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f4v flv videos in Captivate 5

Guest
Nov 01, 2010 Nov 01, 2010

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I use Captivate 5 and am creating a session with slides and attached audio files for each slide. I am wanting to insert a video onto one of the slides in Captivate ( I already imported the slides and audio). I converted the video from wmv format to f4v using Adobe Media Converter. I imported the m4v using the appropriate menu option in Captivate. When I publish, the Captivate session will play fine on my PC. I can get to the slide containing the video and it plays as it should when I click the play button on the skin.

However, when I upload the course (which contains an html page with a link to the Captivate session) to our LMS (Saba), and launch the Captivate session, it functions correctly, except for the video. I get to the slide containing the video, the video area of the slide is blank and nothing happens when I click the play button on the skin.

Why would this play fine on my PC and not on the LMS? I read something about the f4v or flv file needing metadata. Is that the problem? If so, how do I get the metadata into the f4v.

The documentation on this from Adobe is scant at best, and not real clear. Some of the documentation is circular and not real helpful.

I’d appreciate any help ASAP.

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LEGEND ,
Nov 01, 2010 Nov 01, 2010

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Welcome to our community

I believe these video files are always external to Captivate and are loaded in and played when they are needed. The behavior you are describing seems to indicate the video file cannot be found.

So my question is to ask if you have ensured the video file has been uploaded to the server? If not, there's your reason.

Cheers... Rick

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New Here ,
May 13, 2011 May 13, 2011

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I have been having the same problem of getting videos to play within my Captivate 5 slides. I am loading a F4V video file as a "Progressive Video Download". We have a network drive which serves as a development web server. If I load the SWF using local mapped drives, then the video file will load within the Captivate file. Example:

Z:\TestSite\userdocs\LMS\World_of_Choices_test3.htm

But if I try to access this same file thru a web address, the video file does not load. Example:

http://nationalforensics.spintest.com/userdocs/LMS/World_of_Choices_test3.htm

In both instances, the SWF file, and associated video files, are in the same directory on the same physical computer. It feels like there is an issue with how Captivate resolves the location of the video file. Like it uses a full path to reference the video file (with the "Z" mapped drive), which would bomb when the file is pulled thru a web server (2nd address below). Is there a way to tell Captivate to look in the same directory as the SWF file to load associated video files?

Does anyone have any thoughts on this, or possible thoughts on what we may be doing incorrectly to get the video files to play on a web site? If you need more information, please let me know.

Thanks!

Randy

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Participant ,
May 15, 2011 May 15, 2011

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Please check whether this blog helps you with the silutation. Most of the time, the problems are in the URL formation:

Workaround for video streaming issues in Captivate « Rapid eLearning | Adobe Captivate Blog

-Sony

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New Here ,
May 19, 2011 May 19, 2011

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I am having the same issue as rvernon:

Video not playing in published mode.
When I publish a project and play it locally on my PC, my inserted .flv video (set up as progressive download) plays properly.  However, when I place these same published files (including the video clip .flv file) on my web or network server, the video does not play.  Is there a common error people make in this process?
I see the last post about offering a solution if "streaming" but is there another link someone can share regarding if the video is set up as "progressive download" but still not playing.  I am assuming this must be something very basic that I am missing.
Thank you.

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New Here ,
Jun 28, 2012 Jun 28, 2012

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I am having the same problem as zendo22. I have a course that's about 90% video. It was made by converting a WMV to a F4V and inserting it as slide video, then publishing it to my LMS. It works fine in preview, but I get a Connection Error message when I try to run the project once it's published to the LMS.

Again, the problem we have is not related to streaming video. The problem we have is with regular ol' progressive download video that no longer works once the project is published to LMS. Why not?

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Community Expert ,
Jun 28, 2012 Jun 28, 2012

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Did the F4V video also get uploaded to the LMS?  Is the video set up using relative links or absolute links?

