Need some help with TPR streaming video

[robbalvey]

Hey everyone,

 

I'm still messing around with streaming video on the site and I've set up the most recent Tatsu video as a test.

 

If you have some time, could you please go to the Tatsu page and click on the "Stream our Tatsu Video Here" link and tell me if it works for you:

http://www.themeparkreview.com/sfmmnew06/current.htm

 

Note that I have *just* changed what this link does, so if you clicked on that link yesterday, it's totally different now from what you saw before.

 

What I'm trying to find out is:

 

- Did the video work for you in your browser?

- Does it buffer as fast as other sites?

- Did the video and audio play ok?

 

Thanks again for your help!

 

--Robb

[Carnage]

Didn't work for me.

 

But it's probably just my browser. My firefox install is pretty fubar'd, so not everything works for me as it should.

[robbalvey]

Note - I've added a poll to the thread too which could really help us gather information about what you, our awesome members, prefer!

 

--Robb "It's all about giving you guys want you want!" Alvey

[Homer]

I prefer streaming, really, because videos fill up my hard drive real fast (40 GB hard drive, was good in 2002, but now there are iPods with more space than that!). So, I prefer streaming, its just more convenient for me.

 

But then, the dial-uppers would be a bit peeved though.

[mforce79]

The Tatsu stream doesn't work for me. I run Firefox also and keep it as updated as possible. I strongly prefer downloading videos.

 

Hard drives are inexpensive anyway...

[BrownStreak]

I personally prefer downloading them. For starters the streaming screen is small vs being able to watch the vids full screen after they are downloaded.

[CoasterCrazy]

The stream doesn't work for me either, I use Fire Fox also!

 

If its not too much trouble I think having stream and download videos would be a great idea!

[calcajun]

Not everyone has highspeed internet so for those, streaming most likely not so good.

I do have highspeed, but i still prefer to download a higher quality video that i can view and enjoy anytime i like forever.

 

Even with highspeed if i am downloading and i try to stream video it still may not go so smoothly.

 

Thats just me though.

 

[ShoubraStreet74]

I prefer to download. But then again streaming videos can always be downloaded manually by right-clicking, properties, and copying the url into a download manager if the download option isn't available, right? I like the way the Tatsu video is done; It's available both for a download and streaming.

 

Oh and the video worked in Internet Explorer but not firefox. But I assume you didn't intend on supporting that to begin with.

[coasterfreak101]

The streaming worked for me now, but it didn't in the Mini-Spain trip. So whatever you changed today made it work.

 

Oh, in the poll I voted for streaming. It's alot quicker for me

 

PS- Was the video supposed to cut off after the "What did the water dummies do" part of the video?

 

--Tyler

[robbalvey]

PS- Was the video supposed to cut off after the "What did the water dummies do" part of the video?

No. Did anyone else have this problem?

 

This seems be the reason why we've never gone to the streaming format nor why I like it.

 

Seem that it's not a "lowest common denominator" solution.

 

I'd much rather eliminate all risk of error together by simply not offering something that could cause problems. Does that make sense?

 

--Robb "looks like downloading may be the best solution." Alvey

[coasterfreak101]

Hmm. Weird. I just watched the video again and the entire thing played. Maybe I accidentally hit something. Oops

 

In that case, I still vote for streaming!

 

--Tyler

[Shockwave]

At the moment I'm trying to stream on IE6 and the video is doing nothing at all.

 

I'm more of a downloader than a streamer.

[BarryH]

The video and audio quality were pretty good. I played the video twice and randomly, it would cut out and then a page for the 3rd annual video editing contest came up! Once, it did it before Elissa was "spooged" on. Another time, it was after the shot of the goose!

 

Downloading the video took a few minutes.

[dougr]

A few points:

I prefer streaming as opposed to clogging up my hard drive.

I use firefox in linux and I use the extension MediaPlayerConnectivity which fires up Mplayer.

For simplicity on my end, I like Realplayer streams and some of that Flash-based stuff like Google video works really well (it ALWAYS plays, just a little sync problem).

[Louise]

I was going to instantly vote for streaming, seeing as I have zero space to spare on my hard drive and the Spain videos you streamed worked instantly perfectly for me, but nothing is happening with this one in either Safari, or Internet Explorer (which I never use but tried just to see if it was Safari that was the problem).

[Carnage]

I guess the difference is that this streaming is being done directly in the browser.

 

Where as the spain "streaming" was just a direct link to the video(instead of the usual zip file).

[Louise]

^ Ah I see. I'm a complete technotard, thanks for the explanation.

[65skylark]

It ran great for me but I still prefer to download.

[arrowfanman]

Well, I'm a greedy little bastard, so I prefer both streaming and download.

 

See, when people post video trip reports, I prefer to stream--its more convenient and I dont have to feel bad for wasting 5 minutes of downloading time if the video is crap. Even if it isn't crap, there are somethings I dont need to keep on my desktop. For example Robb, I loved your Tatsu testing video, but I wont need it once the videos with people begin to come out....so I prefer streaming here.

 

And downloading is good for when I want to save something, as a reference.

 

-Jahan

[CoasterFanatic]

I actually prefer streaming. It is just so much easier.

 

Video works fine in IE7 Beta 2.

[rollermonkey]

Hmmm.

Neither option is working for me today. Our connection is pretty shoddy this week. (I'm out to sea.) I couldn't stream it, in fact I never saw the play button. Download time was over two hours, which is longer than I'm willing or able to wait.

Typically, at home I prefer to download. At work, streaming is usually better.

Often, I just wait until I get home to download.

 

End result: One vote for Download!

[Nrthwnd]

The streaming worked instantly for me, first time.

 

I do still like the download where I can then fill my screen with TPR Coaster Goodness, heh heh.

 

But this streaming worked fine for me, tonight.

 

[jamesdillaman]

I enjoy downloading. I was showing my friend your batman video from the last europe mini-trip, because he didn't believe there was a wellthemed batman ride, and I couldn't have done it at his house if we had to stream it, as there's no internet...

[robbalvey]

So here's a question for some of you, especially those where the video didn't work. Basically I'm emedding a version of windows media player into the page and streaming a .mpg file.

 

Is there a format the seems to work better for you other than this?

 

With the video contest coming up, I'll have about 40 videos I need to post, and I'm considering doing a dual format thing, but I don't want to stream them if a high percentage of people would come and try to steam, it crashes their browser, and then they have to reload the page and try the download option. That to me is worse than just having only the download option.

 

Thanks for your help!

 

--Robb