4.4 Manage Multimedia Components

Multimedia Components

Necessary / Contextual Information

Introduction

Okay, now that you have your Internet up and running along with your browser, you're probably asking yourself now what? You now have the "engine" to your car and you're excited to roam the web. But wait! Why isn't that flash movie all your friends have been talking about not loading? Before you go surfing the web don't forget to add your plugins and multimedia components! What's a plugin you ask?

Plugin

It's a pretty broad term in general, but Plugins are generally used to display other formats. For example you would use the Flash plugin to view Flash movies and likewise, Java to view Java applets. Though plugins are optional and not needed, they really do enhance one's experience online. Let's say you reach this really cool site with flash animations. If you don't have the specific plugins installed, your browser won't be able to render them and you'll probably see a blank screen or get an error message... Not at all interesting.

Of Note

Most plug-ins are free and compatible with most browsers. Be sure to check if the plug-in is compatible with the browser you are currently using or else it will not work

However, plugins are not the only add-ins a browser can have. There are codecs and players along with plugins that display a specific file type.

Codec

Codecs are either placed on your computer or on applications. Codecs allow applications to handle files of a given type. Some codecs include mpeg(.mpg), jpeg(.jpg) and wav (.wav). Basically, they encode or decode data. What does that mean? Well, it can either encode a stream or signal for transmission, storage, or encryption to save space. And then when you want to view or edit the file, it "decodes" it. Look at the codec section below for more information about encoding or decoding.

Players

What exactly does a player do? Well, they can be used to view audio and video. Basically, a whole variety of multimedia files. It includes Windows Media Player, QuickTime, iTunes, RealPlayer, Winamp... etc. The list goes on and on.

Important!

Not all players are free. Some of them require you to pay for the "pro" version. However, Windows Media Player, QuickTime, and Real Player do provide a free version.

All three of these components help exemplify the web. What would the web be like without all the capabilities like viewing movies or playing Pacman in shockwave?

Plugins

"Firefox can handle many types of files. However, for some files such as movies or music, Firefox needs Plugins or external applications that can handle those files." - Firefox Help contents

"Plugins extend Firefox's functionality and run within it. Plugins like Sun Java, Macromedia Flash, and RealNetworks RealPlayer allow Firefox to show multimedia files and run small applications such as movies, animations, and games." - Firefox Help contents

Installing Plugins

Now for the nitty, gritty; you probably want to install some plugins right now. Is it hard? Well, do chickens have lips? Of course not... unless they had a lip transplant, but that's another story. Anyway, back onto installing plugins for Firefox. Here is the main page for common plugins for Firefox: Firefox Plugins. Then you just follow the directions on that page. Let me give you an example step-by-step. Let's say you wanted to get the plugin, Flash Player.

1. Go to the Flash Player section on the main plugin page for Firefox
2. See if your Operating System (Windows, Mac, or Linux) is compatiable with it and click on the download link
3. The link will take you to the page where you can get the plugin, which is Adobe Flash Player Download Center
4. Read the Installation Instructions
5. To Install Flash Player, you have to download the Installer by clicking on the Download Now button
6. Next, you have to run the Installer and go through the installation process
7. Finally, you are finished. You now have Flash player onto your browser. Congrats!

So it's pretty simple, although some plugins are not supported by some operating systems.

Codecs

So what's the meaning of life? I have no clue, but I do know how to figure out which codec to download when there are thousands of them. There's a free application that helps determine which ones you need to play a certain file: GSpot codec information appliance. And how do you know your missing a codec? Well, most players alert you when you try to play a video and it can't play. It will probably say something about not being able to play the video. This usually hints to you needing a codec.

Running GSpot codec information appliance

1. Go to GSpot codec information appliance main page
2. Click on the download link for the latest version (currently v2.52 b01)
3. Download either the .rar or .zip
4. Extract the file you downloaded (right click the file and click on extract to...)
5. Double click the GSpot.exe
6. There you have it! You don't even have to install it!

Using the GSpot appliance

GSpot is straight-foreward and easy to use:

1. Click on file and then click on open
2. Find the file that you want to determine which codec you need
3. It will then list the Audio codec you need, the Video codec and other information

You can also use this appliance to find out which Codecs are already on your computer. Click on System and then click on List Codecs and Filters. It will provide you with a list of Codecs and Filters (it will probably be a huge list).

More on Codecs

Why in the world do you need codecs? Well for one thing, uncompressed video and audio takes up a lot of space. NTSC video would take 27 megabytes of information per second, meaning that you would only be able to fit 2.8 minutes of uncompressed video onto a DVD. Uncompressed audio takes up 150 kilobytes per second. If you add that all up, the file size would be unbelievably high. That is why it is important to compress the information so that space can be saved.

