[armtv]

I am in need of assistance from someone who is an expert in mac computers...(which I am not)

I am willing to pay for the assistance if it goes beyond just answering a question or two.

basic set up...

I own a website that streams armwrestling videos...

up until a few days ago all of my videos were in realplayer format.

then I switched to windows media which is causing a few customers to have problems.

The customers are saying that the windows media files will not play on their computers (mac users only)

some one has said that they purchased flip4mac program and still won't work.

I need to know if it is my browser that has the wrong embedded player for them or is it the customers systems that are messed up.

(one guy says his computer won't install windows 9) (which is recommended for mac users)

1. question 1. is it my website or customers system or browser that needs adjusting?

2. is there someone here that can help me to fix my website, if that is the case?

3. is there someone here that can help with a new embedded player that will make all customers happy...just just PC users but also mac users?

Thanks

Gary Roberts
gsr26@cox.net

to veiw an example of video that I have talked about, click on link below and use username and password for access...

thanks

USERNAME- tempmac
password- tempmac

http://www.armwrestlingtv.com/passwo...EUNCUTSUN.html

[Uncle Skeleton]

That sample plays fine on my mac. I have 2 ideas for your end and one for theirs, though none are very likely.

1. It seems to be a non-standard codec ("WMV Image Codec" instead of Windows Media 9 (or 7 or 8)); if possible, you might switch to another codec. If you can use WMV7 (sometimes called WMV1), you get the added bonus that VLC can play it flawlessly, which would also help linux users. 2. You are using both horizontal and vertical resolutions that are not even multiples of 8; this is generally bad for playback performance with all codecs. On the other hand, I can still play your movie on my 400 mhz G3 powerbook, so they're obviously not the problem you're experiencing.

On their end, they might be using an Intel mac with the PPC version of flip4mac. The intel version was just released recently, so you could remind them to go upgrade (although the software itself does an irritatingly thorough job of reminding me to upgrade, so that is not so likely either).

Are you getting complaints on this particular file, or just on all files in general?

[armtv]

I am getting complaints on all of the files that I have converted to Windows Media. I have encoded them with windows media encoder 9 and I don't know how to change vertical resolutions of that which you are talking about. (I am not even sure what you mean to be honest)

below is the codec that I am using with the player...

How do I know what codec I am using vs. finding the right codec

thanks for all your help

Gary


<object id="mediaPlayer" width="450" height="395" classid="CLSID:22d6f312-b0f6-11d0-94ab-0080c74c7e95" codebase="http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/mplayer/en/nsmp2inf.cab#Version=5,1,52,701" standby="Loading Microsoft Windows Media Player components..." type="application/x-oleobject">
<param name="fileName" value="http://www.armwrestlingtv.com/password/VIDEO/2006/06UNIFIEDNATS/06UNIFIEDNATSLIVEUNCUTSUN.wmv" ref>
<param name="stretchToFit" value="true">
<param name="animationatStart" value="-1">
<param name="transparentatStart" value="-1">
<param name="autoStart" value="-1">
<param name="showControls" value="-1">
<param name="AudioStream" value="-1">
<param name="AutoSize" value="0">
<param name="AllowScan" value="-1">
<param name="AllowChangeDisplaySize" value="-1">
<param name="AutoRewind" value="0">
<param name="Balance" value="0">
<param name="BaseURL" value>
<param name="BufferingTime" value="5">
<param name="CaptioningID" value>
<param name="ClickToPlay" value="-1">
<param name="CursorType" value="0">
<param name="CurrentPosition" value="-1">
<param name="CurrentMarker" value="0">
<param name="DefaultFrame" value>
<param name="DisplayBackColor" value="0">
<param name="DisplayForeColor" value="16777215">
<param name="DisplayMode" value="0">
<param name="DisplaySize" value="4">
<param name="Enabled" value="-1">
<param name="EnableContextMenu" value="-1">
<param name="EnablePositionControls" value="-1">
<param name="EnableFullScreenControls" value="0">
<param name="EnableTracker" value="-1">
<param name="InvokeURLs" value="-1">
<param name="Language" value="-1">
<param name="Mute" value="0">
<param name="PlayCount" value="1">
<param name="PreviewMode" value="0">
<param name="Rate" value="1">
<param name="SAMILang" value>
<param name="SAMIStyle" value>
<param name="SAMIFileName" value>
<param name="SelectionStart" value="-1">
<param name="SelectionEnd" value="-1">
<param name="SendOpenStateChangeEvents" value="-1">
<param name="SendWarningEvents" value="-1">
<param name="SendErrorEvents" value="-1">
<param name="SendKeyboardEvents" value="0">
<param name="SendMouseClickEvents" value="0">
<param name="SendMouseMoveEvents" value="0">
<param name="SendPlayStateChangeEvents" value="-1">
<param name="ShowCaptioning" value="0">
<param name="ShowAudioControls" value="-1">
<param name="ShowDisplay" value="0">
<param name="ShowGotoBar" value="0">
<param name="ShowPositionControls" value="-1">
<param name="ShowStatusBar" value="-1">
<param name="ShowTracker" value="-1">
<param name="VideoBorderWidth" value="0">
<param name="VideoBorderColor" value="0">
<param name="VideoBorder3D" value="0">
<param name="Volume" value="-600">
<param name="WindowlessVideo" value="0">
<EMBED type='application/x-mplayer2'
pluginspage='http://microsoft.com/windows/mediaplayer/en/download/'
id='mediaPlayer' name='mediaPlayer' displaysize='4' autosize='-1'
bgcolor='darkblue' showcontrols="true" showtracker='-1'
showdisplay='0' showstatusbar='-1' videoborder3d='-1' width="450" height="395"
src="http://www.armwrestlingtv.com/password/VIDEO/2006/06UNIFIEDNATS/06UNIFIEDNATSLIVEUNCUTSUN.wmv" autostart="true" designtimesp='5311' loop="false">
</EMBED></object>

[memento]

Sounds like you need to learn about video in general first, then about Mac. They key to creating videos for distribution is to use a codec that is most widely accessible.

a codec is how the video is compressed. COmpressor/DECompressor.

Uncle is correct in what he says. I really can't add much more since I know nothing about the specific software you are using to compress the movies.

[armtv]

I have beend doing some research...

SHOULD I USE FLASH VIDEO INSTEAD/ FLASH PLAYER?

[Uncle Skeleton]

I dislike flash (as an end user; it often crashes my browsers and bogs down my system), but it might be a way to avoid your current problem without having to learn anything. Or you could just tell us what you use to compress your movies (program and settings) and maybe we could advise you on a better codec or parameters.

[stevesnj]

if you can convert them to mpg both PC and mac will play them fine. also that file is over 300mb...Windows media may not start to play until the whole video is downloaded. It may be working it just takes a long time to view it.

[Uncle Skeleton]

It plays fine for me, in the browser as it downloads. armtv, did you ask your users what browser they use?

[badidea]

Since Flip4Mac I have to admit that I really like WMV files for watching short movies while browsing!
They open right away in a Quicktime Window where I can watch them fullscreen!
Flip4Mac, Quicktime and Safari are a good team for this!

MPEG movies either play inside a browser window with an usually very small size or I have to copy/paste the URL to the Quicktime player for fullscreen.

DivX movies do not play until they are fully loaded.

Real Player files are also not that bad but only if they are hosted on a fast reliable server or else they tend to timeout too often.


BUT if you want to make sure that your movies are playable on every Mac and Windows OS out there, then you have to make MPEG1 movies - with everything else you will always have someone who complains!!