IMPORTANT: Please READ THIS Before you proceed

Dear Valued Macintosh User,

Thank you for downloading this beta version of the InterVU MPEG Player.  
InterVU welcomes and encourages your feedback (e-mail:
macprevu@intervu.com).  Please read the following text carefully to
understand the configuration, installation, and operational requirements of
the Mac player.  Additional information is also provided by a help file,
Help.html, located inside the InterVU folder installed by this installation 
application.    

There are some problems with both the  player and its supporting environment
which are noted in the PRESENT LIMITATIONS section below.

IMPORTANT for Power PC owners: PreVU uses relatively new features of the
Apple OS in order to offer reliable and enjoyable video playback.  As a
result, the recent 7.5.3 release of the Apple OS is required on Power PC
computers.  Please upgrade your OS to 7.5.3  before installing the PreVU
plug-in.  This upgrade can be obtained from the Apple WEB or FTP sites.

We intend to rapidly address the problems listed below in the next release
of the player.  Until then, we hope this version of PreVU offers you an
interesting and enjoyable way to "browse" MPEG video files stored across the
Internet.  We welcome your suggestions for improvements and new features.
Send email to macprevu@intervu.com.

SOME INFORMATION ABOUT INTERVU AND THE MPEG PLAYER
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The InterVU Macintosh MPEG Player is one of several products offered by
InterVU. These products are designed to make digital video accessible,
standards based, and efficient to the WEB page developer and information
provider. Efficient bandwidth management for distribution of video data over
the Internet is the objective.  

The features and modes of operation of the InterVU MPEG player are intended
to reduce the bandwidth requirements of network video playback: first frame
preview, streaming playback, MPEG support, and local cached playback.
Furthermore, the InterVU WEB site demonstrates that small but specific
videos have significant utility and value when integrated into the WEB page
multimedia environment. It is InterVU's desire to have this capability
enhance the value of your message, not distract from it. 

The InterVU MPEG player is a unique type of Macintosh application.  On 68K
processor systems, it is what is referred as a "code resource".  On the
Power PC platforms, the player is a "shared library".  In either case, the
player is not a stand alone program. Rather , it is an extension to the
Netscape Navigator (or potentially any other browser supporting the
"plug-in" programming interface).  

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
-------------------------------------------
PreVU works with Netscape Navigator 2.0 or newer (Atlas is preferred).  
Successful operation of PreVU requires that you install the PreVU "puzzle piece"
program extension in the Plug-ins folder of the browser (i.e., any browser 
supporting the "plug-in").  

- After you finish reading this document, click  the Continue button, and 
  follow the displayed installation instructions.

Note: If you have multiple copies of a particular browser (e.g., Netscape
Navigator), and would like to be able run PreVU on all of them, you must
repeat the installation procedure for each of the browsers.  After the first installation
is complete, a dialog will appear, which will give you two options, namely, 
"Quit" and "Continue".  If you  wish to install PreVU for use with any another 
version of Netscape choose  "Continue", otherwise, choose "Quit".

Some application software packages (e.g., Adobe Photoshop)  also have 
Plug-ins folders. Be careful not to install  PreVU in the Plug-ins folders 
associated with these other packages. 

- Verify that the PreVU plug-in puzzle piece is installed in the "plug-in" 
  folder of the browser.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PLAYING A (LOCAL) DEMO VIDEO
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Start Netscape Navigator by double-clicking on the icon of Netscape
    Navigator.  Note, for this test you do not have to be connected to the
    Internet.

2. From the File menu, select "Open File".

3. From the dialog window, find your Netscape Navigator Folder and open it.

4. Open the "Plug-ins" folder within the Netscape Navigator Folder.

5. Open the InterVU  Folder.  Select the file "Help.html" and open it.  This 
    help file offers, among other useful information, a "Demo" or test video.

6. To play the video that showed up on this screen, click on the play  button
   (i.e., the green triangle), or click anywhere on the video region.

PRESENT LIMITATIONS
---------------------------------
Frame Use (Netscape Navigator problem only--Atlas works fine) ...

If PreVU is used on a page with Netscape frames, PreVU will begin looping.  
InterVU has incorporated a new option that tells PreVU it is working within frames:

FRAMES = YES

The WEB page developer should use this option with the EMBED statement 
on the WEB page.  As Netscape improves its streaming interface, this problem
will be resolved.  See note below.

The Broken Puzzle Piece Icon  (Netscape Navigator problem only--Atlas 
                                                  works fine) ...

You will see some screen/window flashing during first frame preview.  PreVU
uses the "Image" reload control of Netscape to accomplish the "first frame
preview" feature of PreVU. This is because any partially downloaded video
file results in a broken icon representation by Netscape at the video's
location on the screen.  The "Image" reload option of the browser enables
the PreVU player to repaint the video image over the top of the broken icon
image.  Future versions of Netscape will permit us to eliminate this problem
(see note below).

Stopping the video while in a full screen-playing mode (i.e., when the video
is the only item on the screen), will result in a broken icon. Clicking the
"Image load" button will not restart or refresh the image on the screen.
Nevertheless, the reload button will replay the video.  Future versions of
Netscape will allow us to eliminate this problem (see note below).

Broken icons will also occur as a result of stopping the video when using
Netscape frames (that is, if the WEB page developer used the "FRAMES=YES"
option in the EMBED command). Use "Image load" to start playing again.  Again, this
problem is very similar to the above two.  And as before, future versions of
Netscape will allow us to eliminate this problem (see note below).

Reloading the same video or different videos many times will cause Netscape
to run out of memory, thus preventing any  further reloading of the video
(another broken icon problem).  Quitting Netscape and the restarting it will
resolve (or reset) this memory problem.

NOTE:  The current version of Atlas (new Netscape browser) does fix the broken
icon problem.  InterVU detects Atlas and is subsequently able to take advantage of 
its architectural improvements. However, viewing  several videos 
would cause Atlas to run out of memory, thereby resulting  in  instabilty of the player.
âŒ¥
Other Limitations ... 

Large video files (multiple megabytes) can cause player stability problems.  

The Microsoft Explorer is not yet supported.

Multiple files, with .mpg extension, will show up in the Netscape 2.0 folder
after an unexpected shutdown.  You may drag them to the trash.

ENHANCING PERFORMANCE
----------------------------------------
You can improve the performance of PreVU (and also reduce multiple video
memory reload problems) by increasing the size of the disk cache and memory
size allocated for Netscape Navigator.  This is accomplished as follows:

Increasing disk cache:

Set the disk cache to 512K or more. To do this,  pull down the Apple menu
and select Memory from the Control Panels sub-menu. Then use arrows in the
control associated with the Disk Cache to set the value to 512K (or more).

Increasing memory for Netscape Navigator 2.01:

The default size of memory allocated  for Netscape Navigator 2.01 is 3016K.
PreVU performs better if you set the preferred size of the memory to 6016K.
You can do this by selecting the Netscape Navigator icon, and the choosing
"Get info" from the file menu.  Edit the content of Preferred Size to
reflect 6016K.