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Text File | 1999-09-28 | 27KB | 703 lines

╔═════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ QuickView Ver. 2.33 ║ ║ ║ ║ DOS based Multimedia viewer ║ ║ No Windows is required! ║ ╚═════════════════════════════════════╝ For the German documentation please read QV.DOK. QuickView is Shareware. This means that you can test it for at most three weeks. After that period you must register, i.e. pay a small registration fee or discontinue using it. See REGISTER.TXT for details. Features of QuickView ===================== QuickView views the following file formats at present: Video formats ------------- - .AVI: Sound can be either PCM, Microsoft ADPCM, IMA ADPCM, A-law, u-law or GSM 6.10. - .MOV: Sound can be "raw", "twos", A-law, u-law, IMA ADPCM or GSM 6.10. Supported video codecs for AVI and MOV: Cinepak [cvid] (8 and 24 bit), CLJR [cljr] (24 bit), Creative Video Blaster [cyuv] (16 bit), DIB (4, 8, 16, 24 and 32 bit), Indeo(tm) 3.1 and 3.2 [IV31 and IV32] (24 bit), I420 (24 bits), IYUV (24 bits), Motion JPEG [MJPG] (24 bit), MS Video 1 [msvc] (8 and 16 bit), QPEG [QPEG] (V1.0 and 1.1, 8 bit), Rainbow Runner [dmb1] (24 bit), RLE (8 bit), Ultimotion (OS/2 AVIs) [ULTI] (16 bit), VYUY (24 bit), Y41P (24 bit), V422 (24 bit), YUY2 (24 bit), YV12 (24 bit), YVU9 (24 bit), Apple codecs: Animation [rle] (1, 4, 8, 16 and 24 bit), BMP [WRLE] (4, 8 and 24 bit), Component [YUV2] (24 bit), Graphics [smc] (8 bit), JPEG [jpeg] (24 bit), Motion JPEG A [MJPA] (24 bit), None [raw] (4, 8 and 24 bit), Planar RGB [8BPS] (grayscale, 8, 24 and 32 bit), Video [rpza] (16 bit, only HiColor Playback) - .DL: Versions 1,2 and partly 3 - .CEL (Original Animator CEL Files), .FLC, .FLI - .GIF animations Picture formats --------------- - .BMP: uncompressed: 1, 4, 8, 16 and 24 color bits RLE compressed: 4 and 8 color bits including OS/2 bitmaps furthermore all kindred formats: .RLE, .DIB, .BGA, .VGA, .RLE, .RL4, .RL8 - .GIF: 1-8 color bits GIF 87a and GIF 89a extensions - .JPG, Baseline and Progressive JPEG, with grayscale, YCrCb or RGB color .JIF, space -JPE: - .PCX: 1-4, 8 and 24 color bits - .TGA: uncompressed: 8, 15, 16 and 24 color bits, black & white RLE compressed: 8, 15, 16 and 24 color bits, black & white Sound formats ------------- - .MP1, Audio MPEG 1.0/2.0/2.5, Layer 1,2 and 3 .MP2, .MP3: - .VOC - .WAV: Supported audio codecs are: PCM Microsoft ADPCM IMA ADPCM Creative Labs ADPCM A-law u-law GSM 6.10 MPEG Audio System Requirements =================== QuickView is a 32 bit protected mode program and therefore needs at least a 80386 processor. It will run under DOS 3.0 or better, or in a DOS shell under Windows 95/98 and OS/2. You must have a VGA card in your system. For sound support you must have a Sound Blaster compatible sound card, a Gravis UltraSound Classic or MAX, or a Windows Sound System. Installation ============ Simply place all files of the package in the same directory. That's it! QuickView will automatically detect your machine, memory and graphics card. For sound support with a Sound Blaster or compatible you must have the Environment variable BLASTER set containing port address, IRQ and DMA channel or the appropriate ULTRASND variable for the Gravis UltraSound. A Windows Sound System card is autodetected. Command Line Format =================== The command line format to run QuickView is: QV [/M] [/V] [/B] [/Rx] [/I] [/A] [/P] [/D] [/2] [/4] [/Qx] [/E] [/N] [/C] [/Fx] [/Gx] [/Lx] [/Sx] [/Xx] [/Yx] [/Tx] [filename] Options ------- /M Select 50 line menu mode. QuickView uses 25 line menu mode by default. For 50 lines you can use the /M option. /V Don't use VESA. QuickView autodetects many graphics cards and uses VESA by default. The /V option tells QuickView to not use the VESA interface if installed, but if you want to use HiColor or TrueColor modes the VESA interface must be used. If your graphics card does not support VESA you can use a VESA TSR like Scitech Display Doctor (see below). /B Don't autodetect SVGA chipset. This also disables video playback in full screen mode. /Rx Select screen resolution: x=1: 320x200 x=2: 640x480 x=3: 800x600 x=4: 1024x768 If a mode is not possible auto select will be used. default: auto select. /Wa,b,c,d,e Set sound card parameters a: card type: a=0 (no sound card) a=1 (Sound Blaster or compatible) a=2 (Gravis UltraSound Classic or Max) a=3 (Windows Sound System) b: port address, hexadecimal c: IRQ d: DMA (for the Sound Blaster 16 or higher: Low DMA channel) e: high DMA channel (only for the Sound Blaster 16 or higher) Example: "/W1,220,5,1" for Sound Blaster, Port 220h, IRQ 5, DMA 1 For no sound card, use /W0 Use the /W parameter only if really necessary, for example if the program crashes when it tries to autodetect a sound card. Please note that your system might crash if you use wrong parameters. /I Don't use SB Auto Init. /Ox Set audio volume (x between 0 and 15). /A No sound with videos. /P Preload AVI or MOV sound respectively. /D Don't drop frames if behind with AVIs. /2 