Kinkyporn: VivoActive FAQs-Player (copy Vivo site)

Technical FAQs for the VivoActive Player

The following key will help identify solutions that apply to you. The first column in front of each question shows what type of system it applies to. The second column identifies what browser it applies to.

Applies to all Operating System or All Browsers
Applies to Microsoft Windows
Applies to Macintosh Operating System
Applies to Microsoft Internet Explorer browser
Applies to Netscape Navigator browser

Download and Installation

How do I know if the VivoActive Player is installed? How do I find it?

I am having difficulty downloading the Player for the Microsoft Internet Explorer.

When I try to install the Player, I get a message that says: "you need to specify a directory which contains the program netscape.exe". How do I find this file?

"Could not load the plugin 'Vivo Plugin' for the MIME type 'video/vnd.vivo'. Make sure enough memory is available and that plugin is installed correctly." How do I fix this?

I get an error stating that the Player is not installed even though I have installed it into my Netscape Navigator browser. What could be causing this?

How do I determine if my Netscape Browser is 16 bit or 32 bit?

When I install the 16-bit VivoActive Player, it says I need the 32-bit player, When I install the 32 bit Player it says I need the 16-bit player. How do I stop this error?

I am receiving a "Sharing Violation on Drive C" upon running PLAYER16.EXE to install the VivoActive Player for Windows 3.1

I am using Microsoft Internet Explorer. While I am installing the VivoActive Player, I get the following error: "INF Install Failed. Reason: Invalid INF File".

I'm running Windows 95. How do I remove the VivoActive Player plug-in for Netscape?

Extraction error running vivoplay.exe on Windows 95 or player16.exe on Windows 3.1. How do I resolve this error?

System Requirements

Can I use the VivoActive Player with my AOL browser?

What platforms does the VivoActive Player support?

What are the system requirements for the VivoActive Player?

Are there any advantages to having a faster PC when using the VivoActive Player?

Do I need a special audio card to be able to listen to VivoActive files?

I have a non-Power Macintosh computer. Will the VivoActive Player plug-in work with my machine?

Do you have a UNIX based VivoActive Player?

Video Playback

VivoActive Player doesn't work with Netscape Communicator 4.0 Beta. It shows the puzzle piece and unrecognized MIME type error. What's wrong?

How can I play .VIV files that are stored on my hard drive?

When I try to view VivoActive videos on a web page, why do I get what looks like a puzzle piece instead of the video?

When I try to view VivoActive videos on a web page, why do I get an error that Netscape is unable to load a plug-in for MIME Type video/vivo?

I do not hear any sound when the video plays

My browser is crashing when I visit a page with a VivoActive video on it. I am getting the message "General Protection Fault error in Module xxx.DLL " or "Your file is making an invalid dynamic link call to a .dll file" What's wrong?

When I view VivoActive videos, why do the colors look grainy?

Why do some VivoActive videos take a long time to start or pause during playback?

Why can I see video on some pages but not on others?

I get a black or green screen when I try to watch a VivoActive video.

Answers:

How do I know if the VivoActive Player is installed? How do I find it?
If you have seen Vivo video playing on a web site, the VivoActive Player is installed. If you would like to see a quick video to test the Player, go to http://www.vivo.com/download/dldtestp.htm. When you arrive there, a video should begin playing. You will not find a VivoActive Window or icon nor will you find an executable (.EXE file) to run video files.

If your web browser is Netscape Navigator version 2.01 or higher, the VivoActive Player is a "plugin" (.DLL file) that extends Netscape's own functionality rather than a "helper app" that runs separately from Netscape. When you install the VivoActive Player, the plugin allows you to watch video files that have the .viv extension. The plugin for a the 32 bit Player is called npviv32.dll. The plugin for the 16 bit Players is called npviv16.dll. These plugins, when properly installed, are located in the Netscape plugins folder. To locate the installed plugins, go to the Netscape Menu bar and select Help. From the drop-down menu select the option About Plug-ins. There you will see a listing of every plugin you have installed with your Netscape browser. The VivoActive Player plugin displays its MIME type extensions of video/vivo and video/vnd.vivo along with a brief description.

