71–80 of 88 posts
> "We didn't even know [he was a member] because he was using an email that was not descriptive, and he was not using his real name," Cakarel says. This implies that the company looks through their subscriber rolls for famous film-industry personalities, which is an unusual thing to glibly admit to.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Only discovered MUBI today via HN. Looks great! There is one annoyance (which I also have with Netflix): I live in Denmark, but I am not fluent in Danish. Not all your movies have English subtitles though, so how can I watch anything else except the three languages I master (English, French and Dutch)? Are licensing issues preventing you from offering English subtitles on all your movies as a default?
In short, yes. Language/subtitle licensing is a mine field. Often times the small local distributors we deal with don't acquire anything but the local language rights, so it becomes almost impossible to go upstream and get the remaining rights even though we may well have the assets for use in other countries. We are doing what we can to move the ball forward on this issue industry-wide, but historical rights arrange…
Netflix is also odd about this but usually we can get German subtitles for any film and choose the audio with original language. Ideally we should be able to select any language that there are available subtitles for. Why restrict it by region ?
> "We didn't even know [he was a member] because he was using an email that was not descriptive, and he was not using his real name," Cakarel says. This implies that the company looks through their subscriber rolls for famous film-industry personalities, which is an unusual thing to glibly admit to.
It's a bit more prosaic: Film people at Mubi attend film events along with other film people, shake hands and exchange pleasantries.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I love the site and found it through filmspotting. Any plans for adding support for kodi? (there's an addon already but it isn't updated regularly)
We've put a hold on new platform development for most of this year in order to move towards a standardized API and tighten up our QA process, so no plans for this year. I can share that the top two platforms which we are seeing interest in are Roku and the new Apple TV.
I don't really want to add another device to my entertainment center and not interested in watching anywhere but the TV (except on the iPad when traveling). We've got AppleTVs and a PS4. Tossed the Rokus.
Not expecting you guys are hurting all that bad for my $40. But figured another vote/story couldn't hurt.
Whoah, it's awesome to see this posted here in my native habitat! I've spent the last 8 years of my life building MUBI as Co-Founder and CTO (even longer than I've been on HN!). Please AMA.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We've put a hold on new platform development for most of this year in order to move towards a standardized API and tighten up our QA process, so no plans for this year. I can share that the top two platforms which we are seeing interest in are Roku and the new Apple TV.
Never heard of MUBI before this post. Browsing some lists, it makes a ton of sense. I'd probably sign up right now if it were available on AppleTV. I don't really want to add another device to my entertainment center and not interested in watching anywhere but the TV (except on the iPad when traveling). We've got AppleTVs and a PS4. Tossed the Rokus. Not expecting you guys are hurting all that bad for my $40. But fig…
Whoah, it's awesome to see this posted here in my native habitat! I've spent the last 8 years of my life building MUBI as Co-Founder and CTO (even longer than I've been on HN!). Please AMA.
what are your yearly profits like the last couple of years?
Whoah, it's awesome to see this posted here in my native habitat! I've spent the last 8 years of my life building MUBI as Co-Founder and CTO (even longer than I've been on HN!). Please AMA.
First time I hear about MUBI and I'm in film and tv business. I've heard about Fandor. I have a question - what do you see your (MUBI) future like? Still independent or as an integrated 'thing' in netflix, IPTVs (as a channel), etc..?
One thing I'm certain of is that aggregation of content directly in a way as to provide the holy grail of streaming everything is simply never going to happen because rightsholders are unwilling to cede control of distribution to a powerful entity like Netflix or iTunes (hence Netflix's pivot to focus on production and exclusives so they can control their own destiny).
But it's also clearly not viable for the majority of rightsholders to do their own distribution, at least not yet. As much as streaming technology is commoditizing and device manufacturers outside of Apple/Android are converging on web-based platforms, it's still a massive effort to build a good UX and make it available everywhere that counts. There is clearly huge opportunity for platform makers like Apple to capture value by enabling distribution like they did with the iTunes Store and App Store. There is also opportunity for new middleman strategies like white-label apps, or transparent aggregation that would be something akin to channels-within-an-app type of setup
At the moment there's so much churn happening and so many different strategies that it's very hard to predict what the landscape will look like in 5-10 years. The only constant is that cable companies are being rapidly disintermediated, because they were overly reliant on their monopoly status, and have no talent in either production or UX design so I don't see much chance for them to survive.
If I had to sum my thoughts up it is that the apps of today are replacing the channels of yesterday. The most successful channels are themselves becoming apps (eg. HBO). In the past channels were distributed either as broadcast or as cable, but there is not such a clear distribution pattern for apps. Already apps are available on numerous devices, all with their own idiosyncrasies, sometimes overlapping with other platforms and sometimes not. Platforms that were relevant just a few years ago (Boxee) are completely gone, and new platforms are launching every day. I agree wholeheartedly with Tim Cook's assertion that the future of TV is apps, but I don't have a clue what the platforms will look like in a few years. MUBI will continue to be one of those apps, mostly independent (although we rely on platforms so there's always a degree of cooperation involved), certainly not integrated exclusively into a larger offering ala Netflix or IPTV.
Whoah, it's awesome to see this posted here in my native habitat! I've spent the last 8 years of my life building MUBI as Co-Founder and CTO (even longer than I've been on HN!). Please AMA.
I don't have a question, but I'd like to thank you. I've been a MUBI subscriber for a month or two now and love it. You've a subscriber for life here. My best experience was when I fired up my MUBI app in my holiday home (different country in Europe) expecting nothing (like with Netflix and Amazon film), only to find another excellent selection of films. Discovering that rather than punish me for trying to use MUBI i…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In short, yes. Language/subtitle licensing is a mine field. Often times the small local distributors we deal with don't acquire anything but the local language rights, so it becomes almost impossible to go upstream and get the remaining rights even though we may well have the assets for use in other countries. We are doing what we can to move the ball forward on this issue industry-wide, but historical rights arrange…
This is also our major issue with MUBI. We love the film selection, but we live in Germany. When we want to watch a French film, its overdubbed in German. Netflix is also odd about this but usually we can get German subtitles for any film and choose the audio with original language. Ideally we should be able to select any language that there are available subtitles for. Why restrict it by region ?