WITH the controversy over software patents in Europe we hoped that the parliament would be more sensitive to subjects like these, but we were wrong. Over the years we gave many examples where the parliament broadcasted in formats that required buying Microsoft codecs and despite the complaints not much has changed. Here is how they explain it:

From: Webmaster Europarl
Date: Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 4:58 PM
Subject: RE: WPU-2389 - Problems downloading videos on the EP website
To: [privacy]





Dear Madam / Sir,





Thank you for your message and your interest in the activities of the
European Parliament.





The recorded videos (Video on Demand - VOD) of the plenary in the
Multimedia Library are currently available in WMV and MPEG-4 format.
The format of the videos for live broadcast and VOD of Committees and
other events is currently WMV. In future the MPEG-4 format will be
available also for the live broadcasts and all VOD. The new format
will also be accompanied by a new multi-platform reader.





It seems that you are probably using an Apple computer. If not, thank
you for providing information (including versions) about the operating
system, browser and media player used, in order to better understand
the situation you are facing and help you more efficiently.





You may find below text that answers questions of Apple/Mac users.





Live streaming:





The format of the live broadcast video feed of Parliament is WMV. On
some operating systems (Mac for example) you cannot read this format
directly in your browser. It is then possible to use an external media
player to view the video feed. To do this, use the link provided under
the video image. Copy and paste this address into your media player.





Downloading:





The recorded videos of the plenary (VOD: Video on Demand) in the
Multimedia Library are currently available in WMV and MPEG-4 format.
In future the MPEG-4 format should be available also for the live
broadcasts and all VOD (including Committee meetings). The new format
should also be accompanied by a new multi-platform reader.





VLC or Flip4Mac might be a solution for watching the video. When
downloading, you can use for example VLC to read that file. Downloaded
files contain always all linguistic versions. There you can go to the
track "Audio / Audio Track" and choose your preferred language. As VLC
is using multi bit-rate video, it is possible that it opens 3 windows
for the video. Follow these steps if you'd like to have only 1 screen:





Open the file
Click "Video / Video Track / Disable" -> Result: no screens
Click "Video / Video Track / Track 3" -> Result: one screen





Google Chrome / Firefox plugin





About Google Chrome, if a plugin is missing then Google should propose
the plugin which you can find also here:
http://port25.technet.com/videos/downloads/wmpfirefoxplugin.exe (it's
the same for Firefox and Google browsers).





Note: Our streaming and VOD services should be functional with the
most popular operating systems, browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox)
and media players (Windows Media Player, Quick Time, VLC). We cannot
offer any alternative at the moment, but this is one of our
priorities. Parliament is currently working to put in place other
video formats and to offer better compatibility. The objective is to
use the MPEG-4.





You can find more information about our VOD and Live broadcast
services on the following pages.





EP Live - Multimedia Library - VOD - About:





http://www.europarl.europa.eu/wps-europarl-internet/frd/help/help-with-menu?currentSei=SEI3&language=en





EP Live - See & Hear - Live broadcast - About:





http://www.europarl.europa.eu/wps-europarl-internet/frd/help/help-with-menu?currentSei=SEI1&language=en





We hope that this helps!





Best regards,





Europarl Webmaster





EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
DG COMMUNICATION
Directorate for Media
 WebMaster@europarl.europa.eu