WebHelp Mobile Videos on Android not working

[Steve Cavanaugh]

Using Flare 8.1.2 to create WebHelp Mobile output that we plan to consume on Android phones.

I plan to embed a number of .mp4 video files. I can create topics with embedded video and see the working video in my PC's web browser. When I open the same pages on my Android phone, in one browser I get a broken object icon, in the other browser I get a file downloading indication but it never completes.

.mp4 should be fine for the Android platform - I can see them on other web sites like Vimeo, YouTube, etc. I can even see my own if I host the video on an external site. But I cannot seem to embed them successfully such that the phone's browser can render them.

Anyone have any ideas?

[Steve Cavanaugh]

Updated the title in case that helps get a response.

[LTinker68]

I deleted the duplicate forum post -- multiple posts of the same question won't get you answers faster and will just annoy people.

If you're not getting a response fast enough, just post a reply in your thread with "bump" as the content of the post. That will mark the thread as having a new post to read.

I don't build mobile help, so I can't help you, unfortunately. Hopefully someone else can assist.

Do you have the same problem with other video formats, or is it just .mp4 files?

[Steve Cavanaugh]

I suppose it is just as annoying as having a forum defined for a topic where there are no posts...

As you know, Flare only offers to let you insert Flash, Windows Media Player, Quicktime or Mimic movies. Windows Media Player and Quicktime Player imply Windows and Mac environments, and Flash doesn't work so well on mobile. We don't have Mimic here.

I can create any format that Adobe Premier Pro CC can create (a giant list) but with the list of insert options above, I am uncertain which would be best. HTML5 favors h.264 (mp4) which is why I rendered those types of files. If there is a file type (and player) that works best with Android, I wish someone would volunteer the info, since there is nothing in any of MadCap's help that does so.

[NorthEast]

If you're not having much response here, I would imagine that a Google search should find plenty of good advice on what video formats work best for Android devices and browsers - as whatever tips you find for general websites are equally applicable to Flare's web-based outputs.

There are also a number of specialised players (e.g. Flowplayer) which are designed to handle playing video across multiple platforms and browsers.

[Steve Cavanaugh]

If you're not having much response here, I would imagine that a Google search should find plenty of good advice on what video formats work best for Android devices and browsers - as whatever tips you find for general websites are equally applicable to Flare's web-based outputs.

There are also a number of specialised players (e.g. Flowplayer) which are designed to handle playing video across multiple platforms and browsers.

Actually, as far as I can tell, if I use h264 (MP4) it should play anywhere. I can put the same videos in a web page using Dreamweaver and they play fine on the same mobile devices. They do not play at all using a page constructed with Flare. That's why I am certain it is a Flare issue, not the mobile browsers.

And the last thing I want my users to have to do is download and deploy a separate player for video. Might as well build my documentation with Dreamweaver if I have to go that route. I am certain Flare can do this, but there are no examples, no instructions, no help... if there was even one working example I am certain I could make it play.

[RamonS]

Can you determine what the difference is between a DW page with video and one from Flare? That should give a clue as to what is different and why it works with DW.