How long does it take for the video to start playing?

It takes about 3 minutes to download a 1 megabyte video if you have a 56k modem and there is not an unusual amount of traffic on the network. Most of the Horsesales videos take 3-15 minutes to download. Most of our videos are in MPEG format; most browsers on most computers today will play them automatically. If you see (AVI, .5M) next to one of our videos, it means that the video is in "AVI" format and is ".5 megabytes" in size. (MPEG, 2M) means the video is in "MPEG" format and "2 megabytes" in size. Most of our sale horse videos are 2-3 megabytes in size and give you 10 seconds - about 1 minute of video of the horse with a large, clear picture. You have to wait for the entire video to download, our videos are not designed as "streaming videos", in other words they are not designed to play as the video downloads. The longer videos (30 seconds-1 minute) we have are in the Windows Media Video or "WMV" format, the latest technology that enables us to make a long, clear video that doesn't take too long to download.

Why does this video play too fast/too slow?

If you have problems with a video playing too fast, it means that your viewer is playing the video at the wrong frame rate. A few of our videos are recorded at 15 frames per second (fps), and some viewers will need to be set to that speed to play the video correctly. If your viewer's frame rate can not be reset or it does not adjust to the video's frame rate automatically, then you should use a different viewer. All of our sale horse videos are recorded at 30 frames per second and most players today will play them back at the correct frame rate. If the video plays too slow or is jerky and skipping frames, then your computer's video hardware may not be capable of playing full motion video (and so you should get a new computer!)

Do I need to configure a movie viewer?

Starting with Netscape version 3.0 and Internet Explorer version 3.0, playback capability for the AVI video format is built in, so you don't have to configure a viewer for AVI video if you have either of these browsers. However, these browsers did not yet have built-in support for MPEG video, so if you want to watch our MPEG videos with these old browsers, you may need to configure a viewer. Microsoft's "Media Player" can be downloaded free from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/mediaplayer. Media Player supports most of the formats used on the Internet today.

Be advised that the newest Media Player assumes all video is "streaming video" and so it tries to start playing the video as it is downloading. Horsesales videos are not intended for "streaming", so you have to wait for the entire video to download before playing (usually 5-10 minutes). We don't make our videos "stream" in order to preserve picture quality, detail, and size. We don't feel that a blurry video is at all useful when looking at horses to buy, and serious buyers are willing to wait for a good quality video clip to download. Remember you can continue to browse the internet while the download is in progress, it is not necessary to leave your browser on the page where the video link is.

How do I configure a movie viewer?

To view Microsoft AVI videos or MPEG videos on most Windows based PCs, you can use Microsoft's "Video for Windows" and Microsoft's "Media Player", both of which come with most new windows based PCs. If you have a new computer or a late version web browser, you probably don't have to worry about configuring a viewer. Most viewers now automatically set themselves up to work from inside your browser.

If you have a REALLY old computer and/or browser, then in Netscape you can set up movie viewers on the "Options" menu under "Preferences" by highlighting the line for .avi and .mpg files, clicking the "launch application" button, and then typing "c:\windows\mplayer.exe" in the space provided for the application name. However, some versions of "Media Player" don't work on some AVI or MPEG videos. If that is your case, then you can find great video players to download from the Internet. First you should probably download the latest version of Netscape or Internet Explorer - they are free. Then download the latest version of Media Player, free from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/mediaplayer. The new Media Player supports most of the formats used on the Internet today.

Where can I find other good movie viewers on the 'net?

If you don't have "Media Player", "Video For Windows", or the latest browser on your PC, or if they don't work for some videos, you have other options. You can download a Windows program called "NET TOOB" from http://www.duplexx.com/download.html. "NET TOOB" will play both AVI and MPEG videos. What you get is one file called "nettoob.exe". All you have to do to install it is choose "run" from the Program Manager, and type in the full path of the downloaded "nettoob.exe" file, or just double-click on the "nettoob.exe" file's icon. If you do not use Windows 95/98/2000, you will also need to download a "driver" from http://www.duplexx.com/drivers.html. Detailed instructions are included at this site. For more information on "NET TOOB", visit the Duplexx Software home page at http://www.duplexx.com.

What if I have a Macintosh or unix system?

If you are using a Macintosh computer, go to http://www.apple.com to download the new QuickTime player. Go to "Help, FAQs, and Troubleshooting", for more information on viewers for operating systems other than Windows. "Media Player" is now also available for the MAC and can be downloaded from the Microsoft web site.

Still having trouble?

Our recommendation to those of you who are new to computers is to find someone to help you if you need to configure a viewer or download and install a viewer. There are so many different types of computers, video formats, and web browsers that it can be a fairly difficult task to sort out for a new computer user. You may have problems if your computer, modem, or internet connection is very slow, if you don't have a lot of disk space, or if you have old or incompatible hardware/software that is not multimedia friendly. In general, if you have a lot of problems viewing the latest internet media formats, then it is probably time to donate your old computer to charity and buy a new one. The prices are so low now that the computer will pay for itself just in the time you will now have enjoying the new media instead of being frustrated by it.