>From: Dee Eisenman <[log in to unmask]>
>Second, does anyone know where to go to download Realplayer for free? I
>use Media Player 7 for everything and it is preferred by me, however in
>order to view the videos at ferretTV.com you must pay to download the
>player. Perhaps there is another format that can be used?
>
>Many of us cannot afford to pay a monthly fee just to view a few things
>that are in Realplayer only format. MP3 and MP7 are free and are really
>great devices.
Hi
For viewing www.FerretTV.com, the RealPlayer is free, but they don't make
it easy to find on their web page.
Here's instructions as best as I can make them:
go to
http://www.realplayer.com
all the way at the bottom of the page in the center is a section with
TOP FREE DOWNLOADS - click on the RealPlayer 8 Basic.
This will take you to a page that allows you to BUY the RealPlayer 8 Plus,
however at the bottom left of THIS page is a link for "RealPlayer 8 Basic -
is our free player".
Clicking on this brings you to a page where you can fill out some info,
make choices based on what your operating system is, etc. and download the
player. There is no fee, no monthly fee, just the usual amount of annoying
ads.
Currently, only RealPlayer files are up. I like their quality (especially
over a modem) better AND they allow me to embed the videos on the web page.
(According to what I have read, you cannot embed a windows media file and
have it be viewable if the person's browser is Netscape - ugh too many
technical words and incompatibilities!)
So far, people have asked for
1) higher resolution videos for people with faster connections
2) videos that play in resizeable popup windows
3) videos in other formats
1) You can look at a sample faster connection video at
http://www.ferrettv.com/merch/waw/index.html
which features information about our new book and has Mary introducing
Trixie, Knuks, and Gabrielle. I've found that to view the higher
resolution videos you need both a fast connection and a fast computer
(Mary's Aunt has a cable modem with a slow computer and the video looks
really jumpy). I'm not sure what the audience out there has - I only have
a 56K modem connection (which makes uploading big video files _really_
slow). Perhaps someone could move the local telco center closer to me so
that I am close enough to get DSL?
2) Popups are being considered. I don't have the facilities to test all
the different browser/viewer options. I went with Real because Microsoft's
site claimed that you can't embed windows media files an have them viewable
in Netscape. Real seemed independent enough to have a chance of working on
PC vs. MAC and Netscape vs. Internet Explorer. I didn't like how popups
played on web pages. Apparently other people do.
3) The only software Microsoft gives out for encoding windows media files
requires Windows 98. Oddly enough, none of our production computers are
new enough to have any chance of running 98 on them. I will try to get
some windows media files up as I can produce them, however, the video
quality at 56K modem speed doesn't seem as good to me as the Real videos.
The first episode of the Mary Show (costumes & angora ferrets) is at:
http://www.ferrettv.com/maryshow/ep1/index.html
I will try to get a windows media version of it up on that page by Thursday
eve if I can so that you will have a viewing choice.
The growth of FerretTV and expansion into higher bandwidth video (bandwidth
gets expensive) is really dependent on the feedback we get and whether or
not the site can help us sell enough of our book _The Wit and Wisdom of the
Modern Ferrets_ to pay for itself.
More videos will be going up in the next week. We're hoping that FerretTV
will make as big a change in what ferret care information looks like as
Modern Ferret Magazine did back in 1994.
Please send comments you have about FerretTV to
[log in to unmask]
Also include what speed connection you have, browser, etc.
- Eric
Modern Ferret Magazine - For ferret owners. By ferret owners.
Mary & Eric Shefferman & the Fuzzies: Knuks, Trixie, Bosco da Gama,
Balthazar, Cauliflower, Koosh, and Gabrielle
http://www.modernferret.com
[Posted in FML issue 3224]
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