The Floatplane Club [Member Review]

[givingtnt]

So yeah, this is me reviewing the club, kind of a "before you buy" warning. What for you knowing what you are getting yourself into.

Some background : 
I used to have Vessel, it worked ok, then worked great ! (by the end they had a pretty good platform tbh).

I got bored of the repetitive ads tbh  wich is why I decided to go with them. (and floatplane club)

 

ON TO THE THING


What is the Floatplane Club ?

Well its an independant web streaming service provided by LinusMediaGroup, and there you can stream AD-LESS (no ads before video nor during video, say bye bye to Tunnelbear and Squarespace) videos as soon as 7 days in advance ! (1080p max resolution because of bandwidth limits)
you can also download the videos ! (up to 720p)

you can comment in a comment sections like the forum threads (see bottom of thread for picture) and you get a blue name / badge.
All that for a decent $2.99 (usd) / month.

But, it does have its inconvinients.
 

1. Not all videos are uploaded 1 week early
   (Actually, if you look, the past week weren't so bad, but sometimes you get 2-3 per week) Hell, for CES videos were up HOURS or sometimes a full day before they hit the Floatplane Club.
2. Sometimes you don't get a new video for the day.
   (Either its super late, or its the next day. you never know. Is it a problem ? Yes ! Im paying $3 per month I should get it every day ! Regardless of if its a same time youtube upload or not.

 

Overall, the whole thing is pretty inconsistant. You never know when something won't happen because "oh yeah we had trouble with this" or "sorry its late, we can't upload at 2 places at the same time"
Im sorry but if I pay 3$ usd per month. I would expect to be delivered something in a constant manner. I find it hard to believe that its that hard to release on the floatplane club before youtube gets the same video (for same day releases).

Should you get it ? No.
Not for now at least. Its such a messy experience that I find myself going back to watch on youtube because its easier. and most of the time, the video will be up there before the Floatplane Club.

 

 

 

[Guest]

I think you also get to chat/talk/communicate/discuss with other Floatplane member?

Also you get a blue tag down below. BLUEEE

 

So you can only watch video at 1080p? Because YT videos are 4K and you can only download 720p? Why?

 

What do you mean by adless? The ad athe beginning and end of the video is gone? No more tunnelbear, squarespace and dbrand ads?

[givingtnt]

3 minutes ago, deXxterlab97 said:

I think you also get to chat/talk/communicate/discuss with other Floatplane member?

Also you get a blue tag down below. BLUEEE

 

So you can only watch video at 1080p? Because YT videos are 4K and you can only download 720p? Why?

 

What do you mean by adless? The ad athe beginning and end of the video is gone? No more tunnelbear, squarespace and dbrand ads?

I will edit the main thread, but here's the things : 

The video is at a maximum of 1080p, you cannot go higher because they cannot get the required bandwidth. (it would be too pricy.)
by adless I mean, yes, no ads before the video, nor pre-roll ads. (tunnelbear and squarespace do not exist in those videos.) same thing for the download.

the videos are basically threads like this on the forum, so thats where you "chat". There are no actual "live" chats.

[Techicolors]

Half of the time the video player just spazzes out for me. also the scrubbing could be a little better. and once i finish scrubbing it always looks like as if i restarted the entire video. 

 

the schedule is pretty all over the place too. and although i quite like the discussions in the Floatplane threads, it does prevent the more... critical responses in the official LTT threads. not that there isn't any criticism; just not as much backlash, since you have to pay for the Floatplane club. 

 

edit: and another thing about the videos is that it outright freezes, like a freeze frame.. i have to either refresh the entire page or try to restart the video itself. 

[manikyath]

i actually get your concerns, and actually.. (not having floatplane myself obviously) i think i'll have to agree.

 

may be "better" (or rather "not as bad) if they would advertise floatplane as "beta" for now, until they at least have the workflow ironed out, kind of being up front with the issues it's still having and more so bringing it forward as a "reward for direct support" rather than going directly for the "paid platform" it's kind of marketed as now.

[Trey222]

I would say this is a pretty accurate review. It is very beta/alpha feeling right now.

I do see it becoming pretty decent eventually.  

[handymanshandle]

3 hours ago, givingtnt said:

Should you get it ? No.

Not for now at least. Its such a messy experience that I find myself going back to watch on youtube because its easier. and most of the time, the video will be up there before the Floatplane Club.

 

 

 

Well when I can get logged into paypal, I'll signup.

 

Nah, I'm too cheap right now, I was going to try to sign up a couple hours ago but it I couldn't get logged into paypal so I was just like, eh, alright I'll save myself that $3 for lunch or something tomorrow. Speaking of which I should really get to bed but I kinda want to make something to eat because I didn't eat much today.