Is there a way to get a video to based on what player they have installed on the person's computer? Can a .wmv version and a .flv version both be embedded or linked and whatever player you have will be prioritized for playing the movie? If so, can someone give me a code snippet? I'm also wondering what format most of you use that have the least amount of issues with the various players (Flash, Windows Media, Quicktime) Thanks.

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Member Avatar for diafol

most web player will only play flv (e.g. flowplayer)

however,some will play wmv, mov etc.

When you build the page (php/asp/vanilla html), you can specify the object tag.

flowplayer (flv):

<object id="flowplayer" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="800" height="470">
	<param name="movie" value="http://releases.flowplayer.org/swf/flowplayer-3.2.2.swf" /> 
	<param name="flashvars" 
		value='config={"clip":"..."}' />
	<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="800" height="470" 
		src="http://releases.flowplayer.org/swf/flowplayer-3.2.2.swf"
		flashvars='config={"clip":"..."}' />
</object>

Thanks, ardav. My issue is that some people don't have a flash player plugin so they will say, "I'm just seeing a blank screen. Where's your video?" Obviously, they either have Apple or Windows Media Player loaded (if I have embedded a swf or flv). I was hoping there would be a way that EVERY person could play the video, so if there was a way to include an object tag for more than one player... and the video would play?

Member Avatar for rajarajan2017

Better you show the download icon if the flash player is not there. Because nowadays everybody should have flash player to view the website somewhere a flash is part over there.

Member Avatar for diafol

You don't need to have a plugin for flowplayer. It's an embedded object, like a youtube or vimeo object. WHether you have a Mac/Windows/Linux - it shouldn't matter.

Thankyou, Ardav, you are supremely cool. That worked for my desktop. Now to dust off an old notebook that doesn't have flash and test it out.

I agree with you, Rajarajan. Everybody should have flash but this client is a government contractor so I guess a lot of his potential sales are to IE/WM.

Thanks a lot for such a quick response, guys. I appreciate the help. jp

Over 95% of all Internet users have Adobe Flash Player installed on their browsers. So you needn't to worry about that user don't have Flash player on their computers.
And most videos on the Internet are FLV videos. To display FLV videos, you need a Flash video player which will be offered by flowplayer or JW player. You can search for them.

You should download on web player .flv files

commented: Are you just sig spamming VM? Get a grip. -1

Over 95% of all Internet users have Adobe Flash Player installed on their browsers. So you needn't to worry about that user don't have Flash player on their computers.
And most videos on the Internet are FLV videos. To display FLV videos, you need a Flash video player which will be offered by flowplayer or JW player. You can search for them.

@Dream Party, with all due respect, I think your estimate is a bit of wishful thinking on the part of developers. While most users certainly have a browser, they do not necessarily have the flash plug-in installed or turned on. I am also thinking global vs. just the US...as I understand it, a large percentage of people globally still have dial-up.

So when format of video is not specifically requested I go with wma/compatible. I read statistics are that most computers used are pc and use some form of Windows as ops system, which accordingly would have, at minimum, the media player.

Thanks for your reply!

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