I've prepared a Scorched3D video player

please test it here

I'm especially interested in feedback from people on slower connections and slower computers. This is scaled down HD content. I think it should play on pretty much anything, but connection speed may be an issue.


If the Scorched3D website were to incorporate a video player, a bit like this one at Nexuiz http://www.alientrap.org/nexuiz/ (but hopefully better)...

HD video is where it's at these days - no question, but would I need to add a toggle for lower quality versions? Could we expect most users to be able to play this as is?

A quick post from anyone who tests this would be very helpful. Just a "yes, it played fine" or a "no, there was some stutter or a problem with load speed", whatever.

Thanks

No- I included some pertinent info. You already know my pc...I hope this helps you out. *I clicked play on the player/Started my timer/screen shots at 2 different points-Included Bandwidth,my connection to the web* (Capture Titles show info). "30 Minutes for me to download that video."

I got mostly hang time-play,stop,load,play....

Displays fine here, however because of my internet connection, it plays for a second or so, and then loads for a second or so. Once the video is completely downloaded it plays fine.

So verdict here is: great video, streaming sucks

as you can see my internet this morning is the culprit:

My internet speeds are very similar to tumbleweed almost exactly the same actually. Because of his post I let it load completely before playing it. Loading it took 11 minutes then it ran flawlessly.

Ok... the 3rd time i tried it, it played. Besides the fact that the video itself
was at maybe 2-3 fps, it played not too bad. It did also load for a sec, then
resume every 5-7 sec. I noticed my bandwidth bar showed that it would only
stream to me at about 200-300 kB/s. Where as the video looks like it would
need about 500kB/s for a seamless play. The problem wasn't on our end, but
where ever it was sent from.



In the game, my speeds aren't bad; avg 20-30 fps. But it isn't due to
bandwidth at all, the game itself uses very little.
I'm quite satisfied with that play-speed.



Hmm... it's gone up again.. cool!

excellent feedback.

ive added some stats to the player for testing purposes. (you may need to clear your cache if you want to retest). i wasnt expecting so much info from you guys, but it's really useful.

if this is helpful, it's a 2 min video:
in HD mode, the video is: 31MB, needing 2.04mb/s
in 'large' (HQ) mode it's: 16MB, needing 1.04mb/s
and in 'standard' it's 10MB for 0.64mb/s

i could set a toggle button so people could select any of the 3. im starting to think i may need to.

viking, if im reading your connection speed right, youre only getting about 350kbits/s (about 0.3mb/s).

tumble and pom, yours arent much faster. i'd guess you can 'just about' watch standard youtubes without pausing for catch up?

i could have the whole thing buffer before playing.



thrax, now that your connection is full speed again, does it play properly or are you still at 2-3fps?


btw, dont bother speed testing to england (tumble). the player is on a uk site. the video itself is on youtube.

Yessir- 360 on YouTube for me & still a tad glitchy at times-At night time here...is a little better. (With no weather going on).

my bandwidth wasn't the problem, it was the sending server's speed. It
was sending too slow.
you mean the video isn't shot at only 2 fps? it played fine, just looked
like a 2 fps game. First, i'll try it after buffering the whole feed. Then I'll
try it in the other 2 detail levels after you have them available.

I tested it on my netbook and got a slide show with about 2-4fps.

thanks guys.

since i was having fun with it, ive added a transfer speed line to those stats.

this is exactly what i need to establish. for people who dont get smooth playback, is it connection or cpu speed causing the problem.

that's a fairly good sample so far.

thrax, i suspect that your hardware is just too old to play HD video.

for the techy guys:

that video (as stored on youtube) is 1280x720, but i restricted the resolution to 800x600 and added black borders to make up the difference. this should keep the bitrate requirements down and i was hoping reduced cpu usage would follow, especially since im displaying the video in the player at about 540x405.

a note on this, because that probably all sounds a bit mad. this player is using youtube chromeless - it's basically a special flash file for youtubes with an actionscript 3 api.

youd probably wonder why id not just upload to youtube in basic 640x480. the thing is, youtube's 720p isnt just higher res - it also seems to offer much higher bitrate. (ie, by the time theyve transocded the file for you after upload).

all this slightly hacky stuff is separate from one of the main points in this, which is, i can set this player to play any youtube we upload.

Im on a AT&T dsl connection here at the store supposed to be a 6mb and just tested

:::.. Download Stats ..:::
Download Connection is:: 5752 Kbps about 5.8 Mbps (tested with 6144 kB)
Download Speed is:: 702 kB/s
Tested From:: http://testmy.net/ (Main)
Bottom Line:: 100X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 1.46 sec

Ran nice and smooth for me in big file size. Buffer built quickly and video never caught up to it. stat said 2.05mb/s required. What a slugfest going on.

Hey I have a pic of Vikes setup....pedal faster vike!

My pc is just fine-Its da connection speed-But, Rofl ya ol' fart

Played fine here, streamed at 6Mb using 2Mb a second. Still a little jerky when playing (just a small pause here and there) but that could be the recording. Uses about 4% CPU when playing.

ive added a quality switcher. the controls still look a bit rudimentary, but it's nice to keep it simple.

the bandwidth required statistics may go a little wrong if you switch quality mid stream. i may be able to fix that at some stage.

i had only really added those stats for testing, but it might be nice to keep something similar on a final version. i know some people have monthly data allowances on their connections and it's quite nice to see how much data youre downloading.

all quite interesting.


ps:
the original recording does have a few dropped frames. it's those cyborg ai's and their deaths heads

HD works perfectly here, animation is smooth. Only minor freezes during DH explosions.

EDIT: This was in Ubuntu. Under Windows Vista there are more freezes and overall smoothness is slightly lower. Resolution has little impact on it.
Ubuntu: 8+/10
Vista 7/10

I tested it on Firefox, Opera and IE 8. No differences.