The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

News on Criterion and Janus Films.
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Roger Ryan
Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:04 pm
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Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#201 Post by Roger Ryan » Thu Jul 18, 2019 9:51 am

dustybooks wrote:
Thu Jul 18, 2019 9:38 am
RSTooley wrote:
Thu Jul 18, 2019 7:41 am
Roku users --- have things improved? I'd love to re-subscribe, but my last go around featured a lot of app crashing.
I haven't had any issues in the last month or so. Most recently I played Night of the Hunter and Playtime with no crashes or any other problems.
A recent issue has been that a film or supplement freezes during the final second instead of returning to the menu (necessitating pressing the return button); hardly even qualifies as an inconvenience. Otherwise, everything has been running smoothly.

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#202 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Thu Jul 18, 2019 11:47 am

I don't know if this is Roku-specific, but I've had multiple cases with third-party titles (i.e. not Criterion or Janus) where the captions disappear a few minutes into the movie and nothing I do brings them back. It's happened several times, but the most recent were on Uptight and White Heat.

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mfunk9786
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Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#203 Post by mfunk9786 » Thu Jul 18, 2019 11:49 am

Just a reminder for anyone posting issues in here: take a look at the lead post and e-mail your issues to the channel's technical folks. They actually see that stuff! And in my experience, respond to it. So much so that I eventually got an e-mail days later to inform me that my specific report has been fixed within the latest update.

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fdm
Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:25 pm

Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#204 Post by fdm » Thu Jul 18, 2019 1:53 pm

I requested they get some better audio going, but doesn't seem like a priority for them. I can get Dolby DIgital pretty much everywhere else, even Filmstruck had it, but CC just gives you Dolby Surround at best. It's the audio equivalent of reformatted to fit your (4:3) screen. More emails might light a fire.

Larichever
Joined: Mon Sep 23, 2019 1:48 pm

Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#205 Post by Larichever » Mon Sep 23, 2019 2:02 pm

How come when I watch Chimes at Midnight, for example, on my iPad iOS app it has subtitles? But when I watch it using Roku on my TV, it says subtitles unavailable. Is there a fix for this?

Is this also true about other movies and other ways of watching—subtitles not available on all devices and apps?

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HitchcockLang
Joined: Tue May 28, 2013 1:43 pm

Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#206 Post by HitchcockLang » Mon Sep 30, 2019 9:03 am

This isn't really a technical issue or question but it's definitely not about film and content, but did anyone ever receive their membership card? I never got mine.

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Ribs
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#207 Post by Ribs » Mon Sep 30, 2019 9:07 am

I believe they were delayed a bit and only just went out in the last week or two.

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mfunk9786
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Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#208 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Sep 30, 2019 11:32 am

I got a notification that it was close to going out (something like that), but nothing ever arrived.

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fdm
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Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#209 Post by fdm » Mon Sep 30, 2019 12:11 pm

They "expect to ship them out before the end of October!".

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mfunk9786
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Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#210 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Sep 30, 2019 12:27 pm

I wonder what it's costing them in labor hours and printing and shipping fees - I bet if they just offered $5 coupons with their apologies that it was too effort-intensive to follow up on it, no one would say boo. Well, of course, some would, but it's the internet and people love to complain - but does anyone need a Criterion Channel membership card?

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fdm
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Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#211 Post by fdm » Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:01 pm

Oh by the way, I was poking around in my network bridge's performance statistics last week, happened to notice that my Apple TV 4K had a huge number of "Packets with Errors", unlike any of the other devices (Rokus included) attached to the bridge, which all had zero errors. Which made me wonder if it was the Apple TV 4K itself (or its ethernet cable or that particular port being used on the bridge) that was causing the errors. Or perhaps just something to do with the Criterion Channel app or its server(s), as it's the only thing I run on the Apple TV 4K with any obvious issues (the seemingly periodic video dropouts). Made a few tweaks to the port settings, but that didn't help any.

[Swapping ethernet cables with the Roku now...]

Edit- After switching the ethernet cables around, the "Packets with Errors" seem to be gone from the statistics altogether (cable could have been loose what with what else I've done recently (swapped UPSes)). Still am (visually) seeing dropped video frames on the Apple TV 4K, but also see 12 inbound "Broadcast Packets" which could possibly be when those frames were dropped. Wonder if they could be filtered out somehow.
Last edited by fdm on Mon Sep 30, 2019 7:36 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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HitchcockLang
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Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#212 Post by HitchcockLang » Mon Sep 30, 2019 3:03 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:
Mon Sep 30, 2019 12:27 pm
I wonder what it's costing them in labor hours and printing and shipping fees - I bet if they just offered $5 coupons with their apologies that it was too effort-intensive to follow up on it, no one would say boo. Well, of course, some would, but it's the internet and people love to complain - but does anyone need a Criterion Channel membership card?
I totally agree! I'm not too concerned about whether I get one or not. I just remembered it was a thing I was to get at some point. Actually not sure what I'll do with it when/if it arrives, and I certainly won't be tracking it down if it never does. Just curious.

