I must say I like RealPlayer and the RealVideo format for streaming A/V.
My experiences seem to be like this:
RealPlayer: • Runs quickly, never crashes. • Supports QT components + RealMedia. • Simple single window interface and heads-up controls when full-screen.
VLC: • Slow to launch. Displays annoying error window whenever it gets a chance. • Supports QT components + probably some other stuff that I don't use. • More complex dual window interface. (triple if you count error panel) • Error window always appears over the video playback window, handily obscuring the thing you're watching.
QuickTime Player: • Full screen mode disabled since QT 3.0 (1998), making this useless. (restored in the past few weeks!)
Microsoft Media Player: • Version 9.0 can only play 35% of the wmv files I come across, and is now abandoned. • Not in the least bit stable.
Flip4Mac (wmv component for QuickTime) • Plays about 70% of wmv files I come across, so better than Microsoft's own programme. • Also not stable, can crash QuickTime player, VLC and RealPlayer.
Ogg codecs, DivX, XviD etc. (Perian, DivX components): • Never seen them used for streaming media.
H.264 (QuickTime native): • Only runs on one of my machines as all the others are too slow to decode it in real time.
RealMedia: • Changes down (usually) and up (if lucky) during mid-stream smoothly depending on bandwidth. • Drops video frames to preserve audio continuity (vital if you're trying to hear what's being said during network spikes)
- Nicholas.
On 24 Jul 2007, at 14:21, Joe Llywelyn Griffith Blakesley wrote:
Nope. VLC player (videolan.org) can play that .ram file. And convert
it to .ogg.<<
It doesn't work for me and have the latest official version of VLC with all the relevant codecs installed. Listen Again has never worked with free software; I'm sure there's a petition about it somewhere. The BBC did trial streaming Vorbis for a few of their programs for a while but gave up on it.
Yours, Joe.
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
- Nicholas.