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New Here ,
Jun 29, 2012 Jun 29, 2012

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Hi Rod, and thanks for your help! The F4V video file was also uploaded to the LMS as part of the package published by Captivate. How can I find out if the link is relative or absolute? The HTM file maybe, or a setting in Captivate, or...?

The Adobe blog gives 4 things to try at http://blogs.adobe.com/captivate/2010/08/connection-error-in-slide-video.html. I verified 1-3 are fine, and emailed our LMS vendor (Geometrix Training Partner) re. #4...

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Community Expert ,
Jun 29, 2012 Jun 29, 2012

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The link to the video is only visible as a setting inside the Captivate UI, not in the HTM code.

Can you show us a screenshot of the dialog in Captivate that shows your link to the video file?

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New Here ,
Jul 02, 2012 Jul 02, 2012

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Thank you Rod, problem solved! For anyone else having this problem: In Captivate, click Video, Video Management; and in the URL box, enter the path to the video on the LMS content server. (Adobe documentation may tell you this is not necessary unless you're using streaming video; don't believe it.) If you're pasting the path from Windows Explorer, it will be in the form \\servername\ -- and that won't work...you'll need to add "http:" at the front of the address and change all the backslashes to forward slashes, like this: http://servername/ (Captivate won't provide an error message about this when you enter the address...although ironically it will provide one if you backspace-out the address).

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Guide ,
Jul 02, 2012 Jul 02, 2012

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Good to know, but I don't think that's a solid solution for a lot of folks. If you're uploading a published Captivate file and it contains a video, you may be able to guess at the final URL for the video...but different LMS products store files differently - setting a hard path to the video is not a 'safe practice'.

If you WERE to do that, a relative path would be far better - when uploading a SCORM package, it's very likely an LMS will keep all assets together so relative references still work (i.e. video/myvideo.flv).

I'm curious what your vendor said about 'number 4':

"Lastly you need to talk to your LMS / Server vendor regarding video hosting. I have specifically seen situations where the LMS vendor has to change configuration to allow video."

This is likely most remedied by 'MIME Types'. While Windows seems to be more picky than *nix in this regard, your web host (LMS or not) should have the FLV and F4V mime types setup on that server so it can properly deliver the video to the end-user. A missing mime type is a very common cause of this no-video issue.

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New Here ,
Jul 02, 2012 Jul 02, 2012

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For our LMS, the admin must specify the path to the final URLs when importing, so there is no guesswork -- it goes where you tell it.

Can you clarify how one would set a relative path? 

Re. the MIME types...we wasted a good part of a day on this. It was not the problem.

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Community Expert ,
Jul 02, 2012 Jul 02, 2012

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If using an LMS, you should be aware that the SCORM standard states all SCOs in the course should be self-contained and not require files outside of their own SCO package in order for the course to play.  That means that a strict SCORM-compliant LMS would expect any videos required for the SCO should be inside the SCO package itself. 

If you copy the video file into the same publish folder location as the SWF, and then republish your SCO with the Zip option ticked, Captivate will ensure the video file is encapsulated within the published zipped SCORM package.  If the video file is sitting in the same folder as the SWF that will be calling it, you can just use the filename of the video file as the relative path to it.  In theory, barring other issues such as blocked mimetypes getting in the way, once the package is housed on the LMS, the SWF should be able to find the video file.

However...

...As I mentioned above, the way the SCORM standard is worded has meant some LMS vendors implement SCORM with the assumption that you will NOT be calling files outside the unzipped SCO.  So the LMS may opt to place the course files in a folder on the web server that CANNOT  be reached via a direct HTTP link. 

For example, Moodle uses a folder called moodledata to house uploaded course files and the recommended practice is to make this folder unreachable via a direct HTTP link so that unauthorised users cannot access content just by copying the link.  In Moodle, when the user is accessing a course, the Moodle SCORM player fetches the course files from the folder outside the web folders and serves them up to the user.  In such a circumstance, you cannot specify a fully qualified link to any files that were uploaded with the course files...video files included.  Relative links from the SWF to the video file in the same SCO package are more likely to work.