Codecs are usually free. You can find a whole list of them here: Free Codecs. They are easy to install, and once they are installed, you generally don't need to worry about executing them. If they detect a file that they are supposed to decode, they will automatically decode it for you and run the video/audio.

Here is a list of codecs: Wikipedia: List of Codecs

Is there a downside to downloading too many Codecs? Well, I can't field that question, but I know one person who can: Dr. Codec.

Me: "So Dr. Codec, is there a downside to Codecs?"

Dr. Codec: "I'm on my lunch break! Why can't you guys leave me alone?!!!"

Me: "Would a bologna sandwich change your mind?"

Dr.Codec: "Okay, okay. Deal. I'm not made of brick, you know. Anyway, Yes. There is a downside to Codecs"

Silence

Me: "Well what is it?!"

Dr.Codec: "Well, some codecs conflict with each other. For example, let's use the DivX codec. Now you can either use the DivX codec or something that can play DivX. But if you have both of them, then they will start to conflict when you try to run that file. You will have to pick which one to decode when playing a video. It becomes a hassle."

Players

I think players are one of the most used applications on your computer. You probably automatically open one of them to listen to some music or watch videos, right? However, there are so many players out there that you probably have never used before. I'm going go over the most common ones out in the market: Windows Media Player, QuickTime/iTunes, and RealPlayer.

• Windows Media Player can play audio, video, and images. The default file formats for it are WMV (Windows Media Video & Audio), WMA (Windows Media Audio), and ASF (Advanced Streaming Format). It also include a variety of other functions. The latest version out is Windows Media Player 11 beta.

Main page for Windows Media Player

• QuickTime is produced by Apple and is capable of handling various formats of digital video, sound, text, animation, music, and panoramic (and sphere panoramic) images. The latest version is 7.1.1 for Mac and 7.1 for Windows. Download QuickTime

• RealPlayer is produced by RealNetworks that plays a number of multimedia formats including MP3, MPEG-4, QuickTime, as well as multiple versions of proprietary RealAudio and RealVideo codecs. The latest version is RealPlayer 10. Download RealPlayer

• VLC media player- It is a free and open source media player that is available to every popular opperating system. It's highly portable and can play a variety of formats without downloading codecs. [VLC media player]

Since all players can basically run most files, it's is probable that you will only need to download one. However, some extensions can only be played using specific players, like .mov with QuickTime.

Installation of Players

Installing media players onto one's computer isn't relatively hard. It's just basically going to the download page and downloading the installer. Once you have the installer, you run it, and it installs the player. For example, let's say you wanted to install QuickTime.

1. Go to the QuickTime download page
2. Fill out the form with the appropriate information
3. Click the "Free Download Now button
4. Download the installer
5. Run the installer

And there you have it. You now have the QuickTime player.

Using and Running Players

The interface for each player is different, but they pretty much opperate on the same. You open the media program and then open a selected media type, like an MP3. It will then play it. If you can work one of them, then you can basically use all of them. The basic commands are play, pause, fast foreward, rewind, skip. There are also plugins for players, but I'm not going go into detail on them. If a multimedia file does not work, you probably do not have the Codec for it. Read the Codec section for information.

Extensions

Extensions apply to the Mozilla Firefox browser. They are installable enhancements to the browser that add features to it or modify the browser itself. It includes a whole range of functions and I will be very brief on extensions. They are similar to plugins, but extensions have less restrictions on their actions and provide many user interface options. Extensions can be viewed as tools that you can add to Firefox that may provide more security, view RSS feeds, useful toolbars, and entertainment. There is a whole variety of extensions out there, but they are not needed. Extensions are easy to install onto your browser. You just click the link and Firefox will display a dialog that asks you permission to install the extension. If you want to install it, you click allow. If not, you can cancel the installation.

Warning!

Be sure to download Extensions from the Mozilla Extension page. Extensions downloaded from other places may run malicious code. Be wary of which Extension you download. Do not download something this you don't trust

Filename Extensions

Filename extensions are completely different from Firefox extensions. They don't add functions or capabilities, but instead, they help the computer determine what kind of data is stored in a file. For example, the file extension .swf indicates that you would need Flash player to view the file. A .doc indicates it requires Microsoft Word to view it. The file extensions go at the end of the filename, but you probably won't see it on icons. You would have to right click on the icon, and click on properties. When you double-click on a file in Windows, a program opens to run that file, because it is associated with a specfic program. So when you double-click on a .doc file, Windows automatically opens Microsoft Word. Except what if we want to use a different program to run the file? You will need to adjust your file associations. We will be going over that in the lab.

List of file extensions

List of Main Multimedia Components

• Acrobat Reader - plugin
• Flash Player - plugin
• Java - plugin
• MP3 - codec
• MPEG-4 - codec
• QuickTime - player
• RealPlayer - player
• Shockwave - plugin
• WAV - Codec
• Windows Media Player - player