Video Zoom 2x. /4 Don't use 320x240 mode. QuickView will use the 320x240 mode with 256 colors, HiColor or TrueColor mode by default if it allows it to play the video full screen. /Qx AVI/MOV quality: x=0: TrueColor x=1: HiColor x=2: 256 colors x=3: Grayscale Please note that these options are not available for all codecs. For details see the AVI/MOV options below. The default is HiColor if it was not changed in the config file. /E Use every-Second-Line zoom for HiColor zoom. /N Don't set video mode. This can be used together with /c, /x and /y to display graphics around the video for example. You should take care that the color depth of the video mode that is set when you start QuickView is equal to the one that would be selected for the video or picture. /C Don't switch to text mode after playing. /Fx Start AVI at frame x, e.g. /F137. /Gx End AVI at frame x. /Lx Loop video (AVI/CEL/FLI/FLC/MOV/Animated GIF) x times, 0 means until key pressed, default for AVI is 1, default for CEL/FLI/FLC is 0, default for GIF is the loop counter in the GIF. /Sx Set playback speed of AVI, CEL, DL, FLC and FLI files. x is the time between two frames in microseconds. example: /s100000 gives 10 frames per second. Note, if the video includes sound you have to turn off sound using the /A command or disable sound in the menu. /Tx Wait x/100 seconds after playing, 0 means wait for keypress. /Xx Position video or picture at horizontal position x (must be a multiple of 4). /Yx Position video or picture at vertical position x. /Zx stop video (AVI/CEL/FLI/FLC/MOV) with a mouse. Each bit triggers of x a certain mouse event: bit 0: mouse move bit 1: left mouse button pressed bit 2: right mouse button pressed bit 3: middle mouse button pressed (not supported with all mouse drivers) Example: stop video when mouse is moved or the left mouse button is pressed would be /Z3. More details on the meaning of the parameters under Options in the menu. /N, /C, /F, /G, /L, /S, /T, /X, /Y and /Z are only available in the registered version. All parameters are case-insensitive. filename can be a file that QuickView views or a name that contains the wildcards * and ?. Example: QV /A /Q2 VIDEO.AVI The Menu ======== QuickView always shows you all the files in the current directory, along with all the visible subdirectory names. The arrow keys will move the file selector bar around. CTRL+right or left move the file selector to the next or previous supported file respectively. By pressing a character the file selector bar jumps to the first file starting with that character. Use lower case for files, upper case for directories. A mouse is not supported. To view a file or change a directory just hit Enter. If you try to view a file QuickView does not handle nothing will happen. If you have tagged some files (256 at most) QuickView will view these files without going to the menu in between. Hit Enter or Tab if you want to view the next file and Backspace for the previous one. Esc breaks and returns to the menu. More keys during file selection ------------------------------- ALT+D: Change drive. A drive selection box will appear, prompting you for the drive letter you want to log onto. QuickView will attempt to change to the desired drive. If an error occurs, QuickView will remain logged onto the current drive. F1 : Help. F2 : Display information about the system. F3 or ALT+I: Get information on the currently selected file. ALT+O: Change options of QuickView. For details see below. + - : Increase or decrease resolution respectively. The currently selected resolution is highlighted. "Automatic" automatically selects the lowest resolution which will display the whole picture if possible. Space: Tag/untag the current file. ALT+T: Tag all files in the current directory. ALT+U: Untag all files. Del : Delete file. ALT+X: Exit QuickView and return to DOS. Options in the menu =================== Press the red characters to toggle the state of the option. You can also use the up/down arrow keys and the Space bar. If you press "C" a configuration file is created or updated. Command line options override the config file. Note that changing the use of VESA is only effective if you leave QuickView and start it again. Include 1280x1024 mode: Some monitors (mainly older ones) don't support the 1280x1024 screen mode. If you tell QuickView to support this mode your monitor might be damaged. Please consult your monitor handbook. 320x240 mode: Many videos and some pictures have the size 320x240. These videos will be displayed full screen if you switch on this option. 