We now use Vid-e-o player to show our video previews

 
What is required to operate the Vid-e-o Player ?   
  • An Internet connection with either Dial Up (Narrow band) or Broad band.
  • Primarily Designed to work with Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 and above.
  • It will work on Netscape 5 and above, Opera 7 and above and some other browsers, however some of the functions may not operate fully.
  • JavaScript must be enabled or the player will not operate.
  • If cookies are not enabled the buttons "My Play" and "Set My Play" will not operate.
  • If you have a Popup blocker enabled, it may have to be temporally disabled to allow the vid-e-o player to operate. 
  • If you are running Windows XP service pack 2 (SP2) you may be ask to install an active x component.
  • The Vid-e-o Player requires Microsoft Windows Media Player ver 9 or above to be installed on your computer. This is normally installed automatically with Windows 2000 or Windows  XP and is normally installed with Internet Explorer. If you Don't have Microsoft Windows Media Player version 9 or above on your computer you can down load it FREE from Microsoft by clicking the icon

 Video Streaming Explained

 

Three Options

Video content uses large files and is slow to load, by using video streaming part of the video file is loaded into a buffer on your computer, when the player calculates that it has enough video in its buffer it starts to play and continues to down load the rest of the video file while its playing. This system loads considerably faster than using a full down load but it can stop during play if the connection speed changes.

Even with a video steaming system waiting for videos to play especially on a dialup system can be extremely frustrating so with most of our video samples you will be offered three choices. 

Quick Preview : Designed to give you an idea of the video content with out the long wait. This is a very small file and depending on your connection and system speed it should start to play within 10 to 20 seconds. To allow the file to load this quick sacrifices have to be made, so as well as being a small very low quality picture the frame rate is only 3 frames per second so it will also be very jerky during moving content.

Dialup MODEM : Designed to work with dialup MODEMs.  This is a still a small file and depending on your connection and system speed it should start to play within 2 to 5 minuets. To allow the file to load on a dialup system sacrifices still have to be made, a small  low quality picture with a frame rate of 12 frames per second.

Broadband : Designed to work with Broadband only.  The file is 10 times larger than the dialup file and gives a reasonable quality picture at a full frame rate of 25 frames per second.

DVDs :The file size on our DVDs is about 100 times larger than our Broadband files and over 1000 times larger than the quick preview files.

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