Watching Video on a Computer
When watching video on a computer, there are various ways in which the video can be translated. If you are having trouble watching video, it can be for a variety of reasons. In this article, I am going to address what you would do to update your computer to see video properly.
It seems to me that the most common problem with watching video is that the audio is fine but the video is not. If you can hear the video but not see the video, that’s a good sign that nothing is wrong with your computer. (Audio is more “standard” and has fewer choices than video, so the playing of audio is rarely a problem on a computer.)
There are four programs that translate computer files into video: (1) Flash; (2) Windows Media Player; (3) Apple QuickTime; (4) RealPlayer.
Flash aka “Adobe Flash”
Flash is commonly used in news websites and small videos. Flash is generally trouble free these days and you don’t even realize it’s there because it generally always works. Flash will tell you if it needs to be updated, and you can usually say OK to this. (Now, if you are sure you need an update, or you are installing your computer for the first time, you can go to adobe.com to download and install Flash. Computers frequently do not come with Flash pre-installed, I think this depends on your manufacturer.)
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player comes with Windows and is updated as necessary with the system updates, so there is not usually a problem here, if you use Windows. If you are on a Mac, this page shows you the options for downloading a connection for playing these types of files.
Apple QuickTime
Apple’s QuickTime comes with Apple’s Mac computers and is updated as necessary with their system updates. So if you are on Windows, and you have a problem with a video and you see there is some mention of QuickTime, then you would want to download and install the latest version of QuickTime here: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/ and you would choose “Free Download”, and follow the instructions from there. You don’t have to know what the problem is with QuickTime, you would just want to update it to the latest version. (If you use an iPod, these updates likely come automatically now.)
RealPlayer
RealPlayer is very popular in Europe. I do not think a user will have any trouble with RealPlayer, but RealPlayer will suggest to you to upgrade it, when an upgrade is available. Generally this is ok to do. However, RealPlayer will also try to get you to purchase their software – all the time! It gets annoying. I don’t know what the need for purchasing the software would be. You can look at RealPlayer info at www.realplayer.com
So, where’s the problem?
When you are looking at videos in Internet Explorer or Firefox, you usually cannot readily tell what video decoder is at work there, you have to play detective to try to figure it out, and hope that the web page designer gave some indication. A good idea is to try to look for the logo and match it up to what you see above. Very often, the system will try to automatically solve the problem and will not be able to. In my experience this is common, that the system can’t automatically solve its problem. This does not mean the problem is a huge problem, it means that these companies haven’t worked together to make their update processes automated like they could be.
If you think you are up to date on these 4 video player [translator] programs, and you still can’t see some video on a web page, then we have to look at other possible problems or options.
If someone sends you a video that you want to watch, via email, CD, DVD, etc.
First: If someone sends you a video, you can double click on the video and see if it opens. Did it work? Well it might and it might not. If it doesn’t work, then close the program that opened. What you can then try is to right-click on the video, and choose “open with” and choose a different program, and choose (1) Windows Media Player, (2) Quicktime, (3) RealPlayer.
Second: If you still can’t watch it, you can try installing a program called “VLC Media Player” – this will play any possible video, including DVD’s. The only caveat here is that if you install VLC, it becomes the player for everything outside of the internet on your computer. That’s not a problem for me, but it might bother some people. If it bothers you, you can tweak it, or you could just uninstall it when you were done.
In closing, I have done my best, but it is pretty much impossible to make this easy. Why? Because everyone has a way to play video. ABC Television has their own player that they will ask you to download when you want to watch a TV episode on their website. (It’s ok, go ahead.) And then Hulu is another TV website from Fox & NBC that asks you to download something else. Everyone’s got something slightly different, and I think, generally the idea is to keep copy protection in tact. With the things I have covered in this post though, I think you will find that it will get you to be able to play just about any video from the internet or that someone might send you.
As always with security of computer, do not accept “install” or “download” of anything from a website you do not trust. ABC, Hulu, Fox (ha), NBC, CNN are trustable sites. If you really haven’t heard of the site before, then think twice before accepting downloads of any type from them.
Rob
Twitter for Power Users
It’s all about TweetDeck. For Mac, Windows and Linux. (Written via Adobe Air, you’ll need that installed.) This program lets you create groups so you can effectively filter the people you are following. In my screenshot, I made an “A List” with the people’s tweets that I don’t want to miss. The columns for Replies and Direct Messages are preset by the program and made good sense for me. In fact, there was a reply that I never saw until I installed TweetDeck. Sorting the messages this way really helps me make more effective use of Twitter.
In fact, within a few hours of using TweetDeck, I was able to finally win one of Rahul Sood’s cool contests for a VooDoo keyboard! He has a great feed. David Pogue is of course enjoyable. I use Icanhascheezburger for humor, but then I found out that someone’s cat is tweeting (”the poop is coming from inside the litterbox get out get out”) – and that feed is the bomb, I tells ya! Now if we could just get Stewie to tweet!
Twitter for beginners
Another David Pogue post. You people really need to subscribe to him, I can’t be making a blog of David Pogue posts.
David Pogue’s blog on the New York Times is the most useful information on technology I know of. I never find his blog posts to be anything less than “very useful”.
I am trying to twitter, via Twitterific. What I have not figured out is how do I deal with people I wouldn’t mind subscribing to, but to pop them out of my feed temporarily so I can see everyone else who had a recent post. Some people have an insane number of posts, and unless I know you and I really really like you, I’m not that interested.
Oh, and I should be clear about something. Twitter is a time wasting device used mostly by self-absorbed people who either do not have employers or otherwise have lousy work ethics. Mr. Pogue gives a great example of someone using Twitter with great results, but for the rest of us it most likely has limited application. I predict that a bunch of us will sign up and we’ll figure out some great ways to use it, or say eh.
I’m probably limited in how much I would ever get out of it because I will not, ever, subscribe to an unlimited text messaging plan on my cell phone, so I will not be using Twitter via that method.
David Pogue’s Best Photography Tricks of All Time
Required reading for all of us with a digital camera.
Relax. Relax with computer wallpaper.
Maldives (click to go to interfacelift download page.)
I have yet to see someone publish the fact that they think Windows Vista is a flop in large part to the color and visual scheme. It’s so “enclosed” and dark and dismal to me. I just think it’s awful. Here’s a sample of some wallpaper I get over at InterfaceLift. Their stuff is safe and free and the wallpaper comes in various sizes. It’s dreamy. Pick something up today!
Oh, and I desire the blog to be collaborative. Please register and post a link to a place where you might have seen good graphics for wallpaper. Thanks in advance!