Preview playback methods... is flv playback really necessary?

[TSG]

ok, I have put a lot of thought into this, do the users really want flv playback?

I mean, its only good for streaming video's stolen from YouTube and whatnot, lets face it... its a closed format, terribly bad quality and really quite useless. So vote on the pole for your preference, now consider this vote, don't just vote cause you think it will be a good feature, vote because it is extremely necessary for your template to support it.

Giant Eagle and I have put in a fair amount of spare time into bringing you awesome templates, the next releases are going to be huge. flv playback is the lowest thing on both of our lists.

ok thats flv for you, NOW, DivX web player.

This player whilst being very cool and easy to use, anyone using the latest version, the player contacts a so named corporation to report information, the exact contents of this information, I have no idea.. I can only suggest it is something along the lines of what you are playing and where. I am pretty sure they state this in the license agreement, but who actually reads them things lol. Its still an invasion of privacy for both the host and the user. There is no way to disable this, unless all your users have a nice IP filter like pg2. The player is designed to work with stage6, DivX's nice version of YouTube, so it doesn't surprise me they want to know where else the player is being used.

We have looked into the VLC version, I like it, but it has its flaws...

Please discuss whether or not you want DivX web player support, now you know this information.

Finally, I am happy to report that the RAWR-Mp3-Player is now stable and working, for those that haven't seen it, here is a screenshot for you.
(ignore the old preview box and '- Pin', pin is in testing and im awaiting new preview code)

[Foggy]

flv playback isnt important but I would really like the ability to play .avi files so it's a bummer about the divx web player.

[Flynsarmy]

I don't see the point in removing it just because you can. If you already have the flv player
working, why get rid of it?

[TSG]

The current flv player is very buggy. The old one was even worse, currently the ToG is the only template with some form of flv playback by default, and it is not the most reliable at that. And no we will not use the jeroen wijering flv player, for all those that will reply suggesting that. If people want it, it will prolong the release and we will sit back and reformat the RAWR-Mp3-Player to include flv playback as an option, we attempted this already and it is proving difficult, but not impossible.

[ledufe]

necessary? no, but desireable yes, and also i really found such a shame that divx networks are getting info behind our codes, but yet is a good feature, play avi files, it is another good thing, as the flv player, so i would let it supported, and would not improve the code, or change it, only let the user choose if he wants this section/support on his template from yours....

[TSG]

we desire many things from the templates, if i made a page of the mental checklist we have for both templates it is as long as rejetto's to-do! my main point is that people don't normally have flv files, along with the others i stated in the main post.. As for the divx player, it is a very viable idea, i could write in the README my reasons for not making it a default setting and then how to enable the divx player mode "at your own risk", it will be as simple as pasting some code into the template editor.

[maverick]

my main point is that people don't normally have flv files

I for one have many flv files and have made the clips available using the jeroen wijering player without javascript.  These files can also be converted to other formats.  Of course hosting video clips in any format is not necessary.  When I make them available,  I make them available only to show users that they can be played through HFS as a feature.  I have every feature available built into my template but they all aren't used all of the time.

As you make your template available to the public, I would say include all the features you have built-in or at least include instructions how to include them or how to disable them.  Let the user's decide whether they want to use them or not.  That way you wouldn't have waisted a lot of personal time coding the features into your template to begin with.

To answer your subject question - NO playback, flv or any other, is necessary.

[TSG]

To answer your subject question - NO playback, flv or any other, is necessary.

Of course  . I'm just trying to get a grasp on how the forum feels about flv playback in a template.

The reason i ask the forum is so i don't go wasting time on something ToG users wont even use, i will be posting strange topics, to stir conversation and idea's, giving me a general idea on how people feel about major features such as this.

I refuse to use jeroen's players, for the mere fact that i know i can make them myself. I just need the time, and time is the other issue here, if ToG users want flv playback by next build they need to be prepared to wait while the player is put through testing and is perfected, the mp3 player took about 2 weeks to build to my liking.

