The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

[willoneill]

Quick help request: On the current Criterion Channel iOS client, is anyone successfully able to paste text into the Search field?

I can type text into the field, but it is not allowing paste for me. I can successfully paste that same buffered text into the Search field of any other app on my phone. I’m trying to determine whether the problem is the app itself, or whether some hidden app-specific field got set somewhere on my phone. I have totally de-installed and re-installed the app on the device, with no change in behavior.

Just checked and I have the same issue. Must be the app itself.

[dwk]

Vimeo to be acquired by Bending Spoons. Curious to see if this has any effect on the Channel (or Arrow's streaming service, since they also use Vimeo.)

[Matt]

Recently fully watched films no longer clear from my "Continue Watching" list. Also, films I've left unfinished do not move into that section and do not mark where I left off. This is on both Apple TV and the website. Anyone experience something similar or is it just me?

[dwk]

That is happening to me too on both the Roku and my Android phone.

[Kassevetes412]

This has been happening to me as well-Roku and my desktop using Google Chrome. The Continue Watching/Resume feature basically does not work at all now. I've contacted "support" a half dozen times to last few weeks about this and just get the runaround.

[Matt]

Sadly, their support has always been useless. But thank you for confirming that it's not just me.

[dwk]

I do think the continue watching/resume always seems to go wonky towards the end of the month.

[Matt]

I surprisingly got an explanation:

We are currently working on infrastructural changes to our stats system, which our resume playback feature works off of. Due to these changes, our resume playback functionality has been temporarily disabled.

We do hope to prioritize this in the future and fix when we can, however we do not have any definitive timelines to share at this time. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.

I guess if I don’t finish something, I’ll just have to note where I left off.

[fiendishthingy]

For what it's worth, a movie that I had finished a week or two ago that refused to disappear from my continue watching list is gone now, but another movie that I started tonight isn't appearing there (which makes sense if the resume playback function is disabled).

[Matt]

I just checked and the movie that was stuck there has cleared. But now one I finished last night and one I haven't finished are there. Ghost in the machine!

[Fragonard]

I do think the continue watching/resume always seems to go wonky towards the end of the month.

That's interesting. I only noticed it this month, about 10-14 days ago. Support always says it's fixed while it gets worse. There is no "continue watching" list at all now. I think technical support's role is to teach you not to complain.

[dwk]

Always is probably an overstatement, but for the last few months it has quit working during the last 7-10 days of the month.

[yoloswegmaster]

For some reason the highest quality available to stream in is 720p. Is this happening for anyone else?

[Nedoflanders]

Ditto. Only the 24/7 feed is showing as 1080p, although that might not be native.

[malachi_lui]

Lots of discussion on Reddit right now about the Channel resolution topping out at 720p instead of the usual 1080p. I submitted a complaint earlier today and heard back from Vimeo OTT support that they're working to resolve the issue... yet Metrograph uses the same Vimeo OTT base and was still playing 1080p, it's just the Criterion Channel that's having this issue. Hoping it gets resolved soon but in the meantime I have plenty of discs to catch up on.

[brundlefly]

Dropout also uses Vimeo OTT, and sent out a message mid-day yesterday that in addition to their own DNS update...

There was some scheduled maintenance by Vimeo OTT this morning that caused video playback issues.

This was just some bad timing – for a few hours, some issues that were incurred during a scheduled maintenance caused videos to be unplayable for a brief period this morning. Luckily, everything on that front is now resolved and video playback should be working.

Another link for you to bookmark – https://status.vhx.tv. This will tell you if there are ever any Vimeo OTT-wide issues affecting Dropout and other platforms powered by Vimeo OTT.

[Tom Amolad]

At least on my phone, I’m getting an error message (“Code -11835”) when trying to watch Egoyan’s Calendar. Do others get the same?

[dwk]

Vimeo to be acquired by Bending Spoons. Curious to see if this has any effect on the Channel (or Arrow's streaming service, since they also use Vimeo.)

And, of course, Vimeo lays off most of its staff just months after being bought by private equity firm

[Matt]

Maybe Criterion can hop back on the HBO Max video platform. Filmstruck 2.0!

[mfunk9786]

Time to start uploading 4K movies via some other provider!

[dwk]

Any one else getting a forbidden access error (403-101) if they try and watch any of the following:
To Live and Die in LA
The Hunted
Rude
Double Happiness

[LastMinit]

Any one else getting a forbidden access error (403-101) if they try and watch any of the following:
To Live and Die in LA
The Hunted
Rude
Double Happiness

I was earlier, for the first two anyway. They had a lock icon on the collections page, and trying to watch them brought me to a sign-up screen, even though I was signed in. Now though, To Live and Die in L.A. is clear of the icon and working fine, but The Hunted has disappeared altogether. Shenanigans.

[dwk]

Rude seems to have vanished too. Double Happiness is gone from the just added section, however, it shows up if you search for it, but there is no video.

[Matt]

Gee, what could the consequences be of laying off your whole video staff, Vimeo?

[dwk]

Double Happiness, The Hunted, and Rude are all back and playable.