[Commons-l] New Java audio player, now with video.

[Gregory Maxwell]

Greetings. Tonight I setup a test version of a new Java based
install-free player for our Ogg files.

Unlike the prior version it also supports Ogg/Theora Video. It also
should improve compatibility with some Java implementations such as
the old Microsoft JVM, and it should have working buffering which
should make it useful for people with slow or intermittent links where
the prior player was not.

I was planning on testing it out for a few days before taking it live,
but the database feel over on toolserver which broke the old player
anyways. The new player setup is a little more robust against database
failures.

We still have a server problem which causes large media files to get
stuck in the cache as zero byte files. If a particular file doesn't
play for you, it's very likely that the file has been hit with this
caching bug. This is a long standing bug, but we know the general
cause now. It just is not fixed yet.

Here is a video example:
http://tools.wikimedia.de/~gmaxwell/jorbis/commonsJOrbisPlayer2.php?path=Vibraphone_Orchestra,_early_1940s.ogg

See, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Video for more.
Unfortunately most do not yet have a template which provides a direct
link to the player.

Here is an audio only example:
http://tools.wikimedia.de/~gmaxwell/jorbis/commonsJOrbisPlayer.php?path=Scarborough+Fair.ogg&wiki=en


Feedback is appreciated.