F.A.Q.
About Quicktime

If you are going to view the video clips on our site you will need Quicktime 4, 5 or higher.

 

1. Why do you only have your video clips in Quicktime .mov format and not in .avi?
2. Why when the download of one of your clips is almost finished does it show an image of a piece of film with a tear in it?
3. Where can I download Quicktime 5?
4. I went to the Quicktime 5 download page but I don't know which of the two versions I need to download.
5. I am able to view the video & audio in some of your clips but in others I can view the video and not hear the audio.
6. When I download one of your clips I can only hear the audio of the clip but not see the video.
7. When I click a link to a clip on one of your characters video clips page nothing happens, what should happen?
8. How do I request a FarScape clip?
9. When I use the browsers trick of holding down Shift and right clicking (left for some users) and selecting Save link to save one of your .mov clips, I save an .html file instead. Why is this?
10. When installing Quicktime it asks me for a registration key, what do I need to do?
11. I see this image or one like it when I click to download/view any of your clips and the clip doesn't load, what does this mean?
12. When trying to open one of your clips that I download, Quicktime says it isn't a file that Quicktime Understands.

Questions & Answers

1. Q. Why do you only have your video clips in Quicktime .mov format and not in .avi?
A. In my opinion the .mov format is better than .avi in many ways. One is that Quicktime has the Sorenson codec. The Sorenson codec compressor is by far the best codec of our time, it's beyond awesome. It can compress a video clip down to hardly any Megabyte size and still be somewhat clear and viewable, even on it's lowest setting. However I can say that AVI does have it's Divx codec, which some recommend more than Sorenson. The only ok quality normal codec that comes with windows is the Indeo codec. Which if you record a clip using that codec on it's lowest setting, all you would see is a bunch of medium sized squares.

2. Q.

Why when the download of one of your clips is almost finished does it show an image of a piece of film with a tear in it?

A. First, the image of the film with the tear in it means that the clip isn't working. Sometimes when downloading a clip, it can become corrupt and Quicktime wont be able to understand the clip and as a result shows the image. However, sometimes it could be my fault. Maybe when I was uploading the clip it didn't upload correctly.

3. Q.

Where can I download Quicktime 5?

A. You can download Quicktime 5 at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/

4. Q.

I went to the Quicktime 5 download page but I don't know which of the two versions I need to download."

A. First off I'd like to tell you this. If you are going to download Quicktime at all, please download the stand-alone installer. The stand-alone installer is a 1 file non-internet installation of Quicktime. Meaning when you download it the first time, you will always have a copy of the full installation on your hard disk incase of emergencies. Normally when you download Quicktime it's usually an 'over the internet installation' and if ever you need to update one thing or add something to your Quicktime later on you have to use the 'over the internet installation'. But, the stand-alone installer (once downloaded) can be installed over and over again without having to redownload Quicktime (Another thing is, even on computers that don't have access to the internet, if you save the stand-alone installer file to a disk and transport it to that computer you can install Quicktime.) 
So if you are a Windows user, choose to download the Windows version of the stand-alone installer. If you are a Mac user choose, to download the Mac version of the stand-alone installer.

 

5. Q. I am able to view the video & audio in some of your clips but in others I can view the video and not hear the audio.
A. Some of my clips now have compressed audio. Make sure that you did in fact download the entire Quicktime 4 or 5 installation. If you only download part of the Quicktime installation, you sometimes may not get the decoders for audio or video. That's why I stress that you download the stand-alone installer or the entire Quicktime internet installation.

 

6. Q. When I download one of your clips I can only hear the audio of the clip but not see the video.
A. This is usually caused by not having the complete version of Quicktime installed onto your computer. Or rather I should say the correct decoders installed. The clips are compressed using the Sorenson compressor. Again when you install Quicktime using the over the internet installation, you do not always get everything in the installation (be it incoders, decoders codecs etc...). That's why it's always best to download the stand-alone installer. That way, you always know you are getting everything.

