Video Sandbox

OK, this turns out to be a sticky wicket so we've moved it to its own page until we have video actually working. I'm not sure everything Neoteric ever did necessarily belongs on YouTube, although we could easily add extensions to embed YouTube video or just post links if folks think that's a good idea. Feel free to weigh in.

Video experiments

Can we use HTML5 as hinted at elsewhere?

Take 1: HTML5 tagging

<video>

     <source type="video/mp4" src="Relache_039_Dance.mp4" />
     <source type="video/ogg" src="Relache_039_Dance.ogv" />

</video> Hmmm. Apparently we need to install some stuff....

Take 1.5: More HTML5

Maybe it is the syntax?

<video poster="Relache_039.jpg" controls>

  <source src='Relache_039_Dance.webm' type='video/webm; codecs="vp8.0, vorbis"'/>
  <source src=Relache_039_Dance.ogv' type='video/ogg; codecs="theora, vorbis"'/>
  <source src='Relache_039_Dance.mp4' type='video/mp4; codecs="avc1.4D401E, mp4a.40.2"'/>

Or try http://dekalborama.com/mediawiki/extensions/HTML5video/videos/Relache_039_Dance.flv if the video doesn't play.

</video>

Nope.

Take 2: mwEmbed/Kaltura

It seems this has been displaced by commercial elements. I can't make heads nor tails of the Kaltura site and the mwEmbed and Community packages did not unzip as documented. Nor did they gracefully (kaltura invocation in LocalSettings breaks the page...).

Take 3: HTML5video extension

<HTML5video type="HTML5" width="320" height="240" autoplay="false" loop="false">Relache_039_Dance</HTML5video>

Uploaded three versions of the video:

1. Relache_039_Dance.mp4
2. Relache_039_Dance.ogv (Huge!)
3. Relache_039_Dance.webm

Result: Hopeful, but challenged. So far:

• Android 2.3.6 = Yes! Plays in its own window.
• Chrome 17.0 = Yes! On PC running Vista Enterprise
• Firefox 11.0 = Yes! Only after pushing MIME types as below.
• Safari 5.1.4 = Yes! On both Mac OS X Snow Leopard and PC Vista
• IE 7 = Nope, not even after the MIME adjustment. Not even a box....

Thanks to Video for Everybody for a few hints. Adding MIME types to .htaccess, for example.... Now, what to do about IE7 since I cannot get Flash fallback (supposedly enabled in this plugin?) to work?

First I uploaded even more formats and added their MIME types to see if IE can be fooled:

1. Relache_039_Dance.flv
2. Relache_039_Dance.avi (Also huge!)

Drat! looks like php meddling is required.

Take4: jwplayer standalone....

JW Player goes here

<script type="text/javascript" src="extensions/MediawikiPlayer/jwplayer.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> jwplayer("mediaplayer").setup({ flashplayer: "extensions/MediawikiPlayer/player.swf", file: "extensions/HTML5video/videos/Relache_039_Dance.flv", image: "jwplayer/preview.jpg" }); </script>

Oh, well....

Take5: MediawikiPlayer

First an MPEG 4 file:

<mediaplayer width='320' height='240' autostart='false' id='0'>File:Relache_039_Dance.mp4</mediaplayer>

At first, audio played but there was no image. JWPlayer site suggested maybe this is a VBR problem. It was the same in FireFox, Chrome, and Safari, so re-encoded the MPEG-4 file to use H.264 and pretty slow frame rate.

Same problem...then dumped browser cache. Voila! It works in:

• Android 2.3.6 = ???
• Chrome 17.0 = Yes! On PC running Vista Enterprise
• Firefox 11.0 = Yes!
• Safari 5.1.4 = ???
• IE 7 = :-(

None of this solved the IE problem: a message appears stating a download is happening, but nothing shows up.

Then Flash:

<mediaplayer width='320' height='240' autostart='false' id='1'>File:Relache_039_Dance.flv</mediaplayer> This video plays everywhere...except IE! Crud.

Also note all files which do show up on the page can play concurrently. It gets cacophonous fast.

Last resort

Well, there's always a link!

Solution du jour

I've enabled the MediawikiPlayer extension and JWPlayer as usable middle ground, primarily because the player can reference files uploaded to the MediaWiki database. The other solutions all required special locations in the Extensions folder—which only administrators get to twiddle with, making it a hassle for them and a lot less fun for everyone else.

But nothing's really free. Be advised that Longtail's JWPlayer license allows absolutely no advertising, including ads or links that might appear inside the video. So upload with caution.

Jeez! April...already?