Scotflix offers free HD movies to students

Scotflix is a new service that gives students online access to free on-demand movies each month.  Scotflix replaced SWANK, Maryville College’s previous movie channel, and promises better quality and accessibility than its predecessor.

Student Development proposed the adoption of Scotflix after students experienced multiple problems with SWANK, such as channel bleedthrough, poor color quality and inconvenient movie times. The new Scotflix system will address these problems by providing unlimited viewings of 12 high-definition movies every month with no cost or time restrictions.

Scotflix will be accessible on the campus Wi-Fi system in residence halls from laptops, desktops or Smart TV sets with Microsoft Silverlight installed. Students with compatible devices can also use HDMI cables to connect a laptop or desktop to a television.

Scotflix operates on its own server, according to the director of information technology, Mark Fugate. Unlike other web-based services like Netflix, Hulu and YouTube, which currently use the most bandwidth on campus, student use of Scotflix will not affect internet speeds.

Students will be able to watch movies on Scotflix at their convenience, which is an advantage of the site over SWANK.

“Having Scotflix online is simpler to use because I don’t have to worry about finding the schedule posted on my hall or in my email,” said MC senior Leah Petr. “I can watch whichever movie I want on my time instead of when it happens to be playing.”

In addition to the ability to start movies at their convenience, students can also pause and stop movies or jump to any point in the duration of a movie.

“I would very rarely be free for an entire scheduled SWANK movie, but now I can watch when I have the time,” Petr said.

As a result of the convenience and accessibility of Scotflix, Alison Fox, the director of Student Development, hopes for more student participation in the movie selection process. Students are able to influence the line-up of movies offered by participating in surveys each month through the link in Today at MC.

“We program for students. Without students letting us know what they want, we can’t cater to student needs,” Fox said. Fox analyzes the first 100 surveys completed and movie selections will be made based on student interest.

Junior Katie Spears said that she will be more likely to participate in the surveys for the new site. “I’m interested in seeing what movies will be next. Being able to watch Scotflix from anywhere means that I will want to share my opinions more,” Spears said. Spears has viewed three movies on Scotflix this semester and plans to continue using the system often.

Fox is optimistic about the success of Scotflix and sees the potential for improvements in the future, such as the possibility of making Scotflix accessible from devices not currently supported and streaming commercials for student and campus organizations before movies. For now, however, encouraging more students to participate in the monthly surveys is her main goal.

“We need more student involvement!” Fox said.

Scotflix is available online at

http://scotflix.maryvillecollege.edu.

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