Viewing videos in firefox

[shawsinio]

hi all,

im new to mac, so have been trying to get to grips with everything. so far so good, well, mostly. how can i view WMV files in firefox? lots of videos are fine, just loading up with quicktime, but quite a few either dont open at all, or just say i need to download plug-ins. when i click 'download plugins' it, says that it hasnt worked, and to try manual installation...

also, everytime i load firefox from the dock, a little window comes up with the firefox logo, and a few other icons, installation ones i think, firefox then loads but has this little window running on the desktop too..also there is a firefox drive icon on the desktop whenever i use it, im guessing that this is normal though? can i stop thwe window and drive icon coming up?

thanks all for any replies, and sorry if they are really stupid questions!

 

[VoodooDaddy]

I've been a mac user for 2 weeks tomorrow but think I can help with this. I had the same problems with Firefox you are having, 1) the "drive" on the desktop and the box that pops up when you start firefox 2) video not playing.

1 - the first part is that firefox isn't properly installed on your machine. I was totally unaware of how to install apps myself at first. Think of that "disc drive" on your desktop as a virtual cd-rom drive with a disc in it. The box that pops up when you click that is prompting you to install the software on the virtual disc, much like a pc will pop up an install box when you try to install from a cd. When that firefox box pops up with the other icons, you need to drag that firefox icon to your applications folder to fully install it. Essentially you are running firefox off a cd right now. Once its installed you can eject the drive from the desktop.

2 - I had some problems with video not playing in firefox too. I also got the manual install dialog. When I clicked that it took me to a flash page I think it was and told me exactly where to put the appropriate file. I believe it was a flash plug in file. Since then, I don't think I've come across anything that hasn't played.

Hope that helps.

**EDIT** see below for the video problem as well. (Ie - what Mike said about hitting cancel after you manually install the plug in)

 

[shawsinio]

thanks for that,

will give that a go tonight, im at work at the moment...boooring! i will let you know how i get on!

p.s. very well explained, thanks for taking the time to help me out! who would have thought installing apps would be confusing!

 

[VoodooDaddy]

who would have thought installing apps would be confusing!

I thought the same thing at first. Long time mac users say "its just a smarter way to do it, its as easy as dragging an icon into the apps folder." But when you've never done it before it seems totally foreign.

I have come across some install packs that actually tell you to drag the icon to the apps folder to install, but not all.

I think I ran firefox from the virtual cd for about 2 days before I started thinking "this can't be right." Then I started looking around at how to install apps and found out how.

 

[pilotError]

Firefox...

Wow,

Another Switcher here... I was wondering WTF this was all about!

I let my son (7yo) play with the new Mac and Firefox dissapeared. I was wondering how the hell he did that. He must have just dragged the thing to the trash can.

All this time I've been living with that annoyance of a little window.

Thanks for the tip!

2 - I had some problems with video not playing in firefox too. I also got the manual install dialog. When I clicked that it took me to a flash page I think it was and told me exactly where to put the appropriate file. I believe it was a flash plug in file. Since then, I don't think I've come across anything that hasn't played.

In response to number 2, I've noticed that even after you install the flash plugin into the Library directory, you still may get directed toward the download page. The next time that happens, click "Cancel" and flash will work normally. This drove me crazy until I got frustrated and cancelled the re-direct. Now the flash detects just fine for some reason (my kid plays on cartoon network which is all flash based).

It's fun being a newbie all over again!


Mike...

 

[VoodooDaddy]

In response to number 2, I've noticed that even after you install the flash plugin into the Library directory, you still may get directed toward the download page. The next time that happens, click "Cancel" and flash will work normally. This drove me crazy until I got frustrated and cancelled the re-direct. Now the flash detects just fine for some reason (my kid plays on cartoon network which is all flash based).

It's fun being a newbie all over again!


Mike...

Now that you mention it, I think I had the same problem. I installed the flash plug in and it still wouldn't show the video. I closed the browser out a few times, kept going to the same page, and would get the manual install prompt. I must have hit cancel because next time I tried it it worked like it should have.

Btw, I never could get Cartoon Network to play properly in firefox, even on my pc. I always had to have the kids use IE for that site. In fact, I personally so rarely used IE I just set Cartoon Network as the home page, so when they clicked the IE icon there is was I can't remember if they've even tried CN on the mac yet. Kind of hesitant to let them get on it since its brand new and all.

