Stream MPEG4 full screen?

[John Corliss]

Here's the deal. I like to occasionally watch a movie at:

http://www.archive.org/details/feature_films

and when I click on the 256kb MPEG4 (broadband) feed link for the movie,
it opens in Quicktime Altermative's tiny window. Apple intentionally
makes that window small so that you'll buy their Pro version of
Quicktime which will play such streaming media full screen.

If I configure Firefox to have the plugin for MPEG4 disabled and then
open such a file in MPC, it gets downloaded before playing rather than
streamed. That works in that it's full screen, but I would like to take
it easy on my hard drive since (IMO and IME) playing a lot of movies
from them wears them out prematurely.

Not likely, but I thought I'd ask anyway: Anybody know of something
other than Quicktime or Quicktime Alternative that will stream MPEG4
files and which will display them full screen?

TIA

--
Regards from John Corliss
My current killfile: aafuss, Chrissy Cruiser, Slowhand Hussein and others.
No adware, cdware, commercial software, crippleware, demoware, nagware,
PROmotionware, shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware,
viruses or warez please.

 

[KLINK]

Here's the deal. I like to occasionally watch a movie at:

http://www.archive.org/details/feature_films

and when I click on the 256kb MPEG4 (broadband) feed link for the movie,
it opens in Quicktime Altermative's tiny window. Apple intentionally
makes that window small so that you'll buy their Pro version of
Quicktime which will play such streaming media full screen.

If I configure Firefox to have the plugin for MPEG4 disabled and then
open such a file in MPC, it gets downloaded before playing rather than
streamed. That works in that it's full screen, but I would like to take
it easy on my hard drive since (IMO and IME) playing a lot of movies
from them wears them out prematurely.

Not likely, but I thought I'd ask anyway: Anybody know of something
other than Quicktime or Quicktime Alternative that will stream MPEG4
files and which will display them full screen?

TIA

--
Regards from John Corliss
My current killfile: aafuss, Chrissy Cruiser, Slowhand Hussein and others.
No adware, cdware, commercial software, crippleware, demoware, nagware,
PROmotionware, shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware,
viruses or warez please.

This is what their FAQ said:

How can I view/stream Mpeg4 encoded films?

MPEG4
Mpeg4 files can be viewed with Quicktime, Xine, VideoLan. Envivio TV
provides a plugin that will enable wmp or RealOne to stream or view mpeg4
files.
Editable MPEG4
Editable mpeg4 files can be directly imported into iMovie and Final Cut Pro
on the Macintosh.
These files are encoded at very high bandwidths, on the order of 2Mbps, and
are comparible in quality to the mpeg2 formatted films. These files are not
yet provided.

 

[John Corliss]

This is what their FAQ said:

How can I view/stream Mpeg4 encoded films?

MPEG4
Mpeg4 files can be viewed with Quicktime, Xine, VideoLan. Envivio TV
provides a plugin that will enable wmp or RealOne to stream or view mpeg4
files.
Editable MPEG4
Editable mpeg4 files can be directly imported into iMovie and Final Cut Pro
on the Macintosh.
These files are encoded at very high bandwidths, on the order of 2Mbps, and
are comparible in quality to the mpeg2 formatted films. These files are not
yet provided.

Sorry this took so long for me to respond. I was out of town. Yes, I
checked the F.A.Q. and I would swear that when I did, it only mentioned
Quicktime. Don't know how I missed this. Thanks for the pointer though!
I'll check out their suggestions. Sounds like the codec for RealPlayer
(in my case, Real Alternative) will be the way to go since it will
(hopefully) allow streaming.

--
Regards from John Corliss
My current killfile: aafuss, Chrissy Cruiser, Slowhand Hussein and others.
No adware, cdware, commercial software, crippleware, demoware, nagware,
PROmotionware, shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware,
viruses or warez please.

 

[John Corliss]

Sorry this took so long for me to respond. I was out of town. Yes, I
checked the F.A.Q. and I would swear that when I did, it only mentioned
Quicktime. Don't know how I missed this. Thanks for the pointer though!
I'll check out their suggestions. Sounds like the codec for RealPlayer
(in my case, Real Alternative) will be the way to go since it will
(hopefully) allow streaming.

