Online Video Players
Watching shows on POT-TV is easy, we hope, but you might need to download a player first. Most videos on Pot-TV are in Realplayer, and most Pot-Radio audio-only shows are in MP3, but you may find some shows that are available in QuickTime, and Windows Media Player. The players can be downloaded at the sites linked below, although you may have to do some hunting to find the free versions.
Note on Formats: While we would like to make our shows available in all formats like the big boys, the reality is we're a small studio and we've chosen more shows over more player versions. We chose Realplayer as our main streaming format because it has the best native cross-platform support.
Note: The quality of your viewing experience depends upon the speed (or Bandwidth) of your Internet connection. Common speeds include 36K, 56K (modem speeds), 100K and 300K (Cable, ADSL, T1, etc). If you have a broadband connection (e.g., DSL, ISDN, cable modem or T1), you might be able to play films at up to 2220k or higher speeds with increased quality, but every connection is different and connections can vary. If you have a modem connection, you should still be able to view our videos at 34k, as well as Pot-Radio.
How do I get the free player?
Realplayer just released a new player called RealOne for Windows, which is only available for Windows. Look down the page until you see a link that reads "Free Realone Player." This is the free player. Click on the link and follow the instructions to download and install.
Macintosh users can now install RealOne for OSX.
GNU/Linux/*nix users can now install RealOne for Linux.
We initially selected real because they also supported other OSes, like GNU/Linux, Solaris, older MacOS and older Windows etc. For these you'll need an older version of Realplayer, which you can find in the Realplayer Software Archives.
The technical stuff:
To run RealPlayer the Windows platform, you need:
- 120MHz Intel Pentium processor
- 16MB of RAM
- 28.8Kpbs modem
- 16-bit sound card and speakers
- 65,000-color video display card (video)
- Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000 or NT 4.0 with Service Pack 4
- IE 4.0.1 or Netscape 4.0 or later
To run RealPlayer 8 on the Macintosh platform, you need:
- Mac OS 8.1 or later
- 32 MB RAM
- Virtual Memory turned on, set to 64MB
- 604 PowerPC (200 MHz or better)
- 28.8Kpbs modem Internet connection
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 or later or Netscape 4.05 or later
To run RealPlayer on Linux or other platforms:
RealPlayer is supported on Linux, Irix, Solaris and Aix systems.
I watch all my Pot-TV shows on a Intel Pentium 120MHz with 80Mb RAM
with Linux kernel 2.2.16 through a cable modem. I don't get a high framerate or great
resolution, but it works OK and it doesn't crash.
How do I get the free player?
MP3 is a free audio streaming format, and there are many players available for each platform. To play MP3 on the Windows Platform:
Choose and install one of these recommended players
- Winamp Pot-TV's choice for playing MP3s.
- MusicMatch Jukebox MP3.com's MP3 player
- Windows Media will play MP3s.
- Realplayer also plays MP3s.
To run QuickTime Player on the Macintosh platform, you need:
Choose and install one of these recommended players- QuickTime Your Mac should already have QuickTime, so this makes it easy.
- SoundJam MP
- Audion
To play MP3 on Linux platforms:
Choose and install one of these recommended players- XMMS XMMS works great, it's been around a while, there's lots of support and lots of plugins. Use this one. I do.
- mpg123 Command line mp3 heaven.
- GQmpeg
- DigitalDJ We haven't tried these ones, but MP3.com recommends them.
How do I get the free player?
We don't have a lot of shows that are in Windows Media, but some of our affiliate studios offer Windows Media versions of their shows.
Select the version of Windows Media Player you want from the drop-down menu.
Click on "Download Now." This starts the download-process. Once the process has begun, keep clicking "Next" until you get a message telling you the player has been installed and you can see the icon on your desktop.
The technical stuff:
To run Windows Media Player on the Windows platform, you need:
- 90-MHz Pentium processor
- Windows 95
- 16 MB RAM
- 16-color display card
- 16-bit sound card
- 28.8K modem
- Internet Explorer 4.0
To run Windows Media Player on the Macintosh platform, you need:
- Mac PowerPC 601
- OS 7.6.1 or later
- Open Transport 1.1.2 or later
- QuickTime 2.5 or later
- 32 MB RAM
- 15 MB of free hard disk space
- 256-color display
- 28.8K modem or Ethernet card
- Internet Explorer 4.0 or Netscape 4.5
To run Windows Media Player on Linux or other platforms:
- Windows media player is not supported on other platforms.
- Now, actually, this isn't entirely true. Apparently using Wine or the Codeweavers Crossover Plugin you can now install Windows Media player for Windows on Linux. Wow! I haven't tried it, but I've heard of people using it sucessfully.
How do I get the free player?
Go to the box at the bottom of the page, enter your name and email address, select whether you want the Windows or Mac version, then click on "Download QuickTime."
Once the download process begins, simply click on "Next" until the player has been downloaded and you can see the icon on your desktop.
The technical stuff:
To run QuickTime Player on the Windows platform, you need:
- 90-MHz Pentium processor
- Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0
- 16 MB RAM
- 16-color display card and 16-bit sound card
- Sound Blaster or compatible sound card
- 28.8K modem
- Internet Explorer 4.0 or Netscape 4.5
To run QuickTime Player on the Macintosh platform, you need:
- Mac PowerPC
- OS 7.1 or later
- QuickTime
- 32 MB RAM
- 28.8K modem or better
- Internet Explorer 4.0 or Netscape 4.5
To run Quicktime on Linux or other platforms:
- Quicktime is not supported for Linux.
- Now, actually, this isn't entirely true. Apparently using Wine or the Codeweavers Crossover Plugin you can now install Quicktime player for Windows on Linux. Wow! I haven't tried it, but I've heard of people using it sucessfully.
