Help & FAQs

JavaScript must be enabled for NZ On Screen to operate properly and to display video content. JavaScript is a scripting language that is used by millions of web sites to add functionality and execute a variety of tasks.

How to enable JavaScript in the supported browsers:

Internet Explorer 6x & 7x

1. From the browser's Tools menu, select Internet Options
2. In the Internet Options dialogue box, select the Security tab
3. Click Custom Level at the bottom. The Security Settings dialogue box will pop up.
4. Under Scripting category enable Active Scripting, Allow paste options via script and Scripting of Java applets
5. Click OK twice to close the dialogue boxes
6. Click Refresh Current Page

Mozilla Firefox

1. From the browser's Tools menu, select Options
2. Select the Content icon
3. Ensure that Enable Javascript is checked
4. Click OK
5. Click Reload current page (F5)

Safari

1. From the Safari menu, select Preferences
2. Click Security
3. Check both Enable Java and Enable JavaScript
4. Close the window
5. Click Reload the current page

NZ On Screen requires Adobe's Flash Player to present video and other content. Flash Player version 9.0.124, or newer, is required. It is quick to download and is also used by many other sites.

Please download the latest Flash Player software from the Adobe web site, follow the installation instructions and then come back to NZ On Screen.

If you have problems installing or upgrading Flash Player, or if after installing or upgrading you still receive a message stating that you don't have the most recent version, Adobe recommends running an 'Uninstaller' programme first. Read more about uninstalling old versions of Flash on the Adobe website.

If you have an older computer you may not be able to install the latest version of Flash Player. In this case, please make sure you select your operating system and type of computer when downloading the player to make sure you get version 9.0.124.

You may want to restart your computer after successfully installing Flash Player.

Further help about Adobe Flash Player can be found on the Adobe Flash Player support page.

Please ensure your web browser accepts cookies. These are required to register with NZ On Screen which gives you access to more content and features on the site.

Cookies are pieces of information generated by a web site and sent to your browser, then sent back unchanged each time you accesses that site. This allows user customisation of a web site, such as maintaining the preferences that you select.

How to allow your browser to accept cookies:

Internet Explorer 6x & 7x

1. From the browser's Tools menu, select Internet Options.
2. In the Internet Options dialogue box, select the Privacy tab.
3. The Privacy settings slider has six settings: Block All Cookies, High, Medium High, Medium (default level), Low, and Accept All Cookies. Select whichever setting you feel comfortable with, other than Block All Cookies.
4. Click OK.

Mozilla Firefox

1. From the Firefox menu, select Preferences.
2. Click Privacy.
3. Check Accept cookies from sites.
4. Close the window.

Safari

1. From the Safari menu, select Preferences.
2. Click Security.
3. You can choose whether to always accept cookies, or to accept them only from sites you navigate to (this is recommended).
4. Close the window.

This site has been optimised for the following browsers:

• Internet Explorer 7+
• Mozilla Firefox 1.5+
• Safari 2+

If you are using a different browser, you may not have the best experience of NZ On Screen; please consider upgrading to one of the browsers listed above.

Occasionally you may receive an error message from the Video Player when you are expecting a video to play. The two error messages are explained below:

For some reason, the server is temporarily unable to deliver videos to everyone who is requesting them. It is likely that you'll be able to see the video if you wait a few minutes.

You may have been disconnected from the Internet, or the file cannot be found on the server. Please confirm that your Internet connection is functioning properly. If it is, then this error indicates that the video you want to watch cannot be located. When this error occurs, the site administrator is automatically notified and the problem should be resolved within a few hours.

NZ On Screen delivers video files that require time to download. Like YouTube, NZ On Screen videos will begin playing once a certain amount has been downloaded, and the download continues in the background.

Broadband is the optimum connection speed. If you are on a broadband connection, you may wish to select the high bandwidth video option from the Hi/Lo selector on the video player before playing a video.

A 56k modem connection is the minimum connection. You can select the low bandwidth video option from the Hi/Lo selector on the video player as your preference at this connection speed. However please be aware that even the low bandwidth videos are large files.

You may wish to click Play to start the video download process, and then click Pause until most of the video has downloaded, (shown by the blue bar extending under the play screen). Then when you do click Play, your viewing experience won't be interrupted by the ongoing download.

The download size of the video file is displayed on the information page for each video. If you are on a limited data plan, you can check the file size (in megabytes) of each video before deciding whether to watch it. Longer videos have been split into separate clips so that you don't have to download entire files at one time.

You can select the low bandwidth option as your preference using the Hi/Lo selector on the video player. If you have registered with NZ On Screen, your preference will be stored in the site cookie and remembered when you return. You can easily change your preference if your internet connection changes.

How do I embed a video into another site?

To embed a video, click on the 'Embed this' link under the player and then highlight and copy the code. Once you've copied the code, just paste it into your website or blog to embed it.

Why isn't the embed button showing up on some videos?

Unfortunately due to copyright restrictions not all titles on the NZ On Screen site are able to be embedded. Only those titles which are able to be embedded will have the 'Embed This' link under the video player.

Having difficulty embedding in Wordpress?

We're sorry but currently you can't embed our videos if your blog is hosted on wordpress.com. We're working on a solution and hope to have it ready for you soon.

What video sizes are available?

You are able to embed NZ On Screen videos at any size you like. Simply edit the dimensions in the embed code and the player will resize automatically. However, for the greatest fidelity, we recommend that you use a size that matches to the original aspect ratio of the video. Here are a range of both 4:3 (regular) and 16:9 (widescreen) sizes you could use.

How do I apply new dimensions to the embedded video player?

