FLV Player - make invisible bg

Hi, Im making a test site where I want to include webstunning flashplayer. How can I make the player invisible? i want to only make it visible when you hit a thumbnail.


Answer:


Hi,
add this line of code at the end of your page to make the player invisible

<script type="text/javascript">document.getElementById('webstunning_video_player').style.display='none'</script>

Add this script to your html thumbnails:

document.getElementById('webstunning_video_player').style.display='block';setTimeout('swfobject.getObjectById(\'WSplayer\').JS_PlayVideoNum(1)',200)
- to play video #1

document.getElementById('webstunning_video_player').style.display='block';setTimeout('swfobject.getObjectById(\'WSplayer\').JS_PlayVideoNum(2)',200)
- to play video #2

document.getElementById('webstunning_video_player').style.display='block';setTimeout('swfobject.getObjectById(\'WSplayer\').JS_PlayVideoNum(3)',200)
- to play video #3

and so on...

Example:

<a onmouseover="MM_swapImage('Image80','','images/thumbs/over/kngf_over.jpg',1)"
onmouseout="MM_swapImgRestore()"
href="javascript:document.getElementById('webstunning_video_player').style.display='block';setTimeout('swfobject.getObjectById(\'WSplayer\').JS_PlayVideoNum(1)',200)">
<img width="90" height="70" border="0" name="Image80"
src="images/thumbs/corporate/kngf.jpg"/>
</a>

Regards
Dmitry
webstunning.com

Error message FLV File not found

player shows error:

ERROR-URL NOT FOUND
http://www.mydomain.com/demo_flv

The file is there in the root of the website in the server... no change from my development pc which.

I don't have such error when opening the website from my development pc.


Answer:


FLV is a relatively new file format used for Adobe Flash video files. By default, the flv type does not work with windows 2003 server IIS.
Have a look at the technote Windows 2003 Server does not stream FLV videos on Adobe’s website.

Here’s the short story:

With IIS 6.0, Microsoft changed the way streaming media is handled. Previous versions of IIS did not require any modification to stream Flash Video. Microsoft IIS 6.0, the default web server that ships with Windows 2003, requires a MIME type to recognize that FLV files are streamed media.

So, in order to get streaming to work, you need to add a custom MIME type in the Internet Information Services Manager. Just add a MIME type for the .flv extension with a value of flv-application/octet-stream.

How to use get variables with flv player

I have many videos on my site that I need to have inside the player. But in order for my customers to be able to easily navigate thru all my videos and view a specific video, instead of scrolling thru a list with small thumbnail images inside the player, I have a gallery page with an explanation to each video, and I'm wondering if it's possible to link an image on a different html page to a specific video inside the playlist of the player? Meaning that when the customer clicks on an image on a different html page to view the video, they are taken to the html page with the player and that specific video starts to play..

At this stage I have around 70 videos on my site, and it will continue to grow, and the thumbnails in the player doesn't give me the overview that I can get from having larger images with an explanation as to what type of video it is.

I want to avoid having a single flash player for each video and would really like to be able to have one single player with all my videos, and then simply link an image on a different html page to drive that video in the webstunning player.

Kind regards

Chris

Answer

Yes, it's possible.
Use following links to the page with the flv player:

http://www.YourDomain.com/playerPage.htm?movie=1
http://www.YourDomain.com/playerPage.htm?movie=68
http://www.YourDomain.com/playerPage.htm?movie=69

Add this code to the end of the page with the WebStunning player:

<script type="text/javascript">

function parseGetVars() {

var ar = new Array();

var q = unescape(top.location.search.substring(1));

var pairs = q.split(/\&/);

for (var i=0;pairs[i];i++) {

var nv = pairs[i].split(/\=/);

ar[nv[0]] = nv[1];

}

return ar;

}

function playWhenReady(){

var wso = swfobject.getObjectById('WSplayer');

if(document.readyState){

if(document.readyState=="complete" && wso.getReadyState()=="ready"){

wso.JS_PlayVideoNum(movieNum);

}else{

setTimeout("playWhenReady()",200);

}

}else{

if(wso && wso.getReadyState()=="ready"){

wso.JS_PlayVideoNum(movieNum);

}else{

setTimeout("playWhenReady()",200);

}

}

}



var gVars = parseGetVars();

var movieNum = gVars['movie'];

if(movieNum)playWhenReady();

</script>

Using swfobject with FLV Player

I'd like to add the player to a page directly in a div using only swfobject without these object tags generated by dreamweaver but I get a 'Play List XML not loaded!' error.
I've converted all the Params and Flashvars that were generated by dreamweaver into js objects and I call swfobject.embedSWF with these config objects.
The playlist definition is like that :
_videoType: 'File (URL)' and
PlayListXML_path: 'http://www.domain.tld/flash/player/playlists/homepage.xml'
The player swf is located in http://www.domain.tld/flash/player/.

