Do MediaSite presentations play on Macs? The answer is an unqualified yes. That said, you may need to make some adjustments on your Mac or on your MediaSite Server to make presentations viewable. Try the solutions below, in the order presented in this document. If presentations still do not play back, contact customer support by going to the SmartServe Portal at www.sonicfoundry.com/support.
Requirements
- Safari 1.0.3 or later (Safari 1.2.4 & above recommended)
- Firefox 1.0 or later
- Netscape 7.2 for Mac OS X
Note: You must also install Windows Media Player 9 for the Mac.
Client-side issues
Aside from browser compatibility issues above, there are three common problems that can be addressed on the Mac itself. See the sections below and make any appropriate changes, in this order, before making changes to your Mediasite Server.
Flip4Mac plug-in issues
Mediasite presentations must use the Windows Media plug-in to play. They will not play if you have the Flip4Mac Windows Media component for QuickTime installed on your Mac. To disable the plug-in:
- Click your desktop, and select Apple > System Preferences to open the Mac System Preferences.
- Click Flip4Mac WMV under Other.
- On the Plug-in tab, clear the "Use Flip4Mac WMV Internet Plug-in" checkbox.
- Exit the dialog to save your changes.
- Try to play a presentation. If it still doesn't play back, go to the next section. Starting a presentation is very slow.
When viewing a Mediasite presentation on Mac systems running 10.4.x, there may be a long delay before playback begins. In some cases, this delay can be a minute or more.
Note: This problem only seems to affect Mac OS 10.4.x. Earlier versions do not seem to have any delay issues when starting playback.
To resolve:
- Open Windows Media Player by selecting Go > Applications > Windows Media Player.
- From the toolbar select Windows Media Player > Preferences > Network Settings tab.
- Uncheck TCP and UDP boxes and click OK.
Viewing on Intel-based Macs
Windows Media Player 9 for Mac must be run under Rosetta emulation on an Intel-based Mac. As such, the browser must also be forced to run under Rosetta as well. To enable Rosetta emulation:
- Close all open browser windows.
- Select Go > Applications to open the Applications directory.
- Right click or ctrl-click your browser (e.g. Safari or Firefox)-and click Get Info.
- In the General section, check "Open using Rosetta."
The next time the web browser is launched it will run under Rosetta emulation and presentations should play back.