 

[shawsinio]

now that i think about it, i dont think i have tried pressing cancel yet, coz i know i have tried to install the plugins, again, will have to give it a good go tonight! getting used to a new OS is actually kinda fun, its like being computer illiterate all over again...

 

[pulsewidth947]

If you want to play wmv's in firefox, you need Flip4Mac. You should now be able to play virtually every video you come across, with the exception of some .avi's (encoded with Divx). You might need the Xvid codec for mac, and the Divx Codec (click the free one).

Hope that helps. Welcome to Macs by the way! I switched January 2005, and a couple of months ago I sold my PC and havent looked back since!

Hows the MacBook working out for you?

 

[shawsinio]

If you want to play wmv's in firefox, you need Flip4Mac. You should now be able to play virtually every video you come across, with the exception of some .avi's (encoded with Divx). You might need the Xvid codec for mac, and the Divx Codec (click the free one).

Hope that helps. Welcome to Macs by the way! I switched January 2005, and a couple of months ago I sold my PC and havent looked back since!

Hows the MacBook working out for you?

hmmm, im still having some problems, managed to get rid of the 'virtual cd' syndrome, but still cant view some videos. e.g. www.bbc.co.uk/news often have videos of different newsy related things, and not to mention live football coverage, but i still dont seem 2 be able to watch them. i think the videos run in real player, do i have to download real player, or can i just get the 'plugins'? i have tried to download them, got diverted to the furefox website, clicked on the relevant download, but it told me i needed to run firefox in rosetta, (which i am now doing...)...and am now downloading realplayer, so i will let you know how i get on!

but, to answer your q about how the macbook is working out for me, i loove it, despite the teething problems!! must be good eh!

thanks for all your replies so far, you guys at macrumors are ace!

[edit] have now downloaded real player, and installed it, (i thnk!) but still no joy, any suggestions?

[EDIT 2] have opened real player and configured it, and its now working! yay!

now, to watch wmvs, should the flip for mac be sufficient, or do i need to download windows media, in the same way i had to download realplayer?

 

[shawsinio]

Flip4Mac not available for intel based macs

Flip4Mac not available for intel based macs apparently, so in the meantime, what is my best option for viewing wmv's within firefox?

can i run flip4mac if i run firefox in rosetta? or am i completely misunderstanding this whole 'rosetta thing'?

cheers

Dan

 

[TAV]

Yep - once you've installed the Flip4Mac components, you'll want to set your browser to run under Rosetta to achieve the functionality of the PPC components F4M installs.

Remember, to install the latest release of the Flip4Mac components initially, you need to run your Apple installer under Rosetta to extract the package contents, then just set it back.

Alternatively, you can download the universal beta of Flip4Mac and run your broswer native. Although it is in closed beta testing, I've found it to work fine, although further intel optimization is forthcoming.

 

[shawsinio]

Yep - once you've installed the Flip4Mac components, you'll want to set your browser to run under Rosetta to achieve the functionality of the PPC components F4M installs.

Remember, to install the latest release of the Flip4Mac components initially, you need to run your Apple installer under Rosetta to extract the package contents, then just set it back.

Alternatively, you can download the universal beta of Flip4Mac and run your broswer native. Although it is in closed beta testing, I've found it to work fine, although further intel optimization is forthcoming.

excellent, that has installed it, cheers. i now have safari set to open in rosetta, and firefox just in normal, so if i encounter things that need F4M then i can just open safari. does that make sense? doesnt running e.g. a browser in rosetta slow it down?

 

[VoodooDaddy]

Well after reading the last 2 posts, can someone explain to me exactly how Rosetta works?? I was under the assumption it just kicked in to emulate whatever wasn't a UB. You have to actually tick a setting or something to get (whatever) to run in Rosetta?

 

[pulsewidth947]

Sorry dude.. didnt realise f4m wasnt a universal binary. One of the downsides of trying help people with my G4

 

[shawsinio]

Well after reading the last 2 posts, can someone explain to me exactly how Rosetta works?? I was under the assumption it just kicked in to emulate whatever wasn't a UB. You have to actually tick a setting or something to get (whatever) to run in Rosetta?

not that i am an expert in the slightest, but what i have picked up from this convo, and me trying to install F4M, if you want something to run in rosetta, you can right click the app, click get info, then select 'open using rosetta'.

but as to the workings of it, i dont have a clue, guess it just emulates PowerPC apps etc!

BTW Thanks to all that helped me out this eve, pointing me in the direction of F4M, then using rosetta to install it etc, your help is very much appreciated!