The playlist xml displays correctly in a web browser.
Did I miss something? Is it possible to get it work this way?

Thx in advance for your help.
King regards,


Vincent Louvet


Answer:


The PlayListXML_path var needs to be quoted and escaped ...
That's a bit weird because it doesn't do that with the other variables.

This is an example code working with swfobject:

if(!swfobject)
{
alert('swfobject missing!');
return;
}

var flashvars = {
PlayListXML_path: '\'http://www.domain.tld/flash/player/playlists/homepage.xml\'',
_showMainBar: true,
_skin: 'Default',
_mainbarAutoHide: true,
_mainbar_Alpha: 100,
_mainbar_Top: '#333333',
_mainbar_Bottom: '#000000',
_loadSkin: false,
_thumbnailCarousel: true,
_fixedWidth: 400,
_fixedHeight: 226,
_videoProportions: true,
_autoSize: true,
_autoPlay: false,
_loop: false,
_bufferTime: 2,
_buttonToolTips: false,
_buttonsColor: '#FFFFFF',
_volumeAudio: 60,
_seekBar_color: '#ffa707',
_showEmailButton: false,
_showEmbedButton: false,
_showFullscreenButton: true,
_showPlayListButton: true,
_showTimerButton: true,
_showVideoPropButton: false,
_showVolumeButton: true,
_fontFamily: 'Default Embedded Font',
_fontSize: 8,
_emailSubjectTitle: '',
_emailBodyText: '',
_buttonToolTipsList: ['stop','play','pause','played time / all time','sound volume','playlist','html code and link','send to friend','video properties','fullscreen mode'],
_addexterpl: false,
_plbgcolor: '#000000',
_plwidth: 480,
_plheight: 272,
_ownerLogoIMGPath: 'logo.png',
_ownerLogoAlpha: 0,
_ownerLogoLink: '#',
_rightClickMenuCopyright: 'VL',
_rightClickMenuCopyrightLink: '#',
_rightClickMenuCopyrightTarget: '_blank',
_objectID: 'video'
};

var params = {
allowFullScreen: 'true',
wmode: 'transparent',
quality: 'high',
allowScriptAccess: 'always',
swliveconnect: true,
allowFullScreen: true,
swfversion: '8.0.0.0'
};

swfobject.embedSWF('http://www.domain.tld/flash/player/player.swf', 'video', '400', '225', '9.0.115', '/scripts/lib/swfobject/expressInstall.swf', flashvars, params);

FLV player: Choppy video playback

Some videos seem to play smoothly in Firefox and Safari but they choppy playback in Internet Explorer.

Answer:

You are right. All problem in Flash ActiveX plugin in the Internet Explorer. It saves computer memory (CPU) and accordingly not smoothly plays some videos. But in the last IE8 browser I have not noticed such problems.

-------

1. It is necessary to increase buffer time.
2. The using of RTMP server (Streaming video) can help.
3. Try other adjustments at the video file creation.
-------

FLV player: Metadata location in FLV

How to make the player load and play the video (in FLV format) without have to load the whole data first? Now, flv player have to load the whole data first before it can play.

Answer:

Try post processing your FLV video file with FLVMDI. It puts the metadata at the beginning of the FLV so it begins to play immediately.

http://www.buraks.com/flvmdi/

FLV player: No sound in video

Why in my video file music is not played?

Answer:

The WebStunning FLV Player is Flash based, so it can only use video/audio codecs that are supported by the Adobe Flash Player.

See: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/402/kb402866.html for a list of the supported codecs.

FLV player: Creation of correct HD file

How you create correct HD files?

Answer:

We create all our HD videos in free codec - SUPER, you can download it from http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

Adobe player considers HD video of such formats: MP4, MOV or M4V (popular).

PS. FLV format cannot be correct for HD viewing on fullscreen.

FLV Player: MOV file loading time

I find the loadintimes long, what can I do to make it shorter.

Answer:

The problem in Metadata in MOV file. Your Metadata in the end of MOV file and the player does not know duration of video on start. Therefore it loads video completely and then plays.

It is a known problem of MOV files. Probably you need to take advantage of other program for creation of your MOV files or convert MOV to FLV.

I have found one program, maybe it help you:
http://www.applesolutions.com/bantha/MH.html

See also:

http://www.datagoround.com/lab/index.html

http://www.rndware.info/content/MetadataMover