Unfortunately:
__________________________
EnvivioTV MPEG-4 Player Download

Envivio no longer offers a free version of EnvivioTV, and only offers
EnvivioTV to our customers.

For information about EnvivioTV and other Envivio MPEG-4 broadcast and
streaming systems, please contact us.
__________________________

Although I can indeed view MPEG-4 movies in Media Player Classic using
RealPlayer codecs, it's not streaming and downloads the movie to my hard
drive first.

--
Regards from John Corliss
My current killfile: aafuss, Chrissy Cruiser, Slowhand Hussein and others.
No adware, cdware, commercial software, crippleware, demoware, nagware,
PROmotionware, shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware,
viruses or warez please.

 

[KLINK]

Sorry this took so long for me to respond. I was out of town. Yes, I
checked the F.A.Q. and I would swear that when I did, it only mentioned
Quicktime. Don't know how I missed this. Thanks for the pointer though!
I'll check out their suggestions. Sounds like the codec for RealPlayer
(in my case, Real Alternative) will be the way to go since it will
(hopefully) allow streaming.

--
Regards from John Corliss
My current killfile: aafuss, Chrissy Cruiser, Slowhand Hussein and others.
No adware, cdware, commercial software, crippleware, demoware, nagware,
PROmotionware, shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware,
viruses or warez please.

I screwed up. You clicked on the "help" link and it told you that Quicktime
was the streaming player that is needed. I checked the FAQ and that told me
what players you can use if you "download". I downloaded Tarzan's Revenge
(MP4).I used VideoLAN to play it Full Screen. It played but was pixilated
and stuttered. Playing at normal size was not too bad. I was trying this on
my Me system. I am dual booting with XP Home (Master) and Me(Slave) on a 850
Athlon computer.Things work a whole lot better on XP. I'll try it there in
the next few days. I'll also try it on my new computer a HP XP Media Center
2005 (XP Pro). It has a 3ghz P4 with Hyper-threading. I'll download the MP2
and see if there is a big difference.

 

[John Corliss]

I screwed up. You clicked on the "help" link and it told you that Quicktime
was the streaming player that is needed. I checked the FAQ and that told me
what players you can use if you "download". I downloaded Tarzan's Revenge
(MP4).I used VideoLAN to play it Full Screen. It played but was pixilated
and stuttered. Playing at normal size was not too bad. I was trying this on
my Me system. I am dual booting with XP Home (Master) and Me(Slave) on a 850
Athlon computer.Things work a whole lot better on XP. I'll try it there in
the next few days. I'll also try it on my new computer a HP XP Media Center
2005 (XP Pro). It has a 3ghz P4 with Hyper-threading. I'll download the MP2
and see if there is a big difference.

Well, bear in mind that (at least IMO) running movies off of your hard
drive is very hard on them. Notice the hard drive activity light while
you're watching a movie. That's why I was asking about streaming full
screen.

--
Regards from John Corliss
My current killfile: aafuss, Chrissy Cruiser, Slowhand Hussein and others.
No adware, cdware, commercial software, crippleware, demoware, nagware,
PROmotionware, shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware,
viruses or warez please.

 

[KLINK]

Well, bear in mind that (at least IMO) running movies off of your hard
drive is very hard on them. Notice the hard drive activity light while
you're watching a movie. That's why I was asking about streaming full
screen.

--
Regards from John Corliss
My current killfile: aafuss, Chrissy Cruiser, Slowhand Hussein and others.
No adware, cdware, commercial software, crippleware, demoware, nagware,
PROmotionware, shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware,
viruses or warez please.

I did some checking over the weekend and found this at their site:

"Sometimes when I play a movie, the video is choppy or very pixelated. Why
is that?

When we encode the video in MPEG-4, we first reduce its size to 320 x 240 -
a quarter of the resolution of NTSC video. We then translate it at 350 kbps,
which is really borderline for that resolution. You see errors occasionally
because there simply isn't enough bandwidth available, so the MPEG-4 encoder
either drops frames - resulting in jerky or choppy motion - or drops macro
blocks - resulting in blurred or pixelated video. That is the price we pay
for the small file size - 80 MB for a 1/2-hour clip is really very small in
the digital video world."

