Reeltime.com is a site offering video-on-demand of diverse television programs and eventually movies. Its apparently pre-launch and content is still being added, but in fact the site has been around since 2004.

What’s Reeltime All About?

Reeltime.com (not to be confused with ‘reel-time.com’, an online resource for saltwater flyfishers) has a confusing home page at first glance and my initial reaction was, “What on earth does this site broadcast?” 

Generic images flicker on the site, such as a family, some elephants, a sunset, a mountain? Initially I was wondering if this was a place for streaming video or was it just a generic clip-art site?

5 Years in Pre-Launch?

According to Wikipedia (and a citation is needed here) the site launched in 2004. Yet now in 2009 a ‘pre-launch’ notice is apparent on the ReelTime site.

According to a review on KillerStartups from 2007 it appeared that ReelTime was focusing on movie rental, including HD movies, but that focus seems to have changed since.

This makes me wonder if the site is ever going to officially launch. It’s typical for innovative start-ups to jump around with ideas and try different things, but after 5 years it still seems that ReelTime still has not found its footing, as the rest of this review will highlight.

Its also no surprise that the company has yet to turn a profit.

Navigation and Getting Started

The main page lists out a number of different “channels” with different topics, so to get started, I clicked on “1 ACTV”, which was arts and culture. This routed me to a list of interesting episode titles such as “ballroom dance healing”(?) and “Healing harp”(??).

Reeltime requires a registration before you can start viewing the videos, which I got through pretty quickly, and once you’ve completed this step and received your user confirmation email, you can begin viewing programs.

Channels Offered from Reeltime

I selected the option to view a program called “Trees Made of Glass” (if, for no other reason than the cool sounding title) and was routed to a page prompting for a Microsoft Silverlight plugin, which I installed fairly quickly through a link on Reeltime.

As far as browsers needed for Reeltime, I usually drive on Firefox, and this browser is supported, as well as IE and Safari. Windows and Mac 10 are also supported.

Some Technical Issues…

Once the Silverlight install completed, Reeltime told me:

Now, as an aside, I’m a software Quality Assurance Analyst full time, and nothing bothers me more than unearthing bugs on sites on which I don’t get paid to unearth them, especially if I’m NOT running a beta of a product, but an actual site.

However, clicking the, ahem, “1″ pop-up, cleared the message and I was on my way to learning about “glass trees”. The reeltime player worked fine, and offered a number of typical features like a full screen option, navigation buttons, and even a link for sharing the video clip.

Other Channel Offerings on Reeltime

My attention only being held so long, I decided to pop back to the main page to see what else Reeltime had to offer. Here are some samplings of what I found on the main channel map:

• FTV – “Food Television”, with programs such as “Church Pie Ladies” and “Chinese Feast”
• LTV – “Laugh Television”, featuring one program, “Speedy”(?)
• RSFTV – “Reel Sci-Fi Television”, featuring one program, “The British UFO Files” (no Doctor Who?)
• RLTV – “Reel Legal Television”, featuring “The Jaundiced Eye” (why have I never heard of some of these)

One of the channels, RTV-”Romance Television”, didn’t have any offerings, as well as some of the other channels, giving me the impression that this is a fairly new system and is still getting it’s footing.

Thoughts About the Programming

This looks and feels a lot like PBS broadcasts, or the type of programming you’d find on public television on any given day. Not overly thrilling material if you, like me, were weened on programs featuring cinematic space battles, evil aliens and robots.

Another thing that seemed strange to me was that the episodes I sampled capped off at about 2 1/2 minutes, with no continuation. Should there have been a ‘next’ button, or was that it, and shouldn’t the video have had a text message indicated something about the fact that I was only watching a trial? The few programs I caught, while not exciting, just ended after a couple minutes with no sense of completion. I had a hard time figuring out what was going on with this site.

Reeltime Store for Reeltime Items

Reeltime’s main page also links to a Reelstore where you can purchase things like hats, books, and health products, but much like the video selection, many of the departments are completely empty, such as the “Reel History Department”, which opens an empty folder stating “This department is currently empty. Please check back soon for new Products…” This site, and it’s store, could really benefit from a more robust inventory.

Premium Content with Reelclub

Reeltime also has a section for a reelclub that you can join. The offer includes discounts on merchandise from the stores, as well as a 10% discount on pay-per-view movies. What’s puzzling to me is that, all I can find on this site are television episodes. What movie’s is this talking about?

Apparently the site is in pre-launch, so it’s understandable if the site is missing some content or clarity, but it would have been appreciated if prior to putting this site online the folks at Reeltime had given a little more information about what this site is supposed to be about and when it will be offering full episodes of programs online.

Reeltime Links

• Reeltime
• Reeltime Channels and Categories

You Might Also Be Interested in

• Watch Public Television Programs Free Online
• WebTVWire Posts About Watching Television Online
• Graboid – Free Movie Download Software

Below you will find live streaming coverage and a selection of video clips from the 2009 Oscars. We’ll also include links to the top videos of the 81st Annual Academy Awards and the results.

