Media Player Background

[DukeNewman]

When playing an MPEG1 in a media player object, the object turns black immediately before and after the video plays. I fade from white and back to white before and after the video and want unnoticeable page transitions, so the change to black is somewhat disconcerting. I suspect that the problem is with the Windows media player, but I was wondering if anybody could suggest a solution, other than changing the type of object. I have already tried playing the video as a Flash object. Although using Flash solves the problem, only Flash 6 will play the video, and the video and audio quality deteriorates when played through Flash.

[Corey]

Re: Media Player Background

hmmmm I don't have that same problem here but what about setting up a white frame in your MPEG just after the fade and then simply stopping on that frame?

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[DukeNewman]

Re: Media Player Background

Thanks for the suggestion. How would I stop the MPEG at the last frame, however? The first and last frames of the MPEG are white, I believe. The black appears in a split second, more or less as a flicker, but it's still quite noticeable. When I fade to and from black, of course, one doesn't notice the flicker. If you have a very fast PC, you might not notice it at all, even with fades to and from white.

[Corey]

Re: Media Player Background

Duke:

1. Are you 100% certain that your video editor didn't insert a black frame at the end of your video?

2. When you say "it just appears black for a filckering second", between what? one mpeg and another mpeg?

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[DukeNewman]

Re: Media Player Background

I do not believe that my video editor is inserting a black frame. I do not have this issue when I export the video as an AVI or when I play it through Flash 6. In the case of an AVI, I admit that it is a different encoding of the video. In the case of Flash 6, however, Macromedia Flash MX takes the same MPEG1 I use with the media player and re-encodes it using Sorenson Spark. I don't see why Flash MX would delete the black frame, if there was one. I have run the video through a scrubber as slowly as possible, but cannot detect a black frame. I believe the problem stems from the fact that the background for the latest version of Windows Media Player is black. When I set the media player not to start automatically, it starts with a black screen. Once I hit play and scrub the video back and forth, there is no black frame. The key, I think, is to change the background of the media player, but I do not know how to do this.

As far as the flicker is concerned, it is more pronounced at the beginning of the video than at the end. At the end, it is a true flicker - almost imperceptible. At the beginning, however, there is definitely something that looks like a black frame.

I'm sorry I didn't write back sooner.

[DukeNewman]

Re: Media Player Background

I should add that I transition from a full screen flash animation to the video and then to a white page which has some flash animations (not full screen) on it. When I delete the video page, there is no flicker or black frame between the flash animation and the white page. I inferred, therefore, that the flicker was occuring on the page with the media player. In addition, the black stuff is confined to the area of the media player.

[Corey]

Re: Media Player Background

Hmmm... That's a drag, wish I could offer something more... Have you tried setting your media player to be invisible for the first second or so?

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[DukeNewman]

Re: Media Player Background

How do you do that?

I've been trying all sorts of things, like putting images on top of the media player and setting a timer. The media player, however, likes to be on top in the Z-order. I even tried putting a white flash animation on top of the media player, but when the animation issues an fscommand to hide itself, the program just shuts down. I've also tried to tell the media player to hide and show itself at certain times (such as on play or on loading server), but the black opening screen just keeps showing up. I've also tried using a flash animation as a time delay device (rather than as a mask), but that doesn't work either. Is there another way of hiding the media player and have it play while it is hidden (so that the black screen is displayed while it is invisible or covered up)? When you show it, it appears to start up from the beginning, black screen and all.

Thanks for your patience.

[Corey]

Re: Media Player Background

Well it sounds like you tried everything. Converting your flash to an avi and adding it to the actual MPeg would solve it...

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software