160x120 videos will also be displayed full screen if you also switch on 2x Zoom. The 320x240 mode is possible on every VGA card with 256 colors, however with HiColor and TrueColor only if they are supported by the VESA BIOS. 320x240 is a non-standard VGA mode and may cause problems. Turn off 320x240 support in this case. AVI & MOV options ----------------- - Sound support: If you have problems during AVI/MOV playback try turning off the sound. - Sound Preload: will load the sound of an AVI/MOV in advance. This will give better performance with slower systems, especially if the sound is compressed. However you have to wait some time until the video begins to play. Please also try this option if you hear sound pops although you checked "Drop frames". - Drop frames: If your system is not fast enough, some frames of the video are left out (dropped) so that the sound plays continuous. Please note that this is not possible with all types of AVIs. This feature is always enabled for MOVs. - Loop: Use this if you want an AVI/MOV to start again after viewing. - 2x Zoom: QuickView will display videos twice as big and so allow full screen playback for appropriate video resolutions. Note that 2x Zoom might require a higher screen resolution and therefore the video will not appear bigger if this is the case. 2x Zoom is very CPU intensive and might slow down your system, so QuickView will therefore use at most HiColor output if 2x Zoom is selected. 2x Zoom is supported for the video formats AVI, CEL, DL, FLI, FLC and MOV. - Every-Second-Line zoom: On slower systems, this option helps to speed up the display of zoomed AVIs and MOVs in HiColor mode by only drawing every second line. The lines in between remain black. - Full Screen: QuickView will use full screen AVI/MOV playback using the graphics chip's hardware scaling and color space conversion facilities. This is currently supported for the follwing graphics chips: S3 Vision 868 and 968, S3 Virge, Virge DX/GX, Virge GX/2 and Trio64V+, more to follow. - AVI & MOV quality (these options depend on the codec used): Grayscale: Usually the fastest playback mode 8 color bits: 256 colors HiColor: 32768 or 65536 colors depending on the graphics card's features TrueColor: Will give the best quality with more than 16 million colors. Note: QuickView will use at most the amount of colors that the codec uses. Commands While Viewing ====================== For all file types ------------------ Esc: Stop viewing. Enter or Tab: View next file. Backspace: View previous file. + -: increase and decrease the sound volume respectively. ALT+X: Leave QuickView immediately. For pictures ------------ Arrow keys: Scroll picture if it is larger than the screen. Ctrl+Arrow keys: Scroll fast. Home, End: Scroll to left or right border respectively. PGup, PGdown: Scroll to upper or lower border respectively. +, - : Increase or decrease resolution respectively. For all video files (AVI, CEL, DL, FLI, FLC, animated GIFs, MOV) ---------------------------------------------------------------- Space: Pause Viewing, space again: next frame, any other key: continue. For the video files AVI, CEL, DL, FLI and FLC --------------------------------------------- arrow key up, down: play faster and slower respectively. Please note that you must disable the sound of the AVI to be able to change the playback speed. This can be done either with the command line option /A or in the options by unchecking "sound". For AVI files ------------- Arrow-key left, right: forward, rewind respectively. Ctrl+Arrow-key left, right: fast forward, rewind respectively. Questions & Answers =================== -Q: The sound doesn't work at all, The sound card isn't detected, Videos stop after the first frame, sound parts are repeated over and over again, the sound quality is poor A: Most of the time the reason for these problems are incorrect sound card settings in the BLASTER environment variable. There must be a command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT like this: SET BLASTER=Axxx Ix Dx Hx Pxxx Tx with A: Sound Blaster base I/O-port, I: IRQ, D: DMA low channel, H: DMA high channel (only required for SB16 or higher), P: MIDI port (not evaluated), T: Sound Blaster Type (not evaluated) Usual values are: A220, I5 or I7, D1, H5. If I5 does not work for you, try I7 and vice versa. For the original Sound Blaster there is a program called "DIAGNOSE.EXE" which programs the sound card configuration according to the values in the BLASTER variable. Use "DIAGNOSE /S" in your "AUTOEXEC.BAT". Under http://www.multimediaware.com/qv/sbdetect.zip there is a program that low level detects the Sound Blaster settings. For the Gravis UltraSound there must be the environment variable "ULTRASND". If your sound card is not detected properly, you can set the sound card parameter directly using the /W parameter. -Q: The AVI stops after first frame, WAV/VOC playback stops. A: This usually indicates you set the wrong IRQ in the BLASTER environment variable. If this is not the case, try the command line option /I to turn off Auto Init DMA. -Q: I don't hear sound with some AVIs/MOVs. A: Some AVIs/MOVs don't have the audio separated into pieces, so QuickView must load the audio beforehand. If there is not enough memory available then the audio is omitted. In some cases it helps to reduce the number of colors. Another possible reason is that the AVI/MOV is truncated. -Q: Sound is interrupted with some AVIs/MOVs. A: You should select "Drop Frames". This