FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Rich Media?
The term "rich media" is synonymous for interactive multimedia. The combination of text, graphics, full-motion video, virtual reality, mapping and sound into an integrated package. Various file formats allow the rich media experience to be enjoyed on a wide host of computers, PDAs, mobile phones, iPods, iPhones and MP3 players, as well as portable gaming systems such as the Sony PSP.
Recommended Software
A few software applications and/or plug-ins will greatly enhance your rich media experience, both on our site and others. We highly recommend that you download and install Quicktime from Apple, Windows Media Player from Microsoft, and Adobe Acrobat from Adobe. These three applications are free of charge and come from trusted companies. To download, simply click on the icons below.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Virtual RealityTours
Our virtual reality tours are created using Apple's Quicktime Virtual Reality and are playable on both PCs and MACs. PCs with the Quicktime plug-in installed will be able to view these easily. If Quicktime is not installed, they should play using Active X - some computers may prompt you for permission to use Active X. MACs will play these in the browser using Quicktime. You may also save these to your hard drive, launch Quicktime, and view the tours in this manner.
Video Tours
Our video tours are provided in four popular formats - Quicktime, MP4, Flash, and the .m4v format for iPods and iPhones. Quicktime is one of the most reliable and widely downloaded plug-ins and is available free of charge for both PCs and MACs (download by clicking on icon above). Flash video is widely used and also available for download. MP4 files will play on both platforms. PCs should play these files in the browser and/or use Windows Media Player. MACs should do the same, although it is recommended that MAC users choose the Quicktime file format.
HD (High Definition) Video
Our HD video clips are provided in native HD format at 1920 x 1080 pixels. If you have the computer, screen and resolution capabilities for high defintion, simply right click on the HD Video link and download the file to your computer. You can then view the clip in your video application or burn it to a DVD for playback on a television.
Audio Tours
Our audio tours are simply high definition MP3 files, playable on almost every computer and portable device without the need for a helper application. Most PCs will play these files in the browser with Explorer and/or Windows Media Player. MACs will also play these files in the browser with Safari and/or Quicktime. The podcasts are on main site are presented in Apple's proprietary format for the iPod and in MP3 file format. You can subscribe to our monthly travel podcast with iTunes or any RSS program.
Mobile Devices
Many of the rich media files - videos, slideshows, and audio clips - are available for your mobile device. Video and slideshow files are provided in Quicktime (.mov), MP4 (.mp4), Flash (.flv) and .m4v for iPods and iPhones, and audio files are provided in MP3 (.mp3) format. These file types should play on most mobile devices including mobile phones, smart phones such as the Treo, iPods, iPhones and other MP3 players, the iPhone, and handheld game systems such as the Sony PSP. In addition, video and slideshow files are provided in resolutions of 320 x 240 pixels, and 160 x 120 pixels. You can view and save these files by simply clicking on the link, or you can right click these files and save to your hard drive. The files can be tranesferred to your mobile device by syncing, or by copying the files to your device's memory card.
Static Pages
Many of the rich media sections are simply static HTML pages that will play in all browsers. In general, photos are saved with little to no compression in order to provide clarity.
Mapping?
The Map section simply sends our customer's address to Google Maps. Google Maps features great maps, easy driving directions, and the ability to view maps only, satellite images only, or a hybrid of both maps and satellites. The Google Map interface is fairly straightforward. Questions about this should be directed to Google.com.
