Some of our experiments have videos. We’ve found that the videos can be
particularly useful for Noon Science experiments where kids float in to the
science room at various times. We play a short video continuously while the kids
get settled and eat lunch. They will watch the video like transfixed zombies.
Then they can start the experiment with a minimum amount of additional
explanation and adults or older kid helpers can spend more time with the younger
kids.
But not all of our videos are for Noon Science experiments; some can be used as
class demonstrations, for an after-school science club, or for parents augmenting their child's classroom experience. So it’s nice to have a video that will download quickly so that you can see what the project is all about, and then have a higher resolution file for display on a big screen for a group of kids. So we typically offer several formats, all
derived from a moderately high-resolution Digital Video file which we create in iMovie on a
Mac. We usually offer smaller .mov and .wmv files (playable with QuickTime and
Windows Media Player respectively) and a larger .mp4 file which can be
downloaded (you can download them all, for that matter). Which file you select
depends somewhat on which computer platform you use. At this point, we’re
assuming that most teachers and parents have access to a broadband internet
connection, so we don't feel compelled to reduce the videos to un-viewably-poor resolution. Here are some suggestions.
Using a Mac with OS 10.4 or later.
QuickTime is already installed on your computer. If you have the appropriate
plug-in for whatever browser you are using (we use Firefox) all you will need to
do is to click on the .mov file hyperlink and it will stream (that is, begin to play immediately
before the whole file is downloaded). Safari (the browser that comes with
the Mac OS) is already set up with the appropriate QuickTime plug-in.
If you think that you like the video, then you can go back and stream the larger
.mp4 file by simply clicking on the hyperlink for that file format. If you’d like
to download the file to your computer for later viewing or display, just use
“option-click” to download the file to your Mac.
If you do not have the appropriate plug-in, then you can start QuickTime manually
and tell QuickTime where to get the video. To do this,
a) “Ctrl-click” on the link and select “Copy Link Location”.
b) Start QuickTime.
c) In QuickTime, click File > Open URL.
d) Paste the link URL that you copied into the text field that appears, and press
Return.
e) QuickTime will begin to stream and play.
The same applies to the .mp4 file. The .wmv file is for our less fortunate friends that
use Windows; the Windows Media Player (for the .wmv files) for the Mac is partly broken.
Using a Windows PC.
We don’t use Windows. So while you might have Windows98, Windows 2000,
Windows XP, or Windows Vista, we’re not absolutely sure how to make our videos work
for you (by “work”, we mean “stream”). But we have friends that use Windows and they’ve
helped us set up the file formats you’ll need to make our videos work for you. It doesn’t
mean that you will be assured of success, but as time goes by, we’ll add useful instructions
and we’ll tweak the files as we get feedback from them.
Many Windows users use Internet Explorer because it is the default web browser
that comes with Windows. If you wish to use the .mov or .mp4 files, you will either need the plug-in for QuickTime installed (and QuickTime itself, available here) . But by selecting
the .wmv file, Internet Explorer should automatically start the Windows Media Player. If
Windows Media Player is properly configured, it will stream the video.
Configuring Windows Media Player.
The Windows Media Player is a moving target and what you'll need to do may vary with the version installed on your machine. This link
http://webcast.you-niversity.com/youtools/companies/help/optimizeWMP.html#config
seems to be fairly complete.
Using a Linux Box.
Your fortune cookie says:
“You rock. But your life can be difficult at times.”
Two great media players for Linux are mplayer and the VLC Media player. For example, here is how to set up mplayer on Fedora Core 6:
http://www.nerdgirl.dk/linux/fc6/mplayer.php
Streaming.
After you've got mplayer all set up, rather than trying to make mplayer stream right from Firefox (which is problematic), from Firefox you can
a) Right click on the link to the video on our website.
b) Click "save link location".
c) Open a Terminal window.
d) Command
mplayer
followed by the link location (just left click after mplayer and the text for the link will fill in). So the full command line may look like (for example)
mplayer http://www.sci-experiments.com/magnet_puzzle/MagnetPuzzle.wmv
e) Press Return
Another approach is to just forget all of the fluff, download whatever file format you want and use the VLC media player to play the video: all the file formats will work on VLC. No streaming but VLC will play lots of file formats, so you need it anyway, just to make life complete.
Getting a DVD.
If you can verify that you are a parent, teacher, student, school staff member or librarian, I'll send you a DVD of the video which will be at the maximum resolution we have available. All you need to do is to find our e-mail address on our home page.