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10 Responses to "Flip4Mac"

1. | Reply Jeff Hume
   Posted 11 Jan 2006 at 2:31pm #
   

   It seems to work quite nicely for me. I'm especially pleased with the web browser plugin. I hated Windows Media Player so much. Unfortunately (fortunately?) we still can't play protected WMV content, but this is a million times better than what we had before.

2. | Reply Mike
   Posted 11 Jan 2006 at 2:50pm #
   

   I still can't get the media content at the BBC. It crashed Safari for me repeatedly.

   Actually, it's always annoyed me that, although the BBC is given special dispensation to fund itself by putting its hand in the viewers' pockets - in effect, it is the only company in the UK that is permitted to level private taxation - it caters for only *some* of the people it loots from, because it mostly uses closed formats. I suppose at least it offers some podcasts as mp3s ... but I digress.

   I wish I could report better luck with Flip4Mac.

3. | Reply Kevin Pearson
   Posted 11 Jan 2006 at 2:53pm #
   

   I've been using version 1.X of Flip4Mac Studio Pro for quite some time and it works very well. Their integration with QuickTime is seemless and I haven't found a wmv it couldn't play.

4. | Reply Daniel
   Posted 11 Jan 2006 at 4:06pm #
   

   I downloaded it today and find that it plays WMVs on my desktop - very cool. They even now have the QT icon and launch QT automatically.

   Also, some songs play correctly with the plugin, but others don't. For example, I can preview soundtracks at amazon.com, but I can't play wsbradio.com's live feed.

   Anything's better than WMP for OS X. This plugin is actually pretty good even.

5. | Reply Nathan
   Posted 11 Jan 2006 at 4:47pm #
   

   It works awesome. However, if you haven't installed it yet, I wouldn't. It has a bug that crashes QuickTime (or Safari if you use the plugin) whenever you close a movie (or close a window/tab) under QuickTime 7.0.4. The forums for it mention this and say they are working on it, but don't say when they expect a fix.
   What is the connection to Microsoft? I had used Flip4Mac before, but someone just pointed me to the Microsoft link. I thought Microsoft must have bought them out, it was really hard to tell from Microsoft's page that this was from a third-party.
   The performance just stomps over the incredibly crappy WMP.

6. | Reply Nathan
   Posted 11 Jan 2006 at 4:57pm #
   

   I should clarify, QuickTime/Safari only crash when you play something that uses the Flip4Mac components. It won't crash when closing a QuickTime movie or MP3. Still, it sucks when closing a tab crashes Safari and the other 10 windows you had open. And Saft and its crash recovery ability aren't working until the developer releases a new version to work with the new Safari build.
   But as long as you are aware of the bug, I still prefer it to WMP.

7. | Reply Bud Landry
   Posted 11 Jan 2006 at 10:50pm #
   

   It is not completely transparent, although it is a bit of a surprise the first time you click on a WMV and quicktime opens it. I use VLC as well, and I think it it might even be convenient to merely have WiMP installed as well, for the convenience of web pages expecting it. I have so far avoided installing WiMP on my tiger Powerbook, but I don't think I am gaining that much by leaving it off. I was initially going to try to keep the PowerBook as 'cocoa' as possible, but I gave up on that as well.

   But how does it compare, or where does it stand, now that Microsoft has apparently given the WiMP codec over for quicktime, without using Flip4Mac?

8. | Reply Patrick Q-G
   Posted 12 Jan 2006 at 6:00am #
   

   I'm using it, and yes the crashing bug is a little annoying. I didn't immediately place the blame at Flip4Mac, but of course now it makes sense.

   I think I'll force it to open in QT to save Safari, at least in theory.

9. | Reply Antonio
   Posted 12 Jan 2006 at 12:37pm #
   

   There should be a new version of Flip4Mac, compatible with QT 7.0.4, today sometime. Check the site to upgrade.

10. | Reply Antonio
    Posted 20 Jan 2006 at 2:56pm #
    

    There is an update to Flip4Mac which corrects a conflict introduced with QT 7.0.4. You'll have to get it directly from http://www.flip4mac.com. It's version 2.0.1. The Microsoft download has not been updated yet.