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mfunk9786
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Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#213 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Sep 30, 2019 3:05 pm

Wasn't a criticism, I promise :)

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DeprongMori
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Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#214 Post by DeprongMori » Mon Sep 30, 2019 9:02 pm

fdm wrote:
Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:01 pm
Oh by the way, I was poking around in my network bridge's performance statistics last week, happened to notice that my Apple TV 4K had a huge number of "Packets with Errors", unlike any of the other devices (Rokus included) attached to the bridge, which all had zero errors. Which made me wonder if it was the Apple TV 4K itself (or its ethernet cable or that particular port being used on the bridge) that was causing the errors. Or perhaps just something to do with the Criterion Channel app or its server(s), as it's the only thing I run on the Apple TV 4K with any obvious issues (the seemingly periodic video dropouts). Made a few tweaks to the port settings, but that didn't help any.

[Swapping ethernet cables with the Roku now...]

Edit- After switching the ethernet cables around, the "Packets with Errors" seem to be gone from the statistics altogether (cable could have been loose what with what else I've done recently (swapped UPSes)). Still am (visually) seeing dropped video frames on the Apple TV 4K, but also see 12 inbound "Broadcast Packets" which could possibly be when those frames were dropped. Wonder if they could be filtered out somehow.
I’ve contacted them a number of times about the issue and the last response I got (last week) was that it was a known problem that they were still trying to resolve. Given that I don’t see the problem on any app except Criterion Channel (and their engine VHX), it seems to be an app issue.

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fdm
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Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#215 Post by fdm » Tue Oct 01, 2019 2:20 am

No doubt (now that I fixed my loose wiring). Funny how long it takes them to fix something like that... though the same thing was happening with FilmStruck (usually), and that never got fixed either. Maybe they should focus on getting Dolby Digital up and running instead.

Though I gotta wonder if maybe they're just coasting along until something else is put in to replace it.

frozenhamster
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:15 am

Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#216 Post by frozenhamster » Sat Oct 05, 2019 6:40 am

So an interesting note: Here in Canada, one other app I would usually notice stuttering similar to Criterion Channel was our local service Crave. Like Criterion, video quality on Crave was often too compressed, and audio was only stereo. A couple weeks back they announced on their reddit page that Dolby 5.1 was finally available on the service and that video was now H.265 compression. Suddenly the quality (depending on the source video) was boosted and on top of that I’ve stopped noticing frame drops. So maybe the technical problem Criterion is having is that VHX is using some other file type, and for maximum compatibility they should switch to H.265. Just a possibility.

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HitchcockLang
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Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#217 Post by HitchcockLang » Wed Oct 30, 2019 8:01 am

For those following the enthralling odyssey of my post a few up, I did receive my Criterion Channel charter membership card in the mail two days ago. It's very nice, metal, and has a steel wire that I almost missed in the bottom of the envelope that you can fasten into a loop so that you can affix it to a bag or key ring or whatever. So if you're on the lookout for your card, I can confirm they do exist.

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willoneill
Joined: Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:10 am
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#218 Post by willoneill » Thu Oct 31, 2019 7:40 pm

Received mine today in Canada. The cable was actually sticking out the back of the envelope. Too big and sharp to be a keychain, but my wife had the ingenious idea that it could be used to help get the cellophane off new blu-rays.

jtarvainen
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Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#219 Post by jtarvainen » Thu Dec 26, 2019 3:44 pm

DeprongMori wrote:
Mon Sep 30, 2019 9:02 pm
I’ve contacted them a number of times about the issue and the last response I got (last week) was that it was a known problem that they were still trying to resolve. Given that I don’t see the problem on any app except Criterion Channel (and their engine VHX), it seems to be an app issue.
Could someone with an Apple TV 4K and the latest version (5.302) of the Criterion Channel app check if this so-called stuttering playback issue is still there?

Thanks!

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fdm
Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:25 pm

Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#220 Post by fdm » Sat Dec 28, 2019 5:27 am

CC on my Apple TV 4K was still stuttering last night. Was fine on Roku.

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Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#221 Post by jtarvainen » Sat Dec 28, 2019 6:51 pm

Damn. Thanks for the info anyway!

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Lowry_Sam
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Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#222 Post by Lowry_Sam » Sat Jan 04, 2020 9:10 pm

I tried using the email at the beginning of the thread, but it didnt work. I had to go to the website help page while logged in to post. I have been having a number of sound issues. About half way in to episode 2 of Burning Bush the sound almost completelely dropped out until the end. I was able to turn the tv up to 11 to get some of the sound back. I sent a message & got a response (where?) but its already gone from the channel. Then last night I encountered very brief sound dropouts, but a number of times during Deathrace 2000. Both problems were replicated when I tried rewinding & replaying. I might try viewing on my computer, but it sounds like a problem with the file in each case. Anyone else no5ticing this a lot lately?

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fdm
Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:25 pm

Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#223 Post by fdm » Sun Jan 05, 2020 4:18 am

I don't spend a lot of time with it, but I haven't experienced any audio issues with the Channel on Roku lately. I did watch those Burning Bush episodes without any issues. (I also recently watched Water Lillies, and the beginnings of some other films as well. Same thing, no issues (aside from the audio not being at least dolby digital).

unclehulot
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Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#224 Post by unclehulot » Mon Jan 06, 2020 2:38 pm

Has anyone else had issues with the Apple TV or FIreTV stick apps today? Twice I’ve had to sign in with my credentials again in order to see my library. “Unable to load” on the Firetv (requires one to log out and then back in).


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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willoneill
Joined: Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:10 am
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Re: The Criterion Channel -- Technical Issues and Questions

#225 Post by willoneill » Mon Jan 06, 2020 4:22 pm

I had to re-log in on our bedroom Roku TV this afternoon; other than that though, no issues.

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