Having said this, many course developers nowadays routinely break the SCORM standard and call files outside the SCOs for things such as company logos, style sheets, and of course video sitting on streaming servers. They use fully qualified links, and if they're lucky, and the LMS has no problem with this arrangement, everything works. You have to take it on a case by case basis.

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New Here ,
Jul 03, 2012 Jul 03, 2012

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Very interesting, thank you! Perhaps I will give it a try without the full path and see what happens. Not sure if this matters or not, but our LMS doesn't accept zipped files -- you tell Captivate to publish everything into one folder on the LMS content server; then create the course in the LMS and manually direct the LMS to the xml file and the files comprising the individual units for that course (which, unless you move them, still live in that one folder -- I believe the absolute path I specified in Captivate was to the video within that folder.) Apparently some LMSes pretty much just eat a zip file and do the rest themselves, but ours does not.

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Guest
Nov 30, 2010 Nov 30, 2010

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I'm having the same problem and am serching for a solution.

What I think is happening is that I'm getting to the slide before the video has finished downloading from the server. If I stay on the first page for a minute or so, the videos come up fine on the next page. If I load the cbt and immediately advance, they are blank.

Any way around this? Is there an applet I can add that pauses the page with a download manager that displays the progress of the download?

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Guest
Nov 30, 2010 Nov 30, 2010

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What I did for my situation, was to obtain the video I wanted to play and then convert the video to an FLV file using Adobe Media Encoder. I then inserted the FLV into the Captivate slide and placed audio onto the slide that directed the user to watch the video using the FLV skin and then use the Captivate control bar to proceed when they were finished watching the video. It isn't an "elegant" solution, but it worked for what I needed to do.

FYI - I tried using the video in an F4V format, but our LMS (Saba) didn't like that. The FLV worked fine.

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Guest
Nov 30, 2010 Nov 30, 2010

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I've already got it in flv format, although I didn't use AME to encode it. Guess I'll have to try that, but I'm not sure it will make a difference. I think my problem is the user is getting to the video page before the video finishes downloading, which is a problem as some of my clients are on very slow internet connections.

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Guest
Dec 01, 2010 Dec 01, 2010

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If you imbed the complete flv video into the Captivate slide, then there really isn't a streamnig issue with the video since the entire video is contained inside the published Captivate swf file. So, it shouldn't play at all until you get to the slide containing the video and the user clicks the play button on the flv skin. I apologize if I am not understanding the complete situation, but I am thiking that embedding it will remove the download issue - the video will be enclosed in the Captvate executable.

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Guest
Dec 02, 2010 Dec 02, 2010

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How do you embed it? I just placed the vide files, and they are listed as progressive download files. Once published, they sit with the main flash file. I don't see where to change that.

Thanks!

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Participant ,
Dec 02, 2010 Dec 02, 2010

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You cannot embed video files into the captivate output SWF. They are always external. When you copy the SWF to the LMS (or other servers), you need to copy the FLV/F4V also along with them.

Since these videos are external, there will be buffering (loading) screens. This will be reduced if the bit rate of the video is appropriately selected.

This document could help: Adobe Captivate 5 * Best practices to use slide videos effectively

-Sony

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New Here ,
Aug 19, 2014 Aug 19, 2014

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LATEST

First of all, I know that this thread has been dead for 2 years now.

Second, here's another workaround which worked for me and you would need Adobe Flash for this to work. This totally eliminate the video loading time.

  1. In Adobe Flash, create a new Flash Project.
  2. Set the stage of the Flash project to the same size as the stage in the Captivate project.
  3. Copy the background from Captivate project to the Flash Project.
  4. Insert the video into the Flash project.
  5. In the Flash project, set the coordinates and size of the video (This would be the same coordinates and size that you want the video to appear in the Captivate project).
  6. Publish the Flash project.
  7. Insert the published Flash project (SWF) to Captivate as animation.
  8. Set the animation as if it is the background of the slide.

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