VideoHelp Forum
+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 2
1 2 LastLast
Results 1 to 30 of 39
Thread
  1. Member
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Canada
    Search Comp PM
    Hello everyone,

    I would like to know which video format or video streaming system will support all of the following:

    1) major browsers: IE, Firefox, Chrome and Safari
    2) MAC and PC
    3) iPad
    4) Android
    5) Blackberry


    The closest was H.0264 until Google announced that Chrome will no longer support this format. I'm currently using Windows media services which is good only for PC's with Windows Media Player.


    Thanks for any suggestions you might have.


    - Mushtaq
    Quote Quote  
  2. Member olyteddy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    United States
    Search Comp PM
    MPEG1. Even Windows 98 (95?) can play it.
    Quote Quote  
  3. Member edDV's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Northern California, USA
    Search Comp PM
    Originally Posted by musomn View Post
    Hello everyone,

    I would like to know which video format or video streaming system will support all of the following:

    1) major browsers: IE, Firefox, Chrome and Safari
    2) MAC and PC
    3) iPad
    4) Android
    5) Blackberry

    The closest was H.0264 until Google announced that Chrome will no longer support this format. I'm currently using Windows media services which is good only for PC's with Windows Media Player.
    There is no one format ideal for all platforms. Best option is to contract with a streaming service that optimizes for your target platforms. In that case you feed them a high quality (e.g. Blu-Ray or DVD) master and let them deal with it.

    Next best option is is to self encode flash, h.264 or wmv9 and place the reception player burden on the viewer.
    Recommends: Kiva.org - Loans that change lives.
    http://www.kiva.org/about
    Quote Quote  
  4. Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    New York, NY USA
    Search Comp PM
    Well, I've already got my file successfully made. It is an MP4 file, like this one at http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address/Obama42311Address.mov , with the H.264 codec, made through Nero. I've uploaded it to my site and it's playing back fine.

    In addition, I've made a pointer file for Windows Media Player to play back the file, like this one at http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address.asx . That file too appears to be functioning fine: I've uploaded it to my website, I've pasted that address into my Windows Media Player, and it's loaded up the .mov file fine and has started to play it IMMEDIATELY as a video stream with no issue, just like I want it to.

    So, everything's okay, right?

    As I'm sure you can guess, it is not.

    I have Windows 7 Home Premium. My friend, for whom I posted this file, has a Mac, and installing any extra software on her Mac is a non-starter; ain't happening.

    So somehow I need to create a streaming pointer file that works in Mac land, that I can give to her as a link, and that will cause this movie to immediately start playing back, rather than forcing her to wait for an hour while the file downloads first. So the solution would appear to be simple, right? Create a streaming pointer file for some player that is standard on most Macs, right? Sounds like a job for Quicktime, right?

    So I googled for instructions on creating a Quicktime streaming pointer file and came up with this, at http://www.oit.duke.edu/vvw/web_multimedia/multimedia/dukestream/quicktime/reference_movies.php . Now please note that this article specifies that it is NOT necessary to get skinned by $30 to get Quicktime Pro. All one needs to do is manually write the pointer or reference file. In the Can't Buy It? section this writer clearly specifies that the correct format to manually write a Quicktime streaming pointer file is RTSPtextRTSP://quicktime.oit.duke.edu/yourfoldername/yourfilename.mov

    Well, seems simple enough, right? To apply this format to the movie above, for example, would be RTSPtextRTSP://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address/Obama42311Address.mov , right? I wanted the file to open Quicktime as a standalone player, so I gave this pointer file the .qtl extension. Again, that's the correct way to do it, right? Well, it didn't work, so I figured if worse comes to worse I'll let Quicktime play it in a browser frame from a .mov pointer file instead of a .qtl pointer file. So I also created a file with the above text but with the .mov extension instead of the .qtl extension.

    But no cigar. The .qtl file just opens up as a text file inside my browser, and the .mov pointer file opens up in my browser with the proper embed but then the bottom of the Quicktime player frame displays the message HTTP Not Supported. Huh???

    Go ahead and try the two links I created to this sample file to which I referred to above, http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address.qtl and http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address.mov . Do they work any better for you?

    If not, can you tell me what I'm doing wrong?

    Thanks very much. This lady has been waiting a week to view this file, and it's burning a hole on my site and I really need the space back, as soon as this lady views it. So any help would be very gratefully received.
    Last edited by criggs; 24th Apr 2011 at 22:43.
    Quote Quote  
  5. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    Deep in the Heart of Texas
    Search PM
    Your .QTL isn't a valid example of a QTL link. A valid example uses XML, very much like the .ASX format does.

