Silverlight on C9 | The Coffeehouse

Vasudev

Both links works for me on IE7 on XP SP2
using Silverlight1.0
Addition of Silverlight on Channel9 is very nice.

Sampy
This will be the sixth time we have destroyed it and we have become exceedingly efficient at it

I can reproduce this now by using Fiddler to act as my proxy. When I have Fiddler on, I can't load videos but when I turn it off I can.

Duncan and I will take a look. Today is the final day of our Sprint though so we may be a bit busy shipping the last thing we're working on so we can show it off in the review tomorrow.

Stebet
Buuuurrrritoooo!

Sampy wrote:
I can reproduce this now by using Fiddler to act as my proxy. When I have Fiddler on, I can't load videos but when I turn it off I can.

Duncan and I will take a look. Today is the final day of our Sprint though so we may be a bit busy shipping the last thing we're working on so we can show it off in the review tomorrow.

This is definitely a proxy problem. I disabled my proxy in IE7 and now all the Silverlight stuff works fine. Now the question is, does the proxy server need to change something (ISA Server) or is this a bug in silverlight/javascript code?

Sampy
This will be the sixth time we have destroyed it and we have become exceedingly efficient at it

I've got our resident Silverlight evangelist Adam Kinney set up with the repro and on the case Smiley

I'm pretty sure it's a Silverlight issue because the error I'm getting is a MediaFailed event from the MediaElement control. Full report to follow after we know what's up.

Sampy
This will be the sixth time we have destroyed it and we have become exceedingly efficient at it

In IE, try setting your proxy using one of the following:
1. Auto-detect
2. Auto config script
3. Setting a server then checking the "Use this for all protocols" checkbox under Advanced

In Firefox, I can get it to work with just the HTTP proxy set.

Minh
WOOH! WOOH!

Sampy wrote:
In IE, try setting your proxy using one of the following:
1. Auto-detect
2. Auto config script
3. Setting a server then checking the "Use this for all protocols" checkbox under Advanced

In Firefox, I can get it to work with just the HTTP proxy set.

Is this a problem w/ :

* Client ISP?
* C9 video servers?
* Client internet settings?

Why is it that I've never heard of these problems for Flash video?

Is this the fly-in-the-soup for "it just works"?

Sampy
This will be the sixth time we have destroyed it and we have become exceedingly efficient at it

Flash video is basically just an HTTP request for an FLV file. It's exactly the same as downloading a WMV for playback.

The problem is happening on the client. I can't speak for sure about who's "fault" it is but what seems to be happening is that when the Silverlight plug-in tries to connect to the streaming server using RTSP, the internet standard streaming protocol, it only gets the proper proxy to use if you have it set up like I indicate above. Otherwise it fails to connect and our code gets a "MediaFailed" event.

Now I don't know if IE is giving Silverlight the wrong answer or if Silverlight is asking the wrong question when it comes to getting that proxy server. I've found other bugs/limitations that only appear in one browser. If there are any Flash devs in the house, I'm sure they can rattle off quite a few bugs. Heck, Apple broke our QuickTime player in Firefox with an update a month or so ago. Totally busted dynamic scripting; thankfully we knew a chain of people and got the word that a fix was coming.

We're working around the ones we can and reporting the ones we can't. The Silverlight team is getting these bugs and while I don't know any ETA on fixes, we're doing our best to ensure they get fixes.

Please keep letting us know if there are any more errors. I'm going to go get some lunch Smiley

Minh
WOOH! WOOH!

Sampy wrote:
the Silverlight plug-in tries to connect to the streaming server using RTSP

Well, at least that means that an ISV could fix the problem by throwing the video onto the HTTP server instead. I guess Silverlight won't drive MMS licences afterall.

Hopefully, Silverlight or the player works like YouTube so that once the file is loaded, the user can navigate back & forth freely.