If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 3.0 or higher), the VivoActive Player is an ActiveX control (.OCX file) that allows you to view Vivo video. The files are in the C:\Windows\Occache directory and are called Vvweb.ocx and Vvweb.inf

I am having difficulty downloading the Player for the Microsoft Internet Explorer.
The VivoActive Player for MicroSoft Internet Explorer is an ActiveX control. After filling out the download form, we try to verify that you are running an ActiveX enabled version of Internet Explorer. If you are, the software will be automatically installed. If you are not, the installation halts and you are presented with a list of things to check.

Check to see if you are using the correct version of IE:
From the Menu bar at the top of the page select "Help : About Internet Explorer". The minimum version of MSIE needed to run the VivoActive Player is 3.0. We even recommend that your version be no less than 3.0 (4.70 1155). If you have version 2.0 you will need to go to the Microsoft web site and download version 3.0.

Check your Options settings:
Go to the "View : Options" menu. Now select the Security tab. Look in the "Active content" section of this dialog box (at the bottom). There are four boxes there. Make sure that they are all checked. If they are already checked, find the box to the right of these four boxes called "Safety Level". Select the level called "none" and then select "OK". Close this dialog box by choosing "OK".

Try the Test Page:
Go back to our download test page located at http://www.vivo.com/download/dldtestp.htm. If you see the video, the Player is installed.

If these options do not present a viable solution, then remove and reinstall your copy of Internet Explorer. You will need to make sure that you still have the installation program before you delete anything. The installation program is called "msie30m.exe". You can find this by using the Find function of the Windows Explorer. Once you have found this file, go to the "Add/Remove Programs" function of the Control Panel and remove Microsoft Internet Explorer. After that, reinstall IE by finding the installation program and double clicking on it. Once all that is done, go back to the download test page (http://www.vivo.com/download/dldtestp.htm) and look for the video.

When I try to install the Player, I get a message that says: "you need to specify a directory which contains the program netscape.exe.". How do I find this file?

The VivoActive Player for Netscape Navigator is a plugin. In order for this plugin to work it must be installed in the Netscape plugins directory. To do this the installation asks for a destination directory that contains the Netscape executable file (netscape.exe). If you are using Windows 95, you can find the correct path by clicking on the "Start" button and selecting "Find Files or Folders...". then type NETSCAPE.EXE in the Named box. Make sure you search (C:) or any other drives it might be on, and make sure there is a checkmark in the box labeled "Include subfolders".

When you find NETSCAPE.EXE, look at the section of the Find dialog box called "In Folder". The path that is listed below this heading is the same one that the plugin needs in order to be installed correctly. If you notice that the contents of the "In Folder" column display three dots (...), you will have to expand this column to see all of its contents. If you have multiple copies of Netscape on your computer, make sure you choose the path for the copy of Netscape that you run.

Detailed instructions for the download and installation of the Player Plugin can be found on the Player download page.

MacIntosh Netscape error : "Could not load the plugin 'Vivo Plugin' for the MIME type 'video/vnd.vivo'. Make sure enough memory is available and that plugin is installed correctly." How do I fix this?
Some things to check:

Are you running on a Power Macintosh (or compatible)? VivoActive does not run on 68K series of Macintosh.

Is the VivoActive Plugin installed? Go to the Apple menu and choose "About Plugins". There should be two entries here for the VivoActive Player. Make sure they match the lines below:

video/vivo video/vivo viv yes
video/vnd.vivo video/vnd.vivo viv yes

Each plugin you add to Netscape will require additional memory. There may not be enough memory allocated to Netscape to start all the plugins. The Vivo Active Player requires about 2 MB of memory to run. To increase the memory allocated to Netscape,

  1. Click once on the Netscape icon to select it.
  2. Press the "Apple Key" and the letter "i". A form appears with some information about the Netscape application program. Note: if your Netscape icon is an alias, you will have to click on "Find Original"
  3. In the bottom of the form are two boxes for changing the memory requirements. Change both numbers to at least 12000 K. Add more if you run additional plugins.
  4. Restart Netscape

Although we have allocated additional memory to Netscape, there is no way tell Netscape to reserve that memory for the VivoActive Player. Thus, if you are in a long Netscape session and have run many Java programs or other things, there may not be 2 MB of free memory to load and run the VivoActive Player plugin. Try shutting Netscape down and restarting, then go directly to the page with the VivoActive video.

