celife
Joined: Dec 29, 2000
# Posts: 580
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Posted: 2007-Jun-29 09:28
I added a windows media player to the site and I find that when I scroll (on the scroll bar, or with a mouse) that the video will sometimes leave vertical black rectangles below and above the video on on browsers: IE6 and IE7.
Any ideas or suggestions as to a site/forum where I can find out how to fix this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
[ Message was edited by: JimBot 10/15/2008 04:20 pm ]
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david68
Joined: May 16, 2005
# Posts: 144
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Posted: 2007-Jun-29 11:46
I would think that is your video card or monitor, has nothing to do with your website.
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Hampstead
Joined: Feb 20, 2001
# Posts: 2015
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Posted: 2007-Jun-29 12:09
Agreed - It's your video card struggling to cope (as will your users).
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celife
Joined: Dec 29, 2000
# Posts: 580
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Posted: 2007-Jun-29 12:27
Thanks for your replies. I'm surprised as my laptop is a year old media focused dell with windows xp so it seems to usually handle video well.
If anyone knows of any fixes (other than changing my video card) I'd appreciate it. When I had a YouTube video it worked fine with no "leaving black rectangles" but I thought it looked unprofessional to have a YouTube video on my site, and am now looking for an alternative way to display the video.
[ Message was edited by: JimBot 10/15/2008 04:20 pm ]
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Hampstead
Joined: Feb 20, 2001
# Posts: 2015
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Posted: 2007-Jun-30 11:05
Try Flash.
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david68
Joined: May 16, 2005
# Posts: 144
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Posted: 2007-Jun-30 12:30
If you must have video you should make a link to a seperate page, if possible. Putting large media files, even flash, on a page just slows people down and wastes your bandwidth. If I stumble upon a site which makes me download a large media file (and I do have broadband) I get a bit upset as I can't stop the download. I hate embedded media files in a page. Unfortunately it's a growing trend.
(If this issue isn't listed in that thread about annoying your visitors, it should be  )
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celife
Joined: Dec 29, 2000
# Posts: 580
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Posted: 2007-Jul-01 22:27
Thanks for your input. I like to know how something impacts a visitor, and I understand your perspective. It's a small video file that can be paused stopped immediately, and it is increasing sales so I'll be continuing it on its same page.
I'm wondering if any of the brilliant tech-savvy minds on this list can help me with this primary quandry:
Thus far the problem has been described as one that may relate to my video card. However, when I embed YouTube or look at other video sites, I'm not having any problem viewing video.
The problem I'm having is that when I use the scroll on my mouse button on this page (moving it up and down) it often leaves "black rectangles" which can cover up other graphics.
I'd like to find out if there is a way I can display autostarting video that can be paused/stopped easily in a format that will be as compatible as the Windows Media Player I'm using. Or...if I can continue using Windows Media Player but perhaps find an error in the code that is creating these black rectangle remnants which I'm not experiencing with other video. Thanks!
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david68
Joined: May 16, 2005
# Posts: 144
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Posted: 2007-Jul-01 23:19
I believe YouTube videos are FLASH - so convert your videos to flash and embed those.
As for the videos being able to be stopped - nope. You may be able to hit STOP/PAUSE but it keeps downloading, at least it always did for me. I have DSL and a router so I can see my traffic. It's just something that bugs ME, some people like a bloated page of graphics and videos
I don't know much about hardware, but maybe try increasing your screen's refresh rate and see if that stops the smudging. In windows: control panel, display, settings - advanced, monitor.
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celife
Joined: Dec 29, 2000
# Posts: 580
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Posted: 2007-Jul-02 04:07
Thanks for the guidance. I went to adjust screen refresh rate but the drop down menu only had one option: 60 hertz.
I understand what you're saying now about something continuing to download even if it is paused/stopped.
I would like to try converting the video into flash. Does anyone know how I can find software (free or otherwise) that would accomplish this goal? I use "Vegas" for editing but don't think it has this option (at least not that I've noticed yet). Thanks again!
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celife
Joined: Dec 29, 2000
# Posts: 580
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Posted: 2007-Jul-02 04:17
I was just about to start googling for how to convert an mpeg2 video into flash when I remembered this follow up question:
Would I lose any compatibility by going from .wmv to a "flash converted" video? I want to make sure that if I change the format I won't lose the potential number of people who can view it just because I may have a relatively low screen refresh rate
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david68
Joined: May 16, 2005
# Posts: 144
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Posted: 2007-Jul-02 17:09
I didn't say the refresh rate would solve it, it was just a suggestion. In gaming, a refresh rate lower than the frame rate can cause video tearing. You can lower your screen resolution, increase the refresh rate and see if that solves your problem (unless you use an LCD, then it may not work as LCDs usually need one specific resoltion).
As for which is more compatible - no idea. I use firefox and don't have either option installed I'd assume that mpeg2 would be more universal.
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celife
Joined: Dec 29, 2000
# Posts: 580
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Posted: 2007-Jul-02 20:15
Thanks for the additional info. I appreciate it.
I downloaded a free program called CinemaForge which converted my mpeg2 video into .swf (shockwave flash video).
On my test page: takes care of the black marring problem.
