Making My Video Cross Platform Friendly

	Making My Video Cross Platform Friendly by Brian FitzGerald on Nov 1, 2009 at 12:25:50 pm I am an Apple Power User after and before the phrase came into and went out of vogue. I have included Quicktime movies on my website since it was possible. I am not stating these things to brag but because I am trying to give my bona fides in short form and because I am stuck. I have been swimming upstream for too long and need some help. I recently finished my first two movies in HD and want to get the news out. I have always liked to use splash video screens on my website to announce stuff. I have vacillated at times and removed the video because some people's download speed would not allow it to work. Other times I decided that if they didn't have enough pipe, they wouldn't be interested in what I do anyway... Lately I have returned to having a splash video on my splash page. It is fairly large. After having it that way for about 3 months I finally got some feedback from some friends (who I guess didn't think it was important enough to tell me) that they didn't want to go into my site because it asked for a Quicktime plug-in. Even though it tells them the plug-in is free they are SCARED to download it from Apple's website because they are SCARED about getting a virus. This is a REAL letdown for me because if they are not going on the site (and claim to be my buddies) that means LOTS of people are doing the same thing because they are seeing the dreaded Q logo on the screen instead of video and are paralyzed with fear about being infected if they DL the plug... Since most everybody I know uses Windows and I'm always trying to widen my website's ability to be seen, I am in a quandary and frankly a state of confusion. So, I decided to revert to the "web standard" Flash. I used Adobe Media Encoder to change my h.264 splash video into a flash file. It seems there are several types (.flv; .fv4; .fla; .swf). (I am still using GoLivePro because I find Dreamweaver impenetrable) I load the Flash file up as an .f4v and tell it to have a "video/flc" MIME type and guys are STILL telling me it asks for Quicktime. Please understand, I think Quicktime is the best video there is but if people will not download the FREE plug from Apple because of their FEAR problem I can't get them to watch my stuff. So. If you can tell me how I can fix my plug-in problem so that the movie will load into the Flash Player or what I am doing wrong there OR if you have a better idea altogether I would appreciate any suggestions. If you are interested you can see what I am talking about at fitzvideo.com (please don't be afraid if it asks you to download the QTime plug-in... Apple just wants you to use their technology... Really... and it's Free! - just kidding (I hope)) Thanks! ps: actually this issue involves more than just the splash screen since I have taken to posting industrial movies I do for clients and they tell me they still have to load QTime to see them also (when they are .f4v). My latest client in this regard has an iPhone and is enlightened enough to have loaded the QTime plug but he is concerned that most of his customers will not... Brian FitzGerald FitzVideo.com Respond to this post   •   Return to posts index

	Re: Making My Video Cross Platform Friendly by mike velte on Nov 1, 2009 at 1:34:49 pm What a mess! What appears in my Firefox inside your small screen areas is code/data! Your source files are .mov...I downloaded one and played it in QT and it just displays white data against a black background. I suspect your servers MIME settings are wrong. Respond to this post   •   Return to posts index

	Re: Making My Video Cross Platform Friendly by Brian FitzGerald on Nov 2, 2009 at 4:33:04 pm Sorry but you are not telling me much. If you want to check something try this test page and let me know if you see anything: http://fitzvideo.com/pktest/pk_test_choice.html Brian FitzGerald FitzVideo.com Respond to this post   •   Return to posts index

	Re: Making My Video Cross Platform Friendly by Daniel Low on Nov 2, 2009 at 7:05:06 pm How exactly did you encode those clips? __________________________________________________________________ "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance." Steve Ballmer To USA Today: 30 April 2007 "We and Apple are neck and neck and we're chasing the two other players," Steve Ballmer, referring to Nokia and Research in Motion. October 6th 2009 Respond to this post   •   Return to posts index

