FLV files won't play

sequitursequitur
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited February 2014

I stupidly downloaded:  http://mac.eltima.com/freeflashplayer.html  which seemed to be a legitimate site, but It may be a Trojan horse or something so be careful if you're thinking of downloading it.  It certainly doesn't work as advertised.  If it is a legit site, it needs repairs to work.

 

 Now, all files with FLV extension have changed over to 'SWF & FLV' player, but they won't open / play.  

 

How can I get rid of 'SWF & FLV player'?  Spot light points it out but trashing it doesn't make it go away. It just pops up again when I try to open a file. Clicking 'Quit' doesn't make it quit.  The Version 3.8 extremely large logo is on the desktop with no way to delete it.

 

Is there a way to change files, en masse, to MP4?  

 

Thanx

 

Edit:  The logo suddenly went away when I kept pressing 'quit'. 

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Hey, I remember that software! It’s no trojan, it’s just trash.

     

    Just follow this guide to get the sucker off your machine, and then go here and get the real standalone Flash player (warning: direct link).

  • Reply 2 of 7
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member

    Thanks Tallest Skil,

     

    You saved me from pulling the rest of my hair out.

  • Reply 3 of 7
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member

    RATS!

     

    I tried the method you suggested and the ElMedia player went away and the files could be opened. I worked with a few files earlier and everyone I tried opened and worked.

     

    A few minutes ago, I tried to work with another one of the files and they ALL had reverted back to the ElMedia player again and won't open.

     

    I'll retry your method but I still think ElMedia is a Trojan horse or whatever that's called. It just doesn't seem to want to go away.

     

    I'm reminded of a poem called "The Cat Came Back" :  http://www.lyricsfreak.com/m/macabre+ministrels/the+cat+came+back_20762852.html

  • Reply 4 of 7
    mr. memr. me Posts: 3,221member
    One man's trash is another man's treasure. Eltima's Elmedia Player uses your installed Internet Plugins to play video in .flv, various and sundry QuickTime-supported formats, Real Video, and Silverlight. Elmedia Player can be used as a standalone player that plays your downloaded videos. It can also display webpages and play the videos embedded there.

    Discussions of video players often take on theological overtones. I hope that the religious zealots don't extend this thread with endless back and forth trying to convince others of a point that everyone else ignores. Let me say at this point that I am perfectly aware of VLC, MPlayer X, its various versions and derivatives, Movist, Cellulo, and others.

    I use Elmedia Player and I am happy with it. I like its support for virtually all video formats on my Mac. However, my primary reason for using it is its handling of .flv. I have Adobe's Flash Player plugin and Adobe's standalone Flash Player application. However, my personal experience using three computers--an Intel-based MacBook Pro running OS X Mavericks with the latest version of Flash Player plugin and standalone application and two PowerMac Pro G5s running MacOS X 10.4.11 (Tiger)--is that the Elmedia Player handles Flash Video (.flv) better than Adobe's standalone player.

    My personal experience does not take away from the personal experience of any other user. Earlier this week, I read a user post about his difficulty in removing remnants of the Elmedia Player after he trashed it. I have found no reason to uninstall Elmedia Player, but it troubles me that I may have trouble doing so.

    I am grateful to Tallest Skil for posting a link to Eltima's instructions for uninstalling its Player. They are there if I need them.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member

    Mr. Me,

     

    What hoops do you have to jump through to get the ElMedia player to open and play a file.  It shows the file as a still picture, gives info about it, but will not play the file.  I've pushed, pulled, and pressed every button, icon, etc. I can find, but it absolutely refuses to play the file.  I have found nothing online either at ElTima, ElMedia, or elsewhere that gives that info.  What's your secret?

     

    Furthermore, it won't go away. It clings like a burr to my system even when Tallest Skil's suggested system is utilized. It should uninstall - but doesn't.  The fact that there is an ElMedia player uninstaller indicates to me that shaking it off has been an ongoing problem for others who've tried it and found it wanting. Why would someone want to uninstall it if it worked for them?  There must have been many users that had or have the same problems. I doubt that ElMedia would have bothered to build the uninstaller with only a few complaints.

     

    In the meantime, I'm unable to use the files I need on my iMac.  Fortunately, I can link my MBP to the iMac, share the files which show up as plain flv files (not ElMedia files as on the iMac) and open under VLC.  

     

      I would like to know why it works for you and not for me.

     

    My iMac is about two years old and is using Mvericks 9.1     My MBP is older and runs OS X 10.6.8

  • Reply 6 of 7
    mr. memr. me Posts: 3,221member
    With Flash video (.flv) files, the [B]Elmedia Player[/B] "just works" on my systems. The only thing that I can think of is that you may not have Adobe's [B]Flash Player[/B] Internet Plugin installed on your Mac. Remember what I wrote in my earlier post. [B]Elmedia Player[/B] uses your installed Internet Plugins to handle the various and sundry video formats.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member

    Yesterday, my files reverted back to fly and can now be played.  Poltergeists?  I haven't heard the Twilight Zone background music, but I am waiting for the other shoe to drop and the files to revert to Elmedia again as they've done before.

     

    The difference could be that yesterday, I copied and pasted RealPlayer Downloader alias from my external HDD to the internal HDD.  Odd because there doesn't seem to be a file with the name RealPlayer Downloader in Applications on the external HDD.  I decided to copy the alias anyway.

     

    RealPlayer Downloader doesn't seem to be availble online for Mavericks.  It is available as RealPlayer Cloud with limited storage.  I haven't downloaded that but may subscribe to the advanced version.

     

     I believe I have Adobe's Flash Player internet Pugin installed: "Plug-in version 12.0.0.44 is installed."  Am I mistaken? Is there something else I should install?

     'Alllow Adobe to install updates (recommended)'  - is checked.

     

    Wait~!  I think I do hear the Twilight Zone music.  ;) http://mp3skull.com/mp3/twilight_zone_theme.html

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