Windows Media Player and Video's

  • Thread starter Thread starter MikeW
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MikeW

Windows XP Home
Windows Media Player 11

I currently use two video host sites to store video's for others to view
and download. A couple of weeks ago one of the sites changed all my file
extensions from wmv to flv. When I queried this I was sent the following
e-mail.

Dear user,



These days we are converting all video formats to FLV (flash based) for
the following reasons:



1. Flash video playback is supported on multiple
platforms, unlike the other video formats This allows more people to
view your file without needing plug-ins and players.

2. Videos played back in flash load faster, and start
playback sooner than the other formats.

3. FLV format is the standard and most popular format
today.






Today my other host site has e-mailed me to say that it is also changing
to flv format.
The problem is that flv does not play in WMP. I have tried flv
converters/players but the end results are very poor quality playbacks.

My question is....if flv format is as good as these sites say, (see 3
above) why does Windows Media Payer not support them?
 
Flash is a proprietary format (Macromedia Flash - now owned by Adobe I
believe). The movies play in your browser when you have downloaded the flash
plug-in.

A lot of the advertisements you see on web pages are flash based. I am
guessing that certain web sites are "paid" to convert to flash. This way,
the advertisements on all web sites are seen, even if you don't want to view
them

It's a money making scheme. For a long time I resisted having flash on my
computers but it almost seems that you can't avoid it any more. And some of
those ads are quite annoying.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
Richard said:
Flash is a proprietary format (Macromedia Flash - now owned by Adobe I
believe). The movies play in your browser when you have downloaded
the flash plug-in.

A lot of the advertisements you see on web pages are flash based. I am
guessing that certain web sites are "paid" to convert to flash. This
way, the advertisements on all web sites are seen, even if you don't
want to view them

It's a money making scheme. For a long time I resisted having flash
on my computers but it almost seems that you can't avoid it any more.
And some of those ads are quite annoying.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the explanation Richard, do you think that we will ever be
able to play flv format in WMP in the future?
 
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