Embedded WMP with SSL source

For an intranet application, I'm streaming .wmv files and showing in embedded
media player. With some experimentation with the markup, I can get this to
work with IE 6 and Firefox on Windows (with WMP 10.0), plus Safari and IE 5
on Mac OSX (with WMP 9.0).

When the application is in production everything must be over SSL, but when
I test this, the embedded player in Firefox on Windows, and in Safari or IE
on OSX, fails. The only difference is the url switched to https rather than
http.

Anybody any ideas? Is it possible to do cross-browser embedded video over SSL?

Many thanks

Ian

On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 06:49:02 -0800, "iansugar"
<iansugar@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>For an intranet application, I'm streaming .wmv files and showing in embedded
>media player. With some experimentation with the markup, I can get this to
>work with IE 6 and Firefox on Windows (with WMP 10.0), plus Safari and IE 5
>on Mac OSX (with WMP 9.0).
>
>When the application is in production everything must be over SSL, but when
>I test this, the embedded player in Firefox on Windows, and in Safari or IE
>on OSX, fails. The only difference is the url switched to https rather than
>http.
>
>Anybody any ideas? Is it possible to do cross-browser embedded video over SSL?

Do you have an http proxy that's blocking the https request URL ?

On your standalone player, if you go to Tools -> Options -> Network,
for the http option, does the Proxy column say "None" or something
else ?

If it *has* a value other than "None", then choose HTTP and click
Configure - does it help to choose "Do not use a proxy server" or
"Bypass proxy server for local addresses" (or maybe *specify* do not
use proxy for https://yadda address) ?

Cheers - Neil

Thanks for the prompt message.

It was configured to use settings of the browser. I have now tried it with
"Do not use a proxy server" but no difference.

Note that it works fine with the embedded WMP in IE 6, even with https, but
in Firefox and on the Mac it fails, where it did work with http.

Anyone have any other ideas?

"Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media]" wrote:

> On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 06:49:02 -0800, "iansugar"
> <iansugar@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> >For an intranet application, I'm streaming .wmv files and showing in embedded
> >media player. With some experimentation with the markup, I can get this to
> >work with IE 6 and Firefox on Windows (with WMP 10.0), plus Safari and IE 5
> >on Mac OSX (with WMP 9.0).
> >
> >When the application is in production everything must be over SSL, but when
> >I test this, the embedded player in Firefox on Windows, and in Safari or IE
> >on OSX, fails. The only difference is the url switched to https rather than
> >http.
> >
> >Anybody any ideas? Is it possible to do cross-browser embedded video over SSL?
>
> Do you have an http proxy that's blocking the https request URL ?
>
> On your standalone player, if you go to Tools -> Options -> Network,
> for the http option, does the Proxy column say "None" or something
> else ?
>
> If it *has* a value other than "None", then choose HTTP and click
> Configure - does it help to choose "Do not use a proxy server" or
> "Bypass proxy server for local addresses" (or maybe *specify* do not
> use proxy for https://yadda address) ?
>
> Cheers - Neil
>

Update on this one: With the embedded player (WMP 10) in Firefox, I
right-click the player and look at properties. The Location field shows
..\https://..., i.e. it has been prefixed with dot and slash. Doing the same
thing with IE, there is no dot and slash and it works. That could explain it,
but where did the .\ come from I wonder? Doesn't happen when the URL is http.

On the Mac, I can't find out if the problem is similar because the embedded
player doesn't show any options. It just pops up a window saying "Cannot open
the file. Verify that the path and filename are correct and try again.".
Again, when the source is http, it works.

Regards, Ian

"iansugar" wrote:

> Thanks for the prompt message.
>
> It was configured to use settings of the browser. I have now tried it with
> "Do not use a proxy server" but no difference.
>
> Note that it works fine with the embedded WMP in IE 6, even with https, but
> in Firefox and on the Mac it fails, where it did work with http.
>
> Anyone have any other ideas?
>
> "Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media]" wrote:
>
> > On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 06:49:02 -0800, "iansugar"
> > <iansugar@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> >
> > >For an intranet application, I'm streaming .wmv files and showing in embedded
> > >media player. With some experimentation with the markup, I can get this to
> > >work with IE 6 and Firefox on Windows (with WMP 10.0), plus Safari and IE 5
> > >on Mac OSX (with WMP 9.0).
> > >
> > >When the application is in production everything must be over SSL, but when
> > >I test this, the embedded player in Firefox on Windows, and in Safari or IE
> > >on OSX, fails. The only difference is the url switched to https rather than
> > >http.
> > >
> > >Anybody any ideas? Is it possible to do cross-browser embedded video over SSL?
> >
> > Do you have an http proxy that's blocking the https request URL ?
> >
> > On your standalone player, if you go to Tools -> Options -> Network,
> > for the http option, does the Proxy column say "None" or something
> > else ?
> >
> > If it *has* a value other than "None", then choose HTTP and click
> > Configure - does it help to choose "Do not use a proxy server" or
> > "Bypass proxy server for local addresses" (or maybe *specify* do not
> > use proxy for https://yadda address) ?
> >
> > Cheers - Neil
> >