Sampy wrote:

if you have it set up like I indicate above

Unfortunately, that is not an option for the end-user of a product from an ISV with virtually zero ability to do phone support. But, then, scrubbing isn't as big a deal as some people think.

Users just want to 1) click play 2) seat back & watch video.

Well, Silverlight 1.0 is literally that 1.0 product.

SecretSoftware
Code to live, but Live to code.

I visited C9 today, and my browser talked!

It said to me: "I once was blind , but now I see!"

Great Job. I liked using FireFox, its just faster on my PC.

Before I would not be able to view videos and had to download them and view them on external player, but now I can see them on the website, and fast forward right to the points I am interested in, skipping some of the dull moments in some videos.

Very cool upgrade, and I think it took C9 user experience to the next level.

I only wished if replying to posts would be in situ in the same thread page rather than going to a new reply page. Also, if the site would load a bit more fast it would just be awesome.

One of the things that makes an experience fun is its easiness and how fast the experience is.

On the whole, very cool indeed! Wink

Sampy
This will be the sixth time we have destroyed it and we have become exceedingly efficient at it

SecretSoftware wrote:
I only wished if replying to posts would be in situ in the same thread page rather than going to a new reply page. Also, if the site would load a bit more fast it would just be awesome.

The Beta can offer you nothing in this regard. Nothing!

Oh wait...

Minh
WOOH! WOOH!

mabster wrote:
Can I pause one of these vids and let the whole thing stream down on a slow connection, like I can on Youtube?

There doesn't seem to be any visual indication of how much has already come down, even while paused.

mabster

Ah! I wasn't seeing the dark-gray "buffer" progress yesterday, but today I am. Don't know if something has changed at the server end in the last 24 hours. Perplexed

Edit: Hmm ... does it depend on the video? I see the buffer progress on the "Code to Live" vid, but not on the "Vista SP1" vid.

CannotResolveSymbol
Microsoft: Who do you want to execute today?

mabster wrote:
Ah! I wasn't seeing the dark-gray "buffer" progress yesterday, but today I am. Don't know if something has changed at the server end in the last 24 hours.

Edit: Hmm ... does it depend on the video? I see the buffer progress on the "Code to Live" vid, but not on the "Vista SP1" vid.

Yes. An HTTP-based video would show the buffer progress, but an MMS-based (streaming) video would not. Channel 9 only appears to fall back to HTTP if the video is not available as an MMS stream.

mabster

CannotResolveSymbol wrote:
Yes. An HTTP-based video would show the buffer progress, but an MMS-based (streaming) video would not. Channel 9 only appears to fall back to HTTP if the video is not available as an MMS stream.

In that case I'd much prefer that all vids were HTTP-based. The MMS-based ones stutter on low-bandwidth connections (like at home if I'm doing *anything* else on my link).

At least an option to switch would be nice. It's great to be able to pause a vid and let the whole thing buffer before you play it.

RichardRudek
So what do you expect for nothin'... :P

Sampy wrote:

I've got our resident Silverlight evangelist Adam Kinney set up with the repro and on the case

I'm pretty sure it's a Silverlight issue because the error I'm getting is a MediaFailed event from the MediaElement control. Full report to follow after we know what's up.

I did a quick check using Firefox 2.0.7 and firebug. I think there's an issue with the javascript includes. For example, what's the point of the innerHTML statement, marked below:

the script being scavenged from here:

and pasted into VS2005, formatted, etc.

OH, and silverlight.net works fine in the same browser setup.

EDIT: Obviously what I've highlighted is not THE problem, but I'm not motivated to go any further...

HumanCompiler
Compiling humans...and code

mabster wrote:

CannotResolveSymbol wrote: Yes. An HTTP-based video would show the buffer progress, but an MMS-based (streaming) video would not. Channel 9 only appears to fall back to HTTP if the video is not available as an MMS stream.

In that case I'd much prefer that all vids were HTTP-based. The MMS-based ones stutter on low-bandwidth connections (like at home if I'm doing *anything* else on my link).

