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Watching Movies

We show two different kinds of movies on Undergroundfilm.com: QuickTime movies and Flash movies.

QuickTime movies require the QuickTime plugin, which is available for free from Apple Computer's Web site by clicking on the "Get QuickTime" button below.

Flash movies require the Flash plugin, which is available for free from Macromedia's Web site by clicking on the "Get Flash" button below.

Your connection to the Internet

In general, we believe that there is a certain minimum acceptable quality for Web video. Good quality video, of course, is bandwidth intensive. What we've tried to do is strike a balance between ideal quality and ideal download time. If you're using a cable modem, DSL line or T-1, any movie on our site should load very quickly. If you're using a regular modem, our movies may take a while to download, but we're sure you'll be happy with their quality. The higher the quality, the longer a movie takes to download.

If you have a high-speed connection to the Internet, (cable modem, DSL, T-1 or similar) you will be able to:

  • watch movies play as they download (also referred to as "streaming").
  • download movies completely and then watch them later.
Modem users and others with a low-speed connection to the Internet should:
  • download movies completely and then watch them later.

The theory behind "streaming" is that if your connection to the Internet is greater (in megabits per second) than the "data rate" of the movie (also measured in megabits per second), then you can watch the movie as it downloads.

How to view a movie

To watch a movie go to its Movie Detail Page (click here for an example) and click the button that corresponds to the quality you'd like to watch.

There are two quality levels of movies on Undergroundfilm.com: Low Speed and High Speed. The Low Speed quality will download the fastest, but has the smallest screen size and lowest quality audio. The High Speed version will have a larger screen size and better quality, but will take longer to download.

When watching either type of film you can click the Double Size button, which will make the film bigger on the screen, but will not affect the download time.