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Install

I) Prerequisites
ITheora needs PHP supported web server. You can delete the skin directories you're not using, except the "default" (default used for sharing and if the current skin has been removed).
You can delete the sample video,too (extract of the Big Buck Bunny movie) and the language files excepted these in english witch the language used by default if it is not detected.

II) Install
To install ITheora, first unzip the archive (if it hasn't been done yet - use 7zip if you are running Windows®) and put its content on your website with your favorite FTP client.
Make sure that you have read and write access on the directories (for configuration files (directory itheora/admin/config) chmod 600 minimum).

Next, connect to the administration area (http://your_site/itheora/admin). Login : admin ; Password : admin. Then, clic on "Administration" to change the default password.

You can also write the ftp parameters of the web server to use the upload tool ("Upload files").
This tool is absolutely not necessary, you can do the same things with your ftp client, it's just a little bit easier.

III) Broadcast
The easiest is to use the "Code engine" in the administration area.
Fill in the form, the code will be returned with an overview.

Address of the video and image auto detection
Videos MUST be in "ogv" format (or "ogg" for audio files) and thumbnails in "jpg".
In the form, address of the video ("v=" in the given html code) values can be :

The thumbnail must be like : video.jpg or video.ogv.jpg.
If there no thumbnail, the file "null.jpg" (in the folder /skin/name_of_the_skin) will be loaded.

The general look of the player and video is linked to the style sheet and other images in the skin directory.

Working
If you don't want to use the code generator, you can set it manually.
Insert the following code to display the video on your website (you'll have to modify it according to your needs) :
Code :

<object data="http://your_site.org/itheora/index.php?v=example.ogv" type="application/xhtml+xml" style="width: 340px; height: 280px;">
<!--[if IE]>
<iframe src="http://your_site.org/itheora/index.php?v=example.ogv" style="width:340px; height:280px;" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" ></iframe>
<![endif]-->
</object>

Here, "v=example.ogv", "example" is the name of the video (in the "data" folder).
The "object" code is the code red by most of browsers (firefox, chrome, safari, opera, etc). The "iframe" code inside is only for Internet Explorer ([if IE]), because it don't understand the type "application/xhtml+xml".
The default skin is stretchable, it means that you can reduce or increase your player as you want, modifying the "width" and "height" parameters in the two parts of the code.

All the parameters excepted v are optionals, most of them are calculated automatically.

List of the others parameters

  • t=duration_of_the_video_in_seconds
  • w=width
  • h=height, if these two parameters are the same as "width" and "height" (in the "style"), the player doesn't need to be resized.
  • n=name_of_the_video, the title will appear on mouse over the thumbnail
  • s=skin, skins must be added in the "skin" folder, it's possible to create one by your-self
  • l=language, the language is automatically detected but it's possible to force it
  • d=item_to_disable, for value m (manual play), i (info/tooltip), t (button to submit on TheoraSea), s ("Share" button), d ("Download" button), o ("Options" button), f ("Full-screen" button) and n (title of the file deleted from the tags)
    Example, to start an auto play and disable the download and the sharing code : d=msd.
  • p=picture_of_the_video, alternate content on an other place (disable the auto detection)
  • b=bittorrent_file, alternate content on an other place (idem)
  • f=video.flv (flash), alternate content on an other place

IV) Options
Disable "definitively"
Instead of using the d parameter, you can disable definitively some items

Unchecked the concerned boxes in the administration area : Configuration / ITheora.
You can also decide what videos are allowed to be displayed with your player by white and/or blacklist.

P2P
You can submit a download by P2P to save the bandwidth, you just have to put a .torrent file in the same directory of the video. (the .torrent file must have the same name).
If the visitor hasn't got a BitTorrent client, he can always download the video by the alternate Coral link.
The torrent file detection is made as the images work.

Flash
You can also replace the Java applet by a Flash player, you must, for this, add the patch available in the Download area (already installed since the 2.1 version)
and convert the ogv file in flv. The two video must be on the server in the same directory.
the file will be automatically detected. But you can force this detection with the parameter f=your_file_address.flv
The goal is to make a compromise on an accessibility level (because of the Java applet heaviness) and, in a same time, still promoting the theora format.

High Definition, Subtitles and Dubbing
To submit the downloading of these files, you just need to respect the syntax of the ogv file name :

  • HD : example.hd.ogv (works with the P2P too : example.hd.torrent or example.hd.ogv.torrent)
  • Subtitles : example.en.srt or example.en.sub
  • Dubbing (or encrusted subtitles) : example.en.ogv (works with P2P like HD)

Playlists
It's possible to use two sort of playlist : xspf (static, like m3u) and podcasts (dynamic).

To make a xspf playlist, just fill in the form "Create a playlist". The file will be return, you will just need to host it and use the url as "Address of the video" or in "v=" parameter.

To make a podcast, you just need to put all videos to podcasts in a same folder.
The podcast "http://your_site.org/itheora/podcast.php?dir=/itheora/data/your_folder" will be updated automatically.
To read a podcast (not only yours) with ITheora, like for xspf, use the url as "Address of the video" or in "v=" parameter.

Note: If you want your code to be XHTML valid, you'll have to replace the "&" by "&amp;"