    Here is a page that shows one example of QTL syntax, and some understaning of it's elements...
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1549089?threadID=1549089

    Happy Easter!

    Scott

    BTW, if you're working with QT on a regular basis, it's very much worth it to pay the measley $20-30 for QTPro.
    Quote Quote  
  6. Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    New York, NY USA
    Search Comp PM
    Thank you very much for jumping in; I'm hoping you will be able to solve this.

    As you can see, I've rewritten http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address.qtl to reflect the instructions present at the page you referenced, at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1549089?threadID=1549089 . Unfortunately, as you can also see, I'm still getting the file itself opening up as a text file inside my browser rather than triggering the Quicktime Player to stream this movie.

    So I'm being stupid and am still missing something. Hopefully you'll be able to point me in the right direction.

    Thanks again for this help. For the first time, since I first started trying to figure this out three days ago, I have a feeling I'm getting close.
    Quote Quote  
  7. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    Deep in the Heart of Texas
    Search PM
    No, it's just that you don't have QT installed. When you do, it will also install a QT plugin for your browser that recognizes the QTL and understands what to do with it.

    Check back if THAT doesn't work, but I'm betting it will.

    Scott
    Quote Quote  
  8. Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    New York, NY USA
    Search Comp PM
    That's very odd. You see, I DO have Quicktime installed. In fact, if I go to that discussion thread to which you referred me, at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1549089?threadID=1549089, I see there a .qtl link (the Lemon Tree movie) and, if I click it, it opens fine in Quicktime, and plays fine and streams fine.

    That would seem to suggest that my Quicktime setup on my computer is correct at this time.

    But then how to explain the fact that my own .qtl link is not working?

    May I ask what happens on your computer, when you click my .qtl file at http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address.qtl ? Is the movie opening up properly for you?
    Quote Quote  
  9. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    Deep in the Heart of Texas
    Search PM
    Ok, when I compare your QTL vs. the test site's QTL (Had to install QT on THIS netbook), there are a few extra spaces that might make recognition difficult. The link above BTW has additional HTML code that probably changes the mime, etc and renders it as HTML text.
    However, I took the test QTL, which I know works as desired, and made only 2 changes:
    1. The web link
    2. The movie link
    Replacing those gets me a message that it's a format that QT doesn't recognize(whn, a second ago, it worked) .
    Which tells me that it has something to do with your site/server.

    So I took the Movie link alone and loaded it into a browser directly, and it started to load and then crapped out, so now I'm pretty sure there's something wrong with the site/server.

    Scott
    Quote Quote  
  10. Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    New York, NY USA
    Search Comp PM
    Very interesting. Thank you so much for all your testing. One other thing that it would be really helpful if you could check. At this time I continue to get excellent performance with Windows Media Player, through the .asx link I created at http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address.asx . The file loads and starts to play immediately as a clean stream when I click that .asx link. Does it do the same for you?

    If it does, then at least where we know WHERE the mystery is, if not WHY the mystery is. In other words, if you get the same excellent performance I do from that .asx link then we know that this site/server can handle movies fine for Windows Media Player but, for some reason, can't handle exactly the same files for Quicktime.

    Which would then leave us with the question as to why that is so.
    Quote Quote  
  11. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    Deep in the Heart of Texas
    Search PM
    No, it doesn't. But I knew it wouldn't. Without some QT->Directshow shim plugin, QT (v3 or better) NEVER plays in WMP.

    Have you been using a shim like that?

    Ok, I got the source to at least load, but is too high a bitrate to reasonably play (through my Comcast+WiFi = ~2Mbps avg). I just get a still, wait, another still down the road, etc.

    BTW, what browser are you currently using? Right now I'm using IE8.

    Scott
    Quote Quote  
  12. Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    New York, NY USA
    Search Comp PM
    Well, I've never heard the term shim before, so, if I AM using a shim, I'm certaintly not aware of it. Might I be using one and not know it? That's a serious question.

    If I understand you correctly, it is possible for an mp4 file to do proper streaming playback on Windows Media Player and yet need to be fully downloaded before playing in Quicktime. Have I understood you correctly?

    You say you did get the source to at least load. Are you saying you got the source to load by using the .asx link? If yes, then that matches my experience so far.

    As for my browser, at the moment I'm using Firefox.
    Quote Quote  
  13. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    Deep in the Heart of Texas
    Search PM
    "MP4" - yes/maybe, "MOV" - no. (In WMP)

    Your source is listed as *.MOV. If it's really an MP4, why not put it in an MP4 container?

    BTW, You might want to look at this link and child links...http://quicktime.tc.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/wiki/pages.pl?page=QuickTimeHtmlAuthoring, particularly the J-script stuff.

