Playing Flash

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[edit] Playing Flash Video

[edit] Introduction

Unlike other video like QuickTime and Windows Media, Flash does not come with a player that installs in the browser. So vPIP comes with it's own internal flash player, cineViewer-XXXX.swf* that plays videos at any size.

[edit] Using the Internal Flash Player

[edit] Through Media Entry

Media Entry makes it easy to play your flash video. Just enter the url to the flash video file on the Flash line:

The internal flash player will play that flv file

[edit] With Code Generator

For the code generator (when Media Entry is off), place the video's url in the "File URL:" text box. The "FLV:" checkbox will automatically be checked so that the internal cineViewer Flash FLV player will be used.

After placing the vPIP generated code in your post, you may set additional parameters for cineViewer:

  • The bufferlength parameter sets the number of seconds the movie will buffer before automatically playing. The default is 5 seconds. If your FLV movie is on a slow server, you may want to raise the number to like 7:

    • [edit] Using an External Flash Player or Program

    Note: You do not need replace vPIP with a different Flash FLV Player. Renaming a different Flash FLV Player as cineViewer-XXXX.swf will probably fail since different players use different methods of starting a FLV movie. Please follow the instructions below for using a different player than the internal cineViewer-XXXX.swf.

    [edit] Media Entry External Flash Player Specification

    Check the "Change to an external Flash Player?" checkbox to open the "External Flash Player Settings":

    Then enter:

    1. The url to the flash player
    2. The parameter name used by the flash player to open the flash movie. Check the documentation for the flash player to get the parameter name. For example, the Jeroen Wijering Flv Player uses the "file" (enter without quotes) parameter name in the embed FlashVars area.
      If you have a structured parameter like in flowplayer, enter <mediaurl> where the url to the media appears. For example, for flowplayer the "Parameter to open movie:" field entry can be config={videoFile: <mediaurl>}.
    3. Whether the parameter for opening the movie is appended to the player url or in the embed FlashVars section.
    4. Any additional parameters to place in the FlashVars area, like "autostart=true".

    [edit] Code Generator External Flash Player Specification

    The vPIP code generator supports both SWF Flash programs and FLV Flash video files. To specify a SWF Flash program, place it's name in the "File URL:" text box.

    If the Flash player has url parameters for playing the video, place these parameters after the swf file url.

    Note: If the url parameter ends in ".flv", the code generator assumes it's a FLV file rather than only a parameter. In that case, make sure to uncheck the "FLV:" checkbox.

    Refer to the documentation of the Flash FLV player for it's parameters and where to place them. If the parameters go to "FLASHVARS", then they're input in the third parameter of vPIPPlay(...). For example, if the parameter for the flv url where in the format movie=[url to flv file], it would be placed such in vPIPPlay:

    onclick="vPIPPlay(this, '', 'movie=http://myserver.com/movie.flv', ''); return false;"

    To place more parameters, precede them with the ampersand, "&":

    onclick="vPIPPlay(this, '', 'movie=http://myserver.com/movie.flv&autostart=true', ''); return false;"

    [edit] Scenarios

    [edit] Using a YouTube player

    1. Open the YouTube page with the video you want to show.
    2. Find the "Embed" text box and copy the entry
    3. Paste the entry into a text editor (like Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on Mac OS.)
    4. Find <param name="movie" value="http://..."> and copy the entry in between quotes in value="http://...".
    5. Paste the entry into the vPIP code generator under the Flash tab into the "File URL:" text box.
    6. Enter other information like the "IMG URL" and the width and height (usually width 855 and height 500 for the HD and width 640 and height 385 for non-HD) under the "Global Settings" tab, click the [Generate Code] button and Copy & Paste into your blog or web page.

    [edit] Using a Podtech Video Link

    1. Find the video on PodTech.net site. For example the Sun Microsystems CEO: "We almost died" entry.
    2. Click on the "SHARE" button in the Flash Player</anchor>
    3. Copy the "<Embed >>" text into a text editor.
    4. Locate in the text editor the entry
      src="
    5. Paste the text into the vPIP code generator under the Flash tab into the "File URL:" text box. The entry should be:
      http://www.podtech.net/player/podtech-player.swf?bc=3F34K2L1
    6. After entering other information like the "IMG URL" and the width and height (usually width 320 and height 269 for the Podtech Flash Palyer) under the "Global Settings" tab, click the [Generate Code] button and Copy & Paste into your blog or web page.
    8. You should have something like this:
      <div class="hVlog" style="text-align: center"> <a url="http://www.podtech.net/player/podtech-player.swf?bc=3F34K2L1" class="hVlogTarget" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" onclick="vPIPPlay(this, 'width=320, height=269', '', ''); return false;"> <img src="http://myserver.com/images/image.jpg" /></a> <br /> <a url="http://www.podtech.net/player/podtech-player.swf?bc=3F34K2L1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" onclick="vPIPPlay(this, 'width=320, height=269', '', ''); return false;"> Play Flash version</a></div>
    9. Note the vPIPPlay call:
      vPIPPlay(this, 'width=320, height=269', , )

      The third parameter will hold the Podtech embed code entry for

      flashvars="
    10. Copy the Flashvars="..." text into the vPIPPlay(...) third parameter. For the example Sun Microsystems CEO: "We almost died" video entry it would be:
      vPIPPlay(this, 'width=320, height=269', 'content=http://media.podtech.net/media/2007/01/PID_001843/Podtech_jonathan_schwartz_011607.flv&totalTime=2498000&postURL=http://www.podtech.net/home/technology/1908/sun-microsystems-ceo-we-almost-died&breadcrumb=3F34K2L1', '')

    You should now have the Podtech Flash Player playing in vPIP!


    *"XXXX" refers to the version number of cirneViewer.

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