	Re: Making My Video Cross Platform Friendly by Brian FitzGerald on Nov 3, 2009 at 6:41:32 pm This stuff is shot in DVCPROHD 1080i. It is edited and then output from FCP to a Quicktime DVCPROHD 1080i file. Then I ran the file through Adobe Encoder. Encoder had two presets I used for .f4v One was for Half Size of the original and the other was for 1/4 Size of the original. Then I put up a page on my website to test them. I don't think the issue is the video file type as much as it is an issue with the MIME type. As I said earlier, I have configured the webpage to consider these video files as "video/flc" MIME type but the big Quicktime "Q" keeps appearing in the player area of the page for about half of my Windows friends. I checked the page moments ago and it plays fine on my Mac system: http://fitzvideo.com/pktest/pk_test_choice.html Brian FitzGerald FitzVideo.com Respond to this post   •   Return to posts index

	Re: Making My Video Cross Platform Friendly by Daniel Low on Nov 3, 2009 at 7:00:56 pm Why then are your .f4v files in a .mov? F4v needs to use a flash player as mentioned. QuickTime can play flash but not through a web page, that's why you get the Q with a ? __________________________________________________________________ "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance." Steve Ballmer To USA Today: 30 April 2007 "We and Apple are neck and neck and we're chasing the two other players," Steve Ballmer, referring to Nokia and Research in Motion. October 6th 2009 Respond to this post   •   Return to posts index

	Re: Making My Video Cross Platform Friendly by Brian FitzGerald on Nov 3, 2009 at 7:07:16 pm Thanks for your help. I think I basically already received that info AND some links to Flash players from Mike Smith. Brian FitzGerald FitzVideo.com Respond to this post   •   Return to posts index

	Re: Making My Video Cross Platform Friendly by Daniel Low on Nov 3, 2009 at 7:35:38 pm I'm so sorry, our posts must have crossed but I was asking why you had .mov's, as that, AND that you used the QT player rather than the Flash player was causing your problems. __________________________________________________________________ "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance." Steve Ballmer To USA Today: 30 April 2007 "We and Apple are neck and neck and we're chasing the two other players," Steve Ballmer, referring to Nokia and Research in Motion. October 6th 2009 Respond to this post   •   Return to posts index

	Re: Making My Video Cross Platform Friendly by Daniel Low on Nov 1, 2009 at 1:46:28 pm [Brian FitzGerald] "Please understand, I think Quicktime is the best video there is" Quicktime is just a wrapper, a container, like Flash. Quicktime can be the best and the worst depending on what CODEC you use. Most people have Quicktime installed, even the diehard PC users who stupidly avoid anything from Apple. That said, Quicktime on a PC is not nearly as good an experience as it is on Windows, but you can blame that on Windows being utterly rubbish. __________________________________________________________________ "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance." Steve Ballmer To USA Today: 30 April 2007 "We and Apple are neck and neck and we're chasing the two other players," Steve Ballmer, referring to Nokia and Research in Motion. October 6th 2009 Respond to this post   •   Return to posts index

	Re: Making My Video Cross Platform Friendly by Brian FitzGerald on Nov 3, 2009 at 6:45:19 pm Thank you Mike Smith. I think you are on to something. I will check those links but while I do can you tell me if these players are something my Web Provider has to load or something I can load for my domain in particular? I just assumed the ISP had all that stuff already loaded. Brian FitzGerald FitzVideo.com Respond to this post   •   Return to posts index

	Re: Making My Video Cross Platform Friendly by Alan Lloyd on Nov 3, 2009 at 8:50:50 pm I'm coming late to this, and really have only one or two things to add. Putting a splash-screen movie on your site, even if you leave a very prominent "skip this" button, is a guarantee that a lot of people will click away immediately and not come back. Put a link to it. Do not make someone who is there for another reason sit through a movie to get to whatever info they are looking for. It's just plain rude. And you refer to "most of your customers" - ask them what they need. If I was a customer of yours, I'd rather be asked what I need than told what I need. Leaves a bad impression. Respond to this post   •   Return to posts index

	Re: Making My Video Cross Platform Friendly by Brian FitzGerald on Nov 12, 2009 at 3:51:42 pm Dear Allen, Yeah, I know that. I appreciate your concern. Like I said before, I have been back and forth on the issue and lately I am back doing a splash video - this time a Big Splash Video.... I may drop it again... soon... Brian FitzGerald FitzVideo.com Respond to this post   •   Return to posts index