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MediaFrame frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions

These are questions that seem to pop up fairly often. If you have a question that isn't addressed here, feel free to ask in the support forums.

General (^top)

  • Why do some question have no answers?
    That's life. We are working on getting the frequently asked questions up as soon as possible, unfortunately the delay has caused another frequently asked question!
  • What is MediaFrame?
    MediaFrame is an Open Source streaming media platform in Java™ which provides a fast, easy to implement and extremely small applet that enables over 97% (AdShadow 2002-03) of web users to view your audio/video content without having to rely on external player applications or bulky plug-ins.
  • Who developed the original technology?
    MediaFrame was original developed for use in advertising by London based agency Airlock Limited. The project was started in early 2001 under the name 'Dilate' and was first used commercially the following year, delivering video for clients such as Vodafone and Diesel. The software subsequently made it's public debeut with a strong presence at CBit in 2003. Airlock gifted the source code to the open source community mid 2004 to help to ensure it's future development, but retain the rights for non-GPL source distribution.
  • How much does it cost? Can I donate?
    MediaFrame is a Free, Open Source streaming media platform. However we welcome donations through our PayPal and other channels via our donations page. You can also help in other ways, like contributing to the community by getting involed in the forums, donating your time through promoting MediaFrame or by extending the software and contributing code.
  • How does MediaFrame relate to other streaming technologies?
    MediaFrame isn't a traditional streaming media platform; it escews RTSP in it's current form in favour of the standard HTTP aand FTP protocals. By delivering media over HTTP, MediaFrame removes the need for a seperate streaming server, thus significantly lowering the barrier to entry by reducing the cost and understanding needed to get your media online.
  • What are the major features?
    Please refer to either the feature list on our home-page or the project documentation which can be found here.
  • Where can I find help?
    The best place to start is always the support forums. There is no registration required to post and there are usually users and developers there willing to answer questions. Be sure to use the search feature to see if your problem has already been addressed.
  • What documentation is available?
    MediaFrame has comprehensive and professionally written documentation available for all of the software that makes up the project. You can download the manuals and reference materials here. In addition there is slew of interesting and relevent information to be found within the support forums.
  • How can I get involved in the MediaFrame community?
    Post your suggestions and requests for features in the forums. Design or alter some of the code to add functionality. Got some cool ideas on an innovative design? By all means, build them and show them off! If you want to be directly involved in the daily development of MediaFrame, the best way is to show your competence by building clean hacks or patches that conform to the developer guidelines. Once you have some code out there, contact us and we'll get you involved more directly with development.

Using MediaFrame (^top)

  • How do I decide which version of MediaFrame to use?
    MediaFrame is available in two different flavours: Mpeg-1 & Mpeg-4. The Mpeg-1 version of MediaFrame is more stable and feature complete as of version 2.0. You should use this version for production and high load environments. The latest of release of MediaFrame for Mpeg-4 is well on the way to being as stable as it's counterpart and has the added benefit of using a format that was specifically designed for the web. This makes it capable of playing back much higher resolutions. Head to the download page for a full breakdown of the versions available.
  • What's the quickest way to embed MediaFrame in my site?
    We provide a code generator that will create all of the code needed to get you going. In additionally, there are sample embed files included with all of the precompiled packages on the download page. Full parameter listings can be found in the online documentation.
  • Do you have a list of parameters available for MediaFrame?
    A full parameter list can be found in the MediaFrame project documentation, available for download here, and to view online here.
  • What format should the pre and post images be in?
    MediaFrame will load either Jpeg or Gif images for rotation before and after a video.
  • Is a domain key still required for MediaFrame?
    No, the use of a domain key was phased out with the release of MediaFrame for Mpeg-1 version 2.0, largly because of community pressure and well made arguments such as this.
  • How long should it take for my video to start playback?
    How long is a piece of string? Sorry to be flippant, but there are so many externally limiting factors at work that it is impossible to say for sure. The main factors impacting on playback time are the length and size of the video and the speed of your and you users connection to the Internet. You can modify the amount of the video to pre-buffer by changing the 'buffer_size' paremetar. You can read more here.
  • What do the error codes mean?
    Section 7 of the project documentation deals with error reporting and the error codes.
  • Can MediaFrame be run from a CD or DVD?
    Yes. Since the removal of the domain key, there is nothing stopping you running MediaFrame from a CD, DVD, zip disk, local fileserver or any number of other devices.
  • Can I use MediaFrame with a streaming server like Darwin?
    It depends who you ask! Some users have had sucesses with Darwin and Helix via HTTP, but we must stress that the technology is currently untested in this field. Check the boards for other users experiences and please feel free to ask your own questions.
  • How does MediaFrame detect a users connection speed?
    MediaFrame detects a users connection to the delivery server at the point of delivery by timing how long it takes for the software to download a series of small files. MediaFrame starts by pulling down a small file and then steps up to a slightly bigger file if the first file is downloaded quickly enough. This process is continued until the users maximum throughput capability is found. These tests take between a quarter of a second to two seconds to complete and are a very accurate way of determining the available bandwidth.
  • Can I supply a fallback image for users that don't have Java installed?
    Yes, the applet code allows for a 'noapplet' tag to be speciifed. You can include standard HTML elements within this space, including images and text. The sample files that ship with all MediaFrame packages include text instructing users how to install Java.