If none of these suggestions reveals anything unusual, you may have to reinstall Netscape to resolve the problem.

I get an error stating that the Player is not installed even though I have installed it into my Netscape Navigator browser. What could be causing this?

Possible causes:

1) You are using a version of Netscape Navigator that is not supported with the VivoActive Player. Unsupported Netscape versions include any version prior to 2.0 and the Preview 1 release of Netscape Communicator 4.0. Select "Help" from the Netscape Menu bar. The drop-down list will include "About Netscape". This it will indicate what version you are using.

2) You have installed a Player that is incompatible with the browser. If you have a 16 bit browser you must install a 16 bit Player. The same holds true for the 32 bit browser. To determine whether you have a 16 or 32 bit browser, see our FAQ listing. If you have installed the wrong version of the Player in your browser, you must remove it before the correct Player can be installed.

3) You have more than one copy of Netscape Navigator installed on your computer and you have installed the VivoActive Player into the Netscape that you are not using. To determine if you have more than one Netscape on your computer, you must search for the file "netscape.exe". See our FAQ that addresses this.

If you have found more than one Netscape on your computer, you should check the location of the plugin to see that it is installed in the browser that you are using. If it is installed in the wrong browser all you have to do is run the installation again and be sure to select the proper destination directory for the plugin.

How do I determine if my Netscape Browser is 16 bit or 32 bit?
To determine if your Netscape Browser is 16 bit or 32 bit, Netscape recommends using the "Help --> About Netscape" menu selection. If the page displayed shows a steaming cup of coffee with the caption: "Java Compatible" then it is a 32 bit browser.

Another clue -- if you put the mouse over a Netscape button, such as the "Back" button, a 32-bit browser will show "bubble help" describing the function of the button, while 16-bit versions will not.

When I install the 16-bit VivoActive Player, it says I need the 32-bit player, When I install the 32 bit Player it says I need the 16-bit player. How do I stop this error?
The following instructions will help resolve the problem.

  1. First, determine whether you are running a 16 bit or 32 bit version of Netscape. The easiest way to do this is to go the the "Help --> About Netscape" menu. If the resulting screen shows a picture of a steaming cup of coffee with the caption "Java enabled" then you have a 32-bit version. Otherwise you have a 16-bit version of Netscape.
  2. Using the Windows Exlplorer (or your favorite way of navigating directories), open up the Netscape plugins directory. Probably called C:\Program_Files\Netscape\Navigator\Program\Plugins.
  3. Locate the files called "npnul16.dll", "npnul32.dll" Your system probably has both files. Note: if you are using Windows Explorer, you will have go to the "View --> Options" menu and select the button to "Show All Files" otherwise, the .DLL files will be hidden from view.
  4. Remove or rename the .DLL that you don't need. For example: If you are running a 32-bit browser, you should remove or rename the file "npnul16.dll", If you are running a 16-bit browser, you should remove or rename the file "npnul32.dll".
  5. Now install the appropriate VivoActive Player again. If you are running a 32-bit browser, run "vivoplay.exe". If you are running a 16-bit browser, run vivo9516.exe.

I am receiving a "Sharing Violation on Drive C" upon running PLAYER16.EXE to install the VivoActive Player for Windows 3.1
This is a defect in the InstallShield product that we used to create our VivoActive installation programs. InstallShield exhibits this sharing violation if there are old "setup" files present in your TEMP directory. Please check for things like "setup.dll" in C:\TEMP or C:\DOS and delete (or rename) them, then run the VivoActive installer (PLAYER16.EXE) again.

I am using Microsoft Internet Explorer. While I am installing the VivoActive Player, I get the following error: "INF Install Failed. Reason: Invalid INF File".
This may mean that the INF file was corrupted during file transfer. The solution is to remove the ActiveX controller and reinstall it. To do this, go to the Windows "Occache" directory and open it up. Remove the files "VvWeb.inf" and "VvWeb.ocx". Now return to the download page located at the URL:(http://www.vivo.com/download/dloadpla.htm) and download the VivoActive Player for Internet Explorer.

I'm running Windows 95. How do I remove the VivoActive Player plug-in for Netscape?

  1. Click the Windows 95 "Start" button, then choose "Settings" then "Control Panel".
  2. Double-click on "Add/Remove Programs".
  3. Select the "VivoActive Player" entry in the list.
  4. Press the "Add/Remove" button.

