Jaw-Dropping Windows Media Video Content

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://windowsmedia.com/9Series/DemoCenter/VideoQuality.asp?page=6&lookup=VideoQuality' target='_blank'>http://windowsmedia.com/9Series/Dem...up=VideoQuality</a><br /><br /></div>Want to see some of the best video quality ever to grace the pixels on your screen? Make sure you have the 9 Series Windows Media Player, then jump to this link. Oh, and make sure you have broadband, or you'll weep when you see the download size. But oh boy it's nice...the <i>Step into Liquid</i> video is awesome!

[Pony99CA]

Want to see some of the best video quality ever to grace the pixels on your screen? Make sure you have the 9 Series Windows Media Player, then jump to this link. Oh, and make sure you have broadband, or you'll weep when you see the download size. But oh boy it's nice...the Step into Liquid video is awesome!
I don't have Windows Media 9, but thought I'd check the link anyway. There's another problem, though:


We're sorry. This Windows Media 9 Series content is only available to be viewed using Internet Explorer.

Learn more about Internet Explorer.

I use Mozilla. Bite me, Microsoft. :bad-words:

Steve

[ricksfiona]

It really shows me how inadequate my AMD Thunderbird 800MHz/Matrox G400Max really is....

[jizmo]

I installed the media 9 codecs, but then none of my WMV videos (or that site for that matter) showed after that. All I got was just black box, even after hard-reseting the system.

Back to good ol' 8 for me.. :D

/jizmo

[Tom W.M.]

We're sorry. This Windows Media 9 Series content is only available to be viewed using Internet Explorer.

Learn more about Internet Explorer.

I use Mozilla. Bite me, Microsoft. :bad-words:

I use Netscape. :really mad:

I checked out the streaming demo (in IE). At 100Kbps it is a blurry mess. With QuickTime I can almost stream video of the same size, but it is about 10 times sharper (and I can do it in Netscape :D ). Even the 300Kbps it is stell hard to rea
The same problem shows in Realplayer. Why do they mess with this stupid streaming for video? Also, why do so many players (QuickTime, RealPlayer 8 ) have taskbar and system tray icons (that I have to remove)? Why the hell would I want to launch them as programs? It is 10,000 times easier to us the file manager to open the files I have on my hard drive, and the players have no decent way of accessing media on the Internet.

[yunez]

if you read the requirements you need a 1.6ghz+ system. I played one of the vids on my 1.2 duron and it was unwatchable. Damn.. never thought i would be CPU limited in any sort of video app, but there you go

[thomas1973]

Downloaded the video to test my new 100Mbit connection. Took me just over a minute to download the 120MB zip file :D

And what a movie trailer!! The footage is amazing! :werenotworthy: You can almost feel the water and the waves! Makes me really really want to go surfing again! I gotta go surfing soon. In the meantime I'll try to get hold of the full 'Step Into Liquid' Movie! Great stuff! And you got to love the Butthole Surfers soundtrack. 8) 8) 8)


Thomas.

[theone3]

You haven't been PC's for very long have you? :lol:
The PC has to be able to decode 24 1024x768 screens per second. Thats a heck of a lot of data. :wink:

[dubStylee]

"We're sorry. This Windows Media 9 Series content is only available to be viewed using Internet Explorer."

What a load of bull. I have Windows Media 9 but that isn't enough is it? Every piece of software I own has to be from the same company or else I can't use any of it. What a useful philosophy! Car manufacturers have something to learn here ... Boy it's a good thing that Honda makes my cell phone or I wouldn't be able to use it while driving. And thank goodness for Honda radio, otherwise I wouldn't be able to listen to anything while driving. I just wish Honda would buy out Starbucks so I could drink coffe when I drive, that "Sorry the product you are consuming isn't made by Honda" buzzer that goes off when I try to drink it in the car is a real pain.

Next time you post something like this, please put a "Site crippled by m$" warning on it.

[Foo Fighter]

Blech! Mozilla is bloatware. I use Pheonix. It's the best browser ever developed! Uses the Gecko rendering engine without Mozilla's buggy bloated code. And the downloadable themes kick some serious ass! 0X

[grohl]

ARRRGGGHHHH! Have to agree with the above posters, my AMD 1 GHz Thunderbird is definitely starting to show its age. Time to start saving for that upgraded machine...

