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when will Flip4Mac work?

erikamsterdam

erikamsterdam

macrumors regular
Original poster
I hope the developers of Flip4Mac read this forum and get their behinds in gear to fix all the problems. The browser plugin sucks a$$ it's unbelievable. I just advised a friend with a PB to not buy a MB like I have, because of all these kinds of problems. It's still frustrating to own an Intel Mac, which is such a shame cos they are such lovely machines 😡

But as far as I know Flip4Mac is owned by the Evil Empire, so that explains a lot 😱
 
I've not had any problems with my MB, Mac Mini, or G4 Digital Audio running Flip4Mac. I also think it's very short-sighted of you to recommend a PowerBook over a MacBook simply because you think it's glitchy. Many people have MacBooks devoid of problems whatsoever. Unless PowerBooks are going for far less than they used to, I wouldn't give that kind of advice.
 
I am not saying the Macbook is glitchy at all. Have one myself and it's wonderful.
However, the browser plugin of Flip4Mac is very buggy and does not work with many sites. One of these sites I happen to like a lot and I cannot watch any video there on my Mac 😡
I read their forums. They're working on it.......
 
Well.. some site will NEVER work because they use Microsoft DRM, while it's pretty doubtful you'll ever see in Flip4Mac. Overall, I've been pretty happy with Flip4Mac.. it sure beats the alternatives (nothing &/or WMP, both of which suck).

Ultimately, if you use Parallels and a Windows install, then you'll never have any issues like this. If it doesn't work in Flip4Mac, then fire up Windows and use the WMP.
 
A big shortcoming apparent to the UK folk is that BBC streams don't work in Flip4Mac. That is, they don't work in the current version, but worked before. It would be nice if they got that sorted out.
 
I use flip4mac quite a bit and it sure beats the terrible Windows Media player they had a while back. Talk about awful. Of course I have also found flip4mac to be excruciatingly slow sometimes. I just wish that Microsoft would let Apple incorporate Windows Media into Quicktime, but we all know that isn't going to happen.
 
telecomm said:
A big shortcoming apparent to the UK folk is that BBC streams don't work in Flip4Mac. That is, they don't work in the current version, but worked before. It would be nice if they got that sorted out.
Click to expand...

Frankly, it's deplorable that the BBC have started to use platform-dependent technologies for their content delivery. RealPlayer has its problems, but at least it's cross-platform. Be sure to write to the BBC and let them know that you're unable to view some of their online content.
 
yellow said:
Well.. some site will NEVER work because they use Microsoft DRM, while it's pretty doubtful you'll ever see in Flip4Mac. Overall, I've been pretty happy with Flip4Mac.. it sure beats the alternatives (nothing &/or WMP, both of which suck).

Ultimately, if you use Parallels and a Windows install, then you'll never have any issues like this. If it doesn't work in Flip4Mac, then fire up Windows and use the WMP.
Click to expand...

WMP worked perfectly on my G3, and I did not buy a Mac to run Window$ on it. Not an option at all 😱
Of course Microsoft are the biggest bastards for not making a Universal version of WMP.
 
Brize said:
Frankly, it's deplorable that the BBC have started to use platform-dependent technologies for their content delivery. RealPlayer has its problems, but at least it's cross-platform. Be sure to write to the BBC and let them know that you're unable to view some of their online content.
Click to expand...

Exactly, and that is my problem here in NL too, the public broadcaster uses WMV9 and you cannot watch it in your browser. I cannot believe taxpayers money is going to that horrible WMV platform. A real shame.
 
erikamsterdam said:
Exactly, and that is my problem here in NL too, the public broadcaster uses WMV9 and you cannot watch it in your browser. I cannot believe taxpayers money is going to that horrible WMV platform. A real shame.
Click to expand...

Again, be sure to write to these guys, explaining that you're unable to view media because they've chosen to deliver their content using proprietary, platform-dependent technologies.

It demonstrates an astonishing ignorance of technology to create a presence on a platform-independent medium like the internet, only to dictate the platforms that can access your content.
 
Brize said:
Again, be sure to write to these guys, explaining that you're unable to view media because they've chosen to deliver their content using proprietary, platform-dependent technologies.

