Video files - MP4 & MOV

David Baud

Hi!

I’m using ZenPhoto for pictures 3 years ago. I’ve downloaded and upgraded the last version because I saw that it was possible de watch video files.

On the homepage, we can see : “Video support for Flash Video (.flv), MPEG4 (.mp4), Quicktime (.mov) and 3GP (.3gp)”

When I uploaded a mov-file or a mp4-file, I was unable to see the video on the gallery.

I read that I must add a jpg-file as thumbnail with the same name of the video.

When I put this image with the mov-file, I had a plugin probleme… I’m using Firefox. Must I install Quicktime or is it possible to use VLC or MPC

I cannot see the MP4 file. Can we use Xvid codec or MPEG4 codec like x264????

Can you explain how to wath MOV and MP4 files or send me a tutorial link?

Thank you in advance

David

PS : Sorry for my poor English…

sbillard

.mov files are displayed by the browser so need Quicktime installed.

You do not need to have a jpg file for thumbnail. If you do not have one, a default image will be used for the thumbnail.

You must enable one of the media player plugins to play .mp4 files

acrylian

It may also be that certain settings of mp4 movies (there are several) are not compatible with the two media player plugins. More on what they exactly play on the player's sites.

David Baud

First of all, I would like to congratulate the developper team for this gallery : simple and powerful!

My gallery is host here : www.hcoyonnax.com/galerie/

I've put 2 videos files (a MP4 file download on youtube and a MOV file created with my camera) on this adress : http://www.hcoyonnax.com/galerie/benjamin/

I installed Quicktime this morning. Before, I watched MOV-video with MPC and VLC... I installed the VLC plugin for Firefox too...

I'm not able to see one of this video.

Are you able to watch one of these ?

Can you help me to configure my gallery.

Thank you in advance

acrylian

It seems that the quicktime plugin refuses to play the movie.
Is it possible that you have your actual albums folder not within the root of your installation (normally www.yoursite.com/albums if Zenphoto is installed in the root). Especially the flash players do not work if they are localed outside. Also try to lower the full image protection setting, this might also cause Quicktime to fail.

Actually it is recommend to use the flash players as most users (except you have only Mac visitors) will probably not have Quicktime installed. So flv and using one ofthe flash video players is actually the better choice.

David Baud

My albums folder is outside the gallery folder but I cannot change this...

I have the "class-video v1.0.0" option available but not the "flvplayer v1.1" because of the extrenal folder...

What can I do to watch a video file. What kind of format or extensions ???

Thanks

PS : Also try to lower the full image protection setting, this might also cause Quicktime to fail. ---> Do not work

acrylian

I am sorry, Quicktime movies do also not work with external album folders. I just tested. I don't know if it is a kind of bug or simply does not work as with the flash players.

sbillard

Quicktime is run from the browser, so the files being viewed must be accessable from the browser. This is probably not the case if you have an external album folder.

David Baud

My pictures can't be moved because there are used by my website, and my forum.

However, can I create a folder "Videos" on the native gallery folder, only for the hosting of movie files ?

Is it an idea waiting a powerful management of videos in external folder by ZenPhoto ?

PS : Extract of my zp-core.php configuration

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// zp-config.php required options
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// location of album folder.
// 'album_folder' is the name of the folder for the zenphoto albums.
// 'album_folder_class' determines how to interpret 'album_folder':
// 'std' -- the folder must be a simple name. It resides in the root of the zenphoto installation.
// 'in_webpath' -- the folder must be the full path of the album folder from the WEB root of the zenphoto installation.
// 'external' -- the folder must be a full server path to the album folder. Images within an external folder
// are not visible to web browsers, so certain features such as flash players cannot display them
$conf['album_folder'] = '/albums/';
$conf['external_album_folder'] = '/home/hcoyonna/public_html/photos/'; // = '../photos/'
$conf['album_folder_class'] = 'std';

acrylian

However, can I create a folder "Videos" on the native gallery folder, only for the hosting of movie files ?
Of course.

Is it an idea waiting a powerful management of videos in external folder by ZenPhoto ?
This inability is related to the flash players/Quicktime itself. Not sure if and especially when we will solve that as it has not really priority right now.