At least an option to switch would be nice. It's great to be able to pause a vid and let the whole thing buffer before you play it.

Sooooo the point of MMS is to make the video work well for different bandwidth types. If we switch to all http videos, then there is only one bit-rate being streamed down to you so you'll have to wait. MMS sends down a slower bit rate of video if your bandwidth is slower. This should make it work better for everyone so you don't have to pause and wait for it to queue up. If there's a consistent problem with MMS then we may need to see if our MMS servers are flaky.

HumanCompiler
Compiling humans...and code

Sampy wrote:

SecretSoftware wrote: I only wished if replying to posts would be in situ in the same thread page rather than going to a new reply page. Also, if the site would load a bit more fast it would just be awesome.

The Beta can offer you nothing in this regard. Nothing!

Oh wait...

Sampy, funny...har har! To be exact:

Add/Editing posts will be inline (below the posts) so the video can still be playing while you reply. Since it's all AJAX now, you can also submit it and see your new post and even page through the comments while the video is playing.
The beta will be much much faster. Check back tomorrow.

Sven Groot
My name has 9 letters. Coincidence? I think not...

The thing with HTTP based vids is, at least you can wait. If an MMS stream isn't working right, tough luck. You're not going to be able to watch the video (except as a slide show or with 10 second waits every 5 seconds).

YouTube is incredibly slow from here for some reason. Downloading a 10 minute video can easily take up to an hour (and I'm on a 20Mbps connection). But I can just leave the browser window open for that time and then come back and watch it. With MMS you can't do that. And unfortunately, flaky MMS streams are far too common, not just on C9, but everywhere.

BlackTiger
If you stumbled and fell down, it doesn't mean yet, that you're going in the wrong direction.

SilverBug! Next "hell" - "SilverLight Hell"!

I have SL 1.1 installed and now I have "Get SilverLight" image. Player doesn't recognizes SL version properly.

Nothing works for me on FF + Vista.

[6] Mad

BlackTiger
If you stumbled and fell down, it doesn't mean yet, that you're going in the wrong direction.

After uninstalling SL 1.1 and reinstalling SL1.0 player works.

WTF? You can't recognize version? Or SL1.1 is so incompatible with SL1.0?

BlackTiger
If you stumbled and fell down, it doesn't mean yet, that you're going in the wrong direction.

Videos on C8 still not working.

IE7 reports "Error on page":

Line: 286
Char: 1
Error: AG_E_RUNTIME_SETVALUE : Source
Code: 2203
URL: http://channel8.msdn.com

Silverlight 1.0, IE7, Vista.

Perplexed

BlackTiger
If you stumbled and fell down, it doesn't mean yet, that you're going in the wrong direction.

Bloody hell! I found a problem! At least for IE7.

Bloody security! I are doing something what is restricted in "Internet" zone. I've placed "*.msdn.com" to "Trusted" and now C8 works well (there was everything Ok with C9 videos...).

But FF reports in "Error Console":

Permission denied to get property HTMLObjectElement.offsetLeft

And then:

Error setting property on scriptable plugin object! [plugin exception: AG_E_RUNTIME_SETVALUE : Source]

androidi

The seeking bar in the player on the channel 9 sampy interview page has some issues: Trying seek to specific previous position after the video has been playing for a while such as 5:00 after video is at 5:50 results the slider going to 2:00 but if you release it it does play from 5:00.

TiAdiMundo

Some minor things:

can we get a seeking bar in full screen mode?
keyboard controls in full screen mode (like Ctrl+P = Pause)
and the waiting animation circle rotates in the wrong direction! looks silly

BlackTiger
If you stumbled and fell down, it doesn't mean yet, that you're going in the wrong direction.

One more issue: 85-90% CPU utilization during playback in fullscreen mode. (CPU Intel T2500, Intel GMA 950, 2GB RAM)