Revolution Online Video Technical Support

General Information

It is our objective to reach the largest possible audience with the fewest technical obstacles, while providing quality video images that clearly communicate the value and impact of Revolution products.

We have selected two common video formats: Apple Quicktime MP4 (which is Internet Streaming Media Alliance compliant), and Microsoft Windows Media WMV. PC users may view either of these formats, but may find Windows Media more convenient and faster.

Good quality online video requires considerable bandwidth. For this reason, Revolution videos are best viewed with a high-speed connection. A dial-up connection can be used, but video files should be downloaded and then viewed, which can take considerable time.

In most cases, Revolution video files stream at a rate of 400 - 500 kb/s, a rate easily accommodated by a DSL connection. We try to avoid posting video files that are larger than 5MB.

Links to video players and additional help:

Apple Quicktime

Windows Media Player

To ensure the best online video experience, ensure you have the latest updates for your player software.

 

For PC Users

Most recent releases of Microsoft Windows include the Windows Media Player (WMP), though the newest version may need to be downloaded and installed. Windows users with Automatic Update enabled should receive WMP updates as they are released.

PC users can also download and install a Quicktime player, which is available free of charge.

We recommend the most recent version of WMP and/or Quicktime that has been certified for use with your system version.

Revolution has tested our video files on Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP machines with the latest Service Packs and Windows Update patches.

Windows Media Player will begin playing a video clip soon after loading a small portion of the file into a local buffer. This results in the most responsive video experience, because the beginning of the file is already playing while the remainder of the file is being downloaded.

 

 

For Apple Macintosh Users

Most Apple systems natively support Quicktime, since it is an Apple product. Updates to Quicktime are released from time to time.

We recommend the most recent Quicktime player version certified for use with your system. Older versions of Quicktime may not play MP4 files.

Software may be available to play Microsoft Windows Media files on Apple computers. Revolution has not tested these applications.

Revolution has performed only limited testing of our video files on Apple Macintosh computers, but we have created our MP4 files using Apple Quicktime Pro to ensure compatibility with Apple systems.

Unless a streaming server is used, Quicktime files must fully download before they will begin playing. Revolution has not implemented a streaming server, but we keep our file sizes low enough to minimize downloading delays.