It demonstrates an astonishing ignorance of technology to create a presence on a platform-independent medium like the internet, only to dictate the platforms that can access your content.
Click to expand...

This is also a problem, but when last I checked (admittedly it's been a while) the BBC streams did work in Windows Media Player (for Mac). These streams not playing in Flip4Mac really does seem to be a problem with Flip4Mac, so the playability issue doesn't seem to reduce simply to a problem with proprietary formats.
 
telecomm said:
This is also a problem, but when last I checked (admittedly it's been a while) the BBC streams did work in Windows Media Player (for Mac). These streams not playing in Flip4Mac really does seem to be a problem with Flip4Mac, so the playability issue doesn't seem to reduce simply to a problem with proprietary formats.
Click to expand...

What about Linux users? I know there's a version of RealPlayer for Linux; is there also a version of WMP or a Flip4Mac-like alternative?
 
Flip4mac stopped working on the BBC when i upgraded, so I emailed Flip4Mac and got this personal reply
Hi .....,
We have a known bug regarding some of the java scripting used by BBC and we are working on a fix to enable the player to work.
Thanks for the "Heads Up" on that.

Best regards,
Ben Brown
Flip4mac Support
Click to expand...

I then emailed the BBC and got this reply, if you can call it that!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/help/3681938.stm#safari

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/15540
Click to expand...
 
Brize said:
What about Linux users? I know there's a version of RealPlayer for Linux; is there also a version of WMP or a Flip4Mac-like alternative?
Click to expand...

Well, those Linux people are pretty resourceful; they could probably compile one themselves! 😉
 
F4M has some issues with it's browser plug-in and the way some websites implement imbedded WMV content. They seem to be taking that on a case by case basis towards resolving compatibly problems with the plug-in. I don't know if that's the best approach, but it has to the slowest.

It also has issues with the way in which some WMV 9 files are encoded, especially larger (640 x 480) higher bitrate clips. And for the life of me, I don't understand why F4M takes as long as it does to load the entire WMV stream (especially longer ones) before it can playback, whereas if you save it as a reference .mov file (which just points to the source .wmv file) it plays back immediately, as if it were a standard Quicktime file. There may be an explanation for it, but it just makes me wonder how well integrated F4M is with Quicktime player. Maybe they need to break out the Quicktime programming guide and study it some more. And, btw, I know that you can get instant playback by setting F4M's streaming preference, but it's jerky most of the time and easily bogs down.

Some folks complain about WMP for the Mac, but it's web browser plug-in works on every site that F4M's plug-in fails at, and the player handles everything I throw at it perfectly. I just can't say the same for F4M. Even though it's at version 2.1, it's still feels like beta class software.
 
there is an option in the F4M prefs (in System Prefs) to open WMV files in QT player instead of with the browser plugin. this may resolve ur issues?
 
VLC does NOT play "everything"

it wont play DRM wm files, and it wont play 'WMV3' (latest windows media version) files.
 
telecomm said:
Well, those Linux people are pretty resourceful; they could probably compile one themselves! 😉
Click to expand...

Yes, on Linux you can use Mplayer with the Window$ DLL's, and that works perfectly. Hope they will finish doing that for the Intel Macs soon, I noticed they are working on it.
 
Ok I have a few issues too with Flip4Mac windows componentes (note I dont have the upgraded version) I was surfing on one of the korean sites and I couldnt get the stream to work ! So what now ? I mean there is only a white windows playing nothing how can I make this work? any cool-no-problem-plug-in? ^^help is appreciated 😎
 
Yes indeed very weird, should I reinstall the components? But I think that really doesnt help. How about you give me a site where I can watch web content media and then we can compare ^^ I only know the site in korean that play those files so I cant name any other ....
 
Yeah...

Originally Posted by Brize
What about Linux users? I know there's a version of RealPlayer for Linux; is there also a version of WMP or a Flip4Mac-like alternative?
telecomm said:
Well, those Linux people are pretty resourceful; they could probably compile one themselves! 😉
Click to expand...

I'm sure all ten or so of them could get together over coffee and figure it out...
 
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