Brief Hands-On Report--Flip4Mac WMV Player 2.2.0.39 for QuickTime

Telestream's Flip4Mac WMV Player internet plugin and components for QuickTime allows one to play Windows video files, .wma and .wmv in a Web browser as well as QuickTime Player.

Flip4Mac WMV Player 2.2.0.39 is available for download via MacUpdate or from within the preference pane in System Preferences under the "Update" tab. According to Telestream, the new version 2.2.0.39 includes:

• Added JavaScript support to the browser plugins
  
• Added support for URL Stream Scripting
  
• Major encoding optimizations for Intel Mac
  
• Improved video quality when encoding 2-pass VBR
  
• Added support for manual Deactivation/Reactivation
  
• Improved ASX handling
  
• Improved support for MMS servers and live streams
  
• Improved compatibility with many different web sites
  
• Fixed drawing problems with Firefox
  
• Removed the user enabled "Create Streaming Movies" preference

We downloaded the new version via MacUpdate because the "Update" tab in Flip4Mac's preference pane stated "Your software is up-to-date," possibly because Flip4Mac remains in beta. We have not had a problem with v2.1.3.5, also a beta.

During brief use of Flip4Mac WMV Player 2.2.0.39 we encountered no problems. [Bill Fox]