Windows media player

**Urbansory** · October 2nd, 2006, 02:32 PM

Flip4mac would be great if it didn't take so long for the video to open. i noticed a delay on my Mac Pro. I thought it was an issue on my G4 due to processor speed, but the mac Pro ruled that out. So i still use the Windows Media Player and MPlayer. Mainly because they open much faster.

**nixgeek** · October 2nd, 2006, 03:07 PM

Originally Posted by Fred Flinstone

Thanks for the information about rosetta, Have to say that WMP is working fine on my Intel so I cannot figure out fot the life of me what all the fuss is about. Here's a Screenshot of it.....

You can use it if you want, but as mentioned by others you might be better off with Flip4Mac. WMP for the Mac isn't going to be developed any further so unless you have to use it for a particular reason, there's no need for it. Flip4Mac uses QuickTime as the player and actually embeds much nicely on websites that use Windows Media Audio and Video than WMP for the Mac does. Also, since it's running through Rosetta (basically a PowerPC-code-to-Intel-code translator that is transparent to the user, allowing the Intel Mac user to run applications that are native to the PowerPC Mac), it's going to be slower than a native Intel Flip4Mac install and you might notice some slowdowns or other anomalies in playback (I'm speaking in theory since I've not tested the Intel version).

And Urbansory, are you sure you downloaded the Intel native version on your Mac Pro and that you're not running the PowerPC native version (this would cause problems)?

**Mikuro** · October 2nd, 2006, 03:40 PM

Originally Posted by nixgeek

And Urbansory, are you sure you downloaded the Intel native version on your Mac Pro and that you're not running the PowerPC native version (this would cause problems)?

Actually, I have the same issue Urbansensory mentioned on my PPC Mac. WMV Player does take a while to load movies, I guess because it performs some kind of read-ahead to do....something. Popwire's WMV9 Component didn't have this problem; it displayed files immediately and showed the "loading" time bar similar to what you get with progressive streams or large VBR mp3s. But it seems like Popwire is no more, and their page just points people to Flip4Mac. Were they bought? *shrug*

But I still prefer Flip4Mac's WMV Player to WMP because it's much faster (even on my PPC Mac that runs WMP natively!), QuickTime Player has tons of cool features like variable-speed playback, and it integrated better with browsers. (I don't think WMP could possibly work with browsers on Intel Macs, since you can't mix PPC plugins with Intel applications.)

**Fred Flinstone** · October 2nd, 2006, 10:28 PM

Okay - enough already you have me converted - another sale - kerching!!! I think it was nixgeek's comment bout 'no further development' that did it for me. Guess I did not pick up on that point if it was mentioned before. I was merely picking up on the point that some were making that WMP does not run on Intel Mac - once again it runs fine on my machine and if anything loads faster that QT. However The assurance that there wont be any further development of WMP means also that in all likelyhood Micro$oft are gonna continue to develop bizarre codecs which most likely will not be available on the Mac and will give rise to yet another round of third parties looking for even more $'s for yet another media player Yawn!!!! So what difference is it gonna make if I have WMP or FlipMac installed? Wish to Christ they would just standardize things - For the Past 2 Years DivX has been way ahead of the rest in terms of compression and quality yet you still see the same tired .wmv/.rm/.mov rubbish littering the net. Granted the quality has improved a little bit in the past 10 years but if you look at what DivX has accomplished in just 2........... what's more I believe DivX is no truly Cross Platform and with no bullshit involved - anyone can have it and the latest codecs...... or if you're like me see it is a product well worth supporting and buy a licence. None of this b/s: It's my player and only people using my os can use it (as was the case with Bill not sharing his toys for so many years). Well let MF's like him go stick his head and the rest of his anotomy in the sandbox for all I care. Stuff him, Stuff his Company, Stuff Hasta La Vista and Stuff Zuna too - maybe it would be more appropriate to take 15 years of gripes and put it all in .sitx format!

For those who missed it - Stuffit!!!! Stuff the whole darned lot!

_ The sheer pleasure of one weeks living in an OS without having to spend any time in the registry, running frequent anti- Virus scans, browsing the web for .dll's, messing with firewalls. Actually feels like I'm on vacation

As Homer would say ....Hmmmmm iMac, Tigers - doh!!!!

**Fred Flinstone** · October 2nd, 2006, 10:56 PM

UPDATE: Have just installed Flip4Mac and if anything it's slower at opening than both WMP and QuickTime, Completely wondering if we're all on the same page here!

**Urbansory** · October 3rd, 2006, 09:42 AM

I need to check and see if it is native. I did download and install it a second time, I don't believe Quicktime came up under Rosetta. I'll check when i get home.

Once it loads, playback is fine, but i mean it's a nice wait.

**Jreifler** · October 8th, 2006, 11:54 PM

Getting a weird error with the install for FLIP 4 MAC. The mpkg. is saying that I need quicktime version 6 or better to install and closes but I have quicktime 7.1 running on my comp! Any ideas?

**earthsaver** · October 9th, 2006, 12:56 AM

You're trying to install the latest version?, 2.1.0.33. What happens if you show the multi-install package's contents and run the two individual install packages separately?