(OK so I’ll post this but then I really really have to get back to work!)
I just got a note from the American Astronomical Society that many of the big lectures at the meeting in January 2008 were recorded, and are available online. Some are audio and some are video.
This is pretty cool. There are lots of interesting topics there, including extrasolar planets, galaxy formation, and star birth. The videos are in mp4 format (commonly called ipod format); however I can’t seem to save them to my machine to play. Maybe you’ll have more success.
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:22 am
Here goes another attempt to post a comment…
Anyway, I download mp4 thingies a lot; then pull them into quicktime Pro and convert them into something I can watch in flash or wmv.
I’m on a committee for AAS which is advising them on what to post and how. Somehow they didn’t get the message from us that they need to post in more than one format, since not everybody (like me, nor, I suspect, a lot of AAS members) have iPods. I use a Creative Zen, which is not interested in mp4.
I’ll pass along the note again and see if they can’t get a couple of other versions up on the web for our use.
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:28 am
Thanks, Phil!
I’ve downloaded all of Dr. Richard Pogge’s Astro 161 & 162 lectures, so I’ll have to add these to the playlist. I might have to get a bigger iPod too! ;-D
This comes just in time for my presentation at McCormick Observatory on Feb 6th. I needed a “Website of the month.” and now I have a real doozy thanks to you! Kewl!
Rich
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:07 am
It won’t load at all for me. That RTSP protocol is all new to me (and all new to my machine too it seems)
How does this thing work?
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:19 am
Works on my laptop. Looks like you need Apple Quicktime to view it, or at least the Quicktime codecs. On my system, it loads Real Player when I click on the video links, but I see the Quicktime logo pop up just before the video starts.
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:26 am
If I copy the URL, open Quicktime, and past the URL into the ‘open url’ dialogue of Quicktime, it works on my Macbook.
Doug
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:34 am
If you’re having trouble playing them, right-click on the video link and copy it, then paste it into a new browser window and change rtsp:// to http:// and it might play in your browser for you. That’s the only way I could get it to work for me.
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:03 am
It doesn’t work with the HTTP here either. Copy paste it wherever I want and it just won’t load. Shucks. Must be the work’s firewall.
Uh. No wonder the website’s slow. Foxnews deemed you worthy of a mention! (Main page, with the big image of the MAN ROCK as the front!)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,324800,00.html
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:32 am
RTSP (stands for Real Transport Streaming Protocol) is designed for streaming Real Media videos (i.e. extension rm, rv, rs, rmvb), not MP4 videos. I was unable to download them from the RTSP address with download managers designed for this purpose (e.g. streambox and Nettransport). However, they can be watched as streams by copying the RTSP address and pasting into the box provided upon using FILE/OPEN into any of the players Real Media, Quicktime, or VLC. They will then stream into the player and can be watched in real time.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:33 am
VLC media player plays these rtsp files just fine. It also plays a lot of other stuff as well. It’s free at http://www.videolan.org
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:34 am
I will second Prof Pogge’s Astronomy 161 and 162 lectures, they are really wonderful.
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Downloaded to Realplayer – v10.1.0 for Mac; no problems at all (except the first lecture in the 27. list cut off the intro which had the speaker’s name).
W.M.
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:58 pm
[...] Read the rest of this great post here [...]
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Uh, methinks realplayer and real format sucks hard.
Is there a podcast? Or is this strictly a download?
January 23rd, 2008 at 5:24 pm
I’m using a new laptop with Vista so new protocols should work, but had problems. I tried the suggestion of pasting the url into QT and that worked EXCEPT the lecture is there but annoying guitar music overlays it and it’s tough to listen to. If anyone has ideas on getting rid of the music, I’m all ears. Maybe I’ll try VLC.
Carolyn, more power to you for more formats, and make the video/audio in downloadable form. This material is tremendously useful both for personal study and for teaching.
MR