The Elegant Universe homepage

QuickTime

• How do I get the free QuickTime software?

• Is there a better/higher-bandwidth version of the QuickTime movie available?

• The video window opens and the Windows Media Player logo appears, but the video never plays.

• The video window opens and the video begins to play, but then my browser crashes.

• Where can I find other QuickTime on the NOVA Web site?

RealAudio/RealVideo

• Using/Getting the software

• How do I turn captions on or off?

• Where can I find other RealAudio/RealVideo on the NOVA Web site?

Other

• Nothing happens when I click on a "QuickTime" or "RealVideo" chapter link.

QuickTime

Get the free QuickTime software

Q: How do I get the free QuickTime software?

A: If you don't already have the QuickTime plug-in (a "plug-in" is a piece of software), you can download it, free of charge, from Apple Computer. It takes just a few minutes to download it onto your hard disk and install it. From then on, it will open automatically whenever you access QuickTime movies or QuickTime VRs (often shown as "QTVR"), wherever you are on the Web. QuickTime software is available for Windows 98/Me/2000/XP and Mac OS X/9/8.6.

Q: Is there a better/higher-bandwidth version of the QuickTime movie available?

A: The Elegant Universe chapters make use of QuickTime's auto bandwidth detection to allow the web server to send you the QuickTime video most appropriate for your internet connection speed. Check your QuickTime Settings control panel to see what connection speed your QuickTime software currently expects.

Q: The video window opens and the Windows Media Player logo appears, but the video never plays. What is going on?

A: Your computer system is configured to try to play QuickTime files in Windows Media Player instead of in QuickTime. Windows Media Player will not be able to play the "The Elegant Universe" chapter QuickTime movie files. Reinstall QuickTime; we recommend downloading a fresh copy of the current version using the links above.

Q: The video window opens and the video begins to play, but then my browser crashes. What is going on?

A: This appears to be the case for those viewers who use Windows 98/Me/2000/XP and have QuickTime 6.5 through 6.5.2 (the most recent version, as of May 2005) installed on their system. It appears to be the result of a bug in QuickTime 6.5 for Windows, and we've notified Apple of the problem. As far as we can tell, earlier versions of QuickTime for Windows (6.4 etc.) do not have this bug.

Q: Where can I find other QuickTime on the NOVA Web site?

A: See the list of full NOVA programs available online or the current list of all QuickTime available on the NOVA Web site on the full NOVA FAQ/Help page.

RealVideo

Get the free RealPlayer software

The RealMedia streaming file format allows you to listen to sound files or see video files over the net without having to wait for the whole file to download. You have to wait only a few seconds while a little bit of audio (or video) file information is "buffered" to account for lapses in network speed, and then the file begins to play, with no more waiting, even for a file of 45 minutes or more in length. RealAudio or RealVideo requires the RealPlayer plugin, available for free download from Real.

Q: How do I turn captions on or off in RealVideo?

A: All versions of the RealPlayer allow the user to turn captions on or off. Stop the video playback with the "stop" button. Open the RealPlayer software. For RealOne player, select the Tools menu and choose "Preferences." Select the "Content" category in the left-hand menu. At the bottom of the "Content" pane, find the "Accessibility" heading. To turn captions on, check the "Use supplemental text captioning when available" box. To turn captions off, uncheck the same box.

For older versions of the player, select the View menu, and choose "Preferences...". Select the Content tab, and click on the button labeled "Settings..." at the bottom of the window. A dialog box will pop up, and you can either check or uncheck "Use accessibility features when available".

Q: Where can I find other RealVideo on the NOVA Web site?

A: See the list of full NOVA programs available online or the current list of all RealVideo available on the NOVA Web site on the full NOVA FAQ/Help page.

Other

Problem: Nothing happens when I click on a "QuickTime" or "RealVideo" chapter link.

A: You probably have popup blocking in place, preventing the video window from opening. Adjust your popup blocking (in your browser, from your ISP, or in other popup-blocking software) to allow requested popup windows.