Real Player or WMP?
I would like to place some embedded video into my site. They will be short, 15 - 30 sec. clips, for advertising primarily. What I want to do is embed it into the page, providing the user with the stop, play, pause etc... controls.
Is real Player or Windows Media Player better for this. I don't want to force the user to dowload anything, so I would think that WMP would be the best choice right?.
Also, Is this possible:
I want the file to begin playing right away as the users enter the page. Therefore, if the default player is say Real Player, and the user does not have it installed, could I somehow sniff to see that and then load the file in WMP, and if the user doesn't have WMP, provide a link to download it if they wish.
Any help would be gratly appeciated.
Bryan,
Links411.com
- Beekay -
www.links411.com
ROB posted this at 01:00 — 9th April 2003.
They have: 447 posts
Joined: Oct 1999
oh my god real player is *the worst* piece of crap ever marketed.
use WMP. it comes with windows.
Abhishek Reddy posted this at 03:03 — 9th April 2003.
He has: 3,348 posts
Joined: Jul 2001
Between RP and WMP, I'd say go for WMP. How about Flash? You might be able to import your movie into flash and export as a .swf.
It's probably not a good choice to force a video on the user. Could you not offer a choice of different formats first?
beekay posted this at 11:43 — 9th April 2003.
They have: 9 posts
Joined: Apr 2003
I know it's a bad idea to force a video, especially for users with dial up. Won't want to come back again. But someone is insisting that I implement this
.
Can you import an mpeg into flash and then export it to a .swf?. I did not know that was possible. If so, how are the sizes of the files after put into .swf format, lets say for a 30 second clip?. Would it be better to stream for that reason?. I wouldnt want the page to sit there and wait for the flash to load.
Thanks for your replys guys, I think I will find this forum very usefull.
- Beekay -
www.links411.com
mairving posted this at 12:04 — 9th April 2003.
They have: 2,256 posts
Joined: Feb 2001
Of course, people on non-Windows systems wouldn't be able to play it since WMP is Windows only.
I personally hate all of them, WMP, Real, WinAmp and Quicktime. It just that they are a like a bunch of squabbling kids. Each of them wants to be the default player for everything which causes problems. The worst combo is WMP and Quicktime. WMP is probably the least intrusive but the least secure of all of them.
Go with the Flash if you want cross browser and smaller size.
Mark Irving
I have a mind like a steel trap; it is rusty and illegal in 47 states
Suzanne posted this at 13:09 — 9th April 2003.
She has: 5,507 posts
Joined: Feb 2000
You can get WMP for Mac. Of course, it crashes OS9 when installed, but hey, the things you do for money. Real Player and WMP work fine on OSX. Quicktime works best, though.
I would strongly recommend Quicktime, because it works really well, but Flash is a great option.
Abhishek Reddy posted this at 13:10 — 9th April 2003.
He has: 3,348 posts
Joined: Jul 2001
You can import .mpeg movies into Flash MX. I don't think previous versions can. For them, you'll probably have to convert the mpg to an avi using a free convertor, and then import.
Comparatively, swf file sizes are better, and you can control the quality of the movie. Hard to say what size a 30-second clip might be—does it have sound? what are the dimensions? colours? and so on.
Cool. And welcome to TWF.
Abhishek Reddy posted this at 13:19 — 9th April 2003.
He has: 3,348 posts
Joined: Jul 2001
You might find this to be of interest.
beekay posted this at 14:20 — 9th April 2003.
They have: 9 posts
Joined: Apr 2003
WOW, thanks.
I also found a ton of info that will walk me right through the whole thing. It looks like if I import Quicktime files into MX, it will work great. I have MX, so this will be what I'm going to go with.
Thanks a ton guys! - I started thinking RP or WMP and ended with Quicktime into flash...... guess I was a bit off
- Beekay -
www.links411.com
andy206uk posted this at 16:19 — 9th April 2003.
He has: 1,758 posts
Joined: Jul 2002
lol... if you have to go with one file format i'd say use quick time cos it generally gives better quality for smaller sizes, its good manners to offer the movie in all three formats if your going to embed a movie.
Andy
zollet posted this at 17:33 — 9th April 2003.
He has: 1,016 posts
Joined: May 2002
I love and recommend quicktime for online video clips. It's never given me any problems.
oce222 posted this at 22:07 — 9th April 2003.
They have: 37 posts
Joined: Mar 2003
Yeah I am REALLY starting to like WMP a lot more than I used to... the new version really rocks for xp. Five stars. And for your website, yes, go with wmp. Better for streaming AND downloading.
gwi
gimme-five.com
Abhishek Reddy posted this at 05:44 — 10th April 2003.
He has: 3,348 posts
Joined: Jul 2001
...
QT is a good choice too.
kb posted this at 15:39 — 10th April 2003.
He has: 1,380 posts
Joined: Feb 2002
why not just embed it without specifiying, make it inline, and just use a regular .mpg file, so the user's settings can decide...
beekay posted this at 11:42 — 11th April 2003.
They have: 9 posts
Joined: Apr 2003
Would it stream by default doing it this way?.
- Beekay -
www.links411.com
kb posted this at 02:20 — 13th April 2003.
He has: 1,380 posts
Joined: Feb 2002
yes it does, but you also said
if you want bg noise or music, its not neccesarily best to stream, but if you dont want to force a dl, then its fine
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