Parcel media cuts off at the same point in viewer, fine on browser

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Dale Innis
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Parcel media cuts off at the same point in viewer, fine on browser

Post by Dale Innis »

We've noticed recently in the sim All My Boats, that the media (which is a rather important part of the experience!) cuts off suddenly just before three minutes in (right around 2:52), under all conditions that we're tested (where you are, how the media was started, etc).

The media file itself streams fine if the URL is visited in a browser, for instance, so it doesn't seem to be a problem in the file or the streaming host.

This didn't used to happen, of course!

Do you know of anything in the viewer or somehow in OpenSim that might have changed that would cause this?

We tried another sim with a media file longer than three minutes, and it didn't do the same thing, fwiw.
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Re: Parcel media cuts off at the same point in viewer, fine on browser

Post by Ilan Tochner »

Hi Dale,

Did this happen for both Karima and yourself? Does it also happen if you use an older version of Firestorm?
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Re: Parcel media cuts off at the same point in viewer, fine on browser

Post by Krull Kitty »

Is the media file hosted on your own web hosting server?

Is it embedded into an html page using the HTML <Video> tag?

Is the video file format (.MP4) or (.WEBM) ?

Code: Select all

<video width="720" height="480" controls>
  <source src="movie.mp4" type="video/mp4">
  Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>
The streaming of video in .MP4 format through firestorm is problematic if embedded in HTML
using the <video> tag.

I created a full sized model of the IMAX theater in Kitely which streams a double feature of two
IMAX films. I discovered that the hosted video file I had uploaded and embedded into an html page,
to display on my theater screen, did not want to play on my media prim screen.

So I tested other formats and discovered that only the .WEBM movie format behaved properly on
my media prim screen in Kitely using Firestorm.

I'm not sure if this helps you in any way. Hopefully this information will be helpful to someone else.
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Re: Parcel media cuts off at the same point in viewer, fine on browser

Post by Dale Innis »

Ilan Tochner wrote:
Wed Mar 17, 2021 3:25 am
Did this happen for both Karima and yourself? Does it also happen if you use an older version of Firestorm?
Both of us (cutting off at exactly the same point in the media). Haven't tried an older version of Firestorm, I should probably keep those around!
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Re: Parcel media cuts off at the same point in viewer, fine on browser

Post by Dale Innis »

Thanks much!
Krull Kitty wrote:
Wed Mar 17, 2021 3:48 am
Is the media file hosted on your own web hosting server?

Is it embedded into an html page using the HTML <Video> tag?

Is the video file format (.MP4) or (.WEBM) ?
It's an m4v-format file, hosted in this case on dropbox; the URL is:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/t1afvmcl3v31y ... s.m4v?dl=1

and I think that means that it streams directly, not via an HTML Video tag.

Thanks for your experiences, though! How was it problematic for you? Did it tend to play okay for awhile and then cut offf?
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Re: Parcel media cuts off at the same point in viewer, fine on browser

Post by Krull Kitty »

Try the (.WEBM) format and see if that fixes the cut off.

I did remember mine playing for a while then stopping but I didn't put too much thought
into it I just tried different formats because some didn't seem to stream properly.

.WEBM seems to get the job done for me. Not sure if streaming through an HTML page or directly
will make much difference.

.m4v may not stream very well, it's a format normally associated with large scale, (High Resolution), video files.

When a video composition is rendered or converted from one standard to another using custom parameters those
parameters may not play well as a stream. I'm not sure if Firestorm has published a set of preferred video streaming
standards for media prims or media in general.
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