FLIP Video: Deploying FlipShare

[bertster]

Has anyone managed to deploy flipshare? There is an msi provided but it doesnt seem to work as all we get is a message saying its completed, although the software is not actually installed.

[sted]

if you try the msi manually it basically says run the exe. I jsut bit the bullet and did it manually on the laptop trolley it was required on

[stevehp]

I guess I'll have to dig deeper as our district purchased one for dang near every teacher. So that means installing it on 100-200 PC's. Oh boy.

[stevehp]

I managed to get the software to install via a GPO. Start the installer(the .exe). Don't go through the prompts, instead find the temp files the executable extracted (check user profile\local settings\temp in XP). Copy everything in the folder just to be safe. Open the msi in ORCA or your favourite MSI editor and remove the launch condition table. It will install without nagging about the exe anymore.

 

I haven't tested this with a camera yet, but the software seems to be fully functional.

 

One issue I did have was that the software ignored my special folders location(My Videos, etc.), which I had changed via a script. Another script fixed that right up though, but then I needed to have a robocopy script move the FlipShare Data dir to the redirected folder location for My Videos. Phew..

[HarryMonkey]

I never bothered with the flip software just (CC3) packaged up the Xvid codec/driver that's on the camera and allocated that. I'm sure something similar would work on a vanilla network. The camera then plugs in and appears as a USB drive just like a digital camera, you can then just drag and drop the video files to your workstation and edit with your video editing software.

[LCPSWolf]

stevehp,

 

Awesome about the Orca modification! Worked like a charm.

[sted]

what version are you using ive just downloaded 4.1.4 and tried it installs reboots the pc thenm wont run

[LCPSWolf]

Sted,

 

I've got 5.6 modified to a deployable MSI. It seems to install & run fine on our XP SP3 computers. Let me know what I can do to help.

[sted]

Sted,

 

I've got 5.6 modified to a deployable MSI. It seems to install & run fine on our XP SP3 computers. Let me know what I can do to help.

 

where did you get 5 from i could only find 4 on their site

[LCPSWolf]

It's from the autoupdate that FlipShare does. When you open up 4, it should check for an update. When the update is in progress, go to the %temp% directory - it should be located in the most recently created folder in that directory - just pull the .msi and other files from the folder and you should have the version 5 package.

[sted]

thanks why cant i just download 5 damed fool software companies

[sted]

dosent seem to want to update and cant see any way of forcing it though i imaging thats due to leas poxy proxys

[stevehp]

The US website for FLIP has version 5.6 available for download. The site specifies that's it's US only, so I'm not sure what, if any modifications they would do for you guys across the pond. If you'd like to try the file I will would be glad to get it to you somehow.

[sted]

i saw the us one but as it said US only i wasnt sure if it was a good idea. I now have a msi that works on my quick test (not found a cameras yet) thanks to LCPSWolf so when i get 10 mins im going to go raiding drawers etc for a camera

[Monty1157]

what version are you using ive just downloaded 4.1.4 and tried it installs reboots the pc thenm wont run

 

I installed 4.1.4 after removing the launch condition and got the same error. Little messing about comparing the registry keys on the 'corrupted' install with an install done via the setup file revealed that the locale keys in the registry were missing. There's two ways to fix this: Push the correct registry settings via an ADM in group policy/or login script, or change the registry table in the original .msi file. Personally, I'm going for the .msi hack as it's neater all round I think.

 

Registry keys are stored in HKLM/Software/Flip Video/FlipShare and are:

 

country: uk

language: en_uk

locale: en_uk

region: international

 

In the .msi file, in the registry table, it's the third entry to sixth entry on the table you need to change. Same as above.

 

On another note, whilst messing about with all of this, it also downloaded and gave me the chance to update to 5.9, which I did, and I grabbed the new 5.9 .msi out of the %temp% dir. This changed the registry settings to just:

 

locale: en_uk

region: international

useagestatsenabled: 1

 

I changed useagestatsenabled in the registry to 0 with no problems, and changed it, and the other two keys, in the .msi registry table (third option down in the 5.9 .msi).

 

Tested both the 4.1.4 install with changed registry table values, and the 5.9 install with changed values, as a GPO install on clean computers, and both put in the correct registry values and worked first time.

