Playing Rich Media in PDF Reader

[rynotrain]

Alright Adobe Dudes & Dudettes,

I'm at my wits end, surely user error, but need some answers once and for all.  I've designed a PDF with Acrobat XI Pro.  It's 1024 px by 10000 px (yes, that's 10K).  I have a few small mp4s and a few small swf files spread throughout the PDF.  I'm saving it as a PDF file and sending to others.  When I launch the PDF on my pc, mp4s and swf files play fine.  When my colleagues open it on their pcs with Adobe Reader, they get nothing, a short spinning wheel, but no playing, no error messages, nothing.  I've seen some receive a message to enable flash and disable active x filtering (which I verified is done).  Other than that, I can't figure it out.  I've tried to swap out videos for links to those videos on media servers and that doesn't work.  In short, I need to know once and for all why my colleagues can't play the videos and swf files.  Initially I thought this was something I was doing wrong while adding in the videos or saving the pdf, then I started troubleshooting on colleagues' pcs.  I'm at a loss frankly and must figure this out asap.  Your detailed help and direction would be much appreciated. - Ryan

[rynotrain]

Earth to Adobe!  26 views and no responses means many are looking for a solution.

[rynotrain]

Look at this ridiculous thread if you want more information on this.  Stupid.

10.1.5 / Flash 11.5.502.146 - can't view PDF with Flash content

[Joel Geraci]

Can you post the PDF in question?... and you might tone down the snark if you're looking for help from community.

J-

[rynotrain]

Thanks Joel, don't mean to snark, just a bit frustrated.  From what I can tell from 10.1.5 / Flash 11.5.502.146 - can't view PDF with Flash content what I'm trying to do is no longer possible.  It seems like dependency to play embedded media is less about Reader and more about user PC specs.  See pdf here Shared Files - Acrobat.com.  The actual is nothing more than a pdf with several compatible videos and swf files.  When I display its fine (apparently I have the right flash options on my pc).  When others launch in reader, no video or swf file plays when user clicks.

r-

[Test Screen Name · Accepted solution]

I understand your frustration. First, though, a fact check. PDF is not a raster format and it isn't sized in pixels. It is sized in physical measurements (points, inches, or mm). It is absolutely unlike a web graphic where you can try to create something of a given size (at least before retina screens were commonplace).

Now, to your frustration. Interactive PDF is, in my view, dying fast, for three reasons

1. Most people now have a PDF reader with their computer or browser. The number of people who still need to download Adobe software is dropping off a cliff; really, it's confined to stuck-in-the muds with Windows 7 and older, who don't install their choice of browser.

2. Adobe chose to book interactivity onto the Flash Titanic. More directly, Adobe chose to build their interactivity on a proprietary platform when it seemed unstoppable, but now - because it's not available on mobile platforms, and widely blocked for security reasons - the interactivity is less and less available.

3. Even without Flash, Adobe decided not to go for feature parity on the platforms of the future (i.e. mobile). By now, if it had been resourced, the Acrobat Reader app on mobiles could have been a contender. Still, Adobe may have been right. Since the mobiles come with a PDF reader, and the default can't be changed, how many users would take the trouble to install the app and send files to it (even if they knew how).

Don't just take my word for it. See this excellent discussion: It's okay to say no to interactive PDF

[Joel Geraci]

Ok - So this may not be what you want to hear but...

Stop. Put down the Flash. Back away slowly. Don't make any sudden movements.

Embedded video in PDF can be problematic at best. You're far better off adding any multimedia to the PDF as attachments and then creating links that launch those attachments. That way, whatever default player is native to the OS will play the multimedia. It's not as pretty but you don't have to have Reader and the computer set up perfectly either.

In all fairness, Adobe made the best decisions it could at the time. It had just acquired Macromedia and Flash was a growing platform when the concept of Rich Media Annotations was born. That was close to 20 years ago. While it's certainly frustrating to see that the tools to create PDF that can be terribly unreliable to view are still in Acrobat, Adobe wouldn't get away with removing them either. When Adobe pulled the 3D conversion out of Pro, the half dozen people who used it went crazy.

[rynotrain]

Thanks so much Joel and Test Guy - appreciate the insight.  I'm backing away slowly but still hopeful that internally we can find a solution.  While users have Reader, what I've gathered from this thread is that if I chose to deliver interactivity in PDF, users would need to have a local install of the Flash Player program.  Most of our learning content is delivered via LMSs and media servers, essentially delivering flash content through a web browser and streamed from media servers.  Either way, appreciate your direction and the time you took to respond here. 

Best,

Ryan