Points about configuring your machine
If you want to test machines on their ability to play videos, particularly streaming videos, and to reconfigure them to do so, then you want to:- Use short/small test videos for convenience
- Get the most likely format for your machine to work first. A Mac is likely to be setup for playing Quicktime files, and a PC for playing Windows Media format.
- First if possible try to get it to play off the file system (e.g. a CD): even downloading may not be set up right.
- Then get downloaded files to play (it's unlikely streaming video will work if video on disk won't). Then try streaming.
- Finally, you can try to get both formats to work on either kind of machine, which you may want as some material is only produced in one of the formats.
Hardware
One page to look at on hardware requirements: (to support latest Windows player)At least for some player software, the sound hardware must be enabled even if you don't want to play the sound, or else the player refuses to work.
Operating system patches / extensions
I have heard that on a PC, a widely available OS patch is needed to get Quicktime to work.Movie player
Player software is mostly free; and there seem to be versions of each player for both Mac and PCs.
Thus it would be possible to build a piece of CAL (Computer Assisted
Learning): play a segment of movie; ask a question (in text or sound or both),
and which button the user chooses to press determines which cell they get next
e.g. "Rubbish", "Good", explanations of what was wrong, try again, etc.
Presumably then a DVD (which definitely is either NTSC or PAL) would play on a
laptop regardless, but not on a domestic/specialised DVD player.
DVDs hold files with 3 extenstion types:
OS "edge" movie:
< img src="http://www.g-intelligence.co.uk/emails/select/150104/email/i/2.jpg" alt="" border="0" width="393" height="144" />xx
The code:
< img src="http://www.g-intelligence.co.uk/emails/select/150104/email/i/vid.jpg"
alt="" border="0" width="192" height="144"
dynsrc="http://www.g-intelligence.co.uk/emails/select/150104/email/bike.mal"
codectype="raolb" xrate="15" cntval="true" />
Web site logical path:
[www.psy.gla.ac.uk]
[~steve]
[EVSmain]
[videos]
[this page]
Quicktime players:
Download page
(General website)
At least for my video, you seem to need at least version 6.x
Otherwise you get it playing sound but no picture. 
Windows Media player.
At least for my video, you seem to need at least version 7.x
Otherwise the error message says it can't download the right codec.
Browser protocols
For Quicktime streaming video, your browser must handle the rtsp (as well as
http) protocols.
For WMV streaming video, your browser must handle the mms (as well as
http) protocols.
Problems / symptoms
Symptoms Actual problem, solutions Windows player on a PC refused to play the vision because no sound on machine.
Fix: change OS to make it at least look as if there were sound. Movie plays sound but no vision (quicktime)
Upgrade Quicktime from v.4 to v.6 Movie plays sound but no vision (wmv)
Upgrade Windows Media Player e.g. from v.7 to v.9
In Player, choose File menu, Get Info and it shows you the codecs used in that
movie being played. In the Apple menu, About Media Player it shows you the
version number of the player.
Movie plays vision but no sound. (Small PC)
I seen this, but dunno the details or the solution Errors about unable to download a codec (Windows movie)
Later version of Windows player needed: at least v.7 IE browser wouldn't play streaming QT
Manually add a protocol helper for RTSP -> Quicktime player "Can't do this format" when quicktime Open command on file is
attempted ??
Actually: just Mac file type not set on file Hangs silently when trying to play QT streaming video
Protocol failure in browser. Set its mappings so that rtsp protocol
handled by something e.g. Quicktime plugin Browser download fails: no apparent result
Need upgrade of quicktime to v.6 IE Browser error page "This page cannot be displayed" followed by "page
may be missing". But this is not in fact an error page from the server but
from the browser.
Although it looks like a missing page / bad URL error page, this is
actually a browser (not server) error page saying it cannot understand what was
sent. It means it can't do the rtsp protocol: you need to install the
quicktime plugin and/or change the settings to point to it. Netscape: Page missing page from server
Actually, browser unable to do quicktime streaming (rtsp protocol) Download (of wmv) fails: displays garble as text
IE fix: edit config to use mime type text/plain and suffix wmv mapped to
Windows player
But don't work in netscape because that "mime type taken""The playlist format not recognised" from Windows player for WMF
streaming video (in IE on mac)
In fact an obscure failure of the WMP plugin to parse .asx files and also
do http redirection. Solution: configure browser helper to redirect .asx to
the WMP (windows player).
"Switching transports" message on QT player:
Mac OS-X, MAG, IE, streaming opens QT but never does it.
? newer QT?; McClure fix to browser page? "connecting..." browser message, but never does.
IE, Stuart's machine, attempt to download .wmv file.
Machine recognises file suffix type, but browser doesn't:
probably MIME type doesn't. xx
yy
Server stats on viewing the streaming video versions
Windows streaming
Hit the link "video content" e.g.
http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/computing/video/reports/Report26/Week21Mar2004/VideoContent.html
Quicktime streaming
DVD higher level structure
DVDs are divided into "titles", and then into "chapter points".
However their movie parts may be divided into separate "cells", with user
interaction (typically on graphics screens with active link points) deciding
which cell to play next. In fact I understand there is essentially a
programming language for these control flows, with branch and test, access to
some parameter values and to a clock for timing, and 16 registers (variables)
to use e.g. for keeping a score, counting the number of attempts at something,
etc.
Tech. Facts
MPEG 1 MPEG 2 CD
650Mbytes 74 minsDVD
4.38 Gbytes (15.9) 75 mins at max. quality
PAL or NTSC, but not both Quarter area TV screen size/resolution 352 X 288 720 X 576 frame size 1.5Mbps (bits) 10 Mbps (bits) Picture sizes
NTSC vs. PAL
Windows format has neither (and no interlacing). Both MPEGs, and so
quicktime, has either NTSC or PAL built in (and with it, resolution and frame
rates). However QT can play any QT file on any computer. The problem is
probably only with domestic equipment feeding to a TV monitor without much
conversion.Other things
CD disks: good for both macs and PCs at once
Quicktime seems much better at compression than WMF
.IFO (control flow data)
.BUP (backup duplicates of the .IFO files)
.VOB (the video chunks)
The VOBs are actually a subspecies of MPEG2 file.
More wider points
GIF movie (Netscape only??):
press.
original page 
still only
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Real player