[Mike Temporale]

Wow. That is a really cool video. I've downloaded the one so far, but it was worth it. I did notice that it was a little choppy on my 2 ghz laptop, but if I turn of the virus scanner, SQL server, and a bunch of other things it would be fine.

I give the liquid chip "two thumbs up" :way to go: :way to go:

[Jason Dunn]

I understand that you guys use different PRIMARY browsers, but you mean you actually removed IE? Why? Why not keep several tools and use the best one for each scenario? Seems a bit short-sighted to assume that one browser will be the best for everything...

[dubStylee]

I understand that you guys use different PRIMARY browsers, but you mean you actually removed IE? Why? Why not keep several tools and use the best one for each scenario? Seems a bit short-sighted to assume that one browser will be the best for everything...

So I should get in my Starbucks car if I want to drink coffee while driving and into my Pepsi car if I want Pepsi. The point is not what browser I am using but that there is aboslutely no necessary connection between what browser I am using and what media player I am using and to arbitrarily tell me that I can't use the media player because I'm not using the right browser is absurd. If I want that surf video and I've got a browser that can't handle the plugin, I could download the video (if there had been a working link on the "sorry" page) and view it with media player. What right does M$ have to care what software I use to download it?

[Elad Yakobowicz]

It really shows me how inadequate my AMD Thunderbird 800MHz/Matrox G400Max really is....

I have the same setup, so I can sympathize :cry:

[phenderson]

Downloading now to one of my inhouse servers...

Lets see, I have:

System 1
-Athlon XP+2000
-256 megs of RAM
-ATI AIW 7500
-Adaptec 39160 Dual Channel ultra 160 scsi controller
-18.3 Gig Quantum Fireball 10,000 RPM ultra 160 scsi HD
-Soundblaster Live

System 2
-NO ATHLON CHIP:cry:
-Abit KR7-133 RAID
-1 gig of RAM
-Nvidia Geforce3 Ti200 128 meg Video Card
-75 gig IBM Deskstore 7200 RPM ata100 HD
-40 gig Maxtor 7200 RPM ata133 HD
-Soundblaster Audigy

I already know that it will not play on either of my servers, they both have Dual Pentium II 400 CPU's and 768 megs of ram between them....

[Sheynk]

for an optimal experience we recommend at least a 2.4 GHz Intel or AMD Athlon XP 2100+ or higher processor and an AGP4x based NVIDIA or ATI video adapter card with at least 32 MB of RAM and the most recent OEM driver updates. The higher the data rate (in Mbps), the higher the resource requirement.

well..... my 650mhz P3 aint gonna handle that

[sponge]

I refuse to use IE at all due to the security cesspool it has become. There's barely a site I can goto without getting Gator installers. The fact there are 5 or so other people, all not too great with computers, gives me more of a reason. (It's happened already. I came home after a weekend to find Gator and BonziBuddy installed. And quite a bit more after running Ad-Aware)

So without digging through dialog after dialog to lockdown my BROWSER, I just switched to Opera, then Phoenix.

But I'm getting off topic, MS has pretty much always locked other browsers out, even to the point of corrupting their own page to Opera users.

With that said, the videos are pretty cool. Managed to get it on my Athlon XP 1800+ at a semi-decent rate. Seems to be more of a wow factor than anything. I first would want Windows/video card to support TV out to widescreen ratios (I've got a 56" HDTV sitting here, and I'm limited to 1024x768)

[Kirkaiya]

We're sorry. This Windows Media 9 Series content is only available to be viewed using Internet Explorer.

Learn more about Internet Explorer.

I use Mozilla. Bite me, Microsoft. :bad-words:

Steve

I got the same stupid message - how dumb is that, to not even take you to the WMP-9 download page, just because we're using Mozilla? ( I switched to Mozilla after turning off ActiveX controls, and then constantly getting that stupid "This page may not display correctly..." pop-up; that, and Mozilla rocks, of course)

I did, however, cave in and use IE to go to the link, where I had to then download the WMP. I guess now I can actually go check out the content.

