Technical Notes and Suggestions for viewing my MPEGs, or any MPEG; Broadband vs. POTS Modems
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Hi, and thanks for visiting my site. I have a number of MPEG video clips taken in Holland on this site, with many more coming. You might be technically saavy; if so you can probably skip this page.
HOW I MADE THE MPEGs
I produced my MPEGs from Video8 videotape taken on my Queen's Day trip in 1999. I use a MiroVideo DC30 capture board to get the footage on my computer. Then I use Adobe Premiere and the Premiere plug-in Megapeg LE from Digigami to export MPEG files. But thanks to the MPEG format you don't need to worry about any of that.
THESE ARE NOT STREAMING VIDEOS
While your computer and software may try to play my MPEGs as streaming video, I did not save them in a streaming format. I strongly recommend that you *first* download the MPEG video clip to your computer and then play them from your hard drive. I tested my streaming videos on 3 different DSL connections and found that they were still too choppy. Perhaps my web-hosting is not the best, but it's only $10/month for 500Mb and unlimited traffice at websolo.com. Check it out if you need to host a site.
In Netscape Navigator and Communicator you can right-click the link under each video and choose the "Save Link As" option. In Internet Explorer you right click and choose "Save Target As." Then while the video downloads you can do something else. Once the download is complete, open the .mpg files with your choice of players. Windows Media Player and Real Video are the two most popular video players.
If you are trying to do this using a 56K modem or slower, these videos will each take between 10 and 60 minutes to download. Try starting one every night before you go to bed. The world will be a better place when everyone has a broadband connection: I have a broadband DSL connection; on my system most videos download in less than one minute.
ARE YOU LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE A BROADBAND CONNECTION?
For the uninitiated, broadband means that you have been unshackled from your POTS 56K modem which connects through the Plain Old Telephone System.
Most broadband connections are available through your phone company (DSL), over your cable television lines (ATT @Home), or through Internet connections for workers at high-tech companies. ISDN is cool, but It Still Does Nothing compared to connections of 384K-500K per second.
It's worth noting that while many companies offer DSL service, they are mostly subcontracting your order to the phone company. Call the phone company first; they typicaly offer the best prices. Also, if you are trying to get DSL be prepared for a major headache. The stories on dslreports.com are true, and I have been through headaches trying to get two lines connected in different locations.