1. Am I able to see the .swf video on my test page because I have shockwave flash installed...or, since windows media player apparently plays .swf, could anyone who has windows media player (but not shockwave flash) see the video
2. One problem I'm having on the test page's video is that it loops even though the parameter loop is false, and the playcount is set to '1'. How can I stop this looping?
3. The bar on Windows Media Player doesn't move forward as it does with .wmv videos. Does anyone know why this is?
4. Is there another player other than Windows Media Player that I could install that would be as viewable to most people who come to the site?
I realize this forum is primarily for seach engine discussion (and a darn good forum on that topic!) so if anyone knows of a forum that might be more specific to this issue, please let me know. Thanks.
[ Message was edited by: JimBot 10/15/2008 04:21 pm ]
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david68
Joined: May 16, 2005
# Posts: 144
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Posted: 2007-Jul-03 02:01
No idea. Other players are quicktime and realplayer, but windows media or flash would be better. On your test page I noticed you just changed the filename but not the params - that's not correct. You are telling it to use windows media to view the flash file. Try googling for the correct syntax and maybe it'll fix it.
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celife
Joined: Dec 29, 2000
# Posts: 580
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Posted: 2007-Jul-03 12:59
Thanks for your feedback. I've also been feeling that it would be best to avoid quicktime and real player.
Thanks for the advice about changing parameters. I'm unclear as to what I would be searching for as since prior to very recently I didn't know anything about putting video on the web
Are you saying that I can still use Windows Media Player to play the flash file if the parameters are correct, or that I'd have to use a different player?
Lastly what keywords would you suggest I use when googling for correct parameters? Thanks?
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david68
Joined: May 16, 2005
# Posts: 144
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Posted: 2007-Jul-03 21:58
If your code works I guess you can use it. I did some searches and this appears to be the proper code for SWF files...
<object codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,0,0" width="150" height="150" id="myvideo" align="middle">
<param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" />
<param name="movie" value="myvideo.swf" />
<param name="quality" value="high" />
<param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff" />
<embed src="myvideo.swf" quality="high" bgcolor="#ffffff" width="150" height="150" name="myvideo" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" />
</object>
Change the filenames (2 places) and the width and height values.
There is a way to detect, via javascript, how many visitors have flash installed (google it). Beyond that I don't know. I hope I didn't come across as seeming like I knew as I don't use, or like, video on pages.
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celife
Joined: Dec 29, 2000
# Posts: 580
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Posted: 2007-Jul-04 12:27
I'm very grateful that you were able to locate that code and share it with me. I have now updated my page to reflect this code update (with the correct width/height and filenames).
My two remaining challenges:
1. How do I give the visitor the opportunity to pause/stop the video if they don't want to hear it?
2. How do I get the video to pause/stop after it plays through one time instead of looping indefinitely?
I found that WMP would play the .swf video and allow the possibility of pausing...and it would only play through once. However, the "blue bar" that normally moves forward appeared unchanged which looked strange.
Thanks for sharing about your view on video. I didn't sense that you were against video in a general sense but that, like myself, you wanted to make sure that the video was utilized in an appropriate and effective manner.
[ Message was edited by: JimBot 10/15/2008 04:22 pm ]
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Hampstead
Joined: Feb 20, 2001
# Posts: 2015
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Posted: 2007-Jul-04 13:03
Works fine - it's really annoying though.
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david68
Joined: May 16, 2005
# Posts: 144
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Posted: 2007-Jul-04 18:11
If the WMP code did what you wanted, use that. Like I said, I don't use either. The only way to know if it's compatible is to find a mac user, a windows 98 user, a windows 2000 user, a windows xp user, a linux user (so many flavors on that one) ... and ask them if it works Good luck.
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celife
Joined: Dec 29, 2000
# Posts: 580
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Posted: 2007-Jul-04 21:13
Actually the WMP didn't do what I wanted because although it could play the .swf file, the "progress bar" would not move forward.
My remaining challenge is to find out if there is a way in which .swf files can be played on WMP with the progress bar working effectively on it.
Or...if there is another kind of player (with a pause/stop button) that can be used for .swf files.
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celife
Joined: Dec 29, 2000
# Posts: 580
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Posted: 2007-Jul-05 04:58
Update: I now have flash video up and running and it is working fine except on the Safari browser. Does anyone know why it works on IE, Firefox, Opera and Netscape, but not Safari?
Also, how (if possible) could I convert the following code so that it plays automatically?
<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.psychicdeals.com/ivc_flvplayer_03.swf?videofile=http://www.psychicdeals.com/welcome6flv.flv" width="245" height="200" id="ivc_flvplayer" >
<param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" />
<param name="movie" value="http://www.psychicdeals.com/ivc_flvplayer_03.swf?videofile=http://www.psychicdeals.com/welcome6flv.flv" /><param name="menu" value="true" /><param name="quality" value="best" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff" /><embed src="http://www.psychicdeals.com/ivc_flvplayer_03.swf" menu="true" quality="best" bgcolor="#ffffff" width="245" height="200" name="ivc_flvplayer" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" />
</object>
[ Message was edited by: celife 07/04/2007 11:02 pm ]
[ Message was edited by: JimBot 10/15/2008 04:22 pm ]
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