guarantees continuous sound and if your system is too slow some frames of the video will be left out. If you still get sound pops your system is much too slow. Copy the AVI from CD to your hard disk, don't use 2x zoom, select "Preload sound". Please note that frame dropping and preloading sound only work if the AVI has an index and if you have enough memory. -Q: I've selected "Drop frames" and the video is now played jerky. A: This is because not all frames of the video are played. At least one component of your system is too slow. Try copying the AVI to your hard disk if you play it back from CD. Switch off 2x Zoom. Choose a lower number of colors. -Q: Why is the video quality bad with some AVIs and MOVs? A: This might be because you don't have a TrueColor or HiColor card or you don't have a VESA driver in your system. In the latter case you should use the VESA TSR for your graphics card or Scitech Display Doctor, available on many FTP-servers, BBSs, from Shareware distributors or on my WWW page. The VESA driver must conform at least to version 1.2 of the VESA standard. Versions prior to 1.2 of the VESA standard did not define TrueColor and HiColor modes. -Q: I get memory error messages with some files. What can I do? A: Select a lower number of colors, e.g. HiColor instead of TrueColor. Turn off sound. -Q: I can't forward and rewind AVIs. A: Either the AVI has no index or a bad index, or it does not have keyframes, or there is not enough memory. -Q: Full screen AVI and MOV playback does not work. A: This is only supported for graphics cards with certain graphics chips, look under AVI & MOV options - full screen for details. If you have such a graphics card but have problems, then try an installable VESA driver. You can find a link on my homepage. If that doesn't help disable full screen playback. If you don't have a graphics card with one of these graphics chips, use the 2x zoom option. -Q: The text screen is messed up after full screen playback. A: Scaling doesn't work properly with your graphics card. Disable full screen playback in the options. -Q: I get some lines on the graphics screen with my ATI Mach graphics card under Windows 95/98. A: Try M64VBE with parameter S -Q: I get a black or garbled screen when I start QuickView. A: Try starting the program with the parameter /b. -Q: I don't have a sound card and I'd like to hear the sound through the PC speaker. A: The protected mode version of QuickView (qvproxxx.zip) only supports sound through a sound card. There is a real mode version of QuickView (current version qv103b.zip) that also supports sound through the PC speaker. This does however support less AVI codecs and less file formats than the protected mode version. -Q: I like 50 line menus more. How can I select this mode permanently? A: Press ALT+O in the menu. Then you can select 50 lines with "5" and write a config file with "C". -Q: What do I have to do to make QuickView run under OS/2? A: You have to set the following definitions for the DOS session: INT_DURING_IO: ON IDLE_SENSIVITY: 100 HW_TIMER: ON VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION: OFF Make sure the BLASTER or ULTRASND environment variable is set properly. The OS/2 Sound Blaster drivers seem to have a DMA handling problem in a DOS session which sometimes causes a lockup with sound output. Try to get an updated sound card driver. If that doesn't help, please either turn off sound or run the program under plain DOS. -Q: How do I use QuickView's AVI, MOV and Audio MPEG support with Arachne (DOS WWW browser)? A: You should use the APM package of QuickView that is available under http://www.multimediaware.com/qv/qv.apm. The MIME types will be configured automatically. -Q: What is a codec? A: Video and audio sequences are compressed and decompressed by routines called codecs (short for compressor/decompressor). A codec is responsible for compressing raw video or audio data into a format suitable for distribution. When you play the compressed video or audio sequence, the codecs integrated in QuickView perform a reverse role, converting the compressed data into images or sound that can be played on your system. -Q: Is QuickView year 2000 compliant? A: Yes. How to get an up-to-date version of QuickView: ============================================== The file name of the package is always qvproxxx.zip where xxx is the version number. Note that some BBSs use a different archiver than ZIP. - Internet WWW: The QuickView Homepage: http://www.multimediaware.com/qv/ You will get the latest version including minor revisions and beta test versions there. - Internet FTP: Official FTP distribution sites (you will find the most recent version here including minor revisions): ftp://ftp.multimediaware.com/qv Major releases are also available from SimTel: ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/mmedia - Via email: Send an email to requestqv@multimediaware.com, subject and body don't matter. There is an autoresponder that will send you the latest version automatically within a few