1. What is SurePlayer, and why use it?
2. Why build SurePlayer?
3. Why is SurePlayer free?
4. Why no MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 support?
5. How does SurePlayer.org fund product developments and ongoing efforts?
6. Why not develop SurePlayer as a proprietary software product?
7. Why does BYOBroadcast support SurePlayer?
8. Why no audio support on Linux? 
9. Is documentation available for SurePlayer?
10. Will SurePlayer play over a dialup connection?

ANSWERS:

1. What is SurePlayer, and why use it?

   SurePlayer is an open source, standards-based, streaming MPEG-1 audio/video player. SurePlayer is written in Java and will play on about 96% of all browsers with no download or installation of client software.

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2. Why Build SurePlayer?

   The streaming video marketplace relies heavily on proprietary software made by just three companies: Microsoft (Windows Media Player), Apple Computer (QuickTime), and RealNetworks (Real Player). With no clear market winner, to view different video files you can have up to three players downloaded and installed on your computer. Since SurePlayer is written in Java, the player is downloaded each time ensuring that the viewer can see your films. 

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3. Why is SurePlayer free?

   SurePlayer is based on the work of several talented individuals that have contributed a great deal of time and effort to the code base.  We believe the tools for viewing and creating video online should be in the hands of everyone.
   
   SurePlayer.org provides a reliable, production-grade product to all Internet users. It must remain a product that is not "owned" by a single company, so that all Internet users can benefit from those who take the time to contribute to the project.
   
   Furthermore, the open source model provides feature enhancements, bug fixes, and support for the project as more and more individuals combine their work into a strong collaborative effort. This kind of community can only happen with the open source model -- when someone pays for software, they usually aren't willing to do bug fixes and release new software versions for free.

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4. Why no MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 support?

   MPEG-2 is too big for current Java technology.  MPEG-4 support would be great--please let us know if you'd like to contribute code. 

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5. How does SurePlayer.org fund product developments and ongoing efforts?

   BYOBroadcast is footing the bill.  If you'd like to help out, please let us know!

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6. Why not develop SurePlayer as a proprietary software product?

   There are plenty of proprietary players out there.  

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7. Why does BYOBroadcast support SurePlayer?

   SurePlayer’s performance is based on an open source model that has been successfully proven by several other products such as Linux and Apache. The Open Source development model will enable SurePlayer to evolve quickly while maintaining very high quality. By making SurePlayer a supported product, BYOBroadcast will be offering the best solution in the streaming video marketplace for customers wanting to integrate video into their Internet initiatives.

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8. Why no audio support on Linux?
   
   When running in a browser, Sureplayer uses the only audio library available--the unsupported Sun AudioPlayer interface.  Unfortunately, this appears to be unimplemented on the Linux version of Netscape Navigator 4.  Navigator 6 supports the newer javax sound classes--sound should work on this browser.  Upgrade to 6!

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9. Is documentation available for SurePlayer?
   
   You get a README file and code comments.
   

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10. Will Sureplayer play over a dialup connection?
    
    Yes, if you make your video small enough.  Try coding your video at 96 x 64 pixels at 2-4 frames per second (using empty B frames to reduce the frame rate).  Code your audio at the minimum intelligible bitrate.  The quality won't be great, but then nothing gets great quality at 56kbits/second.