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Pacer Association

Watching sailing videos on your computer

Windows Media

The sailing videos use the Windows Media Video file format, version 9.

Using this file format makes the video have good resolution. You can watch the video at full screen size. The file size is relatively small by using modern compression technology.

The Windows Media Player is a standard part of Windows 98, ME and XP, but older versions may need to be updated to be able to decode this video format. This updating often happens automatically if media player is connected to the internet. The latest complete version is version 9, which is available for free by following the link on the right.

Despite the use of the name 'windows', the player is also available for Apple computers at the above link.

Some other players such as Nullsoft Winamp and RealPlayer are also able to read the Windows Media format and one of these may be used instead of Windows Media Player if it is installed on your computer.

Recommended computer setup

A broadband connection (such as cable/ADSL/network) to the internet is recommended as videos will take significantly longer to download without broadband, such as on a 56k dial-up modem.

A Pentium III or equivalent computer (built in the last four years) should be able to play the video.

I can't get the video to play!

Firstly, try downloading the video file to a folder on your computer and opening the file directly, such as in 'My Computer'.

If it still doesn't work, the problem is most likely to be not having an appropriate video decoder. Some players will download this automatically when trying to play the video. Other players will be unable to automatically update.

If your player is unable to automatically update or there are other problems often this can be solved by downloading the full version of the latest Windows Media Player (see link above right).