David Baud

Ok, thanks .

Do I create manually a video folder or must I create by the admin page ?

kat1776

I am having a similar issue - I uploaded 2 video files to my albums folder (in the root, http://photos.katandtravis.com/albums/video). I have tried enabling all 3 of the video plug-ins, and none of them seem to be able to find my video clip. The clips are listed when I click on the "video" album, but when I click on one, the player renders but I get an error: "video not found: /albums/video/MOV03c.flv". Is this an issue with where the clips are located? I get the same results for an .mp4 file. Thanks in advance for your help.

sbillard

Zenphoto does not operate from multiple album folders. External album folders and flash players are not a working combination. This is a limitation of the environment, not something that zenphoto can deal with. As I have mentioned before. The flashplayer resides on the browser. It makes URL requests for the image. If the image is not within the WEB path the URL will not resolve.

kat1776

I apologize if I am just really dense, but I am not understanding. By multiple album folders, do you mean folders within the "albums/" folder? So because I put the video in a "video" folder, this is why it isn't working? If I put the clips in the "albums" folder would this work? If you could provide an example of something that would work, maybe that would be helpful. Again, I apologize for my lack of understanding.

sbillard

No, the "albums" folder. There can be only one of these. All `gallery albums` must be subfolders of this folder.

kat1776

Ok, I do only have one albums folder, and subfolders within it. I do have it in the root folder, not the "zenphoto" folder, does that make a difference?

sbillard

If it is within the browser path then things should work. Where does your root URL point?

kat1776

I have a subdomain setup on my webhost. http://photos.katandtravis.com. So the albums folder is http://photos.katandtravis.com/albums. But, the server path is c:\hosting\webhost4life\member\tchappskat\Photos

sbillard

Where does the subdomain point?

kat1776

It points to the "Photos" folder on our webhost's c:/ drive, in the space that has been allocated to us (c:\hosting\webhost4life\member\tchappskat). Is that what you are asking?

sbillard

Yes, so you can see your browser is browsing `c:\hosting\webhost4life\member\tchappskat\Photos` You albums are at `c:\hosting\webhost4life\member\tchappskat\albums`. The two do not intersect so your browser is unable to access the album videos. Can't access the videos means cannot display the videos.

kat1776

My browser is browsing like you said, but my albums are at c:\hosting\webhost4life\member\tchappskat\Photos\albums, so isn't that where the browser is pointing? So if the browser is going to c:\hosting\webhost4life\member\tchappskat\Photos, then it should find an albums folder in that directory. I appreciate your patience with me.

sbillard

That's not what you told me. If those are your file structure then you are not using (or needing) an extranal album--which was the subject matter of this thread.

Maybe you should start over and describe your problem rather than say it is the same as the previous posters.

kat1776

Maybe so, thanks.

David Baud

When I upload with the ZenPhoto script, the folder called "photos" is created on the external folder.

However, by manually uploading folder (with video) on the ZenPhoto default folder (albums/bentest), nothing is detected nor screening

How may I detect the default albums folders AND my external folder ?

Thanx

acrylian

Sbillard already told above. You can either have an external OR the default "albums" folder, not both. Sorry.

Maybe you can experiment with `symlinks` but I am not familiar with them at all.

David Baud

I apologize, I didn't understand.

neji

I have my default albums folder setup as a symbolic link to my actual image folder and video doesn't work.

I've done things this way because I have my photos all stored in one place and have 2 separate domain looking at separate folders, eg:

domain1.mysite.com/albums -> ~/Photos/domain1
domain2.mysite.com/albums -> ~/Photos/domain2

Any ideas?

neji

Actually, I removed the symbolic link and created the folder directly within zenphoto and it's still not working.

If I click on the "Full size" link it cannot find my flv/mov video at all. When I attempt to look at the direct link it tells me

The Zenphoto object you are requesting cannot be found.

acrylian

Fullsize links do not work with movies, they need a flash player to be played. You need to enable the video class plugin and one of the flash players to play .flv movies. Quicktime .mov movies are only played if you have the Quicktime plugin installed on your computer.

Symbolic links have not been tested. Just place an album with movies (even mixed with images) within the main albums folder.