Help with XP ISSUE

[hobbsdan]

I recently updated my computer system from Windows ME to XP Professional. All of my AMS4 files were built in the Windows ME environment. In XP when I try to preview a AMS file the system hangs and I eventullly have to end the AMS software. Any suggests on what is causing this? Are there issues with XP that I am unaware of? I am thinking of reinstalling AMS but haven't done that yet. Any suggestions??

Thanks

[hobbsdan]

Re: Help with XP ISSUE

I have reinstalled the AMS4 software, but I am having difficulty still with a few of my files. It seems to be ones that I used the camtasia recorder which exports sound files in the AVI format. Are there issues involved with this that anyone knows about? I would really appreciate a comment from someone. Thanks.

[Corey]

Re: Help with XP ISSUE

Strictly speaking there shouldn't be a problem using Camtasia AVIs, it's just video like from any other app but if you uninstalled the codec you used to compress your video that could cause this...

Now that being said if you're doing audio Camtasia is not the best choice to create files, try using a sound editor to record to a much more appropriate formats such as MP3 or .wav. There are many fine free sound recorders available by searching on Google. Also windows has a built in sound recorder you can access by going to your START menu and then the RUN menu and typing in sndrec32 and pressing OK... This will record to .wav, you can then use one of the tons of free MP# encoders out here to create an MP3 from it if you like. MP3 is the best format for deploying audio currently in terms of balance between quality, convenience, compatibility, and file size.

MP3s work fine in AMS.

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[hobbsdan]

Re: Help with XP ISSUE

Thanks Cory. I am using Camtasia to show radiographs in a class that I am teaching. I use the cursor to point out anatomy as I talk and explain.

I have now tried previewing individual pages instead of the whole project. Maybe this is not what is causing my problem because my AVI files will play when I preview single pages. However, when the page has completed playing and I move to another page the AMS software seems to crash. This is the message that I get: AutoPlay Media Studia 4.0 has encountered a problem and needs to close. we are sorry for the inconvenience.

Orginally I thought the problem may be related to the Camtasia AVI because other projects with the player do not crash------I'm thinking----but I'm still trying to trouble shoot what is causing this problem.

Thanks for any suggestions or help.

[hobbsdan]

Re: Help with XP ISSUE

I think the problem may be with WMP9. It seems that my individual pages work okay, but if I preview a page with a mediaplayer object the system crashes or crashes shortly after the build. Should I try to reinstall the old WMP? Can this be done? Any ideas of what I should do?

[Corey]

Re: Help with XP ISSUE

Lots of people have problems with WMP9 if you look on Google you'll find a bunch of them have sites on how to fix things and/or re-install old player... I'm no expert on WMP though...

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[hobbsdan]

Re: Help with XP ISSUE

I was able to do a system restore to a point before the WMP9 install. Now things are working at least most of them. I'm still having an issue with one of my projects. In this project the pages will preview individually, but when I try to preview the entire project AMS does not respond to the build. The system hangs. This must be another issue but it most likely is related to the WMP9 issue, but I'm not sure. WMP9 SUCKS------------

Has anyone else had problems with this???

Now I am wondering how my projects are going to play on systems that have the WMP9 installed.

CRAP

[Corey]

Re: Help with XP ISSUE

Lots of people have had problems with WMP9, like I say, there are a bunch of web sites out there specifically created by people who have had problems with WMP9 to deal with the issues surrounding WMP9.

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[HaveMercy]

Re: Help with XP ISSUE

I'm a new user of AMS4 - (Just installed it today) - And one of the first things I encountered was the AMS4 crash caused by embedding a .wmv file described in this thread. Has anyone come up with a fix for this other than to blame it on WMP9? Unfortunately many (if not most) of my users will be WMP9 users and this crash is unacceptable.

I've done a lot with embedding .wmv files in HTML using ActiveX controls and haven't had any problems with WMP9.

I'd love to hear any suggestions or solutions anyone has found for the problem.

[Corey]

Re: Help with XP ISSUE

Hmmm, the fact is it is a WMP9 issue, not blaming anyone though... As long as you're deploying mainly to users of WMP9 you will have no choice but to deal with WMP9's limitations. We have no control of that. I'd like to help but we have no fix for WMP9 at present. Sorry, if we hear anything, we'll post it ASAP.

There's tons of sites dealing with WMP9 bugs and usability on Google though, not sure if there's anything that would help you there but who knows. Never hurts to check it out...

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[HaveMercy]

Re: Help with XP ISSUE

OK - I understand it may be a WMP9 issue, so I guess my real question is - How are other AMS4 developers handling this problem? What is the recommended approach to launching a .wmv video clip from an AutoPlay CD?

[Corey]

Re: Help with XP ISSUE

I actually don't deploy as .wmv so I'm not sure, I haven't really encountered much .wmv usage in here... Wish I could be of more help.

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[Adam]

Re: Help with XP ISSUE

If you are using WMP 9.0 then you are probably going to have to turn off the live preview for Media Player Objects (Edit -> Preferences -> Objects) as this causes the design environment to hang in certain cases. Also make absolutely sure that you are using 4.0.0.4 as older versions may not work well with WMP 9.0.