I plan to release shortly after exams in 6 weeks time, around the ToG's 1st b'day actually.

The next release, I hope, will be of the best quality I can achieve with the template, the ToG and other works will be put into my personal University portfolio for my final year when i have to apply for work placement, among other things.

[TCube]

As for the divx player, it is a very viable idea, i could write in the README my reasons for not making it a default setting and then how to enable the divx player mode "at your own risk", it will be as simple as pasting some code into the template editor.

It's not quite clear why after having say :

This is roy204 from DivX,Inc - main developper of the DivX Web Player.
This is just an anonymous ping to fireclick (a simple counter system owned by Digital River indeed) that we use to count how many time our plugin is used everyday. It's not spying on anything as nothing is recorded at all. It's just a number being incremented. We will actually remove this ping in the future. For now it helps us see how this product is adopted and prioritize our next efforts.
DivX doesn't do spyware :wink: You can also read about this ping in the license agreement if you're curious.

... year later, nothing 's been removed ... so you've still got a ping to "http://hints.netflame.cc/" ... then you have to firewall : Limelight Networks, Time Warner Telecom, Accipiter.

Well i like Divx Web Player for many reasons .... one is : directly from Hfs to the TV set 
TCube

[TSG]

I never believe what the homepage tells me. If monitoring the player is the reason everytime the player is opened, a button is hit, anything, pg2 flares up blocking Time Warner Telecom. It is still an invasion of privacy, and its no hidden fact that home HFS users provide content they don't want the ol' corporationies to know about, why else would they want .avi playback  no less than for playing the latest episode of Heroes or SGA  .

I will not be enabling DivX web player by default, but the code will be there, because I agree that this is a very nice functionality to play avi and divx, when this 'anonymous ping' is removed, I will then enable DivX by default, but until then it will be a simple copy pasta fix . No ping is anonymous, you cant possibly believe that?

[TSG]

I didn't realise so many others felt the same as i did about flv files.

As for the RAWR-Player flv component, i have pause half working, play works, and volume is working, the rest of the interface isn't functioning though. It's just a matter of altering maths and making checks for the flv mode. When i get more time after this term of university i will finish it off. Tonight i will get buffering working for the mp3 component

Results of poll:

Is flv playback really necessary?
Yes    - 1 (12.5%)
No    - 7 (87.5%)

[Mars]

I imagine that many persons are as me, they wish, when they are on a site with diverse contents, to be able to consult them without needing to download them and to open them on a soft that he(it) have no pluspart of time(weather) on their machine. In it concerns(marigolds) of simplicity we look for to integrate(join) so many multimedia readers (images sounds animations) as possible

In that case propose the solutions which you use in the integral in a simple template so that we can reuse them in turn in our templates own and possibly an external link where we can find an example of use even if it is in another context than hfs.

 Thank you

[TSG]

I think I understand your meaning...

Well we plan to implement flv into the same player if we can. The challenge is to meet as many fully cross browser preview options as possible, you will never see browser specific media previews in this template. You will only see the most popular media formats in the templates.

[Mars]

not necessary same player for all files format,  you can have a reader for gif bmp png jpeg, another for flv another for mp3 or wav ,and another for avi ......a good idee will be having one for pps, all of file type are download by reader into "iternet temp files"  and deleted after reading, if necessary a pluging or activex is downloaded and that's all.

I wish to have been understood clearly.

[Giant Eagle]

not necessary same player for all files format,  you can have a reader for gif bmp png jpeg, another for flv another for mp3 or wav ,and another for avi ......a good idee will be having one for pps, all of file type are download by reader into "iternet temp files"  and deleted after reading, if necessary a pluging or activex is downloaded and that's all.

I wish to have been understood clearly.

yes, very clearly and i do agree with you.

But! it would also be nice if the template could wash your dishes and make your homework.

No offence at all, but the main reason that we dont want to initially include .flv playback, is cause of the lack of time. We have very little time to work on this project, so we just want to spend it on the things that are most used. If the main things are done, we do consider implementing secondary features.