How do you know what format video you are seeing?

[kevs]

As I start getting more sophisticated showing videos on web, I look around to see what others are doing. But curious: I go to website, I click on video. But I want to know is this QT or Windows Media or something else? and what is bit rate? and what codec did they use? and what size am I seeing. I'm curious. But often the video just comes up within Safari and I don't know any of that. What can I do to go behind the curtain? thanks -- I'm on Mac.

[AeroQ]

Hi,

First you right click on the movie:
The menu that pops-up will tell you if it's a Flash-based movie, or a quicktime one.

If it' a quicktime movie, you will look in the web page source (Edit > View Source) for the URL of the movie.
The URL looks like: http://www.xxxxx.com/xxxx.mov
For example you can look for the ".mov" suffix.

You copy the URL and paste it in the browser bar. The same movie should show up, now along in the window.
Next step: Download it. To do this, use for example SimpleMovieX, with File > Open URL... and pasting the copie URL.

Once the movie is downloaded, it appears on your Desktop, can be open and edited by SimpleMovieX or QuickTime or other programs.

To know which codecs are used, do Command-I (File > Show Infos).

Regards, BJ

[kevs]

Great info BJ, gonna hold onto that. What about window media and the other formats out there?

[Ai Haibara]

In Safari, you can also try opening the Activity window... and if the file you want to save is listed there, highlight it, hold Option and double-click on it. (Or single-click, whichever works for you.)

For video file information, you can try loading it in mplayer or VLC. Both should be able to give you more information about the video, including codecs used, bit/frame rate, etc.

[kevs]

ok Ai, those are Mac softwares? of course you then do need to be able to download video correct? if it's only offered streaming you are out of luck, correct?

[Ai Haibara]

Yes, both mplayer and VLC have versions that'll run on OS X.

I know VLC has some support for streaming (but may not support all forms of Windows Media, last I checked.) I'm not sure about mplayer.

Some MacUpdate links:
VLC: http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/5758/vlc-media-player
mplayer: http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/18580/mplayer
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/10784/mplayer