Requirements (^top)

  • What are the end user system requirements?
    MediaFrame is available in two different flavours: Mpeg-1 & Mpeg-4. The Mpeg-1 version of MediaFrame is more stable and feature complete as of version 2.0. You should use this version for production and high load environments. The latest of release of MediaFrame for Mpeg-4 is well on the way to being as stable as it's counterpart and has the added benefit of using a format that was specifically designed for the web. This makes it capable of playing back much higher resolutions. Head to the download page for a full breakdown of the versions available.
  • Do I need special server software to deliver MediaFrame?
    No. MediaFrame streams over HTTP and is compatable with 100% of web servers, from Apache to IIS and beyond.
  • How do I upgrade from previous versions?
    MediaFrame is a stand alone package with nothing to install on your machine or server. To upgrade simply download the latest version of our software and unpack it to the correct directory within your site, overwriting previous versions.
  • What kind of basic skillset should I have?
    An understanding of HTML would definately aid you in getting MediaFrame to work well with your existing content, but it is by no means essentual. We've aimed to make our documentation as simple as possible to the point that most users will be able to get by with copy and paste.

Encoding for MediaFrame (^top)

  • What encoding software can be used with MediaFrame?
    You have a list of recommended encoders that we try to keep up to date. It's also worth visiting the support forums as there are several interesting discussions on this subject.
  • Why don't you have your own encoder?
    We're working on an encoder for MediaFrame at the moment, but as you'll appreciate, it's a big job and will take some time to finish, especially as we want to get it right first time.
  • My audio and video fall out of sync. What can I do?
    This is usually to do with the speed of the system used for encoding. Older and those machines with low RAM will have trouble encoding video and will often produce video that falls out of sync. The power of the playback machine is also a factor. The larger the viewable video area, the more resources required for seemless playback. You will need to weigh up the average system of your users with the size of the video that you provide, or look to offer multiple sizes.

MediaFrame and Digital Rights Management (^top)

  • Where can I find out more about your DRM solution?
    There's a dedicated page available here.
  • How can I get hold of MediaFrame's DRM solution?
    Contact us for more information.
  • How much does it cost?
    The current rate price for MDRM is $1,200 per year (approximately £660). We're currently reviewing commerical pricing and will be adding an online shop at some point in the near future. Contact us for more information.
  • Why isn't it Open Source?
    To open source MDRM would mean giving away the keys to unlock our users protected content, which would render the technology useless.

Requests and Feedback (^top)

  • How do I report bugs, or find information on known bugs and issues?
    We don't currently have a bug tracking interface in place, which means that all bugs are reported via the support forum. This is also where you find most information on existing issues with the technology.
  • How do I request a new feature?
    You can either contact us with your request, or post to the dedicated feature request thread in our forums.
  • How do I let you know what I like or dislike about MediaFrame?
    Our preference for feedback is always to hear it via the forums as your views will help to stimulate debate and build the MediaFrame community.
  • Can I ask the developers a question directly?
    You can certainly drop us a line via our contact page. We vet all developer related questions in an effort to keep their time as free to develop as possible, but you may get lucky!

Beta versions (^top)

  • Are there preview or beta versions available?
    Both! We release preview, beta and alpha versions of our technology and source code as soon as they are available.
  • How do I find out about them?
    We release beta versions of MediaFrame alongside full releases on our download page. To be kept up to date with the latest news and releases from the project, join our mailing list.
  • Are they safe to use?
    MediaFrame doesn't install anything on the end users system, so there is no OS-level risk to using the technology. However beta releases may not be bug free and may not playback your audio and video as expected. Because of this they should be treated with caution and not be used in a production environment.

Miscellaneous (^top)

  • Can I be part of the development team?
    Yes, of course! The best way to get involved at this level is to download the source code, familiarize yourself with the technology and then jump right in and add a feature, fix a bug or improve performance.
  • Does MediaFrame work on mobile devices?
    In theory MediaFrame should work on all Java enabled devices, however because of the differences between implementations of the JMF, this is not the case. There is a development version available for the Symbian platform, but it is very early and has only been tested on the Nokia Communicator. You can download the source here.