Multimedia Tutorial

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Windows media files have the extensions: .asf, .asx, .wma, and .wmv.

The ASF Format

The ASF format (Advanced Streaming Format) is specially designed to run over the Internet.
ASF files can contain audio, video, slide shows, and synchronized events.
ASF files can be highly compressed and can be delivered as a continuous flow of data (on-line TV or radio). Files can be of any size, and can be compressed to match many different bandwidths (connection speeds).


The ASX Format

ASX (Advanced Stream Redirector) files are not media files, but metafiles.
Metafiles provides information about files. ASX files are plain text files used to describe multimedia content:





The file above describes three multimedia files. When the ASX file is read by a player, the player can play the files described.

The WMA Format

The WMA (Windows Media Audio) format is an audio format developed by Microsoft.
WMA is designed to handle all types of audio content. The files can be highly compressed and can be delivered as a continuous flow of data (on-line radio). WMA files can be of any size, and be compressed to match many different bandwidths (connection speeds).
The WMA format is similar to the ASF format (see above)


The WMV Format

The WMV (Windows Media Video) format is a video format developed by Microsoft.
WMV is designed to handle all types of video content. The files can be highly compressed and can be delivered as a continuous flow of data (on-line radio). WMV files can be of any size, and be compressed to match many different bandwidths (connection speeds).
The WMV format is similar to the ASF format (see above)


Other Windows Media Formats

WAX (Windows Media Audio Redirector) files are much the same as ASX files, but intended to describe audio files (.wma files)
WMP (Windows Media Player) files and WMX are reserved file types for future use by Windows.

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The object element supports many different media types, like:

• Pictures
• Sounds
• Videos
• Other Objects

Displaying A Picture

You can display a picture as an object:


Example




Displaying A Web Page

You can display a web page as an object:


Example




Displaying A Sound

You can display a sound as an object:


Example

classid="clsid:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95">




Displaying A Video

You can display a video as an object:


Example

classid="clsid:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95">




Displaying A Calendar

You can display a calendar as an object:
Example




Displaying Graphics

You can display graphics as an object:
Example




Displaying Flash

You can display a flash animation as an object:
Example

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Click here to try a fancy flash

Flash Animation As Object

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The object element can play QuickTime movies.
The QuickTime Format

The QuickTime format is developed by Apple. Videos stored in the QuickTime format have the extension .mov.
QuickTime is a common format on the Internet, but QuickTime movies cannot be played on a Windows computer without an extra (free) component installed.
With the object element, code that will play a QuickTime movie can easily be added to a web page. The object can be set to automatically install a QuickTime player if it is not already installed on the users computer.


The Solution

This is the code required to play a QuickTime movie:

The object Element

The width and height attributes of the object element should match the size of the movie in pixels.
The classid attribute uniquely identifies the player software to use. It must be set to "clsid:02BF25D5-8C17-4B23-BC80-D3488ABDDC6B". This unique code identifies an ActiveX control that must be installed on the users PC before the movie can be played. If the user does not have the ActiveX control installed, the browser can automatically download and install it.



The codebase attribute specifies the base path used to resolve relative URIs specified by the classid, data, and archive attributes. When absent, its default value is the base URI of the current document. Note: Internet Explorer uses this attribute to specify a location from where the player can be downloaded. It must be set to "http://www.apple.com/qtactivex/qtplugin.cab". This location will always contain the latest version of the QuickTime player.


The src parameter should point to the movie file.
The autoplay parameter should have the value "true" if you want the movie to play automatically.


The controller parameter should have the value "false" if you don't want the control ****ons to show.
The embed Element

The embed element is supported by old browsers, like Netscape 4 and 5.
The width and height attributes of the embed element should match the size of the movie in pixels.


The autoplay and controller attributes of the embed element should be set to the same values as for the parameters in the object element.
The pluginspage attribute defines the players download path. It must be set to "http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/".

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The object element can play Real Video movies.

The Real Video Format

The RealVideo format is developed by Real Media. Videos stored in the Real Video format have the extension .rm or .ram.
The format allows streaming of video (on-line video, Internet TV) with low bandwidths. Because of the low bandwidth priority, quality is often reduced.


The Solution

This is the code required to play a Real Video movie:



The object Element

The width and height attributes of the object element should match the size of the movie in pixels.
The classid attribute uniquely identifies the player software to use. It must be set to "clsid:CFCDAA03-8BE4-11cf-B84B-0020AFBBCCFA". This unique code identifies an ActiveX control that must be installed on the users PC before the movie can be played. If the user does not have the ActiveX control installed, the browser can automatically download and install it.


The param elements supply additional information to the player.
The src parameter should point to the movie (or audio) file.
The autostart parameter should have the value "true" if you want the movie to play automatically.
The controls parameter should have the value "ImageWindow" if you don't want the control ****ons to show, or "All" if you want all the controls to show.


Controls Parameter Values

Value Displays All Displays a full player with all controls InfoVolumePanel Title, author, and copyright and volume slider InfoPanel Title, author, and copyright ControlPanel Position slider, play, pause, and stop ****ons StatusPanel Messages, current time position, and clip length Play****on Play and pause ****ons Stop****on Stop ****on VolumeSlider Volume slide PositionField Position and clip length StatusField Messages ImageWindow The video image StatusBar Status, position and channels