AVI files play locally using WMP but not off my website WMP ActiveX

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+1 Q:

AVI files play locally using WMP but not off my website WMP ActiveX

Hi All,

I have a web page allowing clients to play uploaded videos. Several AVI files have recently been uploaded that play fine locally using WMP but over the web using WMP ActiveX playback fails and the browser hangs.

The AVI codecs are video: MJPG, audio: PCM

GSpot says all codecs are install on my Windows Vista OS, but seems the WMP ActiveX is not able to access them...

Any help is much apreciated.

Greg

I would check the mime type settings on your web server. I didn't see, however, which webserver you are using? (e.g. Apache, IIS, etc)

Nathan 2009-07-23 19:52:44

I am using Apache, however php is handling the response for the request. The server is returning mime type video/x-msvideo.

flexeffect 2009-07-23 20:54:59

Ok, I have identified a bit more info with further troubleshooting.- Firefox playback of my AVI works fine- My laptop also works fine with IE(very strange) My laptop has WMP 11 but does report a version difference than my desktop; laptop( IE 7.0.6001) desktop (IE 7.0.6000).

flexeffect 2009-07-23 22:04:26

Then I think it unlikely that it is a mime type problem.

Nathan 2009-07-24 16:55:27

+1 A:

When you say they play fine locally, but not over the web, are you referring to the same machine? The ability to play a given AVI is primarily dependent on the correct codecs being available on the machine playing the file. If the browser is hanging, it could just be that the entire file has not yet been downloaded. If the file is not streamable, then the entire thing must be downloaded before playback can begin, and this could make it seem that the browser is locked up, when in fact it's just in the process of downloading the file.

I would try pasting the URL of the video into a browser to see if it can access the file from the web server. If it can, and it prompts you to download or open the file, then the web server is not the issue. If you can download and play the file on a given machine using media player, then you should be able to play it remotely, but if it is not a streamable file, then media player will hang until the entire file has been downloaded.

Michael McCloskey 2009-07-23 20:02:36

Yes, local playback is testing ok by downloading the file to my PC and just playing directly via WMP native app. By hanging I mean not only does the player not play but the browser instance is hung and I must use task manager to kill it. I just tested by loading the AVI url in the browser and my servers mime time must be ok because it auto launched WMP and playback was fine. I just tested using FF and its WMP plugin and it works fine too...Very strange...

flexeffect 2009-07-23 20:31:23

A next troubleshooting step might be to create an HTML file with the tag for the media player control referencing an offending video file on the local file system, then open this HTML file in IE and see if it also locks up in this context. This might help determine if it's a networking/security issue as opposed to a flaky issue with certain videos when played via media player within IE.

Michael McCloskey 2009-07-23 21:13:18

ansaurus

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AVI files play locally using WMP but not off my website WMP ActiveX

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