embedding avi files

Discussion in 'HTML & Website Design' started by vlad230, Oct 31, 2008.

  1. #1
    Hi guys!

    I've browsed the internet today like a mad man to find the optimal way to embed avi files into web pages and I still haven't found one that will work in IE, FF and Opera. Basically I need something that will work for everyone and it has to have the "full screen" feature.

    Everywhere I asked, people were trying to convince me to try flash video (.flv), I've tried it and the quality is horrible compared to the quality of an avi file of the same size. So, I don't want to hear about flv.

    Could someone help me out?

    - Vlad
     
    vlad230, Oct 31, 2008 IP
  2. rene7705

    rene7705 Peon

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    #2
    Have you tried increasing the bitrate for flash video? I agree the std bitrate is kinda horrible, but at 800 - 1000 it's fine. Filesize isnt that much larger than avi.

    $cmd = 'nice -n 19 ffmpeg -i "'.$sourcePath.'" -b 850 -acodec mp3 -ab 192 -ar 22050 -y "'.$destination.'"';

    that's what i use, and that plays divx movies (like the one u find on torrentz.com) just fine..

    sry for recommending the same, but i also think it's the best solution.
    Any other way and your client will most likely have to install yet another plugin.

     
    rene7705, Oct 31, 2008 IP
  3. vlad230

    vlad230 Active Member

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    #3
    I actually tried 1000 kb/s and it is still horrible compared to the avi file... So, not an option... :( Not to mention it gets even horrible when it goes to full screen...

     
    vlad230, Oct 31, 2008 IP
  4. rene7705

    rene7705 Peon

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    #4
    OK, if u say so..

    maybe w ww.mjijackson.com/shadowbox/ can help u
     
    rene7705, Oct 31, 2008 IP
  5. kk5st

    kk5st Prominent Member

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    #5
    This should work.
    object {
        width: 480px;
        height: 360px;
        border: 1px solid black;
        }
    ==============
      <p><object type="video/x-msvideo"
              data="some.avi">
        <p><a href="some.avi">click for the movie</a></p>
      </object></p>
    Code (markup):
    If it doesn't, give me a link where I can access your .avi file.

    cheers,

    gary
     
    kk5st, Oct 31, 2008 IP
  6. vlad230

    vlad230 Active Member

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    #6
    I guess this:

    object {
    width: 480px;
    height: 360px;
    border: 1px solid black;
    }

    is .css code so I've added to my styles.css file and I've added the rest of the code to the page on which I'm testing this but it's still not working...

    In FF I can't see anything on the page but I have sound, in IE8 the player appears but it doesn't start and there is no video or sound.

    Anymore ideas?

     
    vlad230, Nov 1, 2008 IP
  7. ORZ

    ORZ Well-Known Member

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    #7
    You can integrate the same player as stage6 had.
    That is divx web player.
     
    ORZ, Nov 1, 2008 IP
  8. kk5st

    kk5st Prominent Member

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    #8
    Please, give us a link to your page. Something is going on, but without being able to see the actual code and how your page renders, it will be guesswork to debug.

    cheers,

    gary
     
    kk5st, Nov 1, 2008 IP
  9. vlad230

    vlad230 Active Member

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    #9
    I didn't quite understand what you said there :)


    This is the link to my test page: http://tinyurl.com/5dxbp7 all the commented code you see there, are previous trials to embed an avi that didn't work either in FF, Opera or IE... The video file is video.avi and is located in the public_html folder like the test.php page.

    I have VLC player as a default player on my PC... could that be the cause of my problems? I mean I think that because I have it installed as default it modifies the way I see video content in FF. I tried some embedding techniques that are currently commentated and they worked in IE and FF but in IE I saw the Windows media player style window and control buttonts and in FF I only saw the movie without the WMP style and control buttons just the movie...


    I basically need a way to embed an avi file that can be seen by everyone (without flash video or swf of course) and if possible that doesn't require the user to install a plug-in or an add-on...

    Please help.
     
    vlad230, Nov 1, 2008 IP
  10. vlad230

    vlad230 Active Member

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    #10
    I can't believe there isn't somebody who solved the avi embedding problem....

    I mean it's obvious that .avi files are 1000 times better than .flv files... I don't want to believe that file size has taken over quality....
     
    vlad230, Nov 2, 2008 IP
  11. kk5st

    kk5st Prominent Member

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    #11
    Some things I noticed:

    Runs once but won't repeat or reload in Firefox/Linux

    Will not run in Opera, or Safari.

