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Appendix A | Appendix B | Appendix C | Glossary | Index | Legal Stuff | License


Chapter 15 - The Output Tab

QuickTime | RealMedia | VDO | RealAudio | AIFF

The Output tab allows you to select the format of the your output movie, as well as many of the details of your final file, such as naming, flattening, etc. You can also control HTML creation with the Output tab.

See Appendix B for more information on the various formats.


QuickTime

QuickTime is the dominant architecture for CD-ROM video, and is often used for serverless WWW movies. It has several options in the Output tab:




File Suffix

The information you put in the File Suffix box will be added to the end of your movie's name. By default the QuickTime suffix is ".mov". You can omit the suffix by unmarking the File Suffix checkbox. This will cause your final movie to be named identically to your source movie.

NOTE: If you are putting your QuickTime movies on the Web, it is very important that they end with ".mov".


Flatten and make cross-platform

To flatten a movie and make it ready for cross-platform playback, check the box next to the flatten option. Flattening puts all the movie data into its correct order, and removes edits and references to other movies. Media Cleaner also flattens multiple video and audio tracks into single video and audio tracks for cross-platform playback (QuickTime for Windows 2.1.2 and earlier can't handle more than one audio and video track). Finally, flattening a movie places the information contained in the resource fork into the data fork so that Windows machines can read the movie. The "Flatten and make cross-platform" option is left on by default as there is normally no advantage to turning it off.

NOTE: If you just want to flatten a movie without recompressing it, choose the "Flatten Only" option in the Tracks tab, or use the "Flatten and Save..." option in the File menu.


Fast Start (for WWW playback)

Making a QuickTime file "fast start" is similar to flattening it. The data contained in the file is rearranged slightly, but no changes to the video or audio are actually made. Files must be made fast start in order to allow the QuickTime plug-in to play them as they download inside the viewer's browser.

NOTE: All movies flattened with QuickTime 2.5 and later are automatically made fast start.


Movie Information/Copyright

This allows you to specify text information that is associated with a movie. Certain programs may display this information when users watch the movie or get information about the movie.

NOTE: This information is not superimposed in the video of the movie - this is not a watermark feature. For tips on how to do watermarks, drop by the tips section on our WWW site.


Create HTML

Checking this feature will cause Media Cleaner to create a text file that contains the <EMBED> tag for your compressed movie. The text file will have the same name as your movie, except it will end with ".html"

Add movie controller This will put the standard QuickTime controls under the movie when it shows up in your page.

Automatically start playing This will make the movie start playing once a significant portion has downloaded.

Loop This causes the movie to play over and over.

Please refer to the Chapter 5 Tutorial for an example of how to use this HTML to embed a movie within a web page.

You can manually change how your movie is embedded by changing the EMBED tag in your HTML document. For the latest QuickTime embed information, drop by Apple's site at: http://www.quicktime.apple.com


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RealMedia

RealMedia is an architecture designed for WWW multimedia. It can be used with or without a special server. It has several options in the Output Tab:




File Suffix

You can change the suffixes Media Cleaner adds to your RealMedia movies with the Suffix box. Currently, RealMedia files must end with ".rm" as their suffix.


Create HTML

Checking this feature will cause Media Cleaner to create a text file which contains the HTML needed to link your movies to your web page. The text file will have the same name as your movie, except it will end with ".html". The text you type in the "Label" field will show up on your page ­ when users click on this text, your movie will open with the RealPlayer.

NOTE: Media Cleaner Pro 2.0 does not currently produce HTML to embed your movie inline with the RealMedia Netscape Navigator plug-in due to issues with the plug-in.


Allow PerfectPlay

PerfectPlay is an option to deal with the potential loss of data when files are transmitted over the Internet.

Allowing PerfectPlay lets the viewer decide if they want to force the RealMedia file to be loaded in a "lossless" mode by their player. This means that if there is a problem with the connection, or if the connection is slow, the player will keep requesting data until it receives it. Viewing a movie with PerfectPlay may take longer, but this option guarantees that the movie will look exactly the same as when you created it. Viewing a movie in PerfectPlay mode will often give performance similar to a "fast start" QuickTime file.

