Tutorial Videos
The following videos are designed to help you install and utilize simple flash video. If you find them helpful please donate to say thanks or drop us an email letting us know that you appreciate the time we took to make them. On the other hand if you find something missing or have more questions please, contact us and let us know.
Hi Josh,
Thanks for providing such a great plugin! I managed to get it to LOOK like it’s working using the full url of the media file, but when I click to view the video, the shadowbox comes up and just gives me the little loading circle forever.
Any thoughts as to why this might be? It’s on a site I’m building for a client, so it’s password protected at the moment, but let me know if/when you’d like to take a look and I’ll temporarily make it public for you.
Thank you SO MUCH in advance!
Jessie
Problem solved.. i used some files from the 1.8 beta version and voila..
I tried using this plug-in and I got the video to play with the shadowbox. The still however did not load. It is named the same name as the video file with .jpg as the file ext. I tried a default theme and no luck their either.
The plug-in is being used with WP version 3.0. Do not know if this is presenting a issue?
I also FTP the small .flv file to the uploads area and wordpress library manager did not see it, this was the same as the jpeg until I used the library upload manger then it was viewable. Now it shows with that it is attached to “Simple Flash video plugin, ” Any ideas how to refresh the library manager when using a FTP client to put files in place?
In either case I would like to get the thumbnail to appear.
Regards
Steve
Hello,
Sorry for the delay in response. This plugin does work with 3.0 granted with a warning once activated. If you are still trying to figure this out please let me know. Usually this is a permissions issue in reading the file.
Thanks, finally a video plugin that works right out of the box!
Awesome!
I’m using this plug in and recently i uploaded som new videos, now some them work great with video and and audio but recently, I uploaded some others and picture is there but no audio. all are .mp4
link that works: http://kotkproductions.com/next/?p=14
link that doesn’t: http://kotkproductions.com/next/?p=83
the direct links to the videos have both audio and video…
what should I do and what’s the problem?
The audio seems to not be encoded in a format that flash supports such as MP3 or aac. Some advanced AAC is not supported. I don’t have the tools to inspect the stream at this time but I encoded it again and it works.
Here is the files with a thumb: http://www.simplethoughtproductions.com/data/dropbox/ratedr.zip
Please note the size of the videos re-encoded. Your source was 200mb which is rather large for such a short video. Yes it looks great but lots of stalling happened when trying to watch it. The new videos are 49 and 81 mb and look great so it should save you BW and have a better viewing experience.
it does look good, what are your compression settings?
Look at the file names for bitrates used. Audio is 128kb. Rest goes to video. Using FFMPEG. This is done by my STPENC project which needs to be updated.
Excellent plugin!
Everything works perfectly except for the fact that I don’t get any image to display, just the “Click to Watch!” link. Tried to add a “Default Image to use in link if no image is found” but to no avail also. Any idea?
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Eduardo says:
March 13, 2010 at 10:52 pm
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Dear Sir,
I installed your SFV plugin and it only plays aundio, when I try to play a .mp4 file.
you can check it out at:
http://listadeviagem.com.br/blog
Thank you
The file needs to be either FLV or have h.264 video. If it has anything else such as DIVX it will not play.
Hi Josh,
Great plugin! Thanks! Question: is there anyway for the .jpg image of the video to show on the homepage, as well. I tried a few ways using custom fields, but can’t seem to get it working.
Thanks again!
Jamie
the plugin can create some meta data in the post and puts in in sfv_thumb which you can reference via a call for your theme is what you are talking about. Is that what you are trying to do?
Hi,
The shadowbox isn’t working in the beta version because it is missing from the download! Took me a while to work that out… but it was worth it because the plugin is great!
Thanks!
Thanks for the heads up!
Instead of playing the video, I get the following error message for every parameter in the config.xml file:
“Notice: Undefined index: CONFIG in /path/domain/directory/wp-content/plugins/simple-flash-video/video.php on line 84 ”
How can I solve this?
The server is running php 5.3 and mysql 5
What version of the plugin are you using? Can you link to the page with the error?
I found the problem: the plugin did not install some of the required files into the directory. I added them manually and now it works.
What files were missing that you had to upload? Want to make sure that is fixed in the 1.8 final.
It was asking for .js files (shadowbox.js, shadowbox-yui.js, and yui-utilities.js) and the shadowbox.css in a subdirectory /shadowbox. I made the subdirectory, added the files and now it works.
Josh,
This plug-in seems great, so far every problem I’ve run into I’ve been able to fix. This particular I’m having a heck of a time with it.
The shadowbox pops up with the video player but all I get is a black screen. No video plays. The video is a h264.
Here is the link: (link removed)
(click on click to watch, no jpg still).
Thanks!
