Experiencing Media

Some documents in IEEE Xplore contain media to illustrate the concepts described by the author. Access to full text includes access to media. Some common questions about experiencing media follow.

Media in IEEE Xplore

Media is accessible in three ways in IEEE Xplore.

1. Some journals offer embedded media on journal homepages, article homepages, and within articles online.
2. On a search results or table of contents page, click the media icon ( ). This will take you to the Media tab on an article page. Alternatively, if you are already on an article page that contains media, you will see a Media tab on the far right of the page. In either case, once in the Media tab, you can download media in a zip file by clicking the Download button.
3. Some media is linked directly from the PDF file. If the appropriate viewer is installed, the file will be played or displayed when the link is clicked. In addition, all links in the PDF are Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), which means that the media file link is a persistent URL that can stand alone, outside of the IEEE Xplore environment.

Viewing AVI Files in Microsoft Internet Explorer

A known issue with multimedia in IEEE Xplore is access of AVI files directly from the embedded link in the PDF file while using Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE). The problem is caused by the file viewer that MSIE uses by default, which is Microsoft Windows Media Player. If you change the default viewer to RealPlayer for this type of files, the links will work. Firefox and Safari do not experience the same problem with AVI files.

Suggested Viewers for Supplemental Electronic Material

For Windows:

• Windows Media Player for wma, asf, mp3, wav, midi, aiff, and au files (www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/default.aspx.
• RealPlayer for ra and avi files (www.real.com/).
• QuickTime for aiff, animated GIF, avi, jpeg, midi, mpeg, mov, and wav files (http://quicktime-download.info/).

For Mac:

• Real Player for ra files (www.real.com/).
• QuickTime for aiff, animated GIF, avi, jpeg, midi, mpeg, mov, and wav files (http://quicktime-download.info/).
• VLC media player for asf and wma files (www.videolan.org/vlc/).

For Unix/Linux:

• VLC media player for mov, mp3, ask, wma, gif, mpeg, and mov files (www.videolan.org/vlc/).
• RealOne for ra, gif, and jpg files (www.real.com/linux or from the Helix community player.helixcommunity.org/2005/downloads/).
• au files are native to Unix/Linux formats so no player is required.
• Java Media Player (v2.12 on Solaris 10) for aiff and midi.

Viewing AVI Files

You may view linked AVI files using either RealPlayer (http://www.real.com/) or QuickTime (http://quicktime-download.info/). As noted above, because viewing linked AVI files is problematic using Microsoft Internet Explorer, use Firefox or Safari instead.

RealPlayer Set Up

First, install RealPlayer. Next, deactivate the current association for AVI files and then activate the association in RealPlayer. For example, if you are using Windows Media Player, do the following:

1. Choose Tools->Options.
2. Click on the File Types tab.
3. Uncheck Windows video file (avi).
4. Click OK and then Exit.

Next, start RealPlayer:

1. Choose Tools->Preference.
2. On the right side, select the Category Content->Media Types.
3. In the middle, select the radio button Manually configure media for RealPlayer and then click Select.
4. Scroll down to AVI Video (avi) and check this option.
5. Click OK and then Exit.

QuickTime Set Up

First, install QuickTime. Next, deactivate the current association for AVI files and then activate the association in QuickTime. For example, if you are using Windows Media Player, do the following:

1. Choose Tools->Options.
2. Click on the File Types tab.
3. Uncheck Windows video file (avi).
4. Click OK and then Exit.

Next, start QuickTime:

1. Choose Edit->Preferences->QuickTime Preferences.
2. Click on the File Types tab.
3. Expand Video-Video only and video with audio file formats.
4. Check Video For Windows (AVI).
5. Click OK and then Exit.

Alternatives for Viewing AVI Files

You may use Firefox or Safari, which both support linked AVI files.