    Trying your .qtl - No Luck.
    Trying your .asx - No Luck.
    Trying http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address/Obama42311Address.mov directly in the browser, the stuttery load+play.

    Scott

    edit: shim=something that is stuck in between 2 pieces of contruction/furniture to get them to even out
    In this case, it's an enabling plugin that provides a corridor between the 2 different APIs (QT and DirectShow). You might have installed it along with another piece of software.
    Last edited by Cornucopia; 25th Apr 2011 at 01:15.
    Quote Quote  
  14. Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    New York, NY USA
    Search Comp PM
    Okay, a bunch of interesting stuff there; here goes.

    mp4 versus mov. I've tried labeling the file both (although it came out of Nero as .mp4). It doesn't seem to make any difference. If I put the address directly into Windows Media Player with either extension, the Windows Media Player continues to load it fine and stream it fine (just to be clear, by stream I means that it starts to successfully play BEFORE the file is fully downloaded which, as I understand it, is the correct definition of streamed playback where a prerecorded file is concerned). In addition, it does not seem to make any difference with my Quicktime player either. If I put the direct address for the file in the Quicktime address box, whether the file currently has the .mp4 or .mov extension, the file always has to download completely before playback starts, and, once the download is complete, the file plays fine every time.

    If I were to change the extension of the clip to .mp4 instead of .mov, does that give me an additional or alternate option to these current options that don't seem to be working out for me?

    Thank you for drawing my attention to that Columbia page. However I had already traversed it in my travels, and had determined that the information provided was insufficient for my needs.

    You tried my .qtl and had no luck. That's exactly my experience.

    You tried my .asx and had no luck. That is the opposite from my experience; the .asx link always works quite well for me. I wonder why that is.

    Finally, with regard to the .mov address, I found that it loaded fine in my browser, but took FOREVER to do so (about four minutes) after which it played back fine inside my browser. While that's not a true streaming playback, I suspect the only difference is that my connection is a bit faster than yours (mine runs at about 10 mbps).
    Quote Quote  
  15. Originally Posted by criggs View Post
    the file always has to download completely before playback starts, and, once the download is complete, the file plays fine every time.
    When you prepare quicktime files you need to enable "prepare for internet streaming", this way they play immediately. You might need QT pro for this.

    This places the moov atom (metadata) to the beginning of the file

    If you're using mp4 container, you can use mp4faststart , or mp4box has a command to do it as well
    http://www.datagoround.com/lab/



    If you just want to enable the person to view it until you get your website sorted out - you can upload it to vimeo.com or blip.tv . Blip.tv can host the original file if you wrap it in .flv., and you can download it either as original or different formats

    Another option is to use a free file hosting service (e.g. sendspace.com, mediafire.com, megaupload.com etc...), so the person can just download it and view it locally
    Image Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version

Name:	1.jpg
Views:	2405
Size:	63.3 KB
ID:	6595  

    Quote Quote  
  16. Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    New York, NY USA
    Search Comp PM
    Wow! I'm almost there!

    I selected the MP4FastStart option. I dragged a copy of the Obama42311Address.mp4 clip into a separate folder for MP4FastStart, then had MP4FastStart work its magic on that file.

    Then I took that new copy, now fast-started, and dragged it onto my web site, replacing the old unhinted version.

    Then I took the direct address, http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address/Obama42311Address.mp4, and pasted it into my Quicktime Player, clicked OK, and

    VOILA!! Instant streaming!!!

    Thank you ever so much.

    But, as I'm sure you noted, I did say ALMOST there, not completely there.

    You see, if I simply click that link any old place, as a link in an html email, say, or a link in my browser, it still insists on downloading completely before playing, in other words, it won't stream.

    Is there any way I can embed that link in a super-short html page in such a way that the address will be directly pasted into the Quicktime Player, and which would request the Quicktime Player to begin playing back that address immediately?
    Quote Quote  
  17. Sorry - I'm not that familar with setting up quicktime streaming. Maybe Scott can help you with that

    I would imagine you would want to set it up so it's embedded QT player in html page, like apple movie trailers

    On flash, there are server side options/settings you can set like buffer delay, if it plays immediately or not (autoplay) . There might be something similar to quicktime that you're forgetting to set

    Be careful about assessing "instant streaming", because if the file has been downloaded locally to your browser cache, it may seem like "instant streaming", when in fact it is not. Clear your cache before doing tests

    BTW, technically this isn't real streaming, this is HTTP progressive download. Real streaming uses RTSP protocol


    EDIT: have a look here at the html example, you might just have to change autoplay = true
    http://oreilly.com/pub/a/javascript/excerpt/learnwebdesign_chap22/index.html
    Last edited by poisondeathray; 25th Apr 2011 at 11:32.
    Quote Quote  
  18. Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    New York, NY USA
    Search Comp PM
    I've now embedded it in an html page at http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address.htm .

