Leave your comments in the message board for videos. There are three kinds of movies (AVI, MOV, MPG). You might need a different kind of viewer for each movie, and I've written an explanation that you should read if simply clicking on the link doesn't play the movie for you. That explanation also includes where to get players.
I've viewed all the movies myself, using Windows, so I know they work on at least one system. Sometimes you might need to try a different player to make them work.
If you're accessing via WebTV, then you possibly already know that WebTV can't handle clips longer than about 800kb.
You should expect long download times. If you have a 28,800 modem, a megabyte takes about 10 minutes at best (if you use a congested service provider, that can be worse). If you use DSL or cable, then you should get a megabyte in less than a minute. So, if you're wondering why I put up those 15 and 30 mb files, it's because for those users, it's perfectly feasible to download them.
When downloading these big files, it's frustrating if something goes wrong partway through. Try Getright, this software lets you resume a download if it broke in the middle, useful with big files.
If you have a cable modem, they probably told you that you'd get 10,000,000 (a megabyte per second) and that the tooth fairy would call each evening to tuck you into bed. The reason why you won't get that speed, is that even if the cable modem can handle it, and the cable can, then the service provider has a limited bandwidth that is being shared among all the subscribers. So it they have, for example, a T3, giving 45 mbps and there are 100 subscribers all trying to use it as hard as they can, then each subscriber will only get 0.45 mbps, 450,000, which is certainly fast, but not 10,000,000. The same is true with ADSL. They tell you that you have some big bandwidth available, they don't tell you too loudly that you're sharing that with umpteen other people.
I get brochures from the video vendors; you might like to look at them if you're thinking of buying a video. And you might visit my Shopping Mall, perhaps the video you're looking for is there.
Some people have written reviews of videos they've seen, worth consulting if you're wondering what would be a good video to buy.
The clips below can be downloaded without having to join. You can use them to test your video player.
The first one is the format that I plan to mostly use for AVI files - tell me if you can't handle it; it's video compression using Intel Indeo 3.2, sound compression using MS ADPCM. The second one is as the first, but the sound compression is MS IMA ADPCM. The third one uses no compression on the sound (and is 20% bigger). The fourth one has no sound. The fifth one is a MOV file, using the Intel Indeo compression, and the sixth one is an MPG. If you have trouble with viewing a clip, it might be useful to try out your system on these files, to try to nail down the problem.
I tried all these on a Windows 95 machine with no problems, the first five worked on a Win NT machine (I don't have a working MPG player for NT 3.51 installed) and the first four worked fine on a Win 3.1 machine (which didn't have a MOV or MPG player).
The width and height of each movie is given in pixels; the run time in minutes:seconds. The fps figure is frames per second; if this is low, the movie will run in a jerky kind of way; smooth motion needs at least 12 or 15 fps, and TV runs at 25 or 30.
| Description | Type | Width | Height | min:sec | fps | Sound | |
 | Richard Nixon says that he is not a crook | mpg | 160 | 120 | 0:14 | 15 | Yes |
 | Richard Nixon says that he is not a crook | mpg | 160 | 120 | 0:14 | 15 | Yes |
 | Richard Nixon says that he is not a crook | mpg | 160 | 120 | 0:14 | 15 | Yes |
 | Richard Nixon says that he is not a crook | mpg | 160 | 120 | 0:14 | 15 | Yes |
 | Richard Nixon says that he is not a crook | mpg | 160 | 120 | 0:14 | 15 | Yes |
 | Richard Nixon says that he is not a crook | mpg | 160 | 120 | 0:14 | 15 | Yes |
 | Neville brings home peace in our time | mpg | 160 | 120 | 0:04 | 15 | Yes |
 | The Tacoma Bridge disaster | mpg | 160 | 120 | 0:08 | 15 | Yes |
In most cases, I classify movies into groups, in which case, you'll find them here.
There's rather a lot of movies here. And they're in various different Movie Theatres, some in special Theatres, like Lift-and-Carry.
So I asked Sandra the Librarian (she checks round the whole web site every day) to make a list of all the AVI, MOV and MPG files she could see, and to sort them by how long they've been up.
All the movies |
Movies added in the last month |
Movies added in the last week |
Movies added in the last month, with thumbnails |
Movies added in the last week, with thumbnails |
The way I used to digitise video, is I made an AVI file, put on titles and possibly sound track, then save that. Then I put it through an MPG converter, which compresses it to half or a third size, but you lose some quality, so there's a trade-off; the AVI is bigger and better quality, the MPG is a smaller file, but not so clear. Some people can only play one or the other. Take your pick, but they are the same clip, you won't want both versions.
Now, I capture directly in MPG.
Also look at the list of video flyers.
Video clips can also be found in a video gallery for that person; look in the East Wing of the Art Galleries
The movies in this theatre come from many sources. Many of them were sent to me by various people. Some may be home movies. If you see a movie here that is in breach of your copyright, please notify me, and I will take rapid action.
If you visit my page explaining this stuff you'll find several viewers.
Each of these comes with instructions to get you started. If you have trouble getting these installed or working, find some friendly local woman to help you; I can't do it from here, there are too many possibilities.
(c) 1996 Diana the Valkyrie. A hard man is good to beat.