There are two places in the code that set the dimension of the player.
The first one is on the second line, where it reads "<object width="410" height="358">".
The second place is just before the end of the code, where it reads ... "width="410" height="358"></embed>".

You must use the same width and height values in both places to change the dimension of the player.

Please note, at very small sizes the player will turn into a button that links to the NZ On Screen site rather than playing video directly on your page. This will happen if you set the width of the player to less than 240px or the height to less than 256px.

Can I make my own custom size?

Yes. If you prefer to use a size other than those suggested above, you should follow these guidelines:

1. Decide which size you'd like the video to be, using the width as the starting point. For example, you decide that the video should be "600px wide".
2. Decide which aspect ratio to use and take note of the size of the resulting video. Note: this step provides you with the size of the video, not the entire player. The player 'chrome' adds a few pixels around the edge and the play bar at the bottom. These elements are added step 3.
   1. For a 4:3 video, you'd divide 600 by 1.333, resulting in 450.
   2. For a 16:9 video, you'd divide 600 by 1.777, resulting in 338.
   3. For advanced film formats such as 1.66:1 divide by 1.67, for 1.85:1 ('Widescreen') divide by 1.85, for 2.35:1 ('Scope'), divide by 2.35 or 2.4 (trial both).
3. Then add additional pixels for the border and the play bar. There is a 2px border around the top, left and right, whilst the play bar at the bottom is 49px high.
   1. For a 4:3 player, add 4px to your original width. E.g. 600px + 4px = 604px. This is your final player width. Then take the video height and add 51px (2 for the top and 49 for the play bar). E.g. 450px + 51px = 501px. This is your final player height. Thus, your final dimensions are "604 x 501".
   2. For a 16:9 player, add 4px to your original width. E.g. 600px + 4px = 604px. This is your final player width. Then take the video height and add 51px (2 for the top and 49 for the play bar). E.g. 338px + 51px = 389px. This is your final player height. Thus, your final dimensions are "604 x 389".
4. If you want your player to be exactly 600px wide, not 604px as illustrated above, then you'd follow the same process, yet start your division math with a video width that is 4px narrower than your final player width. E.g. 600px – 4px = 596px. Using 596 as your video width, you can then divide by 1.333 (for 4:3) or 1.777 (for 16:9) to get the video height, add the border and play bar dimensions and end up with a player that is exactly 600px wide.

You can learn more about video aspect ratios on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_(image)#Current_video_standards.

What are places?

Each title (video) and person on NZ On Screen can now have places of significance associated to them. A place can explain a little bit about where a film was shot, for example.

Click on the 'places' tab on the far right of each title or profile page to browse and add places.

It's important to note that a place is more than simply a marker on a map. NZ On Screen places include a geographical location (a marker), a name (usually the name of the geographic location), a category and one or more descriptions. A place can be as small as a building (a studio for example), or as large as a national park. It depends on what you're interested in describing – for example, a film can be set in 'Northland', or a scene may have been filmed on 'Bethel's Beach' .

Who can add a place?

Anyone can add a place – the more the merrier. If you're a logged in NZ On Screen user, you'll notice a running total of the places you've created.

Currently, only people using a desktop browser with JavaScript enabled can add places. People using touch devices (iPad etc.) will need to visit the site from a desktop or laptop computer to add places.

Are all the places for real?

Be aware that although new places are published to the site immediately, a moderator may choose to edit details about your place down the track. We want to keep things as accurate as we can.

However, we can't always check every fact. Because we want to hear everyone's stories and anecdotes about New Zealand's screen industry, there may be a few places that are impossible to confirm. This makes this feature all the more interesting.

How do I add a place?

You can add a place in three easy steps.

1. Start on the Places tab, for the title or person you want to add a place to, and click the big 'Add a place' button.

   If you're registered with nzonscreen.com, use your login details, or select the 'casual' guest option. Your email is for the NZ On Screen team and won't be published on the place you add.

2. Find the location of the place you want to add. You can either type in the location, or drag and drop the marker onto the map. Once the marker is on the map, you can fine-tune the location by moving and re-dropping.

   When you're confident that you have the location correct, press the large 'Next' button. You can press 'Change' on the marker if you want to move it again.

   While finding your location, you might see some suggested locations appear within the instructions panel (on the left). These are locations that have been created by other people. If you happen to be looking for exactly the same location, then simply select the one you're after.

3. The last step is to describe and name the place. Each place needs at least one category. Including a description with each category helps tell the story – what happened here, and why it is important. Feel free to be creative. When other people view your places, they'll hopefully learn something new.

   We automatically create a name based on the geographic location you've set. You can just use this default name or you may want to edit this name to better describe the place. For example, you might want to add the name of the studio facilities or use a colloquial name that other people will recognise. Perhaps the place is significant to Maori – in which case, name the place in Te Reo.

   When considering the name, you can also consider the geographical scale of your place. The scale can be down to the street address, or right up to the name of the country.

   If you opt to create a unique place name, try and blend a recognisable name with an appropriate geographic scale. For example, a filming location might be named 'Stone Street Studios, Stone Street, Miramar', or at a bigger scale, you might say a documentary was set in 'Wellington, New Zealand'.

   Press 'Save and finish' when you're done. Your new place will appear on the map for the world to see.

Can I edit an existing place?

You may want to edit your own, or someone else's place. Perhaps you have spotted something that is incorrect – or you wish to alert the NZ On Screen team to an issue. Though you aren't able to directly edit a place once you've created it, you can use the 'suggest a correction' link (on the bottom of every map pop up box) to ask a moderator to address your concerns. We're more than happy to act on good advice.