PDF reader for the multimedia package for Windows

Question

I can embed videos in Beamer either with \movie of multimedia, or \includemedia of media9.
In the first case, videos are correctly displayed in Okular (Linux). In the second case, I use Adobe Reader (Windows). However, using \movie is much better: the pdf is compiled faster, it is smaller, and videos are loaded faster during the presentation.
I tried Okular for Windows (from the Microsoft Store) but videos are not displayed. Is there any reader for \movie for Windows?

EDIT

According to this answer, it should be possible to use \movie with Adobe on Windows if the movie is in .avi or .mov. I tried .avi and it does not work. The video still takes time to be loaded, the pdf is still big, and the video does not even play (I get the typical plugin error icon, saying that Adobe is not able to read the source). Still looking for an alternative to Adobe for Windows...

Answer 1

For playback of large video files in the modern MP4/H.264 format using package media9 and Acrobat Reader, the web-server method should be used. Even a 275 MB video file immediately starts playing while being loaded in the background. With this method, the video file is not embedded in the PDF.

A local video file can as well be served by a locally running, lightweight web server such as Nginx. See https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/73039 for instructions.

---

Edit:

The command

\mediaopts{<media label>}{[autoplay] [, autopause] [, autorewind]}

%   autoplay   -> play / resume on page-open
%   autopause  -> pause on page-close
%   autorewind -> seek to start on page-close

was added. It allows one to control the media behaviour during page open and page close events. Paused media continue to be loaded in the background.

---

This is a large video example, using the "Big Buck Bunny" example from Blender.org:

\documentclass{beamer}

\usepackage{fontawesome5}
\usepackage{media9}

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%
% \mediaopts{<media label>}{[autoplay] [, autopause] [, autorewind]}
%
%   autoplay   -> play / resume on page-open
%   autopause  -> pause on page-close
%   autorewind -> seek to start on page-close
%
%   Place command directly after \includemedia[...]{...}{...} 
%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\ExplSyntaxOn
\NewDocumentCommand\mediaopts{mm}{
  \group_begin:
  \leavevmode
  %reset actions
  \tl_clear:N\l_mix_openact_tl \tl_clear:N\l_mix_closeact_tl
  %process list of actions
  \tl_if_exist:cTF{ann@#1}{
    \str_if_eq:eeF{\tl_use:c{ann@#1}}{draft}{
      \clist_map_inline:nn{#2}{
        \str_case:nn{##1}{
          {autoplay}{
            \mix_pdfobj:nnn{}{dict}{
              /S/RichMediaExecute /TA~\tl_use:c{ann@#1} /TI~\tl_use:c{main@#1}
              /CMD~<</C~(play)>>
            }
            \tl_set:Nx\l_mix_openact_tl{\mix_pdflastobj:}
          }
          {autopause}{
            \mix_pdfobj:nnn{}{dict}{
              /S/RichMediaExecute /TA~\tl_use:c{ann@#1} /TI~\tl_use:c{main@#1}
              /CMD~<</C~(pause)>>
            }
            \tl_put_right:Nx\l_mix_closeact_tl{\mix_pdflastobj:}
          }
          {autorewind}{
            \mix_pdfobj:nnn{}{dict}{
              /S/RichMediaExecute /TA~\tl_use:c{ann@#1} /TI~\tl_use:c{main@#1}
              /CMD~<</C~(rewind)>>
            }
            \tl_put_right:Nx\l_mix_closeact_tl{\mix_pdflastobj:}
          }
        }
      }
      %insert widget annotation
      \mix_pdfannot:nnnn{3bp}{3bp}{0pt}{
        /Subtype/Widget /T~(mbtn@\int_use:N\g_mix_mbtncnt_int) /FT/Btn/Ff~65537
        /AA~<<
          /PO~<<
            /S/JavaScript/JS~(
              if(typeof(annotRM)=='undefined'){annotRM=new~Array();}
              if(typeof(annotRM['#1'])=='undefined'){
                annotRM['#1']=this.getAnnotRichMedia(\tl_use:c{page@#1},'#1');
              }
              annotRM['#1'].activated=true;
            )
            \tl_if_empty:NF\l_mix_openact_tl{/Next~\l_mix_openact_tl}
          >>
          \tl_if_empty:NF\l_mix_closeact_tl{
            /PC~<</S/Named /N/NOP/Next~[\l_mix_closeact_tl]>>
          }
        >>
      }
      \mix_appendtofields:n{\mix_pdflastann:}
      \int_gincr:N\g_mix_mbtncnt_int
    }
  }{
    \msg_warning:nnx{media9}{undefined~reference}{#1}
    \cs_if_exist:NF\g_mix_refundefwarned_tl{
      \tl_new:N\g_mix_refundefwarned_tl
      \AtEndDocument{\msg_warning:nn{media9}{undefined~references}}
    }
  }
  \group_end:
}
\ExplSyntaxOff
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}{Start}
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}{Remote video}
  \noindent\includemedia[
    label=bunny,
    width=\linewidth,height=0.5625\linewidth, % 16:9
    activate=pageopen,
    deactivate=onclick, % keep FlashPlayer activated
    passcontext,
    flashvars={
%       source=http://localhost/bbb_sunflower_1080p_30fps_normal.mp4
       source=http://distribution.bbb3d.renderfarming.net/video/mp4/bbb_sunflower_1080p_30fps_normal.mp4
      &autoPlay=true
    }
  ]{}{VPlayer.swf}%
  \mediaopts{bunny}{autoplay,autopause}

  \mediabutton[mediacommand=bunny:pause, mediacommand=bunny:rewind]{\faStop}\quad
  \mediabutton[mediacommand=bunny:playPause]{\faPlay / \faPause}
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}{End}
\end{frame}

\end{document}