OK I guess I'm lost. Any chance of posting the URL - I can test it in
all those combinations you've listed, to see what's common.

Just out of interest, if you ignore the embedded part of the equation,
and open the URL as written in the web page within the standalone
media player on Mac / Win, does it work then ?

Cheers - Neil

On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 09:02:06 -0800, "iansugar"
<iansugar@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>Update on this one: With the embedded player (WMP 10) in Firefox, I
>right-click the player and look at properties. The Location field shows
>.\https://..., i.e. it has been prefixed with dot and slash. Doing the same
>thing with IE, there is no dot and slash and it works. That could explain it,
>but where did the .\ come from I wonder? Doesn't happen when the URL is http.
>
>On the Mac, I can't find out if the problem is similar because the embedded
>player doesn't show any options. It just pops up a window saying "Cannot open
>the file. Verify that the path and filename are correct and try again.".
>Again, when the source is http, it works.
>
>Regards, Ian
>
>"iansugar" wrote:
>
>> Thanks for the prompt message.
>>
>> It was configured to use settings of the browser. I have now tried it with
>> "Do not use a proxy server" but no difference.
>>
>> Note that it works fine with the embedded WMP in IE 6, even with https, but
>> in Firefox and on the Mac it fails, where it did work with http.
>>
>> Anyone have any other ideas?
>>
>> "Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media]" wrote:
>>
>> > On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 06:49:02 -0800, "iansugar"
>> > <iansugar@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>> >
>> > >For an intranet application, I'm streaming .wmv files and showing in embedded
>> > >media player. With some experimentation with the markup, I can get this to
>> > >work with IE 6 and Firefox on Windows (with WMP 10.0), plus Safari and IE 5
>> > >on Mac OSX (with WMP 9.0).
>> > >
>> > >When the application is in production everything must be over SSL, but when
>> > >I test this, the embedded player in Firefox on Windows, and in Safari or IE
>> > >on OSX, fails. The only difference is the url switched to https rather than
>> > >http.
>> > >
>> > >Anybody any ideas? Is it possible to do cross-browser embedded video over SSL?
>> >
>> > Do you have an http proxy that's blocking the https request URL ?
>> >
>> > On your standalone player, if you go to Tools -> Options -> Network,
>> > for the http option, does the Proxy column say "None" or something
>> > else ?
>> >
>> > If it *has* a value other than "None", then choose HTTP and click
>> > Configure - does it help to choose "Do not use a proxy server" or
>> > "Bypass proxy server for local addresses" (or maybe *specify* do not
>> > use proxy for https://yadda address) ?
>> >
>> > Cheers - Neil
>> >

Sorry no, the actual URLs are in an internal application I'm developing for a
client and the videos are private.

As for opening with WMP directly, good point. On the Mac, it doesn't work,
says the stream is not a recognised type. On the PC, yes it works fine. (As
it does with the embedded Active X player on IE)

Is it actually supported and possible to have wmv files playing in embedded
player on Mac and/or Firefox when the source URL is https? Even with my
stripped-down little tests on my local dev machine it doesn't seem to like
it...

Thanks for your support

Ian



"Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media]" wrote:

