[a2daj]

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VLC does NOT play WM9 files last I checked and I don't think MPlayer does either. Neither come close to working as a browser plugin too. Only Flip4Mac does that.

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It does now as of the July 24th nightly build:
http://nightlies.vid...g/build/macosx/
It allows WMV3 codec playback with move .wmv and .avi files. Last time I checked, Flip4Mac only supports WMV3 with .wmv files. So, a combination of Flip4Mac for plugins and VLC for playback works great.
One note, the builds in that folder are PPC only versions. The UB version isn't up to par, yet. But it still runs well under Rosetta.

[richcon]

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The arrival of Flip4Mac and the demise of Windows Media Player for the Mac aren't just coincidental. I don't know the details of the deal, but Flip4Mac made its plugins specifically so MS could stop developing WMP for Mac (you'll notice that MS actually hosts the download).

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Flip4Mac is older than the demise of WMP for Mac, and used to cost money. A lot of people really didn't like Microsoft's player, and would rather gave the WMV codec support into Quicktime itself. When Microsoft pulled the plug on WMP for Mac, Flip4Mac announced that they'd start giving their player away for free (while still charging for the encoder). In my opinion, that was a great thing they did, and it gave them a lot of exposure.
I think the reason Microsoft is hosting it, is that they don't want to give the impression that they're leaving Mac users behind. If anything, Flip4Mac just gave them the excuse to stop developing another free Mac program. But, I'd be really surprised if the authors of Flip4Mac and Microsoft were somehow in cohorts over this.

[Jon Seff]

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In fact they've gone the other way. If you remember in the early days the Player was $10. I wouldn't doubt that Microsoft "handing the ball" to Flip4Mac played a roll in allowing them to make it free.

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True, it was $10 when it first came out. But at the time, Windows Media Player hadn't been axed yet, so I considered Flip4Mac as a nicely-priced way to play files within the confines of QT's superior interface (an alternative to WMP). When MS killed the player, Flip4Mac became free, so it hasn't cost any money to play those files (just a small amount for a better experience for a short time).

[MacCheetah3]

Hi
I only started using it in the past month back on my [G4] mini but all I have to say about this news is...YAY!!!
/forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[cseeman]

And I believe those who paid the $10 got a $10 coupon to use if they wanted to upgrade to paid version such as Player Pro which allowed them to edit WMV in iMovie for example

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True, it was $10 when it first came out. But at the time, Windows Media Player hadn't been axed yet, so I considered Flip4Mac as a nicely-priced way to play files within the confines of QT's superior interface (an alternative to WMP). When MS killed the player, Flip4Mac became free, so it hasn't cost any money to play those files (just a small amount for a better experience for a short time).

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[macmanga]

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Would love to see an example of this issue. Care to post a link to a flash file that you've had a conflict with Flip4Mac with?
I don't even get the conflict with DivX anymore if you have the latest version of DivX and Flip4Mac.

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I've installed F4M on 3 separate occasions on my G5 iMac and have had issues each time. The last time I installed, I lost the ability to stream flash video. An uninstall fixed things. I'm not enthusiastic about trying this again.

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Can't remember any particular links, but distinctly remember video from sites like YouTube wouldn't load or play properly.

[Dan Frakes]

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Can't remember any particular links, but distinctly remember video from sites like YouTube wouldn't load or play properly.

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For what it's worth, I've installed every version of the Flip4Mac plugin since it was originally released, and I've never had a problem with YouTube or other Flash-based media.

[cseeman]

As Dan also notes, no problems you YouTube here either at all and I'm there frequently.

[bobmayo]

There are three problems which I've encountered in my first use of this version of Flip4Mac. These are problems which I do not encounter when using Windows Media Player for Mac.
1.) When news stories on Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. sites are preceded by a commercial, Flip4Mac does not play the news story. It plays the ad only, then stops. Windows Media Player will play the ad then sequence to the story.
2.) If the story doesn't load immediately, and you click the link again, sometimes Flip4Mac will play two feeds of the audio, out of sync.
3.) If you click on a different story link while playing another, Flip4Mac will play audio from both rather than stopping the old one and starting the new.
Here's a link to an IBS site:
http://www.thepittsb...ideo/index.html

[cseeman]

bobmayo,
can you head thisaway
http://www.flip4mac....fusetalk/forum/
and post specific links of the examples below. If I go to CNN.com for example it works just fine for me. Sounds like some ASX playlist issues not present on many sites.

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There are three problems which I've encountered in my first use of this version of Flip4Mac. These are problems which I do not encounter when using Windows Media Player for Mac.

1.) When news stories on Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. sites are preceded by a commercial, Flip4Mac does not play the news story. It plays the ad only, then stops. Windows Media Player will play the ad then sequence to the story.

2.) If the story doesn't load immediately, and you click the link again, sometimes Flip4Mac will play two feeds of the audio, out of sync.

3.) If you click on a different story link while playing another, Flip4Mac will play audio from both rather than stopping the old one and starting the new.

Here's a link to an IBS site:

http://www.thepittsb...ideo/index.html

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[bobmayo]

Thanks. I've register and post there; I've already e-mailed Flip4Mac support directly to report this. Any of the described problems can be demonstrated by going to an IBS site and experimenting with viewing their videos. It seems that ads may or may not appear with any given video at different times. I provided them the same link in my earlier post for a full menu of videos which is updated daily.
While Flip4Mac may work at CNN as you described, that doesn't resolve the fact it doesn't work reliably at these IBS sites and apparently at some other sites. Those sites do work without problems for Windows machines. If Flip4Mac is to be an acceptable product, it must consistently produce the same results for a Mac user which a Windows user would get when clicking the same link. If I have to tell a recent switcher that it "sounds like some ASX playlist issues" and she has always viewed those sites problem-free on her PC, I doubt she would consider that an acceptable answer.
If Flip4Mac has been annointed by Microsoft to be the solution for Mac owners, then it should be provided with the Microsoft resources needed to give Mac users issue-free performance.