How to find, download, and play videos on this site.
[Corran: Note that this thread is over three years old. I've updated this guide to stay current, but other posts in the thread may still be out of date. For example, the two week wait before new accounts can download from local links no longer exists. Please keep this in mind as you read the thread.]
To download videos the first thing you need to do is find them.
On the top right of the
members page you will find the "Top lists" box. The three links you will probably want to concern yourself with here are the three below.
Top 10% Videos: Videos here have 8 or more opinions (ops) and rank in the top ten percent of all other videos that also have 8 or more opinions. This is a good way to find the best videos this site has to offer. Note that the default view of this listing only shows videos released within the last year. Click the links right above the list to change the time frames.
Top Star Scale: Here you can find videos ranked by their weighted star scale ratings.
There are actually a couple of lists in the link.
-The one you find on the top is the Top All-Time Star Scale which shows the top star ranked videos since the star rating system came into existence.
-The lists below it are the same except they are generated on a weekly basis. This is so people can see some of the newer videos the site has to offer because it is generally difficult for a great, new video to climb up the Top All-Time Star Scale quickly.
NOTE: The star scale is a simple system where after someone downloads a local video they give it a star rating of 1 through 5 based on their opinion of the video. This is a quick and dirty way of expressing your thoughts on a video without writing a review for it. Videos on these lists need at least 5 stars before they start to appear on the lists.
Top Favorite Videos: The videos in this list are based on their position in all members' favorites lists. Generally, you will find good videos here. This list doesn't fluctuate much though so it is only a good as a starting point.
The following are some additional ways to find videos.
New Vid on the Block:
Further down the right hand side of the members page you will find the new "New Vid on the Block" section. This list shows 10 recently uploaded videos (only 1 if you haven't donated I am told)?
Search for AMVs:
On the left side of the page you'll find the link called "Search for AMVs"?
This page will list multiple search features available to you. You should play with all of them but for now we will assume you are looking for something specific so click the "Super search" button. Here you can enter information to find videos specific to your interests. You can search by Avatar, music, artists, member, category, etc.
NOTE: If you have donated to the site you can have the list returned to you ordered by average star rating.
Now you've found a video you want to download. How do you do that?
Scroll down to the bottom of the video's information page.
**
First off if you do not see the download box at the bottom of the page then that video is not for download.**
1)
Indirect downloads: To use this link you need to left click it. This link points to another site where you can get the video. If the editor was nice they made this link point to the page that the video is on. Some people however just point this link to their website's main page and force you to search their site for the video.??
2)
Direct downloads: To use this link you need to right click on it and select "Save Target As.??"? These are used if the editor has it the video somewhere else other than this website and they wish to give you a link to the video itself instead of an indirect link.
3)
Local downloads: To use this link you need to left click it. You have to be a member before you can download from the local links. If you have donated the download should start 1 second after the page loads. If you haven't donated you will be taken to a page that talks about why donating is a good thing. At the bottom of that page are three links. Two for donating and one to proceed to the download page. To continue to the download, left click the proceed button. Your download will begin 10 seconds after the page loads.
What if the video doesn't play right.
If the video you downloaded only has sound or it won't playback in general then you probably don't have the necessary codecs installed to watch the video.
To remedy this I suggest the
CCCP playback pack? Of all the codec packs out there, it is one of the smallest and effective. It also tries to play nice with your operating system whereas a lot of other codec packs are known to mess things up. For these reasons, it is highly recommended by the Avatar Music Video and Avatar communities.
If you still have problems playing a video, try reading the playback guide on this site:
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/playback/
(Linked guide also includes instructions for Mac and Linux.)