Quicktime H.264 streaming problem on Windows PCs, works great on Mac

[Nick Weeks]

OK, I'm getting pretty frustrated here. I have a few sequences in FCP that I'm exporing to Compressor for my Web site. What I want, is for the user to click on an image representation and have the movie start playing for them in a small popup window. That part works wonderful.

Here's the problem: On a Mac, it streams perfectly using Firefox. As soon as you click it downloads a small portion of the file and starts playing. I can go to a Windows PC and do the same thing, but the entire movie has to download in the browser (IE) before it will start to play. Note I haven't tried this yet in Firefox on the PC, but I'd like it to work with IE because that's the majority. It's not the PC, because I can go to other sites that have quicktime movies and they play just as I would like them to... while they're downloading.

I've played around with multiple Compressor settings, and I can't get anything to work. What am I missing?

My current settings are:
H.264
Automatic data rate
Medium quality -> single pass
Streaming: Fast start (compressed header)

[Ervin Farkas]

Have you tried on more than one PC? It sounds more like a local setting issue, there is a setting somewhere in most players to instruct the player to start playing after buffering part of the file.

[Nick Weeks]

I've tried this on multiple PCs, and the same PCs can stream from other sites that use Quicktime. Works great on any Mac

[Chris Barcellos]

Is it possible the website has to have special functions enabled to stream QT ? Seems to me that is an issue with other player systems. I know my provider indicates it isn't enabled for some streaming applications.

[Nick Weeks]

Then why does it stream on a Mac?

[Nick Weeks]

OK, It's not just a Mac, it's any computer with Firefox.

So I guess I need to change my question. How do I stream Quicktime files in internet Explorer? I can go to other sites on multiple PCs with Quicktime and they stream fine, but I visit mine and no luck with Internet Explorer. If I use Firefox, it works perfect.

It has to be some option when encoding is what I would guess... any ideas?

[Ervin Farkas]

I am not familiar with QT, but when encoding with Windows Media Encoder, I am using the setting for "web server (progressive download)".

Hope this helps,

[Nick Weeks]

Well, I've tried all 3 options I have using Compressor (fast start, fast start with compressed header, and hinted streaming), which is what I prefer to use because I have 5 videos to export and it takes a couple of hours, and Compressor makes it easy with the batch jobs.

Is it the h.264 codec? Do I need to use something else to allow progressive download or streaming, or whatever you call it? Why is it only Intrnet Explorer that doesn't play while its downloading? Should I be using something other than compressor?

[Margus Lillemagi]

I am using Adobe Premiere to compress into QT, but the settings should be similar. It works well.
My settings are following (Adobe Premiere):

Preset: QT ISDN Streaming PAL (or NTSC);
Codec: Soreson Video 3;
Frame Width: 320;
Frame Height: 240;
Frame rate (fps): if original is NTSC 29,97 fps then 15fps, if PAL 25 then 12,5 fps;
For field order I am using progressive (no fields) but you can use lower or upper first;
Bitrate (kbps): 300-500 (I am using 500).

Good luck,

Margus

[Martin Pauly]

Nick,

what you describe doesn't really sound like you are trying to stream the movie, but rather use progressive download. Streaming would require the web server to have special provisions for, well, streaming your video. When you wrote initially that "it downloads a small portion of the file and starts playing", it really sounded like progressive download. So you probably want to stay away from the formats that are meant for real streaming.

- Martin

[Nick Weeks]

So are you saying H.264 will not do progressive download? Will H.263? Or the Sorenson Video do it? I'm not at the Mac right now...

But yes, I do mean progressive downloading

[Margus Lillemagi]

Sorry, I explained how to compress a streaming video. I have no experiences with progressive downloading, however it is explained here:
http://www.dowire.org/wiki/Streaming...ssive_Download

Margus