Posted by cwdjrxyz on 01/03/07 17:39

The Starmaker wrote:
> cwdjrxyz wrote:
> >
> > The Starmaker wrote:
> > > I'm fooling around with html/css
> > >
> > >
> > > How do I get those scrolling bars to disapear?
> > > I just want the video to be centered in the background image.
> > > http://pw1.netcom.com/~starmaker/YT/YT6.html
> > >
> > >
> > > Maybe there's a better way...
> > > If there is a better way then,
> > > what keywords should I be looking up?
> >
> > You are linking to a file on the site with the video, and if it ever
> > fails, so will your video. Actually what you are linking to is a rather
> > complicated flash construct which is a combination of a .flv
> > movie(often used by the flash people), and other elements such as
> > logos. I was able to get the flv movie file from the Opera cache after
> > playing the movie. The .flv file may be downloaded at
> > http://www.cwdjr.info/temp/opr00V8T.flv . The movie is a wide screen
> > format and has no scroll bars. This is not very useful alone for
> > websites, but you can download a free flv player from
> > http://www.martijndevisser.com/blog/article/flv-player-updated . It is
> > possible to convert a flv to many other video formats that are more
> > useful on websites, such as wmv. I found a program that will do this at
> > http://www.topvideopro.com/guide/convert_flv.htm . You get a watermark
> > unless you pay for the program, which I did not. The .wmv is at
> > http://www.cwdjr.info/temp/opr00V8T.wmv . You may see it embedded on a
> > plain page at http://www.cwdjr.info/temp/NGmovie.html . I did not try
> > to add your background. The player is centered on your page. I think
> > you may have to crop off a bit of the left side of your background
> > image a PaintShop or the like so that the black box in it is centered
> > on the page. It may be difficult to get this right when screen widths
> > are different without using some rather elaborate script to detect
> > screen width and write corrections for css.
> >
> > The new WMP 11 has a bug when you use a video that is of smaller width
> > than you call for in the object code. On all non-IE browsers I have
> > tested, the width of the video gets stretched to fill the width called
> > for in the object, but the height does not. The IE6 response is normal.
> > I don't know if and when Microsoft will correct this. In the meantime
> > you either should make the width in the object code the same as the
> > actual widith of the video(320px in this case), or you need to
> > re-encode the wmv at the larger width you want and likely require for
> > your background image.
> >
> > I will leave the mentioned files up a few days, so download any soon
> > that might be of use to you.
>
> Thanks, I will look at your html file after work and fool around with
> it.
> I was just trying some test with linking video from other websites for
> the
> time being like
> http://pw1.netcom.com/~starmaker/YT/YT3.htm
> (click the embedded button)
> I wasn't looking to embed my own videos right now...my problem was not
> how to
> embedded a video into my webpage but just the "centering problem" of the
> bg image.

I am going to take the .flv down, just in case there is a problem with
having it up. However I will tell you how to get it yourself. It is not
encoded and just in your cache when you play the video so it is easy
enough to copy the cache file to somewhere else on your computer
before it is lost. Note that some of the .flv files are labeled .tmp.
You just rename them to .flv to get them to play on a flv player. That
was the case for your video.

___________________________________________________________________________

Now what happens if you are not given an option to download? There
often is a way. You are out of luck if the video is a true streaming
format, such as a streaming TV station and some very long videos, since
the video is not cached other than a small buffer file that keeps
getting new video and dropping video already played.

One common example is movies using flash. If you right click on a
movie, if often will tell you what kind it is.

I find Opera the most simple browser to used for saving video that has
been cached. It is a free download. A good place to start are the free
Google videos - you are out of luck for the protected pay ones. Once
you have the video playing, copy the url at the top of the screen and
stop the video. Then bring up tools and select to empty private data
which will dump the cache. If you don't dump the cache, you will have a
hard time finding the video in perhaps hundreds of cached items.Then
enter the url you copied, select the movie and start if necessary. When
the movie is completely downloaded with the download bar completely to
the right or the movie finishes, whichever comes first, minimize Opera
with the - sign at the top right of the screen. Do not turn off Opera
with the X, or you may lose the video in the cache. Next go to the
Opera cache.

Since some files on the route to the cache are hidden, you must be sure
that hidden files are shown before you use this method. You do not need
any browsers on to check this setting. On the XP: start > control panel
> Appearance & Themes > Folder Options > select View Tab > Find Hidden files and folders, check show hidden files and folders, and OK. If you have to do this often, create a shortcut to the desktop to where you want to go in the cache by right clicking on the icon for it, and selecting send to desktop to create a shortcut.

Now we will go to the cache. With Opera still minimized go to
C:\documents and settings\user\application
data\opera\opera\profile\cache4(usually). Look for a video file with an
extension such as .flv(usual for flash video), .wmv, .rm, .mov, .avi,
etc. Sometimes you find the file ending in .tmp. In that case you
rename the file with the extension .flv to play it on a flv player. It
will also be a big file, usually several to many MB as shown
when you hover the cursor over the icon for it. Click the video file
icon and select to copy it where you wish. Now you can go back and turn
Opera off. The more common players such as WMP, Real, and QT will not
play a .flv. However you can download a free flv player at
http://www.martijndevisser.com/blog/article/flv-player-updated . You
have the WMP player for formats it will play, and the Real and QT
players are free downloads if you need them.

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