Some users cannot see my video. Why?

[cdp103188]

I am very new to streaming video and I basically just copied and pasted some code from w3schools to my website to make it work. Seems to work just fine on my computer, but I have been getting what I call "error reports" from users on my website who cannot see the video.

Here is the most recent one, and I have no way to test on Vista because I don't have it and cannot at this time afford to buy it. Can someone tell me what is wrong with my video/code that is not allowing it to play for some people.

Name: [Name Withheld]
Email: [Email Withheld]

Comments: I have windows vista software on my new computer. I also have windows media player 7.0 as your website shows. When I try to watch the DVD I get an 'X' in a box in the top left corner of the window. I have not changed any of the defalt Norton security settings since purchasing the computer. Do you know why I can't see anything. I have a high speed DSL connection and I can see other video.

Browser: Internet Explorer

Version: 7.0

Operating Sytem: Windows Vista

Connection: DSL

URL of the page with an error: http://www.hunt-private-land.com/videos.php?chapter=Intro

Date Submitted: Sunday February 03rd 2008 08:16:02 PM

[dtm32236]

dude - what did you do to the background graphic? it looks like a halloween site now.

anyway - don't embed a .wmv file in a site - some people use macs and linux - and often these people will not be able to view the video.

you should really consider converting the video to .flv (if you have adobe - Adobe Video Encoder will do it for you, if not i'm sure there's other applications that can convert it.) then get an open source FLV player... i like trent tompkins free player. it was simple to use - and it'll be accessible to 95% of the population*

*i just made up that number - that's not a real statistic, but in reality, a very high number of people have Flash/FLV support on their browsers.

[cdp103188]

You don't like the orange-black color scheme? It's supposed to be hunter's orange.... anyway.


Ok, I will give that FLV thing a try. Thanks.

[dtm32236]

let me know if you need any help with it...

it's pretty simple to implement - all you have to do is save the player.swf and your flv file in the same directory add modify the code:

<object id="player" width="xxx" height="xxx">
<param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain">
<param name="movie" value="player.swf?movie=your_video.flv&autoplay=off">
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true">
<param name="quality" value="high">
<param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff">
<embed allowfullscreen="true" src="player.swf?movie=your_video.flv&autoplay=off" quality="high" bgcolor="#ffffff" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="xxx" height="xxx"></embed>
</object>

[cdp103188]

I'm having a bit of a time finding a converter, but I'm going to keep looking. Thanks for the code, I will be sure to let you know how this works out.

Thanks again,
Cameron

[cdp103188]

Ok, I managed to make it work, but I do have an additional question.

The program comes with alot more files than just the player.swf but there is no kind of Readme.txt or tutorials that I can find on the website. What are all of those files used for and how can I learn to use them?

[dtm32236]

you don't need them.

all you need is player.swf and your flv file.

[cdp103188]

Ok, good enough for me.

Thanks alot.

[dtm32236]

no problem.

but i got an error when i went to your page:
http://www.hunt-private-land.com/vid...?chapter=Intro

[agabrel]

[Posted in separate thread.]