Media files -Windows Media Player and REAL

[kazo56]

Hello there,
I am trying to work out how to keep alive the media files I have copied and pasted to my articles - video and audio. They seem to work for a short time and then go dead - 404 message. I have loaded them into a folder in the File Manager, but can't work out how to post them, as only images can be posted from there. Is there a way to do this?
Kerry
tasmanianphotographers.blogharbor

[john]

I recently came across a great web-based tool called the Embedded Media HTML Generator which allows you to enter in some information such as the URL and type of media you are using, and this tool will build the HTML to embed that multimedia into a webpage. This tool supports Real Media, Quicktime, Flash, and Windows Media files, and I think it's exactly what you are looking for.

Here's how you can embed a movie into an article in your weblog:

• Upload your media file to the File Manager. Don't move it later or rename it, that's probably what's causing your files to "go missing".
  
• Make note of the path you uploaded to. So if you uploaded your file called movie.wmv to a folder called media, your path is going to be /media/movie.wmv .
  
• Go to the Embedded Media HTML Generator, and choose your Media Type as Windows Media. Enter the server (http://tasmanianphotographers.blogharbor.com ) and the path, and choose some style options and click Submit. If you are embedding Quicktime files, you are asked for your Server Type, "A Streaming server" or "A Web server": choose "A Web server."
  

Now you'll get a page containing the HTML you need; select everything below the line Copy & paste the following and copy it. Last step is to create an article containing that HTML.

If you are using the Rich Text Editor, keep in mind that in order to enter HTML into the Rich Text Editor, you will need to change from Display Mode (allows you to have the Live Preview and see your article formatting as you create it) to Source Mode (shows the underlying HTML code for the article).

The View Mode toggle button to switch between modes is at the bottom of the editor area, to the left of the smiley icon. Paste in the HTML code in Source Mode and then click the View Mode button again to go back to Display Mode. The Rich Text Editor may not be able to display a preview of your embedded media, but when you post it the article should now display a viewer for your media file, making it easy for your users to play back your movie.

[kazo56]

Embedding the HTML for Windows Media Player and REAL:
Hello John,
Many thanks for the detailed response, but I am having problems with this exercise.
If you look at my main page today you will see the media files are in the articles but only because I have copied and pasted from my source - ABC (Aus public broadcaster) and everything works, but when I tried to embed HTML for these players, on several machines in several locations, it didn't work, although I have followed your guidelines. There is a murky area in your instructions - the File path information: do I leave in /path/to/ or omit? I have tried both. Another issue might be my folder name - Media Files.
The result today for trying Media Player and yesterday for trying REAL Player was the 400 message - page cannot be displayed etc.

Can you tell me what is wrong this:

[john]

There is a murky area in your instructions - the File path information: do I leave in /path/to/ or omit?

The Embedded Media HTML Generator shows /path/to/media.file in the File path section, but that is just a placeholder, they're trying to tell you to enter the full path to your media file there... In other words, remove that text and replace it with the full path to your own media file.

In the Server field, they added a placeholder of http://servername . Again, they're trying to tell you that you need to enter your own server name there including the http:// part...

In your case you would enter something like this:

[kazo56]

Hello John,

It works! I've now got a Windows Media Player to use for any file I create. Many thanks. I did notice, however, that the wmv file I have loaded into my article with embedded HTML is over 1200kb - it's huge, whereas the asx file I have linked to from the ABC's site is just 1kb! Which means a real delay in loading my home page, is that correct?

This is not the only fun I've had today. I've used Snagit to load a feature jpg as a sidebar component (at last) and made a favicon. Next step is to pretty up the banner, and make a navigation bar like Robin's at Now Smell This (what a top blogger she is!) And having just discovered where the CSS sheet is (after all this time) I will be asking questions soon about where exactly I put the CSS code there, and what to do with the HTML and where to put it. But that is for next time,
Bye for now and many thanks once again,
Kerry
tasmanianphotographers.blogharbor

[john]

The movie has to load from someplace, right? The ASX file isn't the movie, it's just a shortcut to the movie... Either way the movie's the same size...

Glad to hear you're having fun!

[watzzupsport]

I have followed your tips but A when I go to copy the html code it will not paste into the post editor. B when i hit the preview button nothing happens

[john]

Make sure you read this part of my initial post very carefully:

[watzzupsport]

again i followed those instructions but it would not play i am using a program called instant video generator this is one of their responses "contact blogharbor and make sure they will allow you to add IFrame HTML code to your blog site"

[watzzupsport]

as a ps to the last post The player does transfer to the blog site with some sort of picture where as it is only a black square in the preveiw box but it is not the image posted.

[john]

Can you point to an example of what you created? That would be necessary for us to help you.

[kerry]

Hello there,

I feel I should own up to the previous posts by "kazo56" (that was me) on this topic of embedding a player.

Yes, I DID follow the instructions, and yes, I DID embed a player at the time which - most annoyingly - started playing as soon as the page loaded. It got to be so annoying (and I couldn't figure out how to stop it because the HTML I had used was in fact a demo from the source suggested, and so it naturally started immediately), I ditched the whole thing.