Sometimes, Microsoft can be both brilliant and idiot at the same time.
*sigh*

[Elad Yakobowicz]

Don't mean to skip the subject too much... but coincidentally... The Matrix official site has recently released an Ultra-Sized version of the final theatrical trailer... They say that it's only for the strongest machines, ALSO at about 24 fps and 100mb I think, and at some type of enormous resolution, I'm afraid to even go back and glance at the exact specs.

Someone go here and tell the rest of us what we're missing -

http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/rl_cmp/trailer_final_1000v2.html

[Foo Fighter]

Someone go here and tell the rest of us what we're missing -


You're not missing much. It's just one BIG ASS Matrix teaser.

[klinux]

This is pretty old news (no offense Jason). I tried it when WM9 was released but none of the PCs I owns (Duron 800, C3 900, PIII 650) can successfully playback the content. :(

However, if you think this is impressive, wait until June when Terminator II: Extreme Edition is released. On it will be a WM9 encoded stream of T2 in 1080p i.e. 1920x1080 with a Dobly EX 5.1 audio stream! 8O

(Source: http://www.wininformant.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=38662)

Even if I have a speedy PC, my 21" lovely Trinitron CRT that displays a rock solid 1800x1440 @ 80hz cannot display that movie in its full 1920 glory. Time to get a http://www.apple.com/displays/acd23/? It's ONLY $2000 for 23" of beautiful screen real estate.

[guinness]

I downloaded the uber hi-res Step Into Liquid (6.9 Mbps) and it ran like a dog in WMP, sound was fine, but I think it only averaged a few fps. I used to think my PC was decent too, but I guess an 1800+ XP and GF 3 Ti 200 don't cut it anymore :twak:

[Jason Dunn]

The point is not what browser I am using but that there is aboslutely no necessary connection between what browser I am using and what media player I am using and to arbitrarily tell me that I can't use the media player because I'm not using the right browser is absurd.

&lt;shrug> It's the way the world works, like it or not. Microsoft is flexing their muscles to protect their brand, nothing more. They want to keep people using Internet Explorer, and they're going to use every asset they can to do that. If one of the assets they have is exclusive content, that's a benefit of using IE that you lose when you uninstall it. It's not like anyone put a gun to your head and forced you to get rid of the browser, right? You made a choice, and there are ups and downs to every choice.

The same argument applies if you want some Pocket PC software and are using a Palm...is it "unfair" for a company to release software for something you're not using?

It's part of the experience the company offers as a whole, and if you don't want to use their stuff, fine, but complaining when you can't get something because of it seems a little lame to me. :? Apple did the same thing with one of their pages - I couldn't read it because I wasn't on a Mac. I didn't take it personally - it's just Apple protecting their brand by trying to keep it exclusive.

I know LOGICALLY it doesn't make any sense, because the page is just HTML, but welcome to the world of marketing. :lol:

[Jason Dunn]

This is pretty old news (no offense Jason).

Why do think something has to be brand new to qualify as news? It's not like a have a direct neural tap into every Web page on the Internet and can mystically read the page creation date on every one of them... :?

I don't have much patience for people complaining today...sorry.

[Jason Dunn]

I downloaded the uber hi-res Step Into Liquid (6.9 Mbps) and it ran like a dog in WMP, sound was fine, but I think it only averaged a few fps. I used to think my PC was decent too, but I guess an 1800+ XP and GF 3 Ti 200 don't cut it anymore

Nah, something is wrong - you should have been able to see it more or less ok...do you have something else sucking up CPU cycles?

[phenderson]

uggghhhh, It was killing my system.

My XP2000 could not keep up with it, at all. Maybe because I was downloading the Matrix UBER teaser at the same time. I will wait until that finishes, and reboot the PC and try to run it again...

[dubStylee]

It's part of the experience the company offers as a whole, and if you don't want to use their stuff, fine but complaining when you can't get something because of it seems a little lame to me.

