Dual Format AMS autorun CD/VCD

[tviman]

I though I asked this question on the forum, but I've been gone for about a week, lost track of my messages.

If I make a SVCD, the video files are in a subfolder in the SVCD folder/file structure. Two questions; to use these SVCD video files in AMS, how do I tell AMS to find the video clip in a particular folder since AMS wants to create its own Video folder? In other words, how can both AMS and a DVD player find the same clip on the CD? (I've already edited my settings so AMS will recognize the SVCD DAT file)

Next question, do you know how universal the SVCD clip will be for playing in an AMS autorun project on a PC? I know that mpg is the most universal and won't be a problem for most PC users, but what about these SVCD DAT files? Will each PC user need any special codecs on thier system, or does the SVCD video file use one of the standard ones? A bit foggy in this area...

Thanks,

tviman

[Desmond]

Hello,

Instead of loading the video into the video object at design time (which will copy it into the Videos folder), use a Video.Load action to load the video at runtime, which would allow you to load a video from wherever you want.. I'd suggest putting that action on the On Preload event, however if that produces undesirable results, you could place the action wherever you want!

For example:
Video.Load("Video1", _SourceDrive .. "\\SVCD_Folder", true, false);

Hope that helps, let me know!

[tviman]

Will that work when there are multiple videos selectable by a button from one or more pages? (multiple videos selectable on the same page all share the same video object)

And... can you elaborate on the process of setting it up to load the video at runtime?

Thanks!

[Desmond]

Sure. :)

The Video.Load action allows for you to load videos from any location (CDROM, Hard drive, etc) into your video object (i.e. the file doesn't have to be in the Video Folder). So yes, you could use various Video.Load actions to load multiple videos into your video object (one at a time, of course).

When I said load the video at runtime, what I meant was don't specify a file to load into the video object (In the autoplay design environment), but rather create an 'empty' video object. Then, include a script (Video.Load("Video1", . . . . . . )) which would load whatever video you want from whichever location you specify. This script woudl be exicuted when your application is run, at 'runtime'.

Does that answer u'r question? Or did i completely miss the nail?

Desmond.

[tviman]

I do believe you smacked the nail right on the noggen, that's what I'm trying to do.

So if I have an empty video stage, and on that page I have various buttons, each for a different video, then using (Video.Load("Video1", . . . . . . )) I can browse and select from any folder WITHOUT AMS moving that video clip to its own folder? Cause I thought AMS would move the clip to the video folder anytime I used the Video.Load even if it is assigning the video to an object from a button outside the stage.

But, I just tried this again. Used the Video.Load assigned to a hotspot, then browsed to the folder where my test clip was, and indeed the script is automatically written to look like this: ("Video1", "AutoPlay\\Videos\\Sample1.mpg", true, false). So, do I need to go into the script window and manually change the path to the folder that will be on the CD? And I would need a to make it a relative path right? Something like ("Video1", "srcdrive\\FolderName\\AnyOtherFolderNames\\videoNa me.dat",true, false)

Not sure on the scripting... I'm quite the novice.

Thanks for your help.

[Desmond]

Ahh, i think i understand what's going on now . . . and you're absolutely right!

Don't do anything with the video in AutoPlay Media Studio design environment. You'll have to manually code the Video.Load action (don't use the browse feature, or it will move hte video as you've seen). Any time you browse for a file within the AutoPlay Media Studio design environment, it will copy the selected file to your project directory. This is mainly to ensure that you don't select a file, and forget to burn it (or include a file from some location which the final published exe/project won't have access to).

So on the page, let's imagine you'll have a video object and two buttons, each will load a video.

Create the video object, leave it 'empty'.

Manually type video load actions into the onclick event of each button:

Video.Load("Video1", _SourceDrive .. "\\YourVideoIsHere\\video.dat", true, false);

Assuming that you've burnt your 'completed' project to a CD, and it is in drive D, the above script will load the video from D:\YourVideoIsHere\video.dat.

Lemme know if that works for ya!

[tviman]

Bingo! Now we're talking... that's exactly what I was looking for, thanks!

Do you know anything about compatibility of an SVCD encoded video file (.dat) regarding how universal it is for use in the AMS video stage and PC's in general? I'm assuming that since it is simply a form of mpg1 that it should be as universal and playable as is a standard mpg1 file... any thoughts or knowledge in this area?

Again... thanks for your help.

[Desmond]

Hello TviMan,

Glad we got u up and running!

As for compatability, the short answer is I'm not sure. I did a quick google search for ya, and came up with this:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Applications/Q_20418316.html

That thread basically says that .dat = .mpg, only with a different header. Assuming your user's system is up to date, there shouldn't be any issues (i've played dat files in windows media player without issue before).

But i'm not 100% positive, so when in doubt, TEST TEST TEST!.

Take care.

[hbuyer]

My experince with Windows and Dat files is that Windows media player will play Mpeg1 fine (VCD) but if you ask Windows to play a Dat file it will not know how!. ie it has no file association with dat files. Therfore you will need to "tell" Windows to open this file with something, eg Windows Media Player. You may be able to use the Media Player build into AMS? Or I read a thread in this forum about using the DivX player on the CD as a media player to load files, you may want to have a search.

However, I think you have another problem! You have mentioned SVCD, this format use Mpeg2 not Mpeg1 as in VCD. There is an issue here, quality is much better, but Mpeg2 requires licenced software for playback. I am not sure of the liceneing issues, but I think to create a player capable of playing Mpeg2 streams you have to play a fee, hence these players are not free. If your user's computer does not have a software DVD player, then it will not play the Mpeg2 file. If they do, you can use Windows Media player to play the file, it recognises the DVD player software licence and will play the stream.

Another solution is Ulead Movie Factory, it allows you to create a SVCD and incude the Ulead DVD player software which autoruns when inserted into a PC. They also let you include other files, eg AMS. You could use this to create a SVCD, write the files to your Hard drive, then overwrite the autorun.ini file with your own AMS version and use their player from your AMS menu.

[tviman]

Ok,

So I did my test. First I made a VCD using NERO Vision Express. This VCD worked wonderfully in my DVD player.

Then I took the contents of the VCD and Moved them to a temporary folder on my hard drive. (One file would not allow me to move it to the hard drive, CDI_IMAG.RTF, I'm wondering if this file is important to the DVD player to display the on screen menu)

Now I make my AutoPlay project, write the path to where the .dat video will come from as described by Desmond above. I published the project to my hard drive.

Now I use Nero to burn all the contents from the VCD (less that one file that would not allow me to move it), and all the files for the AutoPlay project.

Results: The AutoPlay project plays great! No Problem! But now the VCD will not run correctly in the DVD player. Instead of coming up with the VCD menu I created, now the DVD defaults to an on screen system menu showing all the folder and files on the CD. I selected the folder that has the .dat video in it, and indeed it played, but without any sound.

Any ideas on how to do this correctly?

Does anyone know if there is a way to burn the VCD, tell NERO to make the disc a multi-session disc, then go and burn the AutoPlay project to it? Would that work?

Thanks for any input,

tviman