Video behavior issues

ChancyRat · January 16, 2014

Is this the right forum for this topic? Or should it go in the Video group?
Two issues:

(1) Every video I play on my (now unveiled) site, starts off either with no activity, no change in the video image, no indicator that a video is playing or that anything is happening at all, and then the image goes black (even if there is a visible leading thumbnail) and stays black, with a circle twirl indicting loading, for about 15 seconds or longer. Then the video plays.

A visitor to my site indicated that no video in any gallery would play for her. She's on a Mac, I'm on Windows. I'm guessing she didn't wait out the wait time.

Here's a random one as an example (I have not tested this one myself): http://www.joinrats.com/RatsAreHystericallyFunny/Hysterical/i-F64dfJn

This was not the behavior of videos in Legacy.

(2) I'm sure this has been reported, but if you are viewing photos in lightbox mode, and you arrow to a video, the image first shows a "loading" circle working to load a video. Then the image comes up. This leaves the viewer with the impression that clicking the arrow to play, will work. Which it doesn't.

Thanks.

ChancyRat · January 16, 2014

So the viewer did get back to me.
How long did you wait out the loading, I asked.

Over a minute. I am able to watch YouTube videos with no problem. I'm afraid I don't know my computer speed - it has a 2.2 GHz processor, if that helps. I WAS able to view them just now on my iPhone 5, so they ARE working, just not on my old-ish Mac.

2.2 GHz does not sound old to me.
Over a minute of waiting out the video sounds terrible.

bobbyhero · January 16, 2014

The video in your example began buffering immediately, and started playing about 8 seconds later. I did not see any issues. Make sure you're running the latest version of Flash:
http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

I agree that the lightbox mode is a bit misleading with the video. I'll pass this info along.

zacHer0 · January 16, 2014

Video played just fine for me, and I'll stick with my Sugar Gliders!

ChancyRat · January 16, 2014

Bobby, thanks for responding.
I checked and updated Flash from 11-something to the current 12-something. 11-something is not old enough to warrant slowdowns, would you say?
In any case I then checked and this video took 38 seconds to load for me:
http://www.joinrats.com/ModifyBehavior/RAT-C/RAT-C/i-gNSZMVp
This one took 31: http://www.joinrats.com/ModifyBehavior/RAT-C/RAT-C/i-Qcz6qdN
This one took 19: http://www.joinrats.com/ModifyBehavior/RAT-C/RAT-C/i-VJx3nQj

I'm on a Dell, 3.10 GHz, 8 MB memory, 64-bit, Win 7 Professional. In Legacy I didn't have this kind of delay problem.

Then, what do I do about the visitor with a fast-enough computer who gave up completely after a minute of waiting. In Legacy, SM more or less kept up with Youtube. Not as fast, but up there.
Your telling me that viewing worked on your computer doesn't quite negate these issues, I think.

gwen

ChancyRat · January 16, 2014

zacHer0 wrote: »

Video played just fine for me, and I'll stick with my Sugar Gliders!

Hah hah, Zack, very cute.
But look at what kind of New Year's party you missed out on. Bet your sugar gliders don't know how to party like this.

http://www.joinrats.com/RatsAreHystericallyFunny/Hysterical/i-tJhzLTH/A

ChancyRat · January 16, 2014

I'm actually a bit confused about the updating Flash issue. I thought the current SM player did not use flash?
So - what do Mac users have to use?

I see this on the web.

To display Adobe Flash content, a device must either have a dedicated Flash player or a plug-in tool for a Web browser. Apple computers such as the MacBook do not have a Flash player installed by default, but users can install a player or use a Web browser such as Chrome that supports Flash.

ChancyRat · January 16, 2014

I found this: ""Macs and Windows (depending on configuration) require Apple Quicktime for videos played from SmugMug and Adobe Flash Player for embedded videos." I will pass this on to the user and see what happens.

ChancyRat · January 16, 2014

By the way, I was quite startled when the viewer said she was able to view videos on her iPhone 5. So I inquired, and she said she got to them by navigating through Safari, and that they played well and that the page format was great too. I have a 4S and haven't updated to the new OS yet (resistance on my part), so I haven't bothered to even check my site on my iphone.

rainforest1155 · January 17, 2014

ChancyRat wrote: »

I found this: ""Macs and Windows (depending on configuration) require Apple Quicktime for videos played from SmugMug and Adobe Flash Player for embedded videos." I will pass this on to the user and see what happens.

