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Level 1

0 points

Windows Media player for videos on Safari...

Hi-
I am brand new to a mac...I have been cruising the web and a lot of web sites I frequently visited on my PC laptop are now not working the same. Fifa.com for example. I go to look at soccer highlights, but the videos do not work.
When the video screen comes up it originally directed me to the microsoft page to download windows media player to be able to view the videos. I downloaded windows media player and the installer and installed it onto my mac. However, still when I go to the webpage it does not work... now when I go to the page it says "Some content on this page requires an Internet plug-in that Safari doesn’t support. The application “Windows Media Player” may be able to display this content. Would you like to try?" When I say OK the windows media player pops up and says "cannot open the file. Verify the path and filename are correct and try again." I am not sure what to do... I know it is not the websites problem as on my PC laptop the videos play fine. I just want to watch my soccer highlights on my new spiffy Mac, please help.

THANKS in advance.

MacbBook Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Jul 4, 2007 1:27 PM

21 replies

TopoTone

Level 4

1,331 points

Jul 5, 2007 8:42 AM in response to Anni1985

Even though Flip4Mac does well with many sites, there are still a few that don't conform to a standard. Someone mentioned nba.com...and, yes that's one of them. The Flip4Mac people try to update as often as possible, but it's, apparently, hard to keep up. It would be nice if these content providers could stick to one basic format, but that's not gonna happen.

Anyway, here's a simple test to see if your F4M is installed and working on your mac. Head over to this link and, if it plays fine, then F4M is working. Beyond that, email the webmasters of the various sites and tell them to make their content mac compatible.

http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant/wiltshire_highres.wmv

jrjohnstone Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 5, 2007 8:47 AM in response to jrjohnstone

Maria,
Thanks for your help on this problem...
I checked my preferences for F4Mac and they are all set just the same as what you described.
I tried giving mac support a call...but they were about worthless and I felt like I knew more about the mac then the gentleman I was speaking with... We just went over all the steps I had already taken.
Here is an update on the steps I have taken:
On Safari:
** www.nba.com the videos do not work, all the advertisements containing video however do work fine, just not the individual videos that they have...(However the videos do work on a PC)
** www.fox.com the videos work fine, same with youtube.com
** www.fifa.com the videos will not play, an error appears and says the URL is not valid (However the websites do work on a PC)
On Firefox:
**www.nba.com the videos DO work, all the advertisements containing video and some pictures do NOT work (in place of the video there is the quicktime Q with a question mark inside it)...
**www.fifa.com the videos will not play, the same error appears as in Safari
**www.fox.com pretty much the entire web page does not work (in place of the video there is the quicktime Q with a question mark inside it)...

***I have download flip 4 Mac and also Windows Media Player. I have tried checking the websites while only one being installed and while both were installed and that has not changed the outcome. I have reset safari, emptied the cache, restarted, and checked for updates.

Am I missing something? Apple support just pointed fingers and told me to contact the websites after their useless support attempts, but the fact of the matter is that is something Apple should be on top of-not me.

Continued help is much appreciated!

Jul 5, 2007 9:37 AM in response to jrjohnstone

Hi

***I have download flip 4 Mac and also Windows Media Player. I have tried checking the websites while only one being installed and while both were installed and that has not changed the outcome. I have reset safari, emptied the cache, restarted, and checked for updates.

Windows Media Player on an Intel machine is of little value, as it does not run natively. Also, MS no longer supports it on the Mac platform. I suggest removing it from your computer system.

Am I missing something? Apple support just pointed fingers and told me to contact the websites after their useless support attempts, but the fact of the matter is that is something Apple should be on top of-not me.

In all fairness, Apple is not responsible for the creation, operation or support of 3rd party plug-ins, or for that matter how web developers code their sites. While that doesn't help you resolve this problem, it's the 3rd party vendors or developers that ought to be on top of it.

Eme

Level 5

5,636 points

Jul 5, 2007 11:04 AM in response to jrjohnstone

You are welcome, Jr,

On Safari 2.0.4 running os 10.4.10, I found that the nba site,
the vids did not work whatsoever, they did not prompt me that I needed Flip4Mac (which i installed to try it) nothing loaded in the way of video, just
same as you expereince

On Safari 3.0.2 running os 10.4.10 the NBA site, the vid played, once I opened the flip4Mac preferences via the player on site, & clicked on the Reclaim button

The player then launched another window & vid did play for a few seconds, albeit breaking up, & audio coming in & out, as if buffering, till it made Safari unresponsive, having to force quit the browser.

I relaunched Safari & checked the sites home page with the WC3 Validator http://validator.w3.org/, sadly it failed miserably, results follow.

Result: Failed validation, 506 errors
Address: http://www.nba.com/
Encoding: iso-8859-1
Doctype: (no Doctype found)
Revalidate With Options

I agree w/ Apple support, there really is something not right with the site,

On Fifa.com- See if this helps any on fifa & mac user, they don't make Fifa TV available in the US,

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=562359

Sorry for how frustrating this maybe for you.

It is most unfortunate that Mac users seems to be squeezed out of these sport events.
If i were you I would contact them requesting Mac support, I'll do the same.
http://www.fifa.com/contact/form.html

Wish I had more help, if i hear or see anything, that may help i'll post it.

Kind regards,

Maria'~[)

jrjohnstone Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 5, 2007 11:52 AM in response to jrjohnstone

Thanks Maria for you efforts. I will e-mail fifa.com as you suggested. I am just going to have to access those sites from my PC instead. Hopefully soon the site for Mac will get it straightned out...

Your help was MUCH better then apple care...lol
thanks again

Jamie

Eme

Level 5

5,636 points

Jul 5, 2007 2:22 PM in response to jrjohnstone

You're very welcome, Jamie,
Using your p.c. to view both the nba & fifa does seems the best solution for now.
Hopefully both will add some & or better support for us.

Thank you for using the points system and for marking your post both solved & helpful.

Enjoy your Mac & the games;-)
Kind regards,

Maria'~[)

Windows Media player for videos on Safari...