So it's lame for Ralph Nader to complain about unsafe cars, because, after all, he has the choice to drive something else? As a consumer I have not only the right, but the duty to complain about practices which I feel are against the public good. Again, I am not talking simply about the use of the browser, but about tying together content-browser-mediaplayer-OS into one inseparable bundle.

One of the values of online fora like this one is that they allow people who are both creators of and consumers of software (I happen to be both) to speak their minds about which features they like and which they consider bugs. I don't see that it furthers that kind of discussion to label it as "lame complaining" when multiple users give their honest opinions of the experience of using this particular software combo.

Ok, nuff said, I'lll shut up on this for now.

[Jason Dunn]

As a consumer I have not only the right, but the duty to complain about practices which I feel are against the public good. Again, I am not talking simply about the use of the browser, but about tying together content-browser-mediaplayer-OS into one inseparable bundle.

Yes, you certainly do have that right. It just seemed a little needlessly melodramatic to me - after all, it's just a freakin' video! :lol: I wasn't going to start a protest campaign against Apple because they wouldn't let me into their special "secret" Web site reserved for Mac users.

Keep it in perspective! Lighten up! :D

[phenderson]

ugghhhh again,
The Matrix trailer basically played like the others. Choppy when it got to the action scenes, and there were a lot.

It is cool that the nice Foreign affairs and Confidence trailers were in 5.1 sound. That was cool.
Ahhh well, I am convinced to seek out a new CPU and motherboard.

[QYV]

Heh - I just upgraded my PC last week for the first time in 5 years. My wife only let me have $500 to play with, but I got a pretty nice rig: 2200+ Athlon XP, 1GB PC2100 DDR RAM, nForce 2 motherboard and pretty much the fastest IDE hard drive available - IBM Deskstar 180. That ultra Matrix trailer? FULL SPEED BABY!! Not one dropped frame, stutter, or hitch. Makes me actually glad I spent all that money. :mrgreen:

(hey, you gotta gloat while you have the chance - in six months it'll be crap :cry: )

[Jason Dunn]

Ahhh well, I am convinced to seek out a new CPU and motherboard.

So very true - there's nothing quite like digital video to humble even the mightiest computer system... :alfdance:

[beq]

Blech! Mozilla is bloatware. I use Pheonix. It's the best browser ever developed! Uses the Gecko rendering engine without Mozilla's buggy bloated code. And the downloadable themes kick some serious ass! 0X

But Firebird (and Thunderbird) sound so much cooler... ;)

[phenderson]

LOL yeah.... I have truly been humbled... my "Big Rig" sort of folded on me....

I have been expecting an XP2100 in the mail for quit some time...

[phenderson]

OK this is sorta strange but GOOD...

I can now play all of the 1280x720 movies except for the Liquid one (why oh why am I having such a problem with this one).

I have played the Matrix back and forth forth and back, without a flicker or a dropped frame, even though the first 2 runs through, earlier, were like a dog with 1 leg. The Matrix Reloaded was 1000x540 which means it should run good anyway, just do not know why it did not earlier.

QYV how did your super rig do with the liquid 2 trailer, if I may ask???

Jason, don't you have a XP+2400???

[Jason Dunn]

Jason, don't you have a XP+2400???

Nope, using a Pentium 4 2.53 Ghz right now... :mrgreen:

[jeffmd]

yay! divx can do this on slower cpus (youll need to set decode quality to low, but atleast you CAN do that with divx) and it wouldnt take up nearly as much space as these huge hogs.

wmv codec 9 can liq me.

[Kirkaiya]

I understand that you guys use different PRIMARY browsers, but you mean you actually removed IE? Why? Why not keep several tools and use the best one for each scenario? Seems a bit short-sighted to assume that one browser will be the best for everything...

Jason - I don't even know how to address this properly but here goes:

First: What do you mean, "Primary" browser? How many different web-browsers should I have to have on-board? I mean, yes, I didn't completely remove IE from my system (not that I probably could, what with it being so "integrated"), since Microsoft is a client. To me, it seems a bit disheartening to think that I would have to launch multiple "brands" of essentially identical applications to vew different web-pages.