Where did you find this? That's outdated. Our fully featured video player on desktops and laptops is using Flash. Only on mobile devices, a different player is usually used.

ChancyRat · January 17, 2014

rainforest1155 wrote: »

Where did you find this? That's outdated. Our fully featured video player on desktops and laptops is using Flash. Only on mobile devices, a different player is usually used.

A quick google search for any of the above phase, using quotes, yields this source:
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/84563-video-details-and-specs
"last updated 1/13/14", so I assumed it was current.

Les Doerfler · January 17, 2014

The video loaded quickly for me (8 seconds or so) and played great. I'm on an iMac approx 2 years old. Ratastic.

rainforest1155 · January 20, 2014

ChancyRat wrote: »

A quick google search for any of the above phase, using quotes, yields this source:
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/84563-video-details-and-specs
"last updated 1/13/14", so I assumed it was current.

Thanks, I'll pass it on to our help writers.
The last updated date just tells you when the page was last edited, but it doesn't mean that all the information on the page had been completely revised. The date would likely also change when a typo is corrected.

ChancyRat · January 20, 2014

Les Doerfler wrote: »

The video loaded quickly for me (8 seconds or so) and played great. I'm on an iMac approx 2 years old. Ratastic.

Thank you Les. I haven't heard back from the visitor so I don't know if she was able to add quicktime and flash to her computer. I have had other visitors tell me no videos work, so I continue to be concerned about this problem generally.

rainforest1155 · January 21, 2014

ChancyRat wrote: »

Thank you Les. I haven't heard back from the visitor so I don't know if she was able to add quicktime and flash to her computer. I have had other visitors tell me no videos work, so I continue to be concerned about this problem generally.

Only Flash should be needed (see the updated help page). If a visitor still has an issue, to check if it's related to their browser, trying a different browser would be useful. Google Chrome would be a good one to try as it also comes with Flash built-in and doesn't require a separate Flash install.

ChancyRat · January 24, 2014

rainforest1155 wrote: »

Only Flash should be needed (see the updated help page). If a visitor still has an issue, to check if it's related to their browser, trying a different browser would be useful. Google Chrome would be a good one to try as it also comes with Flash built-in and doesn't require a separate Flash install.

Thanks! I will keep this in mind when I talk to people

ChancyRat · January 24, 2014

Android video viewing possible?
So the next person who's contacted me can't view video from her Android device.
She clicks and nothing happens. I asked her to wait a long time and she said she did.

Should she be able to?
I can't find any threads on this forum saying "no".
On smugmug I only see this page:
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93252-what-operating-systems-and-browsers-are-supported-by-smugmug-
which says "iPhones and other devices" but android is not named explicitly.

I see info on the Android App, but that would be for site owners.

Can your regular stand-alone visitors using Android devices, play video on Smugmug?

Les Doerfler · January 25, 2014

CR, I just checked out your site on my Samsung Note 2 and although the formatting for your site was a bit wonky on the mobile version, the videos played just fine.

ChancyRat · January 25, 2014

Les Doerfler wrote: »

CR, I just checked out your site on my Samsung Note 2 and although the formatting for your site was a bit wonky on the mobile version, the videos played just fine.

Oh, thank you Les for checking. What Android version are you using, may I ask? And I'll try to check with the visitor. I wish I could see "wonky", that sounds interesting to say the least.

Les Doerfler · January 25, 2014

I'm on Android version 4.3. Wonky is not bad, the elements of the page are just arranged a bit different. Here's a screen shot of the home page...https://www.dropbox.com/s/avjxprpruexz02k/Screenshot_2014-01-25-11-04-33.png

ChancyRat · January 25, 2014

Les Doerfler wrote: »

I'm on Android version 4.3. Wonky is not bad, the elements of the page are just arranged a bit different. Here's a screen shot of the home page...https://www.dropbox.com/s/avjxprpruexz02k/Screenshot_2014-01-25-11-04-33.png

Fascinating. Thanks so much for taking that image. It's not the home page, though, it's one of the folders.
There's a neat site for this - I hope you see something like this on the homage?

http://quirktools.com/screenfly/#u=http%3A//www.joinrats.com&w=320&h=533&a=34&s=1

Video behavior issues

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