your Flixster collection either.
I happily used up my five “Disc To Digital” freebies in SD quality…
I think “Disc To Digital” is a great feature. I dislike putting DVDs or BluRays into my player. Call it laziness, but it is a tedious step in viewing media. In my opinion, discs are something of the past and I prefer to stream all of my content. Therefore, their “Disc To Digital” service is extremely appealing to me. You don’t have to go through the lengthy process of ripping your DVDs and then come up with the soft storage for all of your media. It is all already in the Flixster cloud. Very nice indeed! My one little gripe is the cost. I think paying $5 to get an HD digital copy of content you already own is a tad high. It would be nice if they lowered their prices just a bit. For example, I gladly used up my five freebies of their SD Disc To Digital, but don’t see myself spending $5 per film to view my existing owned content in HD via the Flixster cloud.
To sum up, the Flixster app is a winner. I suggest you give it a try, get your two free films, rent a new film you haven’t seen, sit down, relax, and enjoy!