> OK I guess I'm lost. Any chance of posting the URL - I can test it in
> all those combinations you've listed, to see what's common.
>
> Just out of interest, if you ignore the embedded part of the equation,
> and open the URL as written in the web page within the standalone
> media player on Mac / Win, does it work then ?
>
> Cheers - Neil
>
> On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 09:02:06 -0800, "iansugar"
> <iansugar@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> >Update on this one: With the embedded player (WMP 10) in Firefox, I
> >right-click the player and look at properties. The Location field shows
> >.\https://..., i.e. it has been prefixed with dot and slash. Doing the same
> >thing with IE, there is no dot and slash and it works. That could explain it,
> >but where did the .\ come from I wonder? Doesn't happen when the URL is http.
> >
> >On the Mac, I can't find out if the problem is similar because the embedded
> >player doesn't show any options. It just pops up a window saying "Cannot open
> >the file. Verify that the path and filename are correct and try again.".
> >Again, when the source is http, it works.
> >
> >Regards, Ian
> >
> >"iansugar" wrote:
> >
> >> Thanks for the prompt message.
> >>
> >> It was configured to use settings of the browser. I have now tried it with
> >> "Do not use a proxy server" but no difference.
> >>
> >> Note that it works fine with the embedded WMP in IE 6, even with https, but
> >> in Firefox and on the Mac it fails, where it did work with http.
> >>
> >> Anyone have any other ideas?
> >>
> >> "Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media]" wrote:
> >>
> >> > On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 06:49:02 -0800, "iansugar"
> >> > <iansugar@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > >For an intranet application, I'm streaming .wmv files and showing in embedded
> >> > >media player. With some experimentation with the markup, I can get this to
> >> > >work with IE 6 and Firefox on Windows (with WMP 10.0), plus Safari and IE 5
> >> > >on Mac OSX (with WMP 9.0).
> >> > >
> >> > >When the application is in production everything must be over SSL, but when
> >> > >I test this, the embedded player in Firefox on Windows, and in Safari or IE
> >> > >on OSX, fails. The only difference is the url switched to https rather than
> >> > >http.
> >> > >
> >> > >Anybody any ideas? Is it possible to do cross-browser embedded video over SSL?
> >> >
> >> > Do you have an http proxy that's blocking the https request URL ?
> >> >
> >> > On your standalone player, if you go to Tools -> Options -> Network,
> >> > for the http option, does the Proxy column say "None" or something
> >> > else ?
> >> >
> >> > If it *has* a value other than "None", then choose HTTP and click
> >> > Configure - does it help to choose "Do not use a proxy server" or
> >> > "Bypass proxy server for local addresses" (or maybe *specify* do not
> >> > use proxy for https://yadda address) ?
> >> >
> >> > Cheers - Neil
> >> >
>
>

On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 10:05:01 -0800, "iansugar"
<iansugar@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>Sorry no, the actual URLs are in an internal application I'm developing for a
>client and the videos are private.
>
>As for opening with WMP directly, good point. On the Mac, it doesn't work,
>says the stream is not a recognised type.

Is it perhaps, a saved LiveMeeting stream ? i.e can you open the file
locally from the Mac HD and have it play at all ? It might be this
issue if it's sourced from LiveMeeting :

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=8...21120121120120

> On the PC, yes it works fine. (As
>it does with the embedded Active X player on IE)
>
>Is it actually supported and possible to have wmv files playing in embedded
>player on Mac and/or Firefox when the source URL is https?

Ah now this is interesting : http://support.microsoft.com/?id=285028

Applies to "WMP6.4". And guess which version of WMP Firefox
instantiates when you embed it ? Does that help any ?

Having said that this page indicates a problem with WMP10 too
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;885136 but if
as you say, you can play it using IE embedded player, that would imply
the browser decrypts and caches the file, then passes it off to WMP to
play it.

I've no explanation why this doesn't happen for IE5 on Mac, but I
guess in FF it hands WMP the https URL directly as a registered
handler, wheras IE I would expect is handling the file itself first.

Cheers - Neil

Hi Neil, thanks for all the info, and sorry for the late response. Had a week
away from the computer

> Is it perhaps, a saved LiveMeeting stream ? i.e can you open the file
> locally from the Mac HD and have it play at all ? It might be this
> issue if it's sourced from LiveMeeting :

No the videos are not from LiveMeeting. I don't know how they are recorded
but they are regular music videos. Yes the file is fine if I put it on the
Mac and open it with WMP. It's just the https that stops it.

> >Is it actually supported and possible to have wmv files playing in embedded
> >player on Mac and/or Firefox when the source URL is https?
>
> Ah now this is interesting : http://support.microsoft.com/?id=285028
>
> Applies to "WMP6.4". And guess which version of WMP Firefox
> instantiates when you embed it ? Does that help any ?

Yes, that explains it. Looks like I will have to explain that I can't
support Ffx with the SSL videos...

> I've no explanation why this doesn't happen for IE5 on Mac, but I
> guess in FF it hands WMP the https URL directly as a registered
> handler, wheras IE I would expect is handling the file itself first.

Sounds like a reasonable explanation. At least we have RealPlayer versions
for Mac - that seems to work fine over SSL ;-)

Thanks again for your efforts

Ian