It looks like no matter what player you play their mpeg4 movies in the
quality will not be very good.

I downloaded the mpeg2 version of Tarzan's Revenge. It took almost 2 hours
to download a 2.89 gig file and 2 hours and 10 mins. to burn it as a dvd+rw.
It plays both on my computer and my DVD player hooked to my 36" TV. It
played as good as a network broadcast of a movie from that time period. It
also looked good on the computer. I also used Drag to Disc to put the file
on dvd+rw. That took around a ½ an hour. That plays only on the computer.

I saw in another thread that you were looking for a way to get a screenshot
of your video. VideoLan will do that. I will be checking on their forums to
see if I can use VideoLan to play those streams. I know that it will play
the mpeg4 files Full Screen with no problems.

 

[John Corliss]

I did some checking over the weekend and found this at their site:

"Sometimes when I play a movie, the video is choppy or very pixelated. Why
is that?

When we encode the video in MPEG-4, we first reduce its size to 320 x 240 -
a quarter of the resolution of NTSC video. We then translate it at 350 kbps,
which is really borderline for that resolution. You see errors occasionally
because there simply isn't enough bandwidth available, so the MPEG-4 encoder
either drops frames - resulting in jerky or choppy motion - or drops macro
blocks - resulting in blurred or pixelated video. That is the price we pay
for the small file size - 80 MB for a 1/2-hour clip is really very small in
the digital video world."

It looks like no matter what player you play their mpeg4 movies in the
quality will not be very good.

Thanks for clarifying that. I was afraid this might be the situation.
I've taken to downloading the MPEG1 versions and simply putting up with
the decreased image quality.

I downloaded the mpeg2 version of Tarzan's Revenge. It took almost 2 hours
to download a 2.89 gig file and 2 hours and 10 mins. to burn it as a dvd+rw.
It plays both on my computer and my DVD player hooked to my 36" TV. It
played as good as a network broadcast of a movie from that time period. It
also looked good on the computer. I also used Drag to Disc to put the file
on dvd+rw. That took around a ½ an hour. That plays only on the computer.

I saw in another thread that you were looking for a way to get a screenshot
of your video. VideoLan will do that. I will be checking on their forums to
see if I can use VideoLan to play those streams. I know that it will play
the mpeg4 files Full Screen with no problems.

Then VideoLan must use its own codecs. As I said in a post in that other
thread, I once got an error message that blamed the inability to
screenshot on the codec I am currently using. I don't know if you
noticed another thread I started about the Coda Codec Pack, but it
didn't install properly on my system in that I'm unable to remove them
via the Add-Remove Programs Control Panel module. I wanted to do this
and then try the KLite codec pack, even though in the past it's caused
problems on my system.

--
Regards from John Corliss
My current killfile: aafuss, Chrissy Cruiser, Slowhand Hussein and others.
No adware, cdware, commercial software, crippleware, demoware, nagware,
PROmotionware, shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware,
viruses or warez please.

 

[KLINK]

Thanks for clarifying that. I was afraid this might be the situation.
I've taken to downloading the MPEG1 versions and simply putting up with
the decreased image quality.


Then VideoLan must use its own codecs. As I said in a post in that other
thread, I once got an error message that blamed the inability to
screenshot on the codec I am currently using. I don't know if you
noticed another thread I started about the Coda Codec Pack, but it
didn't install properly on my system in that I'm unable to remove them
via the Add-Remove Programs Control Panel module. I wanted to do this
and then try the KLite codec pack, even though in the past it's caused
problems on my system.

--
Regards from John Corliss
My current killfile: aafuss, Chrissy Cruiser, Slowhand Hussein and others.
No adware, cdware, commercial software, crippleware, demoware, nagware,
PROmotionware, shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware,
viruses or warez please.

You might try reinstalling Coda Codec Pack with a file monitor tool running.
I use one that comes with Norton Systemworks 2002( I know it's not freeware,
but it was almost free after rebates). This helped when I had a similar
problem with an uninstall.

I want to thank you for making me aware of the archive.org/ site. There are
a lot of free MP3's there.