Help me pls.

[Laura]

Hi, every one:

Can a .AVI file codeced with DivX be played in STREAM within a intranet?

THKS.

[McMillan]

theoretically (pardon my bad spelling) every video/audio file can be streamed. You only need some software that's capable of providing this. For instance, Winamp uses shoutcast to provide this, and I guess that for video files it works the same or similar way. It's just that I don't know what program would do that, since I had no need for this.
On the other hand, why not use sharing? Intranet is 24/7 service, so simply download it and play it...
take care...

[t3ch]

Yes, one of the IRC servers I'm on all the time has a nightly movie we stream in divx =D

I'll try to find out what software is being used.

[Laura]

In fact, my boss asked me to broadcast it within intranet in stream...

[McMillan]

So has he provided you a software with that request or you have to handle it on your own? Not a nice boss, eh? What does your firm do that you need streaming within intranet?

[Laura]

really not a good boss, He only knows sth. about it. He asked others to fulfill his idea. All bosses liked to do it. The film is something about some kinds of education.

[alcskid]

Windows Media Player plays ASF and ASX files. ASF is a compressed file format that can store audio and video information and is designed to run over the Internet. ASF may also include slide shows and synchronizing events. The big advantage of this file is that it is delivered continuously and starts playing almost without a delay. Your users don't need to wait any more for your audio and video files to fully download before starting to view them. For example, a 40 seconds-long AVI file can take more than 40 minutes to download over a 28.8Kbps modem. Because of this long download time, it would be impossible to deliver Internet-based training class that is 20 minutes long. When converted to ASF file, this class begins playing after just a few seconds. Practically, the file's size has no relevance to the problem.
ASX files are textual command files that manage streaming of ASF or AVI files. They are very small in size (about 1K) because they contain no data, just instructions. When a user clicks a link to an ASX file, the browser downloads it to the cache directory, launches the Windows Media Player, and then starts the streaming. The advantage of using ASX files over ASF files is their server location. ASF files can reside on different server types:
Windows Media Services Server. File names will start with mms://.
HTTP Server. File names will start with http://.
Local or network drive. File names will start with file://.

ASX files, on the other hand, are small text files that can always sit on an HTTP server. When the browser interprets the ASX file, it access the streaming media file that is specified inside the ASX file, from the proper HTTP, mms, or file server. The following is an ASX file:

<ASX VERSION="3">
   <ENTRY>
      <REF HREF="mms://netshow.microsoft.com/ms/sbnasfs/wmt/turtle28.asf/">
      <REF HREF="mms://netshow.microsoft.com/ms/sbnasfs/wmt/wmt.asf/">
   </ENTRY>
</ASX>

The ASX file format is very rich. You can add banners, icons, images, and watermarks underneath the streaming media. We will revisit ASX files later in our series. The purpose of this page is to give you a brief overview on what is ASX files and how they are different from ASF file and other audio and video formats.

So what you are need was just a web server. Hope this can help you.

[alcskid]

Sorry, VB code can not shown at this forum. So I attached it as a pic.

[Laura]

Thks, alcskid

Your post really helps me a lot.

But with which tools, can I convert my files(.avi, DivX format) to ASF?

I have tried the tool: "Windows Media Encoder 9.0" downloaded from MS WEBSITE. But it only can convert my files to .WMV. And the .WMVs can only be streaming played by Windows Media Player 9.0 through clicking a webpage link. when I tried to make a broadcast station to broadcast them with Windows Media Server, the server only recognize the .ASF files.

What's the difference between .ASF and .WMV?

Their website says: "The extension wma or wmv is used to specify an ASF file that contains content encoded with the Windows Media Audio and/or Windows Media Video codecs.¡£"

I think they r the same. But I just can't do it! Maybe Gates can give me solution.

[setarip]

"But with which tools, can I convert my files(.avi, DivX format) to ASF?"



Vid2ASF

[alcskid]

Well if you read carefully, actually the ASX file can contain AVI as a stream file. So you don't need to convert it. Just put your avi list into small asx file, and publish it with web server. ASF was the old streaming file. right now Microcrape had move to WMV.

The tool that usually i use was ASFtools (It's freeware). You can grab at http://www.geocities.com/myasftools/

[Laura]

Hi, alcskid. Thanks again for your kindness.

I tried as u told me with with a .asx as follow:

[asx version = "3.0"]
[title]sample[/title]
[entry]
[ref href = "mms://MediaServerName/test.avi"/]
[/entry]
[/asx]

then I link the .asx file in a webpage.

When I clicked the link, the Windows Media Player 9.0 cann't play it. let along in stream.

But instead of using "test.avi" mentioned before I tried with a .wmv format file, it works ok.

How comes?

[alcskid]

Yeah, for MMS protocol it's only work with wmv or asf. You may try using File sharing protocol instead of mms. Put your avi at your file server and use
"file://file server name/sharing name/avi movie file"

Just try it ! It's work. You may also try convert avi to asf using Windows media encoder or Easy AVI converter, or AVI2ASF at http://home.t-online.de/home/hallbauer/avi2asf.zip

Happy trying....

[[MoD]Minister]

Let me take this in a different direction. I use DivX and XviD for many purposes in my job -not very different from what you are trying.

First a few questions:
1. Are you on a high speed intranet?
2. How many people will ideally be viewing these files at a time?
3. How large are the files you are wanting to stream?
4. Is the intent that everyone watch the video at the same time or whenever they want to?

Basically, if you are on a quality intranet, the size is reasonable and the load (# of users) is moderate you can simply embed the file in a web browser and avoid the issue of truely streaming the video.
This is not to say that you are not doing what you were told to, you are using your expertise to provide a more ideal solution with the same results.
Just my thoughts on the issue, some may disagree.

[alcskid]

I believe there is one more problem if you are using DivX or XviD movie.

You must install the video codec to all users that want to watch your movie.

But well, Embedding avi at web server was great for a small to medium size movie. File server was more reasonable for doing this (Playing movie) without downloading first at user client.