Instead, I just copied and pasted the streaming links to the file with their players at the archival source - ABC (Aust) public broadcaster. The players open and the file loads from the links, not from my blog file manager

If you want to see the result, use the Search box at tasmanianphotographers.blogharbor with the keywords "Convict Brick Trail". There are two entries, an article post and a photo post, and each has the links to the ABC media files with players. Click on either WM or Real, the player appears, and the file loads.

Sorry about all this. But the substantial numbers of people - more than 400 who have viewed this thread (and my gushy enthusiasm - blush, blush, soooo embarrassing!) are disconcerting. And so I feel I should inform everyone about the problems I encountered - and the solution I finally settled on.

Kerry at tasmanianphotographers.blogharbor

[john]

Yes, I DID follow the instructions, and yes, I DID embed a player at the time which - most annoyingly - started playing as soon as the page loaded. It got to be so annoying (and I couldn't figure out how to stop it because the HTML I had used was in fact a demo from the source suggested, and so it naturally started immediately), I ditched the whole thing.

The Embedded Media HTML Generator we linked to has an option Start automatically? . Click Yes to create code which starts the media when the page is loaded or No if you don't want that.

If you want to see the result, use the Search box at tasmanianphotographers.blogharbor with the keywords "Convict Brick Trail". There are two entries, an article post and a photo post, and each has the links to the ABC media files with players. Click on either WM or Real, the player appears, and the file loads.

OK, but neither of these posts here or here have code which contains an embedded media player... They contain links to other media on other servers... So they are not examples of trying to use the Embedded Media HTML Generator service. Right? What are we supposed to be seeing here? Are these just examples of the fact that you removed the embedded video and are linking to the video instead?

One question: You're not trying to create an embedded video from someone else's file on someone else's server, right? In some cases, the original news service will take steps to prevent you from doing this, they want people to view the media on their service and view attempts to take their video and place it on your blog as copyright infringement.

Sorry about all this. But the substantial numbers of people - more than 400 who have viewed this thread (and my gushy enthusiasm - blush, blush, soooo embarrassing!) are disconcerting.

I don't understand what is disconcerting?

Embedding media in a web page usually requires learning HTML. As an alternative to learning how to code HTML for embedded media, I suggested the Embedded Media HTML Generator, another user here suggested this service. I've tried them both and when supplied with the proper input they both create functional code which works when applied to a blog post. I just verified code created from either service does in fact create an embeddable media player in a blog post, I even verified using one of the uploaded WMV files in your File Manager.

If this is not working for you, then perhaps you should try another avenue altogether. I would suggest that next time you have a video which you would like to upload to your site, that you consider using Google Video or YouTube. With either service you are able to upload a video and have it stored on their servers. You will receive a little chunk of HTML code which you can use to add to a blog post (make sure you are entering it in Source Mode if you have the Rich Text Editor enabled) which will create a nice user-friendly player for your video.

[kerry]

Hello John,

A short response:

1. Less and less disconcerts me now - I'm getting wiser by the day (!)

2. Yes, there are only links from my blog to the ABC media players on the entries I cited, not an embedded player

3. I started again from scratch with the CIT Embedded Media HTML Generator, choosing WM and the option of the para autostart= false, viz:

<TABLE cellPadding=0 align=left border=0>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD>
<OBJECT id=mediaPlayer codeBase=http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/mplayer/en/nsmp2inf.cab#Version=5,1,52,701 type=application/x-oleobject height=285 standby="Loading Microsoft Windows Media Player components..." width=320 classid=CLSID:22d6f312-b0f6-11d0-94ab-0080c74c7e95>
<EMBED type='application/x-mplayer2'
pluginspage='http://microsoft.com/windows/mediaplayer/en/download/'
id='mediaPlayer' name='mediaPlayer' displaysize='4' autosize='-1'
bgcolor='darkblue' showcontrols="true" showtracker='-1'
showdisplay='0' showstatusbar='-1' videoborder3d='-1' width="320" height="285"
src="http://tasmanianphotographers.blogharbor.com/Media%20Files/3ep041.wmv" autostart="false" designtimesp='5311' loop="false">
</EMBED> </OBJECT></TD></TR><!-- ...end embedded WindowsMedia file --><!-- begin link to launch external media player... -->
<TR>
<TD align=middle><A style="FONT-SIZE: 85%" href="http://tasmanianphotographers.blogharbor.com/Media%20Files/3ep041.wmv" target=_blank>Launch in external player </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

The result (not visible on my blog - it's locked in a secure category) shows these characteristics:

a) the player is visible as a black box with toolbar, but click on the start button, and nothing happens.

b) click on the link underneath the player, "Launch in external player" and a new player appears in the familiar WM format, and the file starts to load. The new player floats in front of the embedded blackbox.

Hope this clarifies my issues. Will experiment with your other suggestions.
Many thanks for patience,
Kerry.

[john]

The code you supplied works fine for me, I just entered it into a test blog and your video displayed properly. So I am sure that the issue is not the code itself.

Here are a few suggestions:

• If your Rich Text Editor is enabled, disable it to post your embedded media HTML code.
  
• If you are using Internet Explorer to access the control panel, try using Firefox instead.