SMIL files download automatically???

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Level 1

50 points

SMIL files download automatically???

Hi all,

Was not quite sure where to post this,

well, I was looking for some .SMIL tutorials and followed the links on apple's quicktime sites.

One of the links is http://www.multimedia4everyone.com/ which you can find in the SMIL resources box on the quicktime SMIL page. when i went to this page using safari and clicked on the fisrt link in the SMIL files - the 'Intro to SMIL version 1.0, RealNetworks G2, 80KB SMIL 1.0 with RealText.'a download started and placed the .smil file onto my desktop.

I checked quicktime prefs and found that it was not set to handle .smil, I enabled it and retried and it opened it with quicktime but the file does not work properly. And still it downloaded and placed the file on my desktop.

I tried with firefox, the same thing except it asked wether I wanted to play with QT, save to disk etc. I chose play with QT - and still the file got dumped on my desktop.

Why does OS X download this file when I haven't told it to?? I checked on windows machines and it plays in real player without downloading.

I may be paranoid, but this seems a little 'abnormal' behaviour for OS X, and I've been very paranoid since the emergence of Oompa Loompa.

PowerBook G4 12 combo, Mac OS X (10.4)

Posted on Mar 8, 2006 3:30 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 8, 2006 6:58 AM in response to Naj

Download and install Real Player (free version).
The .smil download is normal behavior. You can trash it.
QuickTime will give you error messages if the "link" inside the .smil file is for Real Player media. Remove the check mark for .smil in the MIME Settings for QuickTime.

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Answer 2

Naj Author

Level 1

50 points

Mar 8, 2006 5:26 AM in response to REKramer

Thanks for the speedy reply,

by 'bookmark' do you mean like a shortcut?

Because when it downloads it comes up as a .smil file.

Also, I don't have realplayer installed. I've just tried using quicktime and it doesn't work.

I checked it on the PC (which does have realplayer installed) and it works fine and does not save the file.

I'm curious as to why OS X does not do the same for .mov files and only downloaded this?

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Answer 3

Naj Author

Level 1

50 points

Mar 8, 2006 11:16 AM in response to QuickTimeKirk

great thanks 😀

I got very worried when the file downloaded, glad if its normal behaviour. Its kind of a pain if it will always download though.

You've said that the 'link' is for real, is it possible to format smil for QT.

Also, on perhaps a seperate note, in the QT MIME settings there is Quicktime HTML (qhtm) does anyone know what this is?? I assume from the name its a way of making HTML to be viewed on QT. I've searched around and found nothing on this topic. It would be very exciting for multimedia purposes.

Thanks,

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Answer 4

Mar 8, 2006 12:06 PM in response to Naj

The .smil (smile) extension (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) comes in flavors (version 1 and 2). QuickTime only works with version 1.
http://www.w3.org/AudioVideo/ for more info.
Since QT plug-in only supports version 1 and most new content is developed for version 2 I think (IMHO) you shouldn't use the QT plug-in for .smil content.
I think the last time I saw a .qhtm file was about 1997. I believe it is created for PC's before the plug-in or ActiveX architecture was developed.
A simple Mac "trick" to open a file with a different app is to Control-click for a pop up menu. Choose the Open With... menu and pick from the list.
This lets you try the QT Player on the .smil file. If it fails to open or gives error messages a double click will open it with the default app. I use Real Player as the default (only because it seems to work).

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Answer 5

Naj Author

Level 1

50 points

Mar 9, 2006 5:37 AM in response to QuickTimeKirk

I see,

Does that mean that qhtm is no longer in use? is it possible to develop a HTML document that would work in QT player. I'd like to try this out, I've created a site navigation using a sliced image and javascript to get roll-over effects - would it be possible to get this working in QT player and then simply embed the QT in a webpage??

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Answer 6

REKramer

Level 4

2,475 points

Mar 8, 2006 4:17 AM in response to Naj

The file downloaded is just a small "bookmark" to the actual file. Open it in RealPlayer, the plug-in for RealPlayer is not intercepting it as it should.

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