 

7. Q. When I click a link to a clip on one of your characters video clips page nothing happens, what should happen?
A. Each link to a clip on the characters video clips page is linked to another small html page by use of JavaScript. Normally when you click on a link, a smaller window should popup and begin loading/downloading the clip that you clicked. If by some weird reason that when you click nothing happens. It could be that your browser has its JavaScript disabled. I'm not going to go into detail on how to enable JavaScript for your browser. Just simply view your browsers help file to see how.

 

8. Q. How do I request a FarScape clip?
A. It's easy to request a clip, as long as you follow these instructions.
  1. Email us or post, on our messageboard, 
      a. the name of the episode the request is on
      b. a description of the scene the request can be found
      c. allow time for the clip to be created (a few days at least)
Just make sure you don't request a clip that is already on the site. We will reply to every request to confirm if we can provide it.

New policy on requesting clips!
A. Only 2 requests per person per month!
B. If you request more than 2 clips a month at once (meaning if you email me and have 3 requests in that email, I will not create your requests).


 

9. Q. When I use the browsers trick of holding down Shift and right clicking (left for some users) and selecting Save link to save one of your .mov clips, I save an .html file instead. Why is this?
A. The reason you are saving an .html file instead of a .mov file is because the actual links to the video clips on the characters pages are linked to .html files. Almost each of the characters video clips pages use JavaScript. When you click on one of the clips links, a small window will popup and start loading the clip inside of it instead of you having to leave the page of the links to view a clip then click your back button. I did have it where you could just go to the directory index to view or download a clip there but, Chorn decided it wasn't the best idea.

 

10. Q. When installing Quicktime it asks me for a registration key, what do I need to do?
A. The registration key is for those who own a licensed registered copy of Quicktime, if you don't own a registration key just continue with the installation. The registered version of Quicktime is called the PRO version and the free Quicktime version is for those who do not wish to buy the PRO version. There is really no difference in the two. Just that one is used to create media and the other can just view it. But, all the Quicktime PRO version really is, is just the Free version of Quicktime unlocked by use of the registration key.

 

11. Q. I see this image or one like it when I click to download/view any of your clips and the clip doesn't load, what does this mean?
A. Quicktime (for some reason) changed something for web browsers like in Internet Explorer. When you first install Quicktime 5 for your computer, now, the Quicktime ActiveX Plugin doesn't install with the installation. You now have to go to the Quicktime website after you have installed Quicktime to configure and install the ActiveX Plugin. It's quite an easy task:
Step 1. Simply go to http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/qtcheck
Step 2. When you are there and the page has loaded completely a dialog window will popup asking you if you want to run/install the Quicktime ActiveX Plugin.
Step 3. Choose to install the Quicktime ActiveX Plugin
Step 4. Once it's finished installing (like 2 seconds after you click to install it) you should now be able to view Quicktime clips such as our video clips.

 

12. Q. When trying to open one of your clips that I download, Quicktime says it isn't a file that Quicktime Understands.
A. This can be caused by a few things:
1.  During the download the file some how became corrupt, try to download the clip again.
2. Credit goes to Lesia for finding out this info: If you are using a download program to download the clips and it is set to download the clip in parts and then put it together after its finished downloading. The file, for some reason, wont be understood by Quicktime. To fix this, set your download program to download the clip in 1 installment rather than many.
3. If the download program cannot be changed, try turning off the program and downloading a clip normally.
4. Credit goes to Zoolok for this info that may be somewhat useful to others that have tried the above and still can not view any clips.
If you have installed Quicktime 4 or higher on your computer but, for some reason you may think that you accidentally installed an old interactive CD's version of Quicktime (Quicktime 2 or lower). I recommend that you uninstall all versions of Quicktime and then install the newer one. Installing a previous version of anything over a newer version can frell up the newest version and in this case cause clip compatibility issues. The reason that the clip wouldn't be understood by Quicktime in this scenario is that the newer version of Quicktime will try to use the plugins necessary to decompress the clip. If you install a previous version this would have overwritten the newest plugins and cause Quicktime 4 or higher to think of the clip as being an unknown format. Since Sorenson 2 wasn't available in earlier versions of Quicktime, it will just go "WTF is that?".

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