I mean, imagine if all web-developers thought that way: If I'm viewing the CNN site with Mozilla, and they have a link to Wired News, next to the link would be a little "{ Note - Opera Browser Required for this link }" So, I fire up Opera, go to Wired News, read a cool article, and then, they link over to linux.org's site. But wait! { Note - Konqorer Required for this link }. And then, of course, the link to Microsoft's site {Note - MS IE Required for this link}. Or maybe to AOL's site { Note - Netscape Required for this link }.

Seem a little silly?

And in any case, the page in question only APPEARS to not work with non-IE browsers because they are using a server-side check on browser to redirect for non-IE. They are using javascript to detect the WMP version - if this script *doesn't* run in Mozilla ( I haven't checked), how hard would it be to redirect to a page that just asks you if you have it (WMP 9), with an option to download if you do? This IS, in fact, what happens if you load the page using IE with scripting disabled.

Just to check the page in Mozilla, from within IE, I chose "Save", picked "HTML Complete", and saved to to my harddrive. Then, I dragged the main HTML page into Mozilla - and presto, it displays perfectly. So this (redirect) served no practical purpose that I can see. Yes, the page includes an ActiveX control that embeds loads WMP in the page, but I have ActiveX disabled in my IE, and it still renders the page fine.

In the end, my answer to, "Why not keep several tools and use the best one for each scenario?" is "Why can't I have a choice of WHICH tool I think is best, rather than bloating up my system with multiple versions? I like IE, actually, but it's got sooo many security problems, most related to ActiveX controls - and a lot of sites that use these controls could use x-browser Javascript instead (you can even sniff Macromedia Flash versions with Javascript, why not WMP version? Actually, you might be able to, I haven't tried).

Finally - Microsoft needs to play some catch-up with IE anyway - features like tabbed browsing, xml-based GUI with extensible themes, pop-up-window manager (and the other javascript-permissions management), image-manager, down-load-management tools that allow you to resume a download later if you got disconnected... all these are standard on the newer Mozilla browsers, and a lot of that is standard on Opera.

Just my 2 cents worth :-)

[klinux]

Oops. Browser hiccup (Camino on OS X).

[klinux]

This is pretty old news (no offense Jason).

Why do think something has to be brand new to qualify as news? It's not like a have a direct neural tap into every Web page on the Internet and can mystically read the page creation date on every one of them... :?

I don't have much patience for people complaining today...sorry.

Take it easy Jason! While news generally have to be new to qualify as news, this information is certainly 'newsworthy'.

In any case, I have the utmost respect for you, this site, and the work you put into it. I am sorry if my comment came across as a complaint but it certainly was not meant to be as such. We cool? :wink:

&lt;edited for typo>

[Kirkaiya]

Not to beat a dead horse, but...

http://www.nulogik.com/mozillapage.jpg

Like I said - it renders fine in Mozilla, when given the chance! Not only that, but the links to the video files even properly launch Windows Media Player, which proceeds to show the video fine. Despite my using Mozilla to view the page, and click the link.

The redirect is just another annoying ploy to try to control which browser I use to view the page - kind of like what happened to Hotmail for a short while, until a lot of people complained (when they first put it up, they disabled viewing hotmail and MSN for non-IE browsers, then quickly recanted)

I've said it before - Microsoft can be both brilliant and idiotic all in the same move (brilliant WMP 9 codecs, and performance, idiotic use of browser-sniffing for marketing purposes).

[Pony99CA]

The point is not what browser I am using but that there is aboslutely no necessary connection between what browser I am using and what media player I am using and to arbitrarily tell me that I can't use the media player because I'm not using the right browser is absurd.
&lt;shrug> It's the way the world works, like it or not. Microsoft is flexing their muscles to protect their brand, nothing more. They want to keep people using Internet Explorer, and they're going to use every asset they can to do that. If one of the assets they have is exclusive content, that's a benefit of using IE that you lose when you uninstall it. It's not like anyone put a gun to your head and forced you to get rid of the browser, right? You made a choice, and there are ups and downs to every choice.

