Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of runnr
runnr

asked on

Cross-browser movie tag.

I am trying to understand why a QuickTime movie plays offline, but when uploaded does not play on the same machine? I want it to be as cross-browser as possible and could use the latest tag for this purpose. I wanted it to hide the controller and not loop. Here is the current URL for this page: http://msj.edu/academics/art/webclass/summerclass/hager/portfolio.html
Avatar of bruno
bruno
Flag of United States of America image

plays for me, no controller, and does not seem to loop.
Avatar of runnr
runnr

ASKER

Well that's fine but the question I asked goes unanswered. My computer displays the controller. The machine at work does what I said in my question. I am using IE 5.1.3.
First of all.....You didn't ask a question.


You STATED:  "I wanted it to hide the controller and not loop"



The controller is hidden, and it does not loop, the way I see it.  I am using IE 6 on Win 98.


If you'd like to ASK a question, or reword what you are trying to say, please go ahead and do so.  



BRUNO
Avatar of runnr

ASKER

OK, here's the question..."I am trying to understand why a QuickTime movie plays offline, but when uploaded does not play on the same machine?"....I am trying to understand how this is possible in order to future trouble-shoot. In my reply I also stated " My computer displays the controller." I am wondering why. I am looking for a cross-browser, cross-platform tag.  
NOTE: for some reason, your webpage brings up debug errors on my computer when I tried to look at it with MSIE 5.00 on Win 2k Svr. The errors came from your onmouseovers.
NOTE: for some reason, your webpage brings up debug errors on my computer when I tried to look at it with MSIE 5.00 on Win 2k Svr. The errors came from your onmouseovers.
Sorry for the repeated comment due to a browser refresh.

If you don't want your video to loop, you can try adding the attribute loop="false". Also, your embed code seems to be cross-platform ok.

Additional NOTES: Your external javascript code is linked locally with the URL "file://...." which means it would be on "my computer" when I view your page. You should probably change that to the website URL where it is actually located instead. Additionally, your Quicktime movie appears to be quite BIG or the server was busy at the time. You can make your video play sooner for us with slow 56kbps modems by encoding your video as a fast-start or hinted stream and add an additional attribute to your embed code. It can stream via HTTP but not as well as Real Video.

<EMBED SRC="placeholder_image.mov" TYPE="image/x-quicktime" HEIGHT=100 WIDTH=100 CONTROLLER="false" QTSRC="http://msj.edu/academics/art/webclass/summerclass/hager/Portfolio.mov">

You would need to make a placeholder image for loading before playback
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of mraible
mraible

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
And finally....

Most movie files, of any type, are HUGE. HUGE. VERY VERY LARGE. They take time to download on any but the highest speed connections. Even then there will likely be a lag. If you're using a dialup connection, it can take minutes, many minutes, or HOURS, depending on the size of the files.

How big are these? 2MB? 5? 20?

OFFLINE, it will play immediately, because it's THERE. On your machine. It doesn't have to download it. ONLINE, it has to download BEFORE it will play.

If you were streaming this, it would be different. But if you're just embedding a movie file, that's NOT streaming and it has to completely download FIRST, THEN play. Takes time.
Avatar of runnr

ASKER

daluu,

The URL problem makes sense. I still can't figure out how I am seeing a controller when the attribute controller="false". The fast-start or hinted stream tag sounds intriguing and I will try it. I noticed in your example it shows "placeholder_image.mov" and you mentioned a placeholder image. Wouldn't the placeholder image have a graphic extension like .jpg?
runnr,

If you want to do streaming, now you're getting into some dirt!  You have to add an "href" attribute to both object and embed and this points to *.mov.

Now the tricky part ;)
1.  Install QuickTime or Darwin Streaming Server on your webserver - it's free from Apple.
2.  Put your rtsp-hinted Portfolio.mov file into the "Movies" directory for your streaming server.
3.  Put a text file in place of Portfolio.mov and put the following text in it:
rtsptext rtsp://yourServer:port/Portfolio.mov

Of course, this is only possible if (1) you own your own server and do your own hosting, or (2) if you know someone that will host QT streaming server.
runnr,

I guess the placeholder image could be a JPG but because you are somewhat fooling the browser to embed the picture in place for the movie to stream, it is better to make it Quicktime. However, your graphic can be a jpeg. You would just need to save it as a Quicktime image with the .mov extension. That can be easily done with Quicktime Pro if you have it.

Oh, and for semi-streaming over the web use fast-start, hinted streaming is for use with the QT server, while fast-start is for HTTP/FTP. Be sure to compress your video for the web though, can be easily done with Quicktime Pro if you have it. I think I used the 40kbps streaming video setting. Let me know if you need help with that. Here's a link that may help on that:

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/products/tutorials/

For the controller problem, maybe its something with the Quicktime Player, not the browser. Weird.


runnr,

you should also use the <object> code presented by mraible for compatibility with MSIE 5.5+. Older IE versions, Netscape, etc. will work with <embed> ok.

webwoman & mraible,

Quicktime Movies can be "psuedo" streamed via HTTP/FTP without QT Server. It's progressive downloading/streaming using the fast-start header. While it only plays after downloading a certain amount of data, it almost feels like streaming as along as the connection between the client and server is not busy and the user's net connection is near 56kbps or higher. And the smaller the file size the faster it downloads and thus "streams". That's why you compress it for the web. If high quality is an important issue, don't stream and let the user know and wait.

Finally, it is best to use QT Server but is still more hassle than HTTP, especially if 1) you don't own hosting server, 2) you only need to host/stream 1 or a few movies only.
We don't know how this was saved. We don't know how compressed (or not) it is. We don't know anything about the server OR the client. We don't know the file size.

Until we know at least SOME of that we've got pretty much no chance of figuring out what's going on. But I suspect it's related to file size, server use, and using GoLive. ;-)

I also get javascript errors on your page, because of this...
file:///MAC11/Applications/Adobe%20GoLive%AA%205.0/Modules/JScripts/GlobalScripts/CSScriptLib.js">
Which was mentioned before and which you REALLY need to fix. The swiss-army knife javascript that GoLive generates isn't the best, but it DOES need to be there.
This question has been abandoned. I will make a recommendation to the
moderators on its resolution in a week or two. I appreciate any comments
that would help me to make a recommendation.
<note>
   In the absence of responses, I may recommend DELETE unless it is clear
   to me that it has value as a PAQ.  Silence = you don't care
</note>

Cd&
It is time to clean this abandoned question up.  

I am putting it on a clean up list for CS.

<recommendation>
split daluu, mraible, webwoman

</recommendation>

If anyone participating in the Q disagrees with the recommendation,
please leave a comment for the mods.

Cd&
Per recommendation, force-accepted.

Netminder
CS Moderator

webwoman: points for you at https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/20340120/For-webwoman-re-20314814.html
daluu: points for you at https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/20340122/For-daluu-re-20314814.html