QuickTime 7.1.3, Flash content, and you

QuickTime 7.1.3 by default will disable any Flash media embedded in a QuickTime movie. spinControl:VR is an interactive QT movie, and relies heavily on embedded Flash media. So, it appears broken when viewed using the latest QT update. Apple has blindsided potentially thousands of content developers out there who might use Flash media inside their QT movies.

I'm not in a very good mood today, after the QuickTime 7.1.3 update yesterday. :(

You can have your users "fix" this issue by checking the preference for "enable flash", in the advanced area of the QuickTime preferences. I am working on a long term solution for spinControl:VR which will not rely on Flash, but had avoided this originally for various reasons -- chief among them being that a Flash track was the easiest and best looking way to accomplish the visual aspects of spinControl:VR.

I'll keep you posted as to my developments, but the aforementioned preference setting will keep things going in the short term. Obviously, this is not the ideal way to deal with this -- but it's the ONLY way right now.

I have a small plea: Please log a formal bug report/feature request with Apple regarding QT 7.1.3 and the default disabling of embedded Flash tracks. You can say something like:

As of QuickTime 7.1.3, Flash tracks in QT are disabled by default, and the user has to go into the advanced preferences and manually check to enable them.

This is horribly frustrating, as most users will just think the QT content they're looking at is broken (if it has a Flash track).

You can supply an example in the way of a link to your own spinControl:VR content, or point them to the example page at my site.

At any rate, the more voices the better -- possibly Apple will listen, or at least issue a formal "forget about it". If an "ADC" membership is required to log a bug report, don't fret -- it doesn't cost anything, and Apple most definitely doesn't spam or track you. I have had the free ADC membership for years.

https://bugreport.apple.com/

Many thanks for your understanding and support, and
I will you keep all posted as to spinControl news,

Patrick

ps: here is a differently worded report filed by another user, to the Apple Bug Reporter. Please feel free to mix/match my words with these:

New implementation of QuickTime plug-in (7.1.3) has Flash-compatibility OFF by default. This breaks MANY people's work with QuickTime that utilizes Flash tracks over QTVR panoramas and object movies (as well as, I suspect, linear movies). We are not using the QT plug-in just to play Flash, we are using the Flash tracks as part of our QuickTime content (zoom buttons, text tracks, animations on top of the images, etc). This default behavior in the new release of QuickTime is EXTREMELY detrimental to QuickTime developers. Please correct this default behavior immediately. If the object is an SWF file it should play in Flash, but if it is a QuickTime MOV file that has Flash objects embedded in it, the default condition should allow those Flash tracks to work. Please fix ASAP as this is an absolute necessity to developers who have come to rely on QuickTime as their chosen method of content delivery.