Can I link to a.wmv file?

[Jon Igartua]

Is it possible to insert a link in a .web page file that by clicking opens mediaplayer and shows the movie? Thx for your help.

[steve.ledger]

Linking to a media file in a browser will invoke a browser plugin for that file type. If no plugin is installed, the browser will display the download prompt.
You cannot create a web link to start an application which is installed a users HDD because that person may not have that app or may not even use the same operating system. Browser plugins were developed to overcome this and allow rich media to be viewed by anyone who visits a particular site.

The code for a placeholder to play a .WMV (or other video type) on your page has been discussed a number of times, if you do a search I'm sure you will find it.

Meanwhile here's a sample .web file to help with the .wmv type.

[Jon Igartua]

Great thanks for the demo .web file. It all works perfectly.

[steve.ledger]

Happy to help Jon - and Welcome to the TG Forums.

[slavelle]

I recently had to do some stuff with webcams for remote viewing of a Dog Daycare and choosing the method for display was really a coice of compromise. The hardware unit that handles the serving of the web can be configured to send either mjpeg or mpeg4 and can be used via ActiveX controls embedded on a page (like sledger mentions) or by Quicktime Stream via the RTSP:// protocol.

Because web browsers don't interpret the rtsp, you can't simply link to one, and because of limitations of the way QT streams are called combined with a shortcoming in the manufacturers broadcast method makes it pretty much impossible to link to the stream in a seperate quicktime player window without having the end-user copy the address and paste it into their Open URL dialog in QT - not friendly to me.

The flip side to this is that Internet Explorer is pretty much the only browser that will support ActiveX controls (if there's another, let me know), so your video may show as a blank box or whatever you have for the placeholder in those other broswers (the green 400x400 is what shows in Sledger's example) - so be creative and use that billboard to inform them that there would be a video there if they were using Internet Explorer - maybe there's even a way to link to launch IE since all PCs have it installed even if it's not the browser of choice.

In my case, I went with the ActiveX control because it allowed for the best compatibility across the most visitors, meanining IE users. No Firefox, no Mac/Safari/Chrome.

I suppose what I'm getting at is that this is not a shortcoming of XWD, just a pita way still to deal with media across the board. There are always compromises.

One other option you could consider is simply linking to the wmv and letting the user's file associations at the windows level deal with it. This would cause whatever player they commonly use for that file type to launch. I see this often on pages where you can listen to demo songs or watch demo movies (like from xbox.com, for example).

Hope all this is somehow helpful.

[steve.ledger]

so your video may show as a blank box or whatever you have for the placeholder in those other broswers (the green 400x400 is what shows in Sledger's example)

You must have a movie.wmv where the placeholder code expects it, otherwise yes, you will indeed get a blank box.
The .web file I made available only shows how to add the code, it doesn't contain the actual movie.
Once you have a .wmv it works works in all browsers just like this does.
Or as Jon said, "it all works perfectly"


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