The link was to a preview post not published so I cannot see it. Please e-mail me a link directly to the video and I will take a look.
Hi Josh,
I like what the player can do (especially the shadowbox effect. Keeps the site clean and I can use large videos without breaking the layout). I do some web design, but I suck at code. Using the basics of WordPress I seem to get just fine, but these video plugins continue to baffle me. In this case, I finally got it to work (mostly by using the full url for the video) as far as actually playing the video, but when I changed the video size (re-encoding in ffmpegx from an mp4) to 960×540 and added the corresponding dimensions in the post, the player shows up at the right size, but the actual video is much smaller and the aspect ratio isn’t right. Why can’t these things just work?!
Here’s where the post is:
http://davecandage.com/losinit/archives/58
Thanks for your help. I really want this one to work!
The reason this is happening is because your FLV file does not have the proper meta data. Once you provide that it will work great. I suggest this tool: http://yamdi.sourceforge.net/
Once you run the file through that and re-upload it it will work great and the progress bar will work too.
Oh, joy. Now I get to figure out command line stuff. Well, I’ve downloaded it and extracted it. Any suggestions? (I’m on a Mac using Snow Leopard)
lol. amen. Terminal is your friend. The other thing you may want to try is h264 video in mp4. I think ffmpegx will put the meta data in there for mp4 saving some time.
Wow. That worked. And now it starts playing right away. Before, when I tried using an mp4 file, it took quite a few seconds for it to load and play. After using ffmpegx to make an h.264 mp4, not only does it load at the right size, it starts right away. You’re plugin is now my plugin of choice. Thankx much.
Now just waiting for more tutorials on it’s other capabilities. Perhaps making a text file with different lines for coding with different options? Just a thought.
I tried to activate it and got the following error:
Warning: chdir() [function.chdir]: Permission denied (errno 13) in /homepages/1/d266887433/htdocs/7861414.com/wp-content/plugins/simple-flash-video/simple-flash-video.php on line 49
Warning: require_once(functions.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /homepages/1/d266887433/htdocs/7861414.com/wp-content/plugins/simple-flash-video/simple-flash-video.php on line 50
Can you please help?
Thanks Josh,
I’ll give that a try.
Arthur
Hi –
Very interesting plugin! All is working fine except for the lightbox effect, which is being messed up by this plugin: Business Directory For WordPress – http://businessdirectory.squarecompass.com/
I pretty much have to have that one, and even if I disable yours and re-enable it, the header code for yours stays ahead of the directories code so the lightbox effect doesn’t function. If the directory plugin is turned off, everything is great with yours.
Any clues or suggestions would be much appreciated. The video test page is here: http://www.thekitchencabinetpac.com/about-us/3rd-about-kc-pac-menu-item/video-embed-test-page/
Actually, I’d be more than stoked if the video just played in the same space as the preview image.
Take care,
Arthur
Ill take a look at that plugin when I have time but it may take a week or so. In the mean time. If you would rather have it just show up simply add shadowbox=off and the video will show up on the page instead of in shadow box so you can be stoked now
Josh, great work with the plugin and the amount of help you offer for free (while remaining calm) is incredible. Thanks!
What is the ‘sharing’ feature you’re using in the tutorial videos?
Thank you, Sorry for such a long delay in response but the sharing is enabled via the sharing plugin from Longtail video. You can find it here: http://www.longtailvideo.com/addons/plugins/110/Sharing?q=Sharing
Great josh, thank you for the quick response. i had managed to get the video working by using the full url, so that’s fine. i’m still having problems with the shadowbox. infact shadowbox doesn’t seem to be working on the entire site.
trouble shooting:
1) i disabled streampad(the player at the bottom), but it had no effect. so streampad is not the culprit.
ok after turning all plugins off one by one checking to see when it would start working, it turns out that the culprit was the shadowbox js plugin. i hadn’t suspected it, but apparently it’s one or the other. thanks for your help josh.
i’ll be sure to swing by the donation bin.
best,
james
Well my plugin uses shadowbox. So you don’t need that plugin. Mine will still keep shadowbox on your page so you can still make it apply to images using the rel=shadowbox atribute.
Thanks in advance for the donation!
The plugin is great. Looks nice and sleek…only on your blog.
When I downloaded the plug in my nightmare just started. There is NO proper documentation and step by step procedure to install the plugin. The normal install on the WP does nothing.
You still have to configure a lot more and the short 1.5 min video does nothing either. Only techies, programmers, and others can get broad hints and install it and you can who created the plug in. This is NOT simple thought, its very complicated and intensive. The plug in refuses to work.
I have contacted programmers in India to install the plugin. It does not works on Word press ” pages” only on posts and than you have to create JPEGS for all your videos in the same file! An additional chore if you post lots of video….