    Will not run as plugin in IE. Windows Media player runs without video—sound only.

    Runs in Totem/Linux.

    Ran the video in MPlayer/Linux from the cli in verbose mode, and it shows errors in the video file.
    [mpeg4 @ 0xb3d920]Invalid and inefficient vfw-avi packed B frames detected
    Code (markup):
    That shows up for each frame. I think your video file is corrupted.

    Can you get a known good avi file for comparison?

    cheers,

    gary
     
    kk5st, Nov 2, 2008 IP
  12. Website Tiger

    Website Tiger Guest

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    #12
    If i were you i would install divx web player in the website, it gives the best quality
     
    Website Tiger, Nov 2, 2008 IP
  13. vlad230

    vlad230 Active Member

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    #13

    I don't think it's corrupted.... but thanks for the help anyways :)


    I've heard great things about the divx web player (stage6) and I would install it but doesn't that mean that everyone who wants to see the movie has to install it too? If eveyone has to install it ... that isn't an option because frankly no one will install it :D
     
    vlad230, Nov 2, 2008 IP
  14. kk5st

    kk5st Prominent Member

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    #14
    You don't think? Have you checked?

    Hmm, let's see. All my browsers handle avi files just fine, but not your avi. Why is that? Why can't you view your file? Can you see other embedded avi files? How are they coded? Why can you view them, but not your own? Corrupted files? Maybe due to a conversion?

    A file corruption is the most likely culprit. You should investigate that possibility first.

    gary
     
    kk5st, Nov 2, 2008 IP
  15. vlad230

    vlad230 Active Member

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    #15
    What code are you using to embed the avi file? Is it:
    <object type="video/x-msvideo" data="video.avi">
        <p><a href="video.avi">click for the movie</a></p>
    
    </object>
    Code (markup):
    or something else?

    All my avi files are the same... if they are corrupted --> I don't have any videos to display --> no content --> no need to embed avi files :D

    I'm joking :D

    My avi files are split from a bigger avi file. The splitter program has reconverted the avi file to sync the video with the audio. The fact is I like how the video file turned out the quality is great, the file size si acceptable and the video is in sync with the audio.

    I'm afraid that if I attempt a reconversion that will change one of these 3 things. Do you happen to know a free conversion software that will convert it without loosing these 3 and making it perfect for web display?

    - Vlad
     
    vlad230, Nov 2, 2008 IP
  16. kk5st

    kk5st Prominent Member

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    #16
    Yes, I'm using that markup.

    What does the full, un-messed-with avi look like? Link?

    Granted the video is beautiful, and the sound is awesome even on my crappy sound system, but isn't it overkill for the web? 18mB is a two minute download on dsl, and nearly 20 seconds on my fiber optic connection—way too big. Unless you're a videographer, showing your work, the q factor is way too high. Why not go with mpeg4 or wmv, and scale back the size as much as you can before the quality loss is noticeable to the normal viewer?

    edit: Google is your friend. This is the first entry on the search results. --g

    cheers,

    gary
     
    kk5st, Nov 3, 2008 IP
  17. vlad230

    vlad230 Active Member

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    #17
    Unfortunately I can't give you the link to the full video because it's not on the server. I also have a fiber optic cable connection and the download doesn't seem to bother me :D This was the smallest video that I uploaded, the largest has 160 mb :eek:. As you said this is kinda tooooo much for the web and many users won't be able to see them... I'm currently experimenting with the converter and I'll see what I'm gonna do...

    I'll definitely test the embedding first on a bunch of systems before i implement it.

    BTW... the current embedding style returns the "open with" and "save" dialogs in IE (tested from school on IE6 I think...) so I will definitely test it a bit more (after I change the video encoding...) :)

    thanks,
    Vlad
     
    vlad230, Nov 3, 2008 IP
  18. kk5st

    kk5st Prominent Member

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    #18
    It occurs to me that IE does not support the object element very well. It may be that you should check MSDN for any notes on embedding the media player. It's likely you'll need all that activeX crap to make IE work.

    cheers,

    gary
     
    kk5st, Nov 3, 2008 IP
  19. vlad230

    vlad230 Active Member

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    #19
    I just tried the converter and I'm not very pleased with it... I mean I managed to get a file that had the quality even worse and the file size larger... strange...

    I'll be searching for other converters. :)
     
    vlad230, Nov 3, 2008 IP
  20. Voynex

    Voynex Peon

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    #20
    I'd suggest to convert AVI to WMV and use Silverlight.
     
    Voynex, May 19, 2011 IP