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Reggie Fowler · Apr 13, 2006, 07:07 AM

What's the difference between Flip4Mac and Popwires WMV 9 Component which was just released yesterday?

What does each one do? Do i need them both?

pat++ · Apr 13, 2006, 09:43 AM

From what i've seen, Flip4Mac doesn't support Intel Macs yet, but does provide a plugin for Internet browsers... Looks like Popwires is more stable for me...

rickey939 · Apr 13, 2006, 09:51 AM

Is Popwire's version free? Have a link? I couldn't find anything on MacUpdate about this software.

Thanks!

pat++ · Apr 13, 2006, 10:01 AM

http://www.popwire.com/product_info....&products_id=7

and btw, I think they don't support the same codecs (flip4mac supports wma lossless, popwire doesn't it seems...)

rickey939 · Apr 13, 2006, 10:35 AM

Originally Posted by pat++

http://www.popwire.com/product_info....&products_id=7

and btw, I think they don't support the same codecs (flip4mac supports wma lossless, popwire doesn't it seems...)

Interesting, thank you for the information/link.

antoniola · Apr 13, 2006, 11:46 AM

There's a significant difference between Popwire and Flip4Mac. IMHO, Flip4Mac is far superior. Popwire only supports WM9 and does nothing for web streaming. Creating an Intel version is very intense for F4M programmers, so it's gonna take a little more time for them to get it all done and tested. As you see below, it covers a lot of ground and thus needs a lot of QA to make sure it's gonne be stable. I don't think it will be too long before we see the UB version. Even Apple and Adobe don't have all their apps converted yet.

Here's what I just put up on my Flip4Mac blog: http://flip4mac.blogspot.com/

Thought I'd sum this up for anybody wondering what F4M can really deal with.

Flip4Mac’s supports WM7, 8, 9, 9 Advanced, ISO MPEG 4 V1.0 & V1.1, Microsoft MPEG 4 V2 & V2 along with multiple audio codecs. And not only that, but it's a web plugin for AV playback. Considering all the streaming formats out there, that bit is quite complex.

Of course you can pay a wee bit more for import and export features, but IMHO, the freebie is impressive. Frankly, I don't know how they can give it away.

rickey939 · Apr 13, 2006, 01:09 PM

Thanks antoniola, great post!

Chris Grande · Apr 13, 2006, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by antoniola

Frankly, I don't know how they can give it away.

Well they didn't use too, it was like 25 bucks or so for just playback. They started giving it away when Microsoft embraced it when they dropped their Windows Media Player for Mac. I'm guess MS payed them something so they could distribute it on their site for free.

Flip4Mac going forward is going to be the only way we as Mac users are going to be able to view WMV/WMA on the the web (a necessary evil unfortunately). I really hope they clean up the internet plugin and make it a little more stable.

JKT · Apr 13, 2006, 03:15 PM

Actually, it was only $9 for the browser/QT plug-in for playback.

Gordio · Apr 13, 2006, 08:18 PM

Is anyone having trouble w/ downloading popwire? I can't download it nor visit their site. I think their site is down?

joe · Apr 13, 2006, 11:00 PM

Originally Posted by Chris Grande

Flip4Mac - I really hope they clean up the internet plugin and make it a little more stable.

Ditto. It works great with QuickTtime Player in stand alone mode. But the browser plugin doesn't seem to work on most web sites. I went back to the official WMP player to get the streamers working again.

badtz · Apr 15, 2006, 05:30 AM

Originally Posted by joe

Ditto. It works great with QuickTtime Player in stand alone mode. But the browser plugin doesn't seem to work on most web sites. I went back to the official WMP player to get the streamers working again.

If you have both the original WMP and F4M installed, how do you make sure that streaming video is done by WMP and not F4M?

JKT · Apr 15, 2006, 07:12 AM

If you had WiMP installed before installing Flip4Mac, it puts the WiMP plug in into a disabled folder in the Internet Plug-ins folder - to swap the two, just deselect the Use Flip4Mac WMV internet plug-in in the Flip4Mac system preferences pane and the WiMP plug-in will be re-activated. Note, you can't pick and choose which plug-in to use on a site per site basis - it is either one or the other.

joe · Apr 15, 2006, 05:36 PM

badtz, JKT: If you'd like to view a web site that displays the problems I was having with F4M try the news/weather broadcasts here:
http://www.wnep.com

All I could get on that site with F4M installed was a new tab in Safari and a QT bar graph that never moved. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling F4M twice - including the point update that was released a day or two after the announcment. But no dice. When I re-installed WMP9 Mac the video worked great (even full screen). Another site that displays a similar problem:
http://www.cbsnews.com

However, CBS also offers support for Real Player which seems to stream better on my Mac than WMP9. So I leave that site set to use Real.

If there's an update to F4M that fixes the web / streaming problem I'll try again. But for now, WMP9 Mac seems to be the only player that streams WMP content consistently on my Mac.