About three years ago I created a site using Freeway Pro. I created several pages with embedded QuickTime movies programed for instant play. They have functioned properly in all the browsers that I tested them with: Safari for Mac, Internet Explorer for Windows, Firefox (all versions) for Windows and all versions of Firefox for Mac prior to v 4.x.
Each of the videos will begin to play immediately after the page is loaded.
Now I find that this function is broken when using the Mac version of Firefox 4.x or the Mac version of Chrome. With these browsers the videos only play after the entire video file has downloaded. There is thus a 1-2 minute pause where nothing seems to be happening. I’m sure anyone using these browsers would not wait for the videos to load since there is no indication that anything is happening.
Interestingly, Firefox 4.x for Windows still works fine with instant play.
Here’s an example of one of the video files if you would like to confirm these findings:
It will work properly with:
All Windows versions of Firefox
Windows Internet Explorer
Mac Safari
Mac versions of Firefox prior to version 4
It won’t work properly with
Chrome for Mac
Version 4 of Firefox for Mac
What do I need to do to get instant play with work with these newer browsers? There is something in the html code that Freeway Pro produces that isn’t handled properly by these browsers.
Thanks.
John
Ok guys. I’m kind of jumping in here, just to salute you David. Even though I haven’t posted any questions for the last couple of months, I read many of the posts here because I learn a lot. I can tell you and Wakter never rest.
Best wishes
Marcus
Sent from my iPhone
On May 24, 2011, at 5:22 PM, “DeltaDave” email@hidden wrote:
I also see the following code which doesn’t look right to me
David,
Thanks for your response. Those pages were indeed made using an older version of FW pro. I’ve since upgraded to version 5.5.4. I fear I don’t have the FW files that I used to produce those pages. I made 6 pages in FW to append to a full website that was built with WordPress. These pages were just knitted in using FW since I had no idea how to do them in WordPress. Ideally I would like to one day basically convert the site totally over to FW.
What in particular doesn’t look right about that snippet of code?
I just find it very strange that every browser I tried, both in Windows and Mac versions, worked great for more than 2 years. And now these pages don’t function properly in a new browser (Chrome) and a new version of an old one (Firefox).
John
Having looked at a similar output from a test mp4 that I dragged/dropped into a FW document it appears that this is FW’s standard output!
I was expecting to see autoplay:true, loop:false etc - my mistake.
Have you tried the QT Reference Movie Action which allows you to select/specify/create different movie files depending on what device is viewing and connection type. Also when the movies were first created did you use the web fast start option.
Freeway uses the FW_WriteObject JavaScript when the Eolas workaround option is selected in the Inspector palette. Without this selected Freeway will output standard Object and Embed HTML blocks.
Regards,
Tim.
On 25 May 2011, at 09:55, DeltaDave wrote:
Having looked at a similar output from a test mp4 that I dragged/dropped into a FW document it appears that this is FW’s standard output!
I have exactly the same problem, though with mp3’s. Prior to upgrading to Firefox 4 (Mac), the QuickTime player appeared at once and started loading the file. Now with Firefox version 4, nothing happens until the file has fully loaded, at which point the player does appear and the audio starts. You should be able to see what I mean at http://www.martineastwell.com/audiosamples.html
if you try viewing it in Firefox 4 and Safari. I get the same behavior when previewing my local version of the site in both browsers. Can anyone suggest a fix in words that a novice like myself can comprehend?
Martin,
Yes! You have exactly the same experience with your audio that I am having with my QT movies. I get instant play when I click on one of your audio files if I am using Safari or Firefox 3.x. But I have to wait for the file to download if I use Chrome or Firefox 4.x.
This tells us something important, but I’m not sure what it is.
This is not a problem with the audio/video files themselves but a problem with how the different browsers interpret the html code. I think that makes sense.
Surely someone with knowledge of how FW codes the html for browsers could shed some light on this?
John
I’ve posted this on another thread about mp3’s, but it seems relevant here-I got this info from Freeway support:
"There seems to be an issue at the moment with the way that Firefox 4 handles embedded QuickTime content, in that FF4 doesn’t stream the content - and then start to play - until the file is completely loaded.
This affects video and audio files that use the QuickTime embed attribute.
Freeway is certainly publishing the code correctly, so this is does not appear to be a Freeway issue - though we would like to get to the source of the problem so we can advise customers on the best options to fix things. If you Google for “firefox4 quicktime movie problem” (without the quotes) you will see that this is not a problem specific to Freeway users.
Some Leopard users report that Firefox 4 displays and plays QT content fine (as it does in FF3), but Snow Leopard seems to have problems. This may be due to the way that QuickTime and Firefox 4 play together, as Leopard and Snow Leopard use slightly different versions of QuickTime.
As soon as we find a workaround for the problems with Firefox 4, we will put up an article on our KnowledgeBase at http://www.softpress.com/kb/. It might be that Firefox will release a new update soon to fix the problem, in which case we will tell you which version you need to download and install."
Firefox is not likely to change on this point. The developers have a political point to make about MP3, in that it’s patented and requires license fees they don’t want to pay. To have audio play on Firefox and Safari, try using WAV.
Walter
On Dec 17, 2011, at 11:03 PM, Carla wrote:
Hello has there been a fix on this problem with mp3 on Firefox 4?
Mine works fine with Safari but the player does not even show in Firefox browsr
thanks
