how to embed and stream video from a website

[shashgo]

Hello all,

I have some avi files that Id like to embed on my website. And Id like to get rid of the annoying long wait before the movie loads when I go to the site. I can get the video to play but there is the wait first always. I cant get the control buttons to show though. I would like to use avi or some other format that gives a clear picture, mov is quite pixelated. The site I have is http://embedvideo.net76.net/

Id aprreciate if anyone helps

[shashgo]

I also have the flv version of the avi file. How do I embed flv videos in my web page? Ive read flv videos are good for progressive downloading

[wingnut2003]

i believe that there will always be a delay for the content to be downloaded to the viewers computer, but you can get it to play sooner as it is also downloading, in the line of code here :<param name="flashvars" value="videoFile=Video1.flv&amp;autoPlay=false">, change the autoplay=false to true. this should get rid of the delay before it plays.

[shashgo]

so then would flash video be the best way to go to watch video from a website? What I am also after is getting rid of that delay while the file is being downloaded. Would flash video just cause a breif delay and then begin progressive downloading? And would the delay be the same no matter how big the flash video file is?

[SCDVD]

There are two things to consider with respect to when the downloaded video starts playing. If the person downloading the video has an internet connection that is sufficiently fast, it's good to start playing while downloading. However, if the downloader has a slow internet connection, the video stalls when it is playing which is very aggravating. The trade off is which is less agravating - wait longer for the video to start playing or have the video repeatedly stall while playing.

[Milardo]

Would you like to have windows media player embedded on your site? I can give you the html code for it. You will need a site to host the videos/music though. You can choose to autostart the player anytime you visit the site or manually start the player at any point within the site. Even will high speed internet connections, wmp has to load up the video but usually only takes a few seconds depending on your internet connection.

[shashgo]

Milardo,

But do you think that with windows media player embedded in the website, the videos would stream or download faster from the host site to the browswer. And if so what are the formats that the player can handle? Can it do avi, or does it just do wmv

[Milardo]

Once it is buffered, it plays the whole thing without stopping I think. Depending on size of video, it might take a few seconds or a minute to buffer. I'm not sure if it is faster than other ways though. Also, it takes mp3, wma, wmv, asf and probably mpeg and avi. I'm not totally sure about mpeg an avi though but you can try it. I just prefer it over flash player yeah.

[shashgo]

I have a question. Why would you prefer it over flash video if it can take about a minute or so to load the whole video? And do you know of a way to embed a video so it progressively downloads and plays in the embedded windows media player.

Can you give me the code of what you have though? Thanks

[Milardo]

I just like using WMP better than flash, it's just a preference. First the embedded wmp has to connect the host site, then it buffers, and I noticed that it will start playing even though the full video has not been downloaded yet. May not work in all situation but in some it will. Here is the html code. When you get the link after uploading your video or music to host site, paste it in the parentheses where I typed "insert web link here." Also the default below does not autostart, you can change that and other preferences like size of video below in the html code.

<OBJECT ID="MediaPlayer" width=320 height=240
classid="CLSID:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95"
codebase="http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/mplayer/en/nsmp2inf.cab#Version=,1,52,701"
standby="Loading Microsoft Windows Media Player components..."
type="application/x-oleobject">
<PARAM name="FileName" value="insert web link here">
<param name='autoStart' value="0">
<EMBED type="application/x-mplayer2"
pluginspage="http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/Downloads/Contents/Products/MediaPlayer/" showstatusbar='-1' videoborder3d='-1'
SRC="insert web link here"
autostart="0"
name="MediaPlayer"
width=320
height=240>
</EMBED>
</OBJECT>

[shashgo]

Hello, I have downloaded flowplayer and am using that to embed my flv files. But I want the player to have all the controls like how youtube has. Can anyone tell me what to do

The code I have is

<script type="text/javascript" src="flashembed.min.js"></script> 
</head>
<body>
<table>
<tr>
<td>

<div id="spv1"></div>
<script>
window.onload = function() {  
flashembed("spv1", 
{
src:'FlowPlayerDark.swf',
	width: 384, 
	height: 272,
	loop: false
},
{
config:
 {   
	videoFile: 'Sunidhi_Chauhan_-_As_a_comedian_.flv',
	autoPlay: false,
	splashImageFile: 'movie.jpg',
	autoBuffering: true,
	initialScale: 'orig',
	showFullScreenButton: false, 
	controlBarGloss:'high',
	controlBarBackgroundColor:'0x567890',
	menuItems: [ 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0 ] 
			
 }} 
   );
}
</script>

</td>
<td>
<div id="spv2"></div>
<script>
window.onload = function() {  
flashembed("spv2", 
{
src:'FlowPlayerDark.swf',
	width: 384, 
	height: 272,
	loop: false
},
{
config:
 {   
	videoFile: 'Hasya_samrat_Deepak_Deshpande_s_mimicry.flv',
	autoPlay: false,
	splashImageFile: 'movie.jpg',
	autoBuffering: true,
	initialScale: 'orig',
	showFullScreenButton: false, 
	controlBarGloss:'high',
	controlBarBackgroundColor:'0x567890',
	menuItems: [ 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0 ] 
			
 }} 
   );
}
</script>

where I have FlowPlayerLight and f;ashembed.min.js in my directory


Also how can I have several players displayed at the same time

[webvideopro]

Slashgo

First off, If you are looking to reach the largest possible audience, use FLV video with VP6 encoding. Don't bother with WMP, especially if you have already started using FLV.

Also, for players, the Flowplayer is ok, but I think you will be more happy in the long run using the JW FLV Player (here is a review I did: http://webvideotechniques.com/28/jw-flv-media-player-website-player-with-plugin-support)

The amount of time it takes the video to load/start playing will depend on the size of the video file (and your encoding settings), the speed of the users connection, the speed of your servers connection and the available bandwidth of each of those. For the most part, you do not have much control over those parts. Usually you will want a dedicated server or content delivery network hosting your videos. Shared hosts do not offer very high speed to individual users.

The key is to encode your videos so that they will start playing relatively quickly for your target audience. For example, if you audience is US users with fast connections and your videos are not too long (1-5 minutes), then encode them at 480x360 (for SD) or 480x270 (HD) or even bigger at data rates of 1000kbps and up. If you audience is slow connections, then you will need to reduce the size and data rate. You can also split long videos into multiple parts or offer multiple quality settings for your users.

Give us some more details on your setup and target audience so we can give you better advice. Take a look as some of the tips and tricks on my site (link in Sig). The more you learn the easier it will be.