Web media - is it me?

[karavite]

I know it is not all Apple's fault and is mostly due to media format wars, but it is often such a hassle to use my Mac to watch online video. News clips on the NY times, highlights of the Redwings from their site or movies at Atom Films... It would be great if the whole world just used QuickTime, but even though I have Real1 and Windows Media player for OS X, they often don't work or are not configured correctly and (I hate to admit it) it is usually easier to just load the page on my PC which is always sitting next to my Mac.

What I would like to see is some way of managing plug ins automatically - see what a site offers in terms of format and have the browser or even Quicktime make the best decision on how to handle it. I simply hate setting up my browser preferences, and it always seems to conflict - I set something up for one site and the new defaults take over on another site where it doesn't seem to work. I'm a somewhat savvy user and even though I have mostly avoided learning about all this web junk with video and plug ins, I can only imagine what new Mac users go through. Again, I don't think this is Apple's fault - all they did was create the best media format in the business leading to being targeted by MS, Real and who knows who else, but it seems it is something that Macs could handle this better from a user perspective.

In the mean time, can someone tell me how I can use my Mac to watch the "Game video" at http://www.detroitredwings.com/ (Pavel Datsyuk scored a goal with lots of moves and I really want to see it - the kid is really something, wait and see.) IE simply crashes when I try to view it in the pop up window (I just upgraded Quicktime and no imporovement). At the same, get this. I tried to view it on my PS and it said I needed a newer version of Windows Media PLayer with "Rights managemnent" - so I downloaded WM 7.1, restarted the machine and (ten minutes later) you guessed it, same message.