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View Full Version : Streaming WMV Works then Doesn't


SVFan
07-17-2006, 03:48 PM
Yesterday I had streaming WMV files on my site. Today, all I get is "Connecting to media..." and then a black screen. I haven't changed a thing. What happened between today and yesterday, any guesses?

I've tried on several computers and several versions of MediaPlayer plugin on IE and on Firefox. All were working yesterday. QuickTime streams just fine.

EDIT: Ok, I just tried typing in the direct URL (copied from cPanel--so the URL is right) and plugged it into WindowsMedia Player. Now I get an error message saying "The server redirected the player to an invalid location". Is this an .htaccess problem? If so, why would it just be WindowsMedia files?
troy
07-17-2006, 05:34 PM
After you encode your media files, there are two more steps in preparing your content for streaming from a Web server: creating Windows Media metafiles with .wax, .wvx, or .asx file name extensions and adding tags to your HTML files. The HTML tag points the end user's browser to the metafile, which points Windows Media Player to the content—the Windows Media file. A metafile must be used to reference the media because a direct reference to the media in an HTML tag will cause most browsers to attempt to download the media rather than stream it.

To create a Windows Media metafile

Open a text editor, such as Microsoft Notepad. Type the following metafile script, replacing the URL with that of your media. Reference the media just as you would any other Web file.

<ASX VERSION="3.0">
<ENTRY>
<REF HREF = "http://YourWebServer/Path/YourFile.wmv" />
</ENTRY>
</ASX>
You can place the metafile in the same folder as that of your media. If you do so, you can use a relative path, which is simply the name of the file. The REF line would look like this:

<REF HREF="YourFile.wmv" />
Save the text file, using the name of your media file followed by the .wvx extension if the metafile points to a file with a .wmv extension, or .wax if the metafile points to a file with a .wma extension, such as YourFile.wvx. The file name extension .asx was used in previous versions of Windows Media Technologies. To add a tag to an HTML file Using a text editor such as Microsoft Notepad, open the Web page that you want to add the reference to the media to. Add the URL of the metafile. For example:

<HTML>
<BODY>
Play this Windows Media file:
<A HREF = "http://YourWebServer/Path/YourFile.wvx">
YourFile</A>
</BODY>
</HTML>
Copy the Windows Media files (with .wma, .wax, .wmv, and .wvx file name extensions) to your Web server. When an end user clicks the reference on the Web page, the metafile is downloaded and Windows Media Player opens. Windows Media Player opens the metafile, and then opens and plays the Windows Media file from your Web server.
SVFan
07-17-2006, 06:52 PM
Thank you kindly for that detailed response. I was actually reading up on that just a bit ago :D. I just found it weird that it worked fine yesterday without the refering file yesterday. Hmm, ok, well I'll work something out. Thanka again for taking the time for that detailed post. It is really appreciated.
troy
07-17-2006, 07:09 PM
Your welcome
Could the file have been in your browsers temp files and played from catch who knows lol
computers have a mind of there own.
Good Luck