You are here

Criterion on Demand Renewal 2016-2017

Response Deadline: 
October 19, 2016

Subscription Term

Begins: 

October 1, 2016

Ends: 

September 30, 2017

BC ELN is pleased to offer a licence for Criterion on Demand, a streaming media service offering access to over 2,000 major motion pictures (largely Hollywood films). This license is made available through a national site license negotiated on behalf of Consortia Canada by the Ontario Colleges Library Service (OCLS).


Updates: 

New platform: Criterion will switch from their current platform to Kaltura on Oct 15-19, 2016. They expect the transfer to be seamless. Please note the following changes:

  • Films will again be playable in Google Chrome. No plug-ins will be required. Kaltura uses a modular Universal DRM implementation that does not require Silverlight in Chrome.
  • Silverlight is still required in Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer.
  • The video player uses Adaptive Bitrate Streaming, so locations with limited bandwidth will still be able to begin playback without interruptions/buffering (the lowest bitrate served is 470kbps and the highest is 1290kbps).
  • The option to download movies will no longer be available, as there is no downloadable Kaltura player that supports the new Universal DRM. However, the new streaming method should solve the problems that drove users to downloading in the first place.
  • Title management is faster and easier in Kaltura so title additions can be more frequent.

Temporary removal of ~500 Fox Studios titles: Criterion expects the titles to return to the collection in January. However, they will only be accessible on-campus.

Access via MARC record vs. vendor URL:With the solution in place for Fox titles to be accessed on-campus only, access can be offered via MARC record or the vendor's platform via the access URL.

MARC records: Criterion is adding a page to their website where subscribers can access MARC records, updated title lists, and lists of additions and deletions. Link to come.

Licence Agreement: Changes to be made based on the access methods available. We will continue to work with them on this.

New titles: Approximately 100 new titles from eOne Library will be added in November. Title list to come.


Overview

Vendor: 
Criterion Pictures
View current product description on the vendor's website
Platform: 
Criterion-on-Demand
Remote Access
Unlimited Access

Additional Information

Access:

Unlimited access via IP address authentication both on and off-campus. For now the vendor has committed to allowing off-campus access. Usage will be monitored. This decision may be re-evaluated if signs of abuse appear. Downloading films to a laptop for later viewing is also possible.

EZproxy config info is available at https://pluto.potsdam.edu/ezproxywiki/index.php/Category:Example_Configurations#Criterion-on-Demand

Access to the streaming media films is available through links in the MARC records or through a link to the CoD platform at this time. However, access via the CoD platform for remote access may be limited to access via MARC records in the future.

Supporting Documentation: See the Criterion On Demand Resource entry.

​Additional Implementation Details:

1. Title Requests

Criterion is willing to add new titles to the platform at the request of libraries. Criterion must already hold the Canadian rights for the film/studio in question. The request form is available at: http://www.criterionondemand.com/about-criterion-on-demand/title-suggestions

2. MARC Records

Access to the films is via links embedded in MARC records. Files are available at the Criterion On Demand eResource page. The vendor is working on its own webpage where up-to-date MARC records can be accessed.

Although the website lists all the films, Criterion has chosen not to add direct links to play the films. This is a deliberate decision to distinguish this educational market product from other consumer platforms.

3. Title Lists

An up to date title list is available on the CoD eResource page. The website also has excellent search and browse features.

4. Silverlight

In order to play films on browsers other than Chrome, the user must have the Silverlight browser plug-in installed. This is a DRM system which is designed to prevent mis-use of the digital content. Silverlight is free and takes only a few minutes to download and install. Silverlight is compatible with a wide variety of operating systems and browsers including:

  • Internet Explorer 8+, Firefox 12+, Safari 4+
  • Windows 7+, Mac 10.5+

Not every browser and OS combination is compatible. Please see the System Requirements tab on http://www.microsoft.com/getsilverlight/Get-Started/Install/Default.aspx for more details.

5. Downloading Films

Downloading films will be phased out.

Questions? Contact: 
Brandon Weigel