 

Lastly, I will say that I noticed that the 4.1.4 install installed 3ivx as well, but a clean install of 5.9 doesn't. I've no idea how much trouble that will cause if it's missing, but I'm sure I'll find out.

 

Cheerie,

Monty

[Arthur]

grabbed the new 5.9 .msi out of the %temp% dir.

For future reference you can download the v5.9 MSI directly from either of the links below. The MSI within each ZIP file is identical so it doesn't matter which one you choose.

 

v5.9.19 (UK): http://puredig.vo.llnwd.net/o18/update.theflip.com/app/fvsw/downloads/5.9.0/grease_d19_90364_uk_ufpv.zip

v5.9.19 (US): http://puredig.vo.llnwd.net/o18/update.theflip.com/app/fvsw/downloads/5.9.0/grease_d19_90364_us_ufpv.zip

 

Registry keys are stored in HKLM/Software/Flip Video/FlipShare

I also had to add the registry setting below (not to the MSI though for obvious reasons).

 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Flip Video\FlipShare]
"Language"="en_uk"

 

 

Lastly, I will say that I noticed that the 4.1.4 install installed 3ivx as well, but a clean install of 5.9 doesn't.

Cisco include their own codecs now, which is why 3ivx is missing (I imagine it saves them money on licensing).

 

Another thing I noticed is that there doesn't appear to be a way to turn off the auto update feature within FlipShare's preferences, so I just blocked update.theflip.com and puredig.vo.llnwd.net on our proxy server.

[busby]

Hi

School im providing support for have got a few flip ultras ive installed flip software 4.8 and in the preferences it allows you to change the video path. about time but then bang ! Sorry, flipshare cannot use this drive for the library. Network drives and some external disk drives create access problems which can make content unavailable in flipshare. is there anyway to force this as the school want to use the software.

 

any help ?

[Monty1157]

In all honesty, it's something I've not looked at. I only rolled out the software install earlier this week, and I was assuming that the staff would be putting the files into their personal or shared folders on the network. I've not had any complaints regarding the use of the cameras under this 5.9 install, but although the person who requested this knows that the software's now there, he might not have had the time to test things out in that respect. I'm sure I'll get another call logged to complain about this, if there is a save to network folder problem. Otherwise, all I can suggest is that you follow the links above that Arthur provided, hack the .msi/add the reg keys (delete as applicable ), and try that and see how it goes.

[sted]

Hi

School im providing support for have got a few flip ultras ive installed flip software 4.8 and in the preferences it allows you to change the video path. about time but then bang ! Sorry, flipshare cannot use this drive for the library. Network drives and some external disk drives create access problems which can make content unavailable in flipshare. is there anyway to force this as the school want to use the software.

 

any help ?

 

i think if you reg hack the setting in rather than using the interface it works

[busby]

Cheers guys i will give feed back on this this evening once ive tried it in the school this afternoon.

[busby]

Ok, Found how to edit the path and works good thank you. Now the problem lol it will only let you change the path for current user, so that means i will have to change the path for all students ggrrrgh. very time consuming as i want to change the path for all users on themachine.

 

Also does the software save the path to the users profile so when the user logs onto another pc the path is the same ? if i changed the path by each user.

 

Dam you flip this is driving me mad. lol

Edited November 19, 2010 by busby
better post

[sted]

script that adds the reg key at logon if if you use mandatory profiles add it to that ?

[Arthur]

To change the location of the FlipShare library you need to modify the following registry setting for all of your users (make sure you use forward slashes in the path too)...

 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Flip Video\FlipShare\5.9]
"PurpleDirectory"="[b]X:/Videos/FlipShare[/b]"

 

 

It's also worth mentioning that the new folder must already exist - if it doesn't, they will see a dialog box the next time they open FlipShare asking them to locate their library folder or create a brand new library in the default location.

Edited November 19, 2010 by Arthur

[AdamFlip]

Does anyone know if it's possible to put a dialog box in the "Other website" area of sharing for another website we use regularly? For example, if we wanted the user to upload to his/her Blackboard account or a team Vimeo account.

[gshaw]

As far as the FlipShare versions go I was told to stick with 4.1.x by their support a while ago as the 5.x versions link to some USA-only video sharing site \ library and as such UK devices are unsupported on that version. Might be worth checking if it's still the case.

 

Up until now I've done the installer via AutoIT which seems to do the trick and then redirecting to a network share with the reg hack above