[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote > I'm curious - is qt.streaming/preloadnet thing an either/or option, or can > a combo be used with a file that is incrementally download, not 'truly' > streaming (ie rtsp:)? I think you've got your wires crossed a bit. RTSP et al. are bona fide streaming protocols. If you don't do anything special on the server side, you'll almost certainly be using HTTP to deliver your Quicktime, which means that the file will get cached. In true streaming, the local machine only stores what's in the buffer at any one time. Typically a few seconds of media. Macromedia/Director confuses matters by using the term 'streaming' to describe any remote file which plays without being entirely present on the local machine. When 'streaming' is true, Director permits qt movies to play while they download. RTSP and HTTP are totally different protocols. You'd also be using extra bandwidth moving two files into the client at the same time, which might cause the preload to be even slower. > For example: A qt movie that is set to stream will > always use the remote file even if you preload the file (as has been > pointed out to me) - but can I set the member to not be streaming, preload > the member, but if the user gets to it before it's done preloading, can I > switch to it anyway...if it's 50% preloaded into cache will it display the > first 50% before 'streaming' from the server? Well if you should pretty much always preload QT movies unless they are 'true' streams. Quicktime should figure out the rest if the movie itself is set up correctly; The most significant factor when not using 'true' streaming is to check that your QT movie is 'fast start' aka 'progressive download'. There's no voodoo. It's the default setting for a newly self contained movie. What it means is that all the header data (most importantly the number and duration of tracks) is at the start of the file. The headers can get messed up if you (for example) do any last minute edits in Quicktime Player, such as cutting out a few frames, resizing a track, changing annotations or what not. After this, the file will need to download fully before playing. Solution is to save self-contained before uploading. Note that even if you don't add external files, a self-contained movie might not be fast-start. You can test to see if a QT movie is 'fast start' by serving it over http alone. Just upload to a web server and then type the url into a browser. Examine the controller. It's fast start if you see the movie's first frame appear and the 'high water mark' of the ordinary grey timeline creeping along and covering up a black timeline as the file downloads, and then when sufficient data has downloaded for it to play right through without 'catching up' with the high water mark, it starts to play. If, on the other hand, you just see a QT logo which remains while the entire file downloads, and then plays, it's not fast start. Go back and save self contained. You might consider including something 'interesting' in the very first frame of your QT movie, such as a nice scripted animation made with Flash or LiveStage so that people have something to look at/play with while waiting. (Don't use timeline-based animation for obvious reasons). Good luck! Brennan [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/LUJ/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]) Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
