Fantastic Fest Online FAQ
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How do I watch a movie?
First, make sure you are logged in to the Fantastic Fest Online web site. You can only watch movies if you are logged in.
Next, on any film page, look for the purple "play" button. Hover your mouse on the button, and you will see a menu with choices of various resolutions for streaming the film:
Select the option you want, and the film will start playing shortly.
Related questions:
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How do I pause or stop a movie?
The pause/play and stop controls are on the bottom left of the video player.
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How do I skip forward or backwards in a video?
Click the vertical seek control with your mouse and drag it left or right to seek forwards or backwards in a video. The player will buffer (or load) for a few seconds and then start playing again at the newly selected spot.
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How do I watch a video in full screen?
Click on the full screen button to expand the video to fill your computer screen. High Bandwidth movies will look very good, even on a large external monitor. Medium Bandwidth movies will play well full screen on a laptop. Low Bandwidth movies will probably look best inside the player itself.
To exit full screen mode, hit the escape key.
Related questions:
Should I use the Hi Bandwidth or the Low Bandwidth version of the film?
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Why can't I watch the films? I can only see the trailer.
You must be logged in to the Fantastic Fest Online site in order to watch movies. If you have a B-Side account from Fantastic Fest or any other festival, then you can simply log in with your email address and password.
If you don't have a B-Side account yet, you can register here. Registration is absolutely free, and takes about 15 seconds.
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Should I use the Hi Bandwidth or the Low Bandwidth version of the film?
Which version of the film you should watch depends upon the amount of download bandwidth available at your location. Each film is available in 3 sizes: High Bandwidth (1200k), Medium Bandwidth (400k), and Low Bandwidth (200k).
If you are at an office or home with a 1.5Mb connection or better, the High Bandwidth version will provide the best viewing experience, even in full screen mode.
If you have a 700Kb or better connection, the Medium Bandwidth version will be your best bet.
Anything lower, and you should use the Low Bandwidth version.
You can find out your available download bandwidth by using a utility here.
The video player will buffer approximately 30 seconds worth of video before starting. You could just start with the High version, and if you find that the video is pausing too often then you could simply switch to the Medium or Low version. You can move the film position slider at the bottom of the video to resume the video at whatever point you like.
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What is the difference between High, Medium, and Low Bandwidth?
High Bandwidth movies are encoded at 1200Kb/s at near-DVD resolution. Images are crisp and motion is smooth. High Bandwidth movies look great when viewed full screen.
Medium Bandwidth movies are encoded at 400Kb/s at near-DVD resolution. Images are crisp, but some artifacts will be visible during action. Quality will be considerably higher than videos on YouTube. Medium Bandwidth movies look good when viewed full screen, and look great inside the video player.
Low Bandwidth movies are encoded at 200Kb/s at lower screen resolution. The image will be smaller than the video player. Quality will be similar to videos on YouTube. Small Bandwidth movies look best inside the video player.
Related questions:
Should I use the Hi Bandwidth or the Low Bandwidth version of the film?
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Is my computer compatible with the technical requirements to watch online?
All films are streamed using Adobe Flash. Flash is a cross-platform technology, friendly to both Macintosh and PC users, across all the major browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc.). In order to watch the movies, you'll want to have Flash Player version 9 or higher installed.
You can check your Flash version here. If you do not have version 9,0,124,0 or greater, you can download it here.
Macintosh Users: You will need a high-speed internet connection (cable modem, DSL or higher). PowerMac, MacBook Pro, Powerbook, iBook are recommended models running Mac OS 10.1 or higher, with at least 512MB of RAM running at a resolution of 1024x768 or higher using the 'millions' of colors setting. You can find these settings in the System Preferences under 'Displays.'
Windows Users: You will need a high-speed internet connection (cable modem, DSL or higher). Intel Pentium 4 or higher processors are recommended, running Windows XP with 512MB RAM or Vista 1GB RAM, at a resolution of 1024x768 or higher.
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I already registered for the main Fantastic Fest site. Do I need to register for a new account on Fantastic Fest Online?
No, you can use your existing Fantastic Fest account. For the purposes of voting the two sites are considered separate festivals, so if you want your ratings and reviews on both sites, you'll need to log into each one individually.
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When will the full films (not just the trailers) be available to watch?
Streaming of the films in their entirety begins September 14th 2008 at midnight CDT - meaning midnight Saturday.
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I already voted for a film on the main Fantastic Fest site. Why should I vote for it Fantastic Fest Online too?
Our generous sponsor AMD has provided some sweet prize packages for the filmmakers with the highest vote tally on the Fantastic Fest Online site. Voting will end shortly before the Fantastic Fest Awards ceremony. If you like a movie, please make sure to vote.
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Can the films be viewed an unlimited number of times?
No, in order to protect the distribution possibilities for these films, the number of views is limited to 1250 for each feature film. Fantastic Fest Online was envisioned as a film festival in the virtual realm, and viewership was limited to an equivalent number to that of a traditional festival.
