Millisecond Forums » Millisecond Forums » Inquisit 3 » Length of time on htmlpage

Length of time on htmlpage

mbo — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 03:36:44 GMT

Hi Everyone,

I'm trying to run a webexperiment where I'm running into problrms with the size of the video stimulus that I want to employ. We've tried everything to get the file size down, and although it's able to run, the time for the study to load is really prohibitive.

In thinking of possible work-arounds, one thing that occured to me was for us to load the videos in a player that we house on our own server, and then just put those into an htmlpage. I think this would definitely solve the problem in terms of file size and loading.

BUT, it's important that the participants don't just breeze through the video without watching it. In other words, I don't want them to be able to click forward or continue until the video is completed.

I *think* I can use htmlpages as instructions only, and if I'm right about this, I'm not so sure how to accomplish this goal.

If anyone has any suggestions, I would surely appreciate it!

Thanks in advance!

Mary

RE: Length of time on htmlpage

Dave — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 03:36:44 GMT

Thanks for the additional details and confirmation. Bug report has been filed accordingly.

RE: Length of time on htmlpage

Max — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 01:22:16 GMT

Okay I tried it on the Win machine and you are right, it works as expected. So that means we found a bug for the Mac version…

I hope it will be fixed with the next update.

ATB, Max

P.S.: here is the win machine info

Version: 4.0.5.0 64bit (build 2444)

Build Date: Mar 14 2014

Build Time: 10:20:49

Expiration Date: Registered

Computer Key:

Registration Key:

Platform: Windows NT 6.1; Win64; x64

CPU Speed: 2893

Memory: 4236 KB available of 8043 KB total

Timer resolution: 0.0003538931072947278 milliseconds

IP address: 137.193.126.251

MAC address: 84-A6-C8-1B-C4-D0

Graphics Engine: Direct2D

Color resolution: 32 bits per pixel

Display mode: 1920 x 1080

Refresh Rate: 60 Hz

Videosync support: DXGIWaitForVBlankMode

RE: Length of time on htmlpage

Max — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 05:42:58 GMT

Currently I have no Windows machine around. I will try tomorrow in my office on Win, so stay tuned.

Max

RE: Length of time on htmlpage

Dave — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 05:39:47 GMT

Interesting, thanks for the details. Might be platform-specific misbehavior. I'm not near a Mac ATM, so here's what I see under Win (which is the expected behavior).

- 1st instruction page loads without delay, one may move on immediately (wait=0).

- 2nd page loads without delay, one may *not* move on prior to at least 5secs elapsing (wait=5000).

What are you seeing under Windows?

RE: Length of time on htmlpage

Max — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 05:32:47 GMT

Okay, then it seems like we have found a bug or I misunderstood the wait attribute.

Let me outline the process step by step:

1. Starting the script

2. Website 1 appears

[Hitting ENTER]

3. Website 1 disappears

[5 seconds waiting time with a white screen]

4. Website 2 appears

[hitting ENTER directly when Website 2 appears]

5. Website 2 disappears without waiting time

Here is my machine information (if it helps):

[quote]Version: 4.0.5.0 64bit (build 2444)

Build Date: Mar 13 2014

Build Time: 23:57:06

Expiration Date: Registered

Computer Key:

Registration Key:

Platform: Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10_9_2; x86_64

CPU Speed: 2300

Memory: 62 KB available of 3263 KB total

Timer resolution: 0.0000010000000000000 milliseconds

IP address:

MAC address:

Graphics Engine: MacOpenGL

Color resolution: 32 bits per pixel

Display mode: 1680 x 1050

Refresh Rate: 60 Hz

Videosync support: WaitForVerticalBlank mode

[/quote]

ATB, Max

RE: Length of time on htmlpage

Dave — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 05:13:33 GMT

Works as expected for me in Inquisit 4.0.5.0. So, no, I don't have any suggestions other than making sure your Inquisit version is up to date.