Extraction error running vivoplay.exe on Windows 95 or player16.exe on Windows 3.1. How do I resolve this error?
The installation of VivoActive Player automatically runs two steps:
Extracting the InstallSheild setup from the vivoplay.exe self-extracting executable.
Running the InstallShield setup

Extraction errors indicate a problem in the first step of installation. The self-extracting program is not able to restore the files needed to run the InstallShield setup. Please check the following things on your system.
1. Make sure you have at least 2-3 MB of free disk space.
2. Remove all files from c:\temp, c:\windows\temp or whatever TEMP directory your system is set up for. Some temp files may have been left on your system from installing a previous application. It may even store these files in cache, meaning you have to clear your cache (reboot) before the install can proceed. These files may cause a conflict:

3. Download vivoplay.exe again and make sure the file downloads 100%

Can I use the VivoActive Player with my AOL browser?
The VivoActive Player is not compatible with the AOL browser. However, In the AOL Internet area you can download a special version of Netscape Navigator 3.0 for AOL.

After getting Netscape working with your AOL account, you can download our VivoActive plugin for Netscape. Make sure you select browser type " Netscape Navigator 2.0.1 or higher (16-bit) " on our download form. Follow the instructions on the download screen to complete the VivoActive Player installation.

You cannot use the VivoActive Player for MicroSoft Internet Explorer with AOL, it will not install. The VivoActive Player for IE requires ActiveX controls which are only supported with 32-bit browsers. AOL only allows the use of a 16-bit version of IE.

What platforms does the VivoActive Player support?
We have a Netscape plugin for Windows 3.11, Windows 95, Windows NT, and PowerMac In addition, we have an ActiveX control for Internet Explorer Version 3.0 on Windows 95 and Windows NT

What are the system requirements for the VivoActive Player?
Your PC needs to be a 486DX2 66 MHz or faster, with at least 8 MB of RAM and a decent graphics accelerator card. Your Macintosh needs to be using the PowerPC chip because 68000-based Macintosh computers are not powerful enough to handle the computational demands of decoding streaming video.

If your PC or Macintosh is using a slow video card, the VivoActive video may seem to be buffering but not playing. We have tested and found the video performance of PowerBook 5300 Mac notebooks to be less than that of other PowerPC-based Macintosh computers. If your PC or Macintosh does not have a powerful enough processor to decode the VivoActive video stream, you may see a green or black rectangle where you would expect the video to appear.

Are there any advantages to having a faster PC when using the VivoActive Player?
As long as your PC is a 486DX2-66 or faster, you should be able to play VivoActive clips at full quality. If you have a slow video card, you may notice that the video looks like it is transferring into memory, but it is never played.

Do I need a special audio card to be able to listen to VivoActive files?
No. As long as your audio card is recognized by your operating system and you can play standard .wav files, you should not have any problems listening to VivoActive audio. If your computer does not have an audio device you will get a message stating that the video picture will show, but there will be no sound.

I have a non-Power Macintosh computer. Will the VivoActive Player plug-in work with my machine?
Unfortunately, our VivoActive Player for PowerMacintosh only works with computers which are PowerPC based. Any Macintosh which has a Motorola 680X0 chip(including Quadras) aren't compatible with the VivoActive plug-in. We currently don't have plans to develop a 680X0 version.

Do you have a UNIX based VivoActive Player?
At the present time, we do not have a UNIX version of the VivoActive Player, but it is in development, and as soon as it is available, we will provide it as a download option.

VivoActive Player doesn't work with Netscape Communicator 4.0 pre-Beta. It shows the puzzle piece and unrecognized MIME type error. What's wrong?
Netscape Communicator 4.0 is a pre-Beta version that changes the way Netscape handles the OBJECT tag in HTML. HTML pages that contain Vivo videos use both OBJECT tags for MS Internet Explorer and EMBED tags for current versions of Netscape Navigator. Thus, this preview version poses a problem for all current VivoActivated sites. This has been reported to Netscape.

How can I play .VIV files that I have stored on my hard drive?
To honor the requests of our VivoActive Producer customers who have posted copyrighted video content on their Web sites, we do not supply instructions for saving .VIV files on your hard drive. If you have created a .VIV file locally on your hard drive, you can view it with the following instructions:

Netscape on Windows

Use the "File / Open File in Browser ..." menu in Navigator and choose the .VIV file you want to watch. The file will open in Netscape and play.

