How to embed Quicktime VR but forbid a download and enable fullscreen mode

March 4, 2009 2:11 PM

How to embed quicktime VR on web site without letting user download the VR and with letting a user go into full screen mode to see the embedded movie

I know there have been questions here about embedding QuickTime VRs on web sites, and lots of questions on the internet at large, but this has a twist that I was hoping somone might be able to help me with

I want to embed a QuickTime VR on my site. However,

1) I don't want the visitor to my site to be able to download the VR. This is because if they download it they might not come back to the site, and I want to maximize traffic.

and

2) I want the visitor to be able to enjoy the VR in full screen mode.

Can one embed the VR with these two prior conditions being met?

Thanks!

posted by fenwaydirtdog to computers & internet (5 comments total)

It's not possible to prevent the user from downloading the QuickTime file. If they can see it, they can save it.
posted by Mwongozi at 2:18 PM on March 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

Seconding that. It's not possible to prevent someone from downloading the file.

So the answer to your question is 'No, it's cannot be done with those conditions'.
posted by unixrat at 2:29 PM on March 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

To expand on this, for a person to use QuickTime VR, their web browser, via a plug-in, has to download that information from your site. It's the equivalent of asking, "Can I tell someone something, but make it so they can't write it down?"

Numerous people have squirmed around trying to solve this "problem," to little success. You'd start to edge into DRM territory just beginning to address it.
posted by adipocere at 2:40 PM on March 4

Have you considered Flash?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:32 PM on March 4

Blazecock Pileon - Flash doesn't solve the problem. It gets around a host of other Quicktime-related issues, but in the end, Flash content is still being downloaded to the end-user machine. It's just the way the web works.

Fenwaydirtdog - Keep in mind that if you make your site engaging enough, people will want to come back. Preventing them from downloading something won't do it. But more importantly, assuming that you're not going to put a great big "Download the movie here!" link on your page, only a very small minority of users are going to download the content. Honestly. One of the biggest failings of technologically-minded people is that we tend to forget that the *vast* majority of the population is non-technical. Yes, some people will download your content. But they are the folks that are going to defeat whatever measures you try to put in place anyway. Everyone else is simply going to go to the site and enjoy your content. If they like it, they'll send their friends to your site. To most, it wouldn't even occur to them that they could download and save the content, and for most, it's not terribly practical to do so anyway.
posted by robhuddles at 4:14 PM on March 4