    As for setting autoplay, I've already set that to true.

    As you can see, the above link does indeed start instant playback of the file, -- as an embedded graphic in a web page. Not really what I wanted, but it looks like I can't figure out how to get it to play in the standalone Quicktime player.

    In addition, as you will also note, this .htm page suffers from the added disadvantage of playing the clip back in real size, which is 1280 by 720. Apparently there is no way to tell the embedded player to play this in a smaller size.

    I did try playing with the size commands, changing it from 1280/720 to something else, but all that did was crop the picture, not resize it, a non-starter, obviously.

    So, if I give up on the hope of getting the Quicktime player to play this back as a standalone, then my current challenge is to resize this video within its new browser home so that it doesn't spill off the edges of the screen.

    Another solution that might have been nice in this context would have been to get the movie to automatically play full screen, as this guy here has managed to do with his Lemon Tree film at http://homepage.mac.com/kkirkster/Lemon_Trees/Lemon_Tree.qtl . That would have neatly disposed of, and removed, the problem of the picture spilling off the edges of the monitor. However, I have larded my .htm file at http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address.htm with FULLSCREEN="full" commands until I'm blue in the face and the file has just sat there and laughed at me, evincing no interest whatsoever in full-screen playback. So that would appear to be that.
    Quote Quote  
  19. can you just add width="x" height="y" ?

    i'm guessing it's just a html configuration issue . Have a look at the web page examples of the source for the syntax. Look at apple movie trailers


    blip.tv can host original file, so I uploaded a sample mov (.mov will use qt player, other formats flash player) . Have a look at the source maybe it will help you (this plays in a qt player for me, because I have qt installed for this browser)
    http://www.blip.tv/file/5065872

    This is what blip generated as the embed code

    <embed src="http://blip.tv/play/AYK2pE4A" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="320" height="270" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed>


    If you are using mp4, you can embed other players like Jw Player or Flow Player. They have little wizards that generate the code for you . But this is run through flash, not quicktime eg.

    http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/jw-player-setup-wizard




    I can't figure out how to get it to play in the standalone Quicktime player.
    But if this is what you want, upload the actual file to that person as suggested earlier. So they can play it locally as a file (e.g. video.mov), not through a browser .
    Last edited by poisondeathray; 25th Apr 2011 at 12:38.
    Quote Quote  
  20. Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    New York, NY USA
    Search Comp PM
    Thanks for the thought. Unfortunately that source code is way over my head.

    I tried copying and pasting that embed code, changing the file name, width and height to match my clip, and then posting it as a different html page at http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311AddressA.htm , but as you can see, now the clip won't even load.

    As for adding width and height to my original page at http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address.htm , as far as I can tell, I've already done that. Here's what I've got:

    <OBJECT CLASSID="clsid:02BF25D5-8C17-4B23-BC80-D3488ABDDC6B" WIDTH="1280"HEIGHT="720"
    CODEBASE="http://www.apple.com/qtactivex/qtplugin.cab">
    <PARAM name="SRC" VALUE="Obama42311Address/Obama42311Address.mp4">
    <PARAM name="AUTOPLAY" VALUE="true">
    <PARAM name="CONTROLLER" VALUE="false">
    <PARAM name="FULLSCREEN" VALUE="full">
    <EMBED SRC="Obama42311Address/Obama42311Address.mp4" WIDTH="1280" HEIGHT="720" AUTOPLAY="true" CONTROLLER="false" FULLSCREEN="full" PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/">
    </EMBED>
    </OBJECT>
    Quote Quote  
  21. I don't understand what you're trying to do now ? Just change the embed size ?

    You might need it mov wrapped (not mp4 wrapped) to work properly in embedded QT player
    Quote Quote  
  22. Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    New York, NY USA
    Search Comp PM
    Wrapping it in .mov instead of .mp4 doesn't seem to make any difference. When I attempt to resize it still is cropping instead of resizing.

    As for what I'm trying to do, yes, I am now trying to change the embed size.

    Just to be clear, I've got three goals, in descending order of preference.

