Display issue with Animoto video

papajay

I'm not sure whether this is an Animoto problem or a Smug problem (or neither), but...

While playing my Animoto video in fullscreen (HD ON and Strech ON) mode, the high-res video (an MP-4 Animoto video uploaded to a Smug gallery) shows a bit of the underlying "container" (not sure if that's the right tech word) above and below the active images as they move into and out-of view throughout the video.

The problem does not show up if in fullscreen mode if I launch the MP4 file directly from my desktop...nor does it show up when playing the ISO version I downloaded from Animoto (I could not upload the ISO version to Smug). The problem only occurs on the Smug version.

Could you take a look at it, please...you'll see a little wedge-shaped remnant of the first image in the video show throughout the video at the top and bottom.

http://papajay.smugmug.com/Weddings-Bridal-Showers-etc/Alyssa/Alyssa-and-Ryan-video/13096594_hYEoa#949411754_2uReV-A-LB

Thanks.

Andy

Maybe you could screengrab it, because it looks good to me, IE8, Win7, full screen:

papajay

Ok...took some doing for me to get a screen grab...but here it is (I hope)...see the green band above the progress bar??? It's part of the opening image which is a field of grass. There's a similar bit of blue sky at the top, but I had to crop the screenprint down to meet the file size restriction for uploading...and can only send one attachment per upload. Thanks for looking into it. Hopefully you can figure out what's causing it.

Andy

I don't - but try it without stretch and see. It's nothing in our control, I can tell you that - we just display what Animoto gives us.... thanks Lane.

papajay

Andy wrote: »

I don't - but try it without stretch and see. It's nothing in our control, I can tell you that - we just display what Animoto gives us.... thanks Lane.

Ok...I'l run it past their support also. But, as I said before, the problem does not appear when I open and full-screen-play either the ISO download or the MP4 download from Animoto (the very same file I uploaded to Smug).

Separate question: I tried (unsuccessfuly) to upload the ISO version to Smug...do you not accept that file format?

papajay

Andy wrote: »

I don't - but try it without stretch and see. It's nothing in our control, I can tell you that - we just display what Animoto gives us.... thanks Lane.

I did try it without STRETCH....the problem goes away except for the fact that it's a smaller-than-fullscreen image (much smaller).

Andy

papajay wrote: »

Separate question: I tried (unsuccessfuly) to upload the ISO version to Smug...do you not accept that file format?

No, that's a disk image, Lane.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_disk_image

papajay

Ok...disk image cannot be uploaded...got it. Thanks Andy.

Here's an update on the original problem: after launching the video and selecting the fullscreen button, the initial display format defaults to HQ ON, and STRETCH OFF. When I select STRETCH ON, the problem I first described where the little wedges of color from the initial image (green lawn below and blue sky above the then-active video images) shows up immediately, regardless of where in the video I activate the STRETCH ON.

I discovered that if I pause the video and then unpause it by going back to "play" mode, the little unwanted wedges disappear! Hooray! Fortunately while in the same "session", even if I return to STRETCH OFF mode then back to STRETCH ON, the wedges do not reappear.

They consistently do reappear, however, if I close out the session and re-launch from scratch.

I know you initially indicated that it must be an Animoto problem. Given this latest info, while I'm not technical enough to know with any certaintly, it still seems to me to be more likely that it's a SmugMug video player problem or, I suppose, that it might be the result of some quirky behavior on my end. I've tried it on different displays, both logged in and logged out, and get the same results.

papajay

Andy...your "messin' with me now, aren't you?" Please tell me your guys have been working the problem quietly in the background...because if they haven't, I've got a mystery to wrap my brain around.

Just like magic, the problem (little unwanted "wedgies") has disappeared entirely now! Also, when I launch the video, the fullscreen default is now HD ON and STRETCH ON ...that changed from little more than an hour ago, when the STRETCH default was OFF whenever I launched fullscreen. I had to reset it to ON every time I launched the video. Now it starts up in the ON setting. I even turned it OFF just now, closed my browser entirely, re-launched and found the STRETCH set to ON again (that's a GOOD thing, by the way...I like it!).

papajay

Update: problem was a conflict
Update (in case anyone else encounters a similar problem):

The problem I encountered (unwanted fragments of the first image in the slideshow not refreshing away during the remainer of the slideshow) was apparently caused by a program conflict.

I replaced my DVD burner (and it came with a NERO Essentials program disc, which I installed to evaluate). NERO set itself up as the default program for every file type it could latch on to (including the playing of flash video, even though I had Adobe Flash Player 10 installed), and I didn't catch it at the time.

As soon as I uninstalled NERO, even without officially setting Adobe Flash Player as the default player for flash files, the problem I've been having disappeared! Now, when I select Full Screen mode to play a video, the HD and STRETCH settings default to "ON" (just like they used-to).

Happy Camper, once again. Thanks to SmugMug support team (Doc especially).

AnimotoBecky

Thanks for the update on this. I myself didn't know of this possible fix, so I appreciate you sharing it with us!

papajay wrote: »

Update (in case anyone else encounters a similar problem):

The problem I encountered (unwanted fragments of the first image in the slideshow not refreshing away during the remainer of the slideshow) was apparently caused by a program conflict.

I replaced my DVD burner (and it came with a NERO Essentials program disc, which I installed to evaluate). NERO set itself up as the default program for every file type it could latch on to (including the playing of flash video, even though I had Adobe Flash Player 10 installed), and I didn't catch it at the time.

As soon as I uninstalled NERO, even without officially setting Adobe Flash Player as the default player for flash files, the problem I've been having disappeared! Now, when I select Full Screen mode to play a video, the HD and STRETCH settings default to "ON" (just like they used-to).

Happy Camper, once again. Thanks to SmugMug support team (Doc especially).