In world video viewing

[MichelleAHunter]

Since Quick time seems to be no longer supported why does not Linden Labs require a change in the programs needed to view video in world?

According to what I am reading both Quicktime and often adobe have major security flaws.  

Dont you all think it time for the users, the ones that care about security, demand Linden Labs force in world people to use something different?

[Freya Mokusei]

I don't... think you realise how in-world video works.

Linden Lab have no control over it, a video screen is a 'window' to a web location (e.g. Youtube.com), where Youtube.com decide what technology to use to compress their videos. Linden Lab is not involved in any way.

If your video is a static file (something.mov, something.ogg, something.avi etc) that's hosted online, then the format of the video is what determines the software used to display it. Again, Linden Lab plays no part in handling the stream, and the video hoster is responsible for the technology used to stream their videos.

QuickTime is dead, Adobe Flash ought to be dead - you are right about the security risks to users, but this isn't LL's problem.

Your suggested idea - for LL to 'force' people to use something different - would mean LL would have to re-encode every online video in the universe into a common format and then stream them to SL users on-the-fly.

The real answer is to learn from this situation that's made videos difficult and annoying for the last decade, then sponsor and create new content in more open ways - for example, Youtube has done its best to move to HTML5, a non-proprietary format that can render in any browser without expensive licensed codecs.

[Whirly Fizzle]

Quicktime support has been removed already in the VLC RC viewer: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Release_Notes/Second_Life_Release/4.1.1.318504

[Nalates Urriah]

Wow! Force them… a bit on the pro-totalitarian side aren’t you?

Linden Lab has consistently come down on the side of creative freedom. Personally I think freedom is better than any centralized form of control.

You are free to make whatever video display devices you would like. The Lab has developed a replacement for QT and Flash that uses current popular technology (HTML5-CEF). Whirly points to the RC VLC Viewer. You can try it. Sometime yet this year it will become the main/default viewer for Second Life and third party viewers will adopt the tech, some may have already.

Once it becomes the default viewer we will see merchants hawking the new tech for their in-world TV’s and video players. Until then the uninformed in SL will be buying useless QT and Adobe devices.

The Lab has weekly meetings where they discuss coming changes and features. Users are welcome to discuss problems with them at those meetings. Only a dozen or so people show up for those meetings. Almost always the same people.

The Lindens have a blog where they post articles on changes as they are released and/or reach the public feedback stage. But, few people read those. I can tell by the questions asked in the Answers section and posts like yours.

 

[Rob Adelaide]

So let me put it this way:

I have a .mp4 H.264 video hosted on my own server. It's not using flash. It's not using QuickTime. It's a standard, H.264 video as you'd upload to YouTube or Vimeo or whatever.

What do I have to do to play this video file in-world? The official viewer won't play it. Firestorm won't play it. Singularity won't play it. I can play it just fine in VLC or QuickTime player, I can play it in my browser usingthe VLC plugin.

So did LL just adopt a video format *literally nobody* is using? Did they switch so every 'media' stream (even the parcel-based one) is just a web page? Do I have to get an HTML5 streaming player set up on my server to play my files? Because that would royally suck and be way too inconvenient to use.

Also, to anyone saying the hosting server determines playback, that's nonsense. It's a pile of data, nothing more. What opens it determines playback.

-Rob

[Whirly Fizzle]

What's the URL of your video?

[Rob Adelaide]

Hi Whirly,

Send you the video link via IM.

Thanks,

Rob

[Oz Linden]

Have you tried the VLC viewer for your file? It uses much newer media handling. You can download it from http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Alternate_Viewers 

There will be an update to that viewer posted this evening, but the current version should work.

[Whirly Fizzle]

Rob's problem wasn't actually the viewer. The media file was corrupted on his server & was truncated.  The media file would only play for a second in Firefox, Chrome & IE too.