RE: Length of time on htmlpage

Max — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 04:27:23 GMT

Hey Dave,

I would like to revive this topic. Due to the limited formatting options for the page element, we have to use the htmlpage element. We tried the script you offered here in this thread. Unfortunately, the result is not as intended. The htmlpage will not be displayed for a minimum of 5 seconds but will load delayed by 5 seconds. Any suggestions?

[code]<instruct>

/ wait = 0

</instruct>

/ preinstructions = (website1)

</block>

/ onblockbegin = [instruct.wait=5000]

/ preinstructions = (website2)

</block>

/ file = "website1.htm"

</htmlpage>

/ file = "website2.htm"

</htmlpage>

<expt>

/ blocks = [1=b1; 2=b2]

</expt>[/code]

ATB, Max

RE: Length of time on htmlpage

Dave — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 12:42:33 GMT

[quote]Is there any way to modify the script so that the video plays as it's loading (similar to how it works on youtube)?[/quote]

No, that's not currently possible. While such an option may become available at some point, it would have to be used with utter caution: Ever had a Youtube video stutter or freeze? As long as you are watching cute kittens for comic relief, that may not matter much. But if you are using a video for, say, mood induction in a behavioral experiment, you certainly don't want that to happen. And the only way to make sure is to fully download all stimuli (including video) prior to starting the experiment.

That said, we are aware of sometimes slow load times and you can expect things to improve somewhat in future releases.

For the time being, the only option to display streaming videos would be to host them yourself on some server and have Inquisit display the html page with the embedded video.

RE: Length of time on htmlpage

LibbyLu43 — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:58:06 GMT

Hey Dave, for my mac videos, we made them as small as possible without sacrificing quality too much. It's still taking my mac about 5 or 6 minutes to load though which is quite a lot. I'm pretty sure that as of now, the whole video loads, and once that's happened it starts to play. Is there any way to modify the script so that the video plays as it's loading (similar to how it works on youtube)?

Or, do you have any other suggestions on how to get around this 5-6 minute video loading time?

Thanks!

Libby

RE: Length of time on htmlpage

mbo — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 06:15:14 GMT

Dave,

You are beautiful!!

Best,

Mary

RE: Length of time on htmlpage

Dave — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 05:56:59 GMT

<instruct>
/ wait = 0
</instruct>

<block b1>
/ preinstructions = (p1)
</block>

<block b2>
/ onblockbegin = [instruct.wait=5000]
/ preinstructions = (p2)
</block>

<page p1>
no wait
</page>

<page p2>
wait 5 secs
</page>

<expt>
/ blocks = [1=b1; 2=b2]
</expt>

Regards,

~Dave

RE: Length of time on htmlpage

mbo — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 05:44:22 GMT

Thanks Dave.

I'm actually using the "include" command to put together various parts of the experiment. So there's an "instruct" part that pertains to everything. If I put a "wait" on the <instruct>, will it apply to all instructions throughout the study?

Right now I was including the htmlpage element as part of a preinstruction. Is it possible to put a wait on that as well? Just not seeing it yet.

Thanks!

Mary

RE: Length of time on htmlpage

Dave — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 05:34:50 GMT

[quote]In thinking of possible work-arounds, one thing that occured to me was for us to load the videos in a player that we house on our own server, and then just put those into an htmlpage. I think this would definitely solve the problem in terms of file size and loading.[/quote]

Not necessarily. The data *still* has to be transferred to the client computers. In your scenario, this will happen *while* the exp is running, not beforehand, which simply opens the door for different issues (e.g. network timeouts, slow client connections, etc.).

[quote]I *think* I can use htmlpages as instructions only, and if I'm right about this, I'm not so sure how to accomplish this goal.[/quote]

You think right.

[quote]BUT, it's important that the participants don't just breeze through the video without watching it. In other words, I don't want them to be able to click forward or continue until the video is completed. [/quote]

https://www.millisecond.com/support/docs/v3/html/language/attributes/wait.htm

Regards,

~Dave