Netscape on PowerMac

Simply drag and drop the .VIV file onto your Netscape window. The video will start to play.

Internet Explorer on Windows 95

In order for the video to play, the ActiveX control has to be "called up". In Internet Explorer, this can only be done using some HTML commands. So you must build a small HTML page using the template below.

1. In the same directory where you saved the .VIV file, create a new text file and copy the template below. Insert the name of your .VIV file where the template has "yourfile.viv".

<OBJECT CLASSID="clsid:02466323-75ed-11cf-a267-0020af2546ea"
HEIGHT=144 WIDTH=176
CODEBASE="http://www.vivo.com/ie/vvweb.cab#Version=1,0,0,0">
<EMBED SRC="yourfile.viv" WIDTH=176 HEIGHT=144 AUTOSTART=TRUE>
<PARAM NAME="URL" VALUE="yourfile.viv">
<PARAM NAME="VIDEOCONTROLS" VALUE="ON">
<PARAM NAME="AUTOSTART" VALUE="TRUE">
</OBJECT>

2. Save the file with an .HTM extension.

3. Start IE and go to the "File: Open" menu and open the .HTM file that you just created. The video will play.

When I try to view VivoActive videos on a web page, why do I get what looks like a puzzle piece instead of the video?
If you're seeing this image, it's because the VivoActive Player plug-in wasn't loaded by Netscape -- so Netscape doesn't know what to do with the VivoActive video clip on the Web page you're viewing. This could be because the VivoActive Player plug-in was not installed completely. Please read the next question and answer for details on how to solve this problem.

In Netscape Navigator, when I try to view VivoActive videos on a web page, why do I get an error that Netscape is unable to load a plug-in for MIME Type video/vivo?

Windows Users:

Power Macintosh Users:

I do not hear any sound when the video plays.
Here are some things to check if you can see video playing, but can't hear any sound.

My browser is crashing when I visit a page with a VivoActive video on it. I am getting the message "General Protection Fault error in Module xxx.DLL " or "Your file is making an invalid dynamic link call to a .dll file" What's wrong?
Crashes are often the result of incompatible hardware drivers. VivoActive has been tested on a limited set of sound cards and display cards. We support those cards that are Microsoft certified. There are many other brands of cards that will work fine. But there are some with incompatibilities that may only be apparent with VivoActive Software.

Sometimes you can correct incompatibilites by downloading the latest version of sound card or display card driver. Most hardware vendors post updated drivers on their web sites.

 

When I view VivoActive videos, why do the colors look grainy?
You are probably running your system using 256 colors (8 bits). To get better results when viewing VivoActive videos, you should increase the number of colors used by your system to 16 bits (hi-color). The maximum number of colors you can set depends on your display adapter.

Why do some VivoActive videos take a long time to start or pause during playback?
This occurs when your Internet connection is lower than the bitrate of the file you are viewing. The connection cannot handle the large amount of information that is being transferred. Because of this, some information must be stored in memory before the video can be played, thus, the extended wait time. If you are viewing a long video, interruptions occur when more information is being transferred into memory. You may also experience problems with longer start times and interruptions if you have a bad connection to the Internet. If you notice that pages are coming up slowly in general, try reconnecting to Internet to get a better connection.

(Note for Netscape Navigator browser users: If you allow the video to play all the way and then select the green triangle on the video to play it again, and it will replay without interruption.)

Why can I see video on some pages but not on others?
If you can see video on some pages like our test page, http://www.vivo.com/download/dldtestp.htm, then the VivoActive Player is installed correctly. However, some sites may have made errors when posting Vivo video to their pages. Thus, some videos may play only in Netscape, others may play only in Internet Explorer, still others may not play at all. Only a fraction of our VivoActivated sites exhibit a problem. Please notify the creator of the problem page to have them correct the video. See our VivoActive gallery for many other sites with working video content.

I get a black or green screen when I try to watch a VivoActive video.
The error that you are encountering is due to the fact that your computer's processor is not fast enough to meet the demands of streaming video. We have found that the minimum PC requirements must be at least a 486DX2-66 in order to allow you to enjoy the full quality of VivoActive video.

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