I am sorry to hear that you are having so much trouble with my free plugin. If I had charged you money, I would immediately return it to you. Seeing as I have not the only option I have left is to try and help you as best I can with out an actual question.
As for the install in the readme file as well as on the main page for SFV and in the WP directory (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/simple-flash-video/installation/) there are steps to install the plugin. At which point did you get lost? If you could tell me I would be better suited to offer additional information.
As for the plugin not working on pages. This would most likely be due to your theme. Not my plugin as far as I can tell. If you can give me an actual example I might be able to help you find out why the videos are not working on your pages. The only time I have seen this was because a user was using WP-Remix themes and in order for any plugin that does content replacement to work you have to end the remix around the code and then start it back up. But if you are using a similar theme you might still need to do this.
As to your remark about JPEGs for every video. Yes, you do have to create a .jpg file for every video OR set a default on in the admin settings. In order to automatically generate a thumbnail one would have to install some software on their server that could open the video, scan through to a certain point and create a screen shot. If you know of some really easy to install software that can do this that is open source I would be happy to see if it can be included in SFV.
Depending on when you started to use my plugin you may have noticed that this page is new. I am trying to provide additional information on the usage of my plugin and a step by step video is the next one that will be done.
Once again, Thank you for taking time to download my free plugin and providing valuable feedback.
Hey Josh –
Thanks for your measured and kind response. And thanks for making a free plugin for wordpress…and helping all of us out who want great videos on our WP sites.
D_
You are very welcome
Hi Josh,
Unfortunately I am a bit lost with your potentially great free plugin. i followed the instructions laid out in your readme file:
1. Download and unzip Simple Flash Video.
1. Transfer Simple-Flash-Video directory to your `/wp-content/plugins/` directory
1. CHMOD the congig.xml file to be writeable by all 666 or higher
1. CHMOD the stats folder to be writable by all 666 or higher
1. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
1. Configure the plugin as you desire via the options menu. Click save to keep the file. You can also edit the config.xml manually
1. That’s it! You’re done. You can now enter the following into a post or page in WordPress to insert a video:
[video filename=/video/video.flv /]
- –
ok said and done. so entered this into my post:
[video filename=/wp-content/videos/maniksplash.flv /]
but on my post i just see a hypertext link “Click To Watch!” that then goes to a new window and presents the video. the shadow box isn’t working.
i also can’t find any instructions for where to put the .jpg for each video nor how to name them.
other things that would be great in the read me file:
1) what is the streamer? how do you use it?
2) simple video plugins. how do they work?
3) is this the full plugin url? http://www.planbboy.com/site/wp-content/plugins/simple-flash-video
i can’t find documentation to confirm this.
any help will be appreciated. your plugin looks great, but i can’t get it to work. i’m not a newbie, but i’m not an experiences php programmer either.
thanks for your time,
james
Hey James, Thanks for letting me know what your issues are and having a link for me to check. OK, as for the video not found. You have your site in a directory called: site so you need to include that in your video link. When you use relative links for anything they have to include the full directory after your .com or .whatever. So in your case you need:
[video filename=/site/wp-content/videos/maniksplash.flv /]
That will get the video to show up.
Now, to have an image show up automatically you need to put a .jpg image called maniksplash in the same folder as your video. Basically if you want an image to show up automatically. Put a .jpg image that has the same file name in the same folder and the plugin does the rest. so if your file was called jimbob.flv you need a jimbob.jpg in the same folder. If its jimbob.mp4 it is still jimbob.jpg.
———-
1) what is the streamer? how do you use it?2) simple video plugins. how do they work?
A: That is the means of streaming the video instead of doing progressive downloads. In order to use this you need to have a PHP script or a Streaming Server, or Lighttpd web server. This is some what advanced so I would recomend sticking with out it until you get the hang of things. The benifit is that you can easily jump around videos without downloading everything when using streamer and in some cases also do live events.
———
2) simple video plugins. how do they work?
They are plugins found @ http://www.longtailvideo.com/addons/plugins You can add any plugins you find. Keep in mind some of them require a license to use them.
———-
3) is this the full plugin url? http://www.planbboy.com/site/wp-content/plugins/simple-flash-video
Yes it is, that is where the plugin looks to find the shadowbox and such. I left it editable because at times people had custom setups where the plugin could not detect things (or people wanted to change it) but in this case that is correct and I suggest leaving it.
Now as to why shadowbox is not working. I am not sure. The header seems to load fine. I would recommend trying to disable that audio player you have at the bottom of your page. If it works then we know its a conflict with that and we can try to find a solution. The other trick is to disable all plugins but mine. And see if it works. If it does great. Enable each plugin one by one until it breaks. Let me know which one breaks it so I can take a look.
Thanks!