Sorry, but that "protecting their brand" argument doesn't wash. First, the content already has to be played on a Microsoft OS using a Microsoft media player, right? (Unless I'm mistaken, Windows Media 9 isn't available for other platforms.) I don't mind that, because Microsoft is trying to showcase the advantages of Windows Media 9 technology, so it makes sense to only have it work in a Windows Media 9 player.

However, requiring you to use a Microsoft browser is ridiculous, and may even be anti-competetive. There's a reason Microsoft had to add a method to allow using different browsers to Windows XP SP1. If the video won't play properly in a non-IE browser, why not launch Windows Media Player as a helper application? Kirkaiya even showed that it could be done. If I were on the team appealing the Microsoft antitrust decision, I'd certainly bring this up.

Also, why do you assume we uninstalled the browsers? I have IE on my system, but refuse to use it unless I have to.

The same argument applies if you want some Pocket PC software and are using a Palm...is it "unfair" for a company to release software for something you're not using?
Jason, come on! That's not even close to the same thing. Software is usually developed for a given operating system (and processor, sometimes). That's expected. Refusing to display a Web page is not.

Steve

[alanjrobertson]

They want to keep people using Internet Explorer, and they're going to use every asset they can to do that. If one of the assets they have is exclusive content, that's a benefit of using IE that you lose when you uninstall it. It's not like anyone put a gun to your head and forced you to get rid of the browser, right? You made a choice, and there are ups and downs to every choice. I'd recommend Avant Browser (http://www.avantbrowser.com) - it's an interface for IE so sites still think you're browsing with IE, but you get blocking of pop-up ads and multiple window support (a la Opera) - I find it esp. nice to click on multiple links in OE then swap across to Avant and find them all sitting there in separate windows waiting to be read :)

Cheers

Alan

[gliscameria]

Ahhh.... sweet sweet avantbroswer. I have the hardest time when I have to use IE now, trying to open and close stuff with middle button.

These videos really kick (quality wise) the snot out of the animatrix movies. Not that the .wmv files aren't like 4x as big, but the .mov format is pretty jerky, while these massive .wmv files went almost without a hitch. (2gig p4)

I'd really hate to see MS make a great video format, have everyone start using it and then make it completely platform specific.

MS, why can't we all just get along?

[beq]

^ One thing, Avant doesn't remove its addition to User-Agent browser string even after uninstall, and while installed there's no option to disable this, and apparently it also automatically deletes the additions from other IE shells (though I haven't confirmed this last part)?

http://forum.avantbrowser.com/YaBB.cgi?board=bugreport;action=display;num=1047940894

Otherwise I believe Jason had also recommended it as well as the others (NetCaptor, Crazy Browser, MyIE2, etc)...

[DrtyBlvd]

MS, why can't we all just get along?

Because that would be communism and then MS wouldn't make any money :lol:

[Kirkaiya]

MS, why can't we all just get along?

Because that would be communism and then MS wouldn't make any money :lol:

Wait... using standards-based software is "communism"? Okay, either (1) you're joking, or (2) you don't read follow Microsoft's own press and technology.

Microsoft *has*, in many areas, decided that we CAN all "get along" - hence Office 11's use of XML-based document formats, .NET's heavy emphasis on web-services (Microsoft is a member of several working-groups that propose and ratify new standards), and Internet Explorer does, for the most part, support the HTML 4.2 standard, CSS 1, some CSS2, javascript and XML.

I congratulate them on being a forward-thinking company that HAS gotten their minds around the idea that they *can* make money by following standards.

Granted, they have had their bad moments (extensions to Java language, then dropping the JVM completely, extensions to HTML and JScript that lead to browser compatibility problems, and so on), but overall, they've been moving heavily into supporting open standards - they're even on that "open messaging" standards-body (granted, I have seen little or no action there, but anywaze)

Communism is "from each according to his abilities, and to each according to his needs", at it's essence. nothin' to do with making tons of swag by making products that you can sell to everybody cause they support open standards and protocols :-)

And.. if you were completely joking, then this whole spiel is for anybody else who's secretly thinking the same thing 8)

[DrtyBlvd]

And.. if you were completely joking, then this whole spiel is for anybody else who's secretly thinking the same thing 8)

Glad you cleared that up then :lol: