I’m using WAMP and by default the PHP.ini file gives it 128MB to work with. I upped that to 1028MB and now I can play videos that are in the 90 minute range.

In WAMP you can change the memory limit by opening the PHP.ini file – locate it by clicking on the WAMP server icon in the system tray -> PHP -> php.ini.

Now search for “memory_limit”. Change the max amount of memory a script my consume and you should be good to go.

Addendum
In the comments below a user – Mike – suggested that the problem lies with the last line of code in the xmoov.php file.

print(fread($fh, filesize($file)));

change it to something like:

print(fread($fh, 8192));

That could help as well.

Problem playing large video files with xmoov.php originally appeared on polyGeek.com on January 25, 2009.

Chalk it up to my interviewing inexperience but I totally blew over asking him to talk more about Flextras. Look for more from Jeffry on that subject shortly.

It’s also worth noting that Jeffry’s presentation at 360Flex on creating Flex components was the best presentation that I attended. He did a great job of covering the process of creating components and not just diving in deep into a perfect component right off the bat.

His presentation is up on AMP. You can read how to get access to all the 360Flex presentations here.

Interview with Jeffry Houser of DotComIt originally appeared on polyGeek.com on September 2, 2008.

Hey Matt, let’s do lunch.

I turned off the FlipCam too early. After the video ends Mark Anders comes back to the podium and says something like, “I don’t know what to do now. I really thought she was going to show us some Thermo stuff.”

Deepa the distracted originally appeared on polyGeek.com on August 18, 2008.

Gumbo and Degrafa: two great tastes that taste great together originally appeared on polyGeek.com on August 18, 2008.

Flash Player 10 – Astro – goodness from the 360Flex conference originally appeared on polyGeek.com on August 18, 2008.

Flex saved my soul. originally appeared on polyGeek.com on August 15, 2008.

The effect was created – serendipitously – by using a combination of bitmapData effects. The gist is to take two webCam video windows and place one on top of the other. Offsetting the top one by a few pixels x/y and giving it a blend mode of ‘difference’. Then create a BitmapData object that draws the content of the sprite holding both windows. Now use threshold and mix in a few blur filters and merging and you get the above – in realtime.

This is the core of the code that creates the effect:
private function onTic( e:TimerEvent ):void {
bmpDataSource.draw( camsHolder ); // this is the bitmap data inside the camsHolder
// applying a threshold to the bitmap data
bmpDataSource.threshold(bmpDataSource, rect, pt, ">", 0xFFbdbdbd, 0xFFFF0000, 0xFFFFFFFF, true );
// you can change the settings and order that these are applied to get
// lots of different effects. Some are really cool. A lot produce black screens
// you never know until you try. :-)
bmpDataSource.applyFilter( bmpDataSource, rect, pt, blurEffect );
bmpDataDisplay.copyPixels( bmpDataSource, rect, pt );
bmpDataDisplay.applyFilter( bmpDataDisplay, rect, pt, blurEffect );
bmpDataDisplay.merge( bmpDataSource, rect, pt, 0xFFFFFF, 0xFFFFFF, 0xFFFFFF, 0xFFFFFF );
}

Here’s the full code. ( Something’s broken in the published setting. You have to use the leftNav to load the code views. )

And I also found what, I think, is a pretty good AIR theme song.

If you have a webcam you can see it in live action here.

Did you see the Master Chief’s helmet in there?

Why Actionscript originally appeared on polyGeek.com on March 21, 2008.

And if you were at Grant Skinner’s 2006 presentation at FlashForward in Seattle then you’re probably thinking the same thing I am: these two need to put on a show together.

The perfect instrument for Adobe originally appeared on polyGeek.com on February 27, 2008.

The same is true of Flex. If you’ve never seen it there can be a lot of confusion as to exactly what it is and how you use it. I put this short ( less than 10 min ) video together to cover the three essentials:

1. Flex Builder
2. MXML
3. the Flex Framework

This isn’t a video that goes into any depth on writing code. It’s just a quick glance behind the curtain, so to speak.

[ Download Flex Builder 3 ]

And no, I couldn’t resist The Matrix reference. I didn’t even really try. ;-)

At Ted Patrick’s request I posted this video to youTube with the 30OnAir tag. I hope he didn’t request that just to make me look like a fool. :-)

Video – What is Flex? originally appeared on polyGeek.com on February 26, 2008.

Here is a list of some of the suggestions posted in the comments. If you have this problem then see if any of this helps. If not then read through the comments and see if there might be another solution in there for you.

Note: You should try playing a video after each change you make. If you try a bunch of solutions in a row without testing you won’t know which fix was the thing that made a difference.

• Even though the problems people have usually involve ad blockers or anti-virus software the first and easiest thing to try is updating your Flash Player. Simply right-click on any Flash content and select “About Adobe Flash…” at the bottom of the menu.
• If you have comcast w/ the McAfee security here’s how to fix it. Click “Internet and network” click “configure” on the right side. Under web browsing protection click “advanced”. Simply uncheck the “block advertisements” box and hit apply.
• AdBlock with Firefox might be the cause. If you use it then try disabling or add NFL.com to the accepted site list  and see if the videos work.
• If you have comcast w/ the McAfee security here’s how to fix it. Click “Internet and network” click “configure” on the right side. Under web browsing protection click “advanced”. Simply uncheck the “block advertisements” box and hit apply.
• Norton Personal Firewall: if the stuff isn’t showing up, you likely have the ad blocking feature on the firewall turned on. Read this comment for details.
• go to your browsers settings and add nfl.com to the list of exceptions for websites that popups are no blocked
• For all you fellow Mac users that are having trouble w/ Safari, you can select to recieve all cookies, and the videos work fine, except for the 15 second commercial…. arghh
• If you have ZoneAlarm Pro: turn off Spy Site Blocking (Anti-Spyware section, Spy Site Blocking tab)
• Check your HOSTS file. Flash will not work if the ad it wants to pull is blocked. Many programs (like Spybot or Hosts replacers, MVPS Hosts) will block the server it needs to pull from (either static.nfl.com or a doubleclick site). Your HOSTS file on MS systems is found in the system folder/drivers/etc
• Turn off Mpy Sweeper by Webroot. That did it. Watched the video then restarted Spy Sweeper.
• I’ve got them to work on my Mac by removing “ad.doubleclick.net” from the hosts file. From the “Go” menu select “Go to folder” type in etc, this should bring up a window, find “Hosts” and copy it to your desktop. Open it using “TextEdit” and remove “ad.doubleclick.net” save the file and copy it back in to the “etc” folder.
• IE – Just go to the “Tools” tab on the top right of the screen. Click “Internet Options”. Click the “Privacy” tab. Click the “Sites” button. If you see NFL.com listed there, click “Remove”
• I did a little research,and found out that you might be missing this software. There is the link to check if you have it or not, and download it. http://www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp
• I shut down kaspersky internet security 8.0, then the videos play. I can’t figure out how to get them to play if it is on.
• I had this problem and it was driving me crazy because I don’t have any adblock software anymore. I went into Windows/system32/etc and found a file called hosts and I deleted any lines that ref’d ad.doubleclick.net.

I haven’t had any issues myself but I don’t have McAfee security. From what I’ve been able to piece together the issue lies with the communication between the HTML navigation and the Flash video player they built.

If you’re having trouble then hopefully this will take care of it.

Fix for NFL.com Flash video problems originally appeared on polyGeek.com on December 2, 2007.