minutes. - Via snail mail. Send me a floppy disk with a self-addressed, stamped envelope only if you have German stamps. Otherwise please send a self-addressed envelope with enough cash or International Postal Coupons if you are outside Germany. Please fill out the registration form so that I get your address and check "QuickView current shareware version". - You'll get the latest version when registering. How to contact the author ========================= Please report all bugs and suggestions for improvements or enhancements. If you report any problems please give a detailed description of the problem, together with a list of the hardware you use and what QuickView version you use. I'm also very interested in files that QuickView claims to show but doesn't play or display correctly. Feel free to contact me. You may use one of the following ways: My Internet address (this is the preferred way): qv@multimediaware.com If you don't get a reply within a week please send it again. Emails can get lost. If you don't have email access here is my snail mail address: Wolfgang Hesseler Neustadter Str. 6 53547 Rossbach Germany Please include return postage, using International Postal Coupons if you are outside Germany. Contact me if you are interested in video playback with your application. There are external AVI, MOV or FLI/FLC players and libraries for various programming languages. This program is Shareware. You may test this unregistered version for at most three weeks but after that you must register. You are encouraged to share it with others and to upload it to a BBS. If you do so, please pass along the complete unmodified archive. All files must be included. ATTENTION: A registration is required for any commercial use. Legal Stuff =========== This program is copyrighted 1994-1999 by Wolfgang Hesseler, all rights reserved. This Software is provided "AS IS". The author makes no warranty of any kind either expressed or implied. In particular the author makes no warranty as to merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose or a particular hardware configuration. Furthermore the author is not responsible for any damages of any kind, including profit losses and data loss or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of your use or inability to use the program. The person using the software bears all risk as to the quality and performance of the software. All files belonging to QuickView contain proprietary information which are protected by copyright. This includes reverse engineering, decompiling and disassembling. No part may be altered or translated without the prior written consent of the author. Any violation of the copyright will be prosecuted by the author and by Intel. EXPORT LAWS: You agree that this Software is not intended to be shipped either directly or indirectly to country groups Q,S,W,Y,Z,Afghanistan or the People's Republic of China, unless a validated export license is obtained from the U.S. Department of Commerce. APPLICABLE LAW: This Agreement is governed by the laws of Germany, the State of California and the United States, including patent and copyright laws. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of this agreement will not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision of this agreement. License agreement for Shareware distributors: Shareware distributors may distribute this program as long as the charge does not exceed $5US and the shareware distributor will not change or leave out any file. Please notify me if you distribute QuickView as you should always distribute the latest version. This applies especially if you include QuickView on a CD-ROM. Furthermore, I'd appreciate it if you'd send me a free copy of the CD. Many thanks to my beta testers: Kovács Balázs, Pawel Hilt, Wolfgang Wiedmann The program uses the protected mode extender PMODE/W. The information about some codecs is from XAnim. Thanks to Mark Podlipec. Cinepak is a trademark of Radius. Indeo and the Indeo Logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the USA and other countries. QPEG is a registered trademark of Q-Team Dr. Knabe GmbH, www.q-team.de This product uses Ultimotion(tm) IBM video technology. Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 1994, All rights reserved. The GSM 6.10 support is based on code from the Communications and Operating Systems Research Group at the Technische Universitaet Berlin; Copyright 1992, 1993, 1994 by Jutta Degener and Carsten Bormann. The MPEG Audio Code is based in part on MPG123; Copyright (c) 1995-98 by Michael Hipp, all rights reserved. The Graphics Interchange Format(c) is the Copyright property of CompuServe Incorporated. GIF(sm) is a Service Mark property of CompuServe Incorporated. TARGA is a registered trademark of Truevision, Inc. This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group. QuickTime is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All other product names mentioned in this software are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.