Accounts & Licensing

• What's the difference between Individual and other types of accounts?
  Aside from individual or institutional pricing, the only difference is how your purchased videos are accessed. 
  

  • Individual Accounts may only be viewed by logging into this site with the username/password that you select at purchase.
  • K-12, College,Library Accounts (Institutional) can be accessed from this site by the purchaser with the username/password selected at purchase.
  • Videos purchased with an Institutional Account can be viewed by anyone if they visit this website from any of the authorized IP address.
  • Authorized IP addresses can be specified for Institutional Accounts by the person that purchased the videos.
• I can't log in - What should I do?
  You do NOT need a password to view the videos purchased by your institution, just click on Institution Access. If the video clips that you are expecting to see do not appear there, you need to contact your administrator to properly configure the account for your institution.

  If you're having trouble logging into the application first check that you are typing in your user name and password correctly. Verify that your caps lock key is not on. If you continue to have problems, try resetting your password - use the "Forgot Password" link and a new password will be emailed to you.

  If you do not receive your password in a few minutes and have reset it more than once contact the system administrator using the contact page available on this web site. There may have been trouble sending you an email for some reason.

Technical Requirements

• What kind of computer equipment and Internet access do I need?

  Users need a high-speed Internet connection (DSL or cable, no dial-up) and audio capabilities (sound card) to accommodate streaming audio and video.

• What media player do I need to have installed to view the videos?

  Ambrose Video previews are offered as Flash streams. Our high-quality Flash streams can be played on any computer with the Flash browser plug in (free download). Windows Media downloads require the Windows Media Player (free download). For Macs to play Windows Media downloads, you have to also download the Flip4 Mac plug in (free download).

• What technical standards do you use for streaming from your website?
  Bitrate switching essentially means that we have different files of different qualities of each Ambrose Program on the site. The internet connection speed of the customer will determine which file it will stream. The higher the internet connection, the better quality the file (but they all look good).

  The file specs are as follows:
  • All files are Adobe Flash 9+ h.264 with a file extension of .MP4.
  • The three level of quality are (from lowest to highest), 425kbps, 900kbps, and 1500kbps.
  • A growing number of titles are being encoded in HD. As they become available, a separate "HD Streaming" link will appear. Those files are 2000kbps and look great, but do require a high amount of bandwidth to be viewed.!

Viewing Your Videos

• How can I go directly to the videos that my Institution has licensed?
  The list of licensed videos can be viewed by clicking on the "Institution Access" tab, or by going directly to http://www.ambrosedigital.com/institutions/.
  
  Using the IP addresses that have been configured for an Institution's license, the site can determine which videos are available to the users that visit the site based on the IP address that they are currently using. 
  
  If by chance, an IP address is specified for more than one license (unlikely, but possible), the visitor is presented a list of the institutions that have configured the IP address.  Upon selecting the applicable institution, the appropriate list of video links is displayed.
• When I click the links for each video, nothing happens. What should I do?

  The videos will play in a new window. You need to have Javascript enabled in your browser. If you have a pop up blocker, you will need to turn it off. Make sure you do not have any "Popup Blockers" blocking this site.

  Enabling Javascript in your browser.
  1. Pull down the Tools menu and choose Internet Options
  2. Click on the Security tab
  3. Click on Internet
  4. Click on Custom Level and scroll down to the section on Scripting
  5. Make sure that Active Scripting is enabled
  6. Click on OK
  7. Click on Local Intranet and repeat steps 4-6
• Why doesn't the video play, or take so long to buffer?
  The videos are intended to be streamed using a highspeed internet connection. Using a slow connection will cause the video to not play properly. If the videos frequently buffer, then it means that you are not maintaining a fast enough connection to our servers to watch our videos. Please contact your network administrator. We do not support dialup connections.
• Can I fast forward or rewind the video?
  You can fast forward, rewind, pause, stop and restart the video using the controls in the player. To use the fast forward or rewind buttons, you simply need to press the buttons and release them. Press them again to stop the fast forwarding or rewinding and resume normal play. You will need to let the video buffer before you can use these controls. Buffer time depends on your connection speed.
• Is a firewall on my end possibly preventing me from viewing the videos?
  The Flash videos on this website require your network administrator to have enabled TCP port 1935 for the Real Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP). This is the port and protocol used by the Flash Media Servers which stream the videos. A network administrator may have knowingly disabled port 1935 on your network due to bandwidth concerns since many users viewing streaming video concurrently could create a bottleneck if not carefully managed. If this is the case, then you would be unable to view the streaming video clips from this website, and you will need to work with your network administrator to enable access on your network's firewall.
  
  Likely, you would have no trouble viewing videos from a home computer. If this is the case, then you can pretty well know that it's due to network settings at your facility, in which case you will need speak with your network department to gain access.

IP/Proxy Authentication & LMS Integration

• How does IP address and proxy server authentication work?
  You can configure IP addresses of your institution’s network that this website will use to recognize requests for video access. When configured properly, users with an IP address that falls within the list of authorized IP addresses will be granted access to view videos without further authentication. This is ideal for anyone who wishes to access videos from an on-campus location where you can predict what will be the source IP addresses of your users. Authentication is seamless, and the user will never be prompted to login.
  
