RAfanvids.com—fan videos for actor Richard Armitage, Robin Hood, Spooks, Vicar of Dibley. Vids, fanvids, fan vids, fanvideos, vidding.

How do I play these videos?

Short answer (Windows users): Odds are, you're trying to use Windows Media Player to open a file and it won't cooperate (though I hear that with Windows 7, it's getting better). If that is the case, download and install VLC Player. It's free, it's multi-platform (Mac, Windows, Linux) and it'll play almost any file type, including iPod and iPhone files.

Alternatively, Windows and Mac users can install the free DivX Player which will allow them to view the XviD or DivX AVI files on this site, in either Windows Media Player (Windows users) or Quicktime (Mac users). Or just use the DivX Player itself to view the files.

If you have iTunes installed, you already have a copy of the Quicktime Player. Try using it to play MP4, MOV, or M4V files. It's much easier than trying to struggle to get an uncooperative Windows Media Player to play some of those files.

Mac users: Most of the MOV and MP4 files should play for you in Quicktime, but if you want to play DivX/XviD AVI files, download the free Perian codec pack. You can install the free Flip4Mac plug-in to play WMV files, or simply use VLC Player.

Quick Tip for those with older computers (Mac or PC): If your computer CPU has a speed under 1.0 GHz (like perhaps it's a 700 MHz processor) try the DivX or XviD AVI files first, or the dial-up H.264 MP4 or MOV files. These files require less processor horsepower. If you can't get them to play, try MPEG-1 files (when available) or the Sorenson 3 MOV files. These are not as high quality, but are intended for old hardware, as well as outdated media software. The Sorenson MOV files will play on older versions of Quicktime (back to version 6). If you have a really old creaky computer, please visit richard-armitage.org, which is designed for you in mind! There is an impressive collection of fan videos there, all in the ancient-computer-friendly format MPEG-1.

More help and information for Mac and PC users: Here is a page which explains all the kinds of video file types available here, and what software is required to play each type of video. There is a link at the bottom of that page which takes you to another page which gives more detail and troubleshooting advice for playing the videos.

Help! I don't get this whole "HD" thing that you've got going on.

HD and HQ videos are especially sharp and clear because the vidder edited with genuine "HD" (aka Blu-Ray quality) video clips. They are not to be confused with the many YouTube videos which can be viewed at "HD" settings. Many of us vidders save our regular, standard definition [NOT Blu-Ray HD quality] videos at "HD" settings so that they will show up on YouTube looking a little sharper. However, on RAfanvids, only videos edited with real (aka Blu-Ray quality) HD clips will have the logo by them.

1080HD video vs. 720HD vs. HQ video: 1080HD is for larger monitors. Such videos will be labeled "1080." If a 1080HD video fills up too much of your monitor's screen, try downloading the smaller (but still fabulously HD) 720HD videos. (When an HD video is not labeled as either 1080 or 720, it is assumed to be 720.)

Videos labeled as "HQ" usually are derived from "real" HD sources, but are saved at a smaller size (1024x576) for those with lower monitor resolutions. If any HD video is too big for your monitor, try HQ—it looks almost as good.

When playing HD: If an HD video plays haltingly or jerkily on your computer, try playing an XviD AVI or DivX AVI version of the video.

Help! I can't seem to be able to download the files to my desktop!

This page gives you step-by-step instructions on the process of right-clicking and downloading.

Help! Some of the pages (RHS1, Spooks S7, etc) do not open up! What's going on?

Okay, here's the deal. In June 2010 I moved some of the video files to other locations. Having so many videos stored on one web site (RAfanvids.com) became technically impossible after a while. If (heaven forbid!) you notice that some pages are not opening, that may mean that one of the other sites where videos are stored (like RAfanvids.info) is down (hopefully temporarily) while the rest of the site (RAfanvids.com) is still available. That can explain why some pages will open, but not others.

Hopefully the "down" web site will return shortly, so try again soon!

Help! The MP4 files I download end up with the .m4a extension and will only play in iTunes!

This is a completely bizarre issue that seems to affect both Windows and Mac users. I can't figure it out. Some workarounds are to use Firefox to download the MP4 files (as Firefox doesn't add the .m4a extension). Or, to download the file and remove the .m4a extension so it's back to MP4. Or, if you can't figure out how to get rid of the .m4a extension, simply locate the downloaded MP4 video on your desktop, right-click on it, select "Open with" from the right-click menu, and select either VLC Player, Quicktime, or if you are in Windows 7, Windows Media Player as the program to open the file. The MP4 file should play as expected.

Why don't you have more WMV versions of the videos?

For a few reasons. A lot of us found that it was difficult to get a higher quality WMV version of our video. (Not that WMV cannot get high quality, but many of us found it was trickier to achieve with our software.) The codec H.264 is increasing in popularity and is very high quality, plus the software used to make H.264 (either MP4 or MOV) files is free, cross-platform (Mac and PC) and very easy to configure and use. So for that reason, many of us are switching over to high quality H.264 MP4 files.

In addition, Mac vidders found that converting their videos to WMV was a lengthy and expensive process (as the best quality WMV encoder for Mac costs over $100). It's much easier to simply request that site visitors install a few codecs or the free and very versatile VLC Player.

Where are the North & South videos?

On Foolishpassion.org and Foolishpassion.com.

Help! A download link for one of the videos is broken!

Oops! I am sorry I missed it! Please email me at elvirasweeney AT mac.com and let me know which video, which page the video is on, and which file is missing. (Is it the iPod version? Dial up? Whatever it is, let me know.) Thanks!