If you don't allow PerfectPlay, the user will not have a choice ­ the file will be loaded in a "lossy" mode, where errors are skipped over instead of the player trying to reload problem data. This generally improves the download speed, but users may not see all the frames if there are problems with the transmission.

We generally recommend that you allow PerfectPlay, and let the user make their own decision.


Allow Selective Record

This feature allows users to record your movie to their hard drive while watching it. If you do not check this box, the user cannot record your movie ­ they can only watch it.


Movie Information/Copyright

This allows you to specify text information that is associated with a movie. Certain programs, such as the RealPlayer, may display this information when users watch the movie or get information about the movie.


RealMedia Metafile

If you have a RealMedia server, you may need to create a RealMedia metafile. Please see your server documentation for more information ­ Media Cleaner Pro 2.0 does not currently produce these ".rma" files.

For more information on RealMedia, please visit Progressive Networks' site at: http://www.real.com


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VDO

VDOnet has two different solutions: VDOLive for true streaming, and LiteVDO for progressive download. Often developers will use both file types on a site to allow for the widest range of viewers.

Create HTML

Checking this feature will cause Media Cleaner to create a text file which contains the HTML needed to link your movies to your web page. This text file will have the same name as your movie, except it will end with ".html".

Depending on the versions you make, the text of this link will change. This link will allow users to choose between the VDOLive version, and the Mac or Windows LiteVDO versions. If you wish to customize the link text, you can do so with your HTML editing program, or a text program such as SimpleText.


Make versions for:

VDOLive (requires server)
VDOLive is a "true streaming" format that dynamically adjusts to the viewer's bandwidth. You must have a VDOLive server in order to present these movies to your viewers ­ see Appendix B for more details.

NOTE: While the VDOLive file ends in ".avi", it is not a normal Video for Windows file. If you wish to convert movies to Video for Windows, we recommend you check the "Tips & Info" section on our web page for more details and pointers to free conversion applications. To get to our Tips section, choose the "Terran's WWW site" option in Media Cleaner's Internet menu and press the "Tips & Info" button.


LiteVDO
LiteVDO is a psuedo-streaming file that progressively downloads. On the Macintosh, it is actually a QuickTime movie with the LiteVDO codecs. On the Windows side, it is a proprietary ".avs" format. Users can view either with the VDOLive Player. There are different Mac and Windows versions of LiteVDO. Most developers create both to accommodate the widest range of viewers.


VDO Naming

You cannot change the suffixes Media Cleaner adds to your VDO movies.

VDOLive files must end with ".avi" as their suffix, and should be viewed with the VDOLive Player. (They are not normal Video for Windows files despite this suffix ­ see the previous NOTE for more details.)

LiteVDO for Macintosh files must end with ".mov" and can be viewed with QuickTime applications, or the VDOLive Player.

LiteVDO for Windows files must end with ".avs" as the suffix, and can only be viewed with the VDOLive Player.

For more information on VDO, please visit VDOnet's site at: http://www.vdo.net




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RealAudio

This audio-only format is commonly used on the WWW. Like RealMedia, there is an optional RealAudio server ­ see Progressive for details.

As with AIFF, many of the Setting tabs are not available with the RealAudio format.

File Suffix


RealAudio files must end in ".ra".


Create HTML:


Checking this feature will create the HTML needed to link your RealAudio files to your web page. The text you type in the "Label" field will show up on your page ­ when users click on this text, your sound will play with the RealPlayer.


RealAudio Metafile

If you have a RealAudio server, you may need to create a RealAudio metafile. Please see your server documentation for more information ­ Media Cleaner Pro 2.0 does not currently produce these ".ram" files. For more information on putting RealAudio on your site, please visit Progressive Networks at:http://www.real.com


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AIFF

This audio-only format is commonly used on CD-ROM projects. When you choose the AIFF format, only the Output, Audio, Begin/End, and Summary tabs will remain, since the other tabs do not apply to audio-only files.


File Suffix


AIFF files normally end with ".aif".




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