  In order for users that reside off-campus to have access to videos, your institution must use a proxy server. This is necessary because it is not possible to reliably predict the IP address of someone using a private internet service provider, as IP addresses are assigned dynamically. Using a proxy server gives the appearance to our servers that the off-campus request is coming from a known on-campus IP address. The proxy server handles authentication using some sort of password-protected page, with user credentials usually supplied from a database or directory, such as LDAP.
  
  There are several proxy server solutions available that can be integrated with existing directory services; a popular one is OCLC’s EZproxy. Most institutions with libraries that subscribe to scholarly journals and electronic databases (such as Ebsco, Lexus Nexus, and others) utilize proxy servers to give access to these materials to users from off-campus. The configuration for access to this site from off-campus will be very similar.
  
  Access via off-campus or on-campus from an allowed IP address or proxy server will allow the user to view content from the Institution Access page without logging in, which is a listing of all licensed content with links to view the media. In addition, direct links to the media will also be permitted for use from those allowed IP addresses or proxy servers.
• How do I configure IP address authentication for on-campus users?
  To configure one or more IP addresses for on-campus access, follow these steps:

  1. Login and then choose the My Account tab.
  2. Click Account Information, and then scroll toward the bottom of the page.
  3. Under Institutional Information, fill in the Authorized IP Address(es).  Use the following convention:
     • If a single IP address, enter in the IPv4 dotted-decimal format of

       		123.45.67.89		

     • Wildcards are allowed (*) as long as all four octets are represented – for example,

       		123.45.*.*		

       is acceptable, but 123.45.* is not.
     • Use only one asterisk (*) per wildcard – for example,

       		123.45.67.*		

       is acceptable, but 123.45.67.** is not.
     • Partial IP ranges are not supported (e.g., 123.45.67.10-22). Instead, either list each IP separately, or just enter the entire range.
     • Separate multiple entries with commas or put each on a separate line. For example:

       		123.45.66.7, 123.45.68.*, 123.49.*.*		

       or

       		123.45.66.7
       		123.45.68.*
       		123.49.*.*		

  4. Click the save icon at the top of the page. Your changes will take effect immediately.
• How do I configure proxy server authentication for off-campus users?
  Watch how to do this!

  To configure one or more proxy servers for off-campus access, follow these steps:

  1. Login and then choose the My Account tab.
  2. Click Account Information, and then scroll toward the bottom of the page.
  3. Under Institutional Information, add the IP address(es) of your proxy server(s) to the list of Authorized IP Addresses, separated by commas (see the other FAQ on this topic).
  4. Under Proxy Server Information, fill in the hostname for your proxy server. This should be a full-qualified domain name (FQDN), such as:

     ezproxy.lib.yourschool.edu
     

  5. If you have multiple proxy servers or other information relative to your configuration, please provide those details in the Proxy Server Information field.
  6. Click the save icon at the top of the page. Your changes will not take effect immediately, as some manual configuration is necessary on our servers in order to recognized requests from your proxy server(s). Please allow 24 hours or one business day for your changes to be effective. If you encounter issues with your proxy server configuration after that period of time, please use the Support link at the bottom of this site to send us an e-mail.
  7. Configure your own proxy server(s) to proxy all traffic that goes to all of the following domains: ambrosedigital.com, www.ambrosedigital.com, and dma.iriseducation.org
     
     A sample configuration known to work on EZproxy to proxy traffic is provided below:

     Title Ambrose Video
     URL www.ambrosedigital.com/institutions/
     DomainJavaScript ambrosedigital.com
     DomainJavaScript dma.iriseducation.org
     

• How do I integrate videos with my existing web-based systems?
  There are two ways to do this: 1) direct links via proxy server/IP authentication (described in previous FAQ articles), or 2) embedded video using iframe HTML code (see below).
  The preferred method is to first ensure that your IP address and proxy server authentication is working. Once you have that in place, you will be able to copy and paste the links to the videos into your course management system, booking system, or media catalog. Authentication happens behind the scenes for on-campus users, as their IP address is confirmed to be in the list of Authorized IP Addresses. If connecting from off-campus, they should be prompted by your proxy server for a username and password or other credentials.
  
  Place the links into your secure web-based systems. This will automatically pop open new windows on the users’ computers and begin playing the content.
  If you wish to embed a Flash video onto a web page, you can use an iframe in your HTML that references the link. The links to the Flash media can be obtained by clicking them from your My Videos page when logged in, and then copying the link from the bottom of the page where it says "permalink." You can also download an Excel spreadsheet of your permalinks from the My Videos page.
  Below is a sample HTML snippet of an iframe:

  <iframe
  src="http://drm.iriseducation.org/package/v2/dma_index.php?license=3e35a6b37812b40e0716cba2791bf7fe2&file=404211"
  name="viewer"
  id="viewer"
  width="325"
  height="267">
  </iframe>
  

  Depending on how your proxy server has been configured, you may need to insert a pre-pend or post-pend to the URL so that the user’s computer is instructed to send the request through your proxy server. Example links that go through a proxy server for a media link might look like the following examples:
  

  http://drm.iriseducation.org.ezproxy.lib.yourschool.edu:2048/package/v2/dma_index.php?license=3e3...
  

  https://ezproxy.lib.yourschool.edu:2443/login?url=http://drm.iriseducation.org/package/v2/dma_index.php?license=3e3...