MPEG clips play from cache but truncated when first played from online

[njaounteisc]

Hi Folks,

I run a website http://mcanv.com with many short video clips http://nauticvideo.com/video%20clips.shtml of interest to marine biologists. Originally I was ripping the clips from my source DVDs with a freebie program called IMToo MPEG Encoder Standard. The clips produced that way play fine both from cache and online on Windows Media Player 11. Then I began using Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0 to get the clips from the source DVDs and and found that 40 second clips are truncated to 23 seconds when played from online. After the first playing, if I close the media player and click on the link to the clip, it playes the full 40 seconds, I suspect because it is playing from the cache.

OK, says I to myself. I'll just go back to IMToo. In the meantime I had changed to my current computer so I went to the IMToo site to download their program (a new version) again. Now IMToo clips are also truncated on initial playing. Here is a URL for one of the old clips that play correctly http://nauticvideo.com/Anemone%20070407_4_1.mpg. Here is a URL http://nauticvideo.com/Red%20Banded%20Approach.mpg for one of the new clips that plays incorrectly as described above.

I have confirmed that the problem is not limited to my computer by having my sister run the clips from her location. They behave the same way on her Windows Vista machine. Using Fire Fox instead of Windows IE 8 solves the problem becaues Fire Fox downloads the whole file, all 40 seconds, before attempting to play it, in effect always playing from the cache.

I would like my clips to play properly without requiring my readers to us any tricks or change browsers. Does anyone have any idea how to get there from where I am today?

Thanks for reading my rather involved tale of woe.

James D Jones
NAUTIC Video

[Baldrick]

How about convert to mp4 h264 and use a flash player on your site? Use handbrake to convert and flowplayer on your site.
Or put the mpg in a zip and let them download the file without starting playing directly in wmp.

[njaounteisc]

Hi Baldrick,

Thanks for your attention.

Your suggestions would probably work but they involve considerable effort on my part and/or place impediments to smooth access to the existing clips. I would rather find a way to make WMP act in a sensible manner when playing my clips. As a fallback I would consider coding my clips so that the entire file is pre-bufferred before playing it I could figure out how to do it.

I am surprised that my web searches have not turned up anyone else with this problem. Have you heard of this effect before? I am computer literate but not an expert in video formats, programs etc.

Warm Regards,

James Jones
NAUTIC Video