    1) I want to get it to play automatically in the Quicktime standalone player. So far all of my efforts in that regard have been futile.
    2) I want to get it to play full screen as an embed within a web page. So far all of my efforts in that regard have been futile.
    3) I want to get it to play smaller but UNCROPPED as an embed within a web page. So far all of my efforts in that regard have been futile.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.
    Quote Quote  
  23. Try this qtl file , it's working on my end when double clicking

    Not sure what to do with href or where you would place it in the directory structure according to that link
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1549089?threadID=1549089


    <?xml version="1.0"?>
    <?quicktime type="application/x-quicktime-media-link"?>
    <embed
    src="http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address/Obama42311Address.mov"
    autoplay="true"
    fullscreen="full"
    quitwhendone="true"

    />
    Image Attached Files
    • File Type: zip 2.zip (273 Bytes, 68 views)
    Last edited by poisondeathray; 25th Apr 2011 at 13:22.
    Quote Quote  
  24. Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    New York, NY USA
    Search Comp PM
    Thanks very much for the extra effort. I'm also pleased that it is loading and playing the clip properly for you.

    However, when I post it to my web site, and then tell my browser to go to it, it simply loads it up in my browser as a text file, apparently oblivious to the fact that .qtl files are supposed to play in Quicktime.

    Now I'm fairly confident that my browser knows what to do with .qtl files, since it works fine with the Lemon Tree .qtl file referenced above. So I guess we're dealing with a mystery here, compounded by the fact that the clip loads fine for you with that .qtl file.

    Just to summarize, I've failed at getting it to automatically play in the standalone Quicktime Player.
    I've failed at getting it to embed at smaller than life-size (the image becomes cropped instead of resized).
    I've failed at getting it to play full screen as a web page embed (the file's instructions in that regard are being ignored).
    And, finally, I've failed at getting a .qtl file to trigger the Quicktime standalone player, even though I'm dealing with a .qtl file which has specifically worked properly in that regard for you.

    I'm really ready for my luck to start changing here. Four blind alleys in two hours strikes me as past my quota.
    Quote Quote  
  25. Did you download the zip file, and double click the 2.qtl ? It plays like the Lemon Tree example for me

    So it's probably just a setting the href and directory structure where you place the qtl on your webpage. It's probably the root folder, where you have your index.html page

    You probably don't even need href if the full pathnames are included

    just place 2.qtl on your webpage (ie. upload 2.qtl to http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address)

    it will end up being http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address/2.qtl



    Add a "href" URL if you want to open a Web page with a click on your .mov file.
    So I would add href as the root directory as your index.html file (i.e. put everything in http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address)


    <?xml version="1.0"?>
    <?quicktime type="application/x-quicktime-media-link"?>
    <embed
    href="http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address"
    src="http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address/Obama42311Address.mov"
    autoplay="true"
    fullscreen="full"
    quitwhendone="true"

    />
    Last edited by poisondeathray; 25th Apr 2011 at 13:48.
    Quote Quote  
  26. Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    New York, NY USA
    Search Comp PM
    I find it very interesting that if I simply double-click the .qtl file, as it's sitting on my hard drive, Quicktime opens fine and plays the file fine, immediately, streaming, etc. etc., just as you indicated.

    However if I put it on my webpage as a link at http://riggsiii.com/ObamaAddressB.htm , as I believe you had suggested, and then click that qtl link, all that happens is that that qtl file once again opens up as a text file in my browser, rather than triggering clip playback by Quicktime. Very strange, I think.
    Quote Quote  
  27. setup the href to the same directory as your where your index.html is placed

    make sure you're using a plain text editor like notepad

    the actual link should be something like this http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address/2.qtl , similar to the lemon tree example given by quicktime kirk
    Quote Quote  
  28. Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    New York, NY USA
    Search Comp PM
    So I did two things.

    First, I created the .qtl link in the new location (the Obama42311Address folder, just like you suggested, I believe), and I used the code specified by you in your previous message, as follows:

    <?xml version="1.0"?>
    <?quicktime type="application/x-quicktime-media-link"?>
    <embed
    href="http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address"
    src="http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address/Obama42311Address.mov"
    autoplay="true"
    fullscreen="full"
    quitwhendone="true"

    />

    Telling my browser to go to that qtl resulted in the same text file-opening in my browser rather than Quicktime being triggered.

    I also created an index.html file in that folder, consisting of a link to the .qtl file, at http://riggsiii.com/Obama42311Address (the index.html is not necessary since the absence of a file name defaults to the index load) , and then explored what would happen if I loaded that html file and clicked the 2.qtl link in that html file. Same thing: the .qtl file opened as a text document in my browser, without starting Quicktime.
    Quote Quote  
  29. I have no idea

    I'm failing to see the difference between Quicktime Kirk's example
    Quote Quote  



Similar Threads

Visit our sponsor! Try DVDFab and backup Blu-rays!