The Oscars TV coverage in the U.S was on ABC on Sunday, February 22 starting at 8:30 Eastern/7:30 central. Hugh Jackman hosted the live event. Coverage of red carpet arrivals was on E!, the TV Guide Network, and ABC. Check your local listings for times and channels.

Watch The Oscars Live Online

• Associated Press Oscars 2009 – Live red carpet coverage and video highlights
• Backstage at the Oscars – The official Oscras site will have live coverage from backstage.
• Live coverage from El_Parcero
• Live coverage from Club Penguin

Hot Videos of the Academy Awards

• Hulu coverage – Rred carpet coverage and highlights (Available in U.S only).
• Road to Oscars – A video series with the latest oscar buzz and gossip
• Behind the Dress – A fashion focused video series with behind the scenes coverage of the Oscars. Hosted by Nick Verreos.
• BBC – Various news coverage from the Academy Awards (U.K Only)
• Yahoo Movies – More Oscar coverage from Yahoo
• Joost – A selection of Oscar videos from Joost.
• YouTube – The YouTube official Oscars Channel
• ABC News – Videos and news from the awards on ABC News

Search More

• Search for The Oscars Online
• Find The Oscars Torrents
• Graboid (pre-recorded) – Graboid is a very easy to use program that allows you to download pre-recorded videos online through P2P technology. It won’t have live coverage but after the Oscars will have a number of videos of the events that you can download. (Read more)

Nominations

Winners in bold

Best Picture

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Frost/Nixon
• Milk
• The Reader
• Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actor

• Richard Jenkins – The Visitor
• Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
• Sean Penn – Milk
• Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler

Best Actress

• Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
• Angelina Jolie – Changeling
• Melissa Leo – Frozen River
• Meryl Streep – Doubt
• Kate Winslet – The Reader

Best Supporting Actor

• Josh Brolin – Milk
• Robert Downey, Jr. – Tropic Thunder
• Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
• Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
• Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actress

• Amy Adams – Doubt
• Penélope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
• Viola Davis – Doubt
• Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler

Best Director

• Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
• Stephen Daldry – The Reader
• David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
• Gus Van Sant – Milk

Full list of nominees & winners

Highlights from the 81st Academy Awards

Best Picture:

Also check out last years highlights.

Oscars Stuff on eBay

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SALMA HAYEK SEE THROUGH BLOUSE PHOTOS OSCARS 2 7×10s US $10.99   Auction Ends: 14d 23h 19m Make it yours…

Michael Moore’s latest documentary film, Slacker Uprising, is set to be available for free on the Internet. Does this signal a change in the movie industry or just Moore’s desire to see Obama in the White House?

When Radiohead released their latest album, In Rainbows, for free over the Internet last year, it was seen as a forward-thinking step which could revolutionise the way music is distributed.

Changing The Status Quo?

The album did well, but most people still ended up downloading it via less legal means. And the experiment didn’t really do anything to end the monopoly that the big record companies enjoy.

Could film-maker Michael Moore do any better in persuading the movie industry that there is an alternative to releasing movies in to cinemas?

Available For Free Online

Michael Moore, known for his hard-hitting documentaries attacking the status quo, is releasing Slacker Uprising for free on the Internet before it gets released on DVD.

The 97-minute-long film will be available to watch on BlipTV for three weeks starting from September 23rd. It will then be released on DVD on October 7th through Amazon and Netflix.

Unfortunately it will only be available to watch for free online in the United States and Canada, which alienates a lot of the world who would want to watch the documentary.

Slacker Uprising Trailer

Get Bush Out!

Slacker Uprising is a film following Michael Moore’s 62-city tour around the US swing states in the build-up to the 2004 US Presidential Election. Moore wanted Bush out and democrat John Kerry in.

While Moore’s hope wasn’t fulfilled, the documentary is now being released for free over the Internet in order to reach as many people as possible before this year’s US Presidential Election between Barack Obama and John McCain.

Moore Speaks

Moore released a statement explaining the move:

“This is being done entirely as a gift to my fans. The only return any of us are hoping for is the largest turnout of young voters ever at the polls in November. I think Slacker Uprising will inspire (millions) to get off the couch and give voting a chance.”

The film cost an estimated $2 million to make, and Moore thinks that this method of release will end up costing him $1 million. But neither Moore or the distributor, Brave New Films, plan to profit from the release.

Conclusions

This is an intriguing development, especially as Moore could have guaranteed a pay day by releasing this film in cinemas. He has instead decided to give his fans a present in the hope of inspiring more people to vote.

This comes just a week after No End In Sight was announced as being the first widely-released feature film to be screened in its entirety on YouTube.

Will this revolutionise the movie industry? Not a chance. But it does at least show the Web is becoming a more accepted form of distribution for long-form content.

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Buy the ‘Slacker Uprising’ DVD from Amazon