Welcome to VivoJActive
	The VivoActive Player    The VivoActive Producer    General Concepts    How to . . .     Hints on audio and video    If you have problems


	How to . . .
Use the Player	Use the Producer
View VivoActive videos	Start the Producer
Use the video controls	Acquire .avi files
Use the context menu	Select an .avi file
	Choose a filename
	Indicate starting and ending frames
	Provide author, title and copyright
	Adjust the tuning controls
	Generate the .viv file
	Place the video in a Web page
	Register the MIME types


	General Concepts
	About the VivoActive product family
	How VivoActive works
	VivoActive highlights and benefits
	Things to know about VivoActive


About the VivoActive product family

The VivoActive product family lets you create on-demand video for World Wide Web pages. Videos created with VivoActive play  instantly as the Web page is displayed.

VivoActive software consists of:

The VivoActive Player, a plug-in for:

•	Netscape Navigator 2.0 or later

•	Microsoft Internet Explorer, 3.0 or later

After you install the plug-in, VivoActive videos play directly in Web pages without the need for additional software. If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer, the plug-in installs itself automatically when you visit a Web page containing a Vivo video.  The plug-in runs on PCs running

•	Windows 3.x,

•	Windows 95

•	Windows NT (3.51 and 4.0)

The VivoActive Producer, for creating VivoActive videos from Video for Windows (AVI files). Use the VivoActive Producer to compress an ordinary .avi file and convert it to a .viv (or .vivo) file. Then place the  .viv file in web pages.

Note

Microsoft Internet Explorer is not available on Windows NT systems running  version 3.51. However, you can still use the plug-in if you use Netscape Navigator as your Web browser on a 3.51 system.

Related Topics:

For more information about the VivoActive product family, visit our web site at http://www.vivo.com. There is a presentation describing the VivoActive products and two lists of frequently asked questions (FAQs), one general and one technical.


How VivoActive works

Videos start with frames . . .

A video clip consists of a series of individual pictures, or “frames” displayed rapidly to simulate motion.  The higher the frame rate, the smoother the motion. A  rate of 30 frames per second (fps) makes the motion appear natural.

. . . which are digitized . . .

Software such as Video for Windows lets you convert the analog video frames from a video tape to digital form for use on a computer. Files converted on a PC with Video for windows and other such programs have the file extension .avi and are frequently referred to as "AVI files."

. . . and compressed by VivoActive

A frame rate of 30 fps works out to 1800 frames for a minute of video, which partly explains why video files are so large. Adding audio to a video clip further increases its size.

Manipulating such large amounts of data can be awkward. Videos require large amounts of disk space for storage and can bog down a computer or a network when attempts are made to copy them, mail them or transmit them over the Internet (which occurs when you view one on a web page).

For this reason, VivoActive lets you compress videos by a factor of hundreds its original size while maintaining high video and audio quality. Videos created with VivoActive have the file extension .viv or .vivo.

See Creating Vivo Videos with VivoActive Producer for more information about compression


VivoActive highlights and benefits

Simplicity:

The VivoActive product family  from Vivo Software, Inc., is the simplest, easiest way for you to include live video content in your World Wide Web site. With VivoActive, you treat video as another data type and manage it like the rest of your web page's content.

Availability:

VivoActive data is delivered using the HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP), the same protocol used to deliver ordinary web text and image files. This means anyone who can view your Web page can view your video regardless of whether they're behind a firewall, connected via a SLIP emulator, or directly connected to the Internet backbone.

Real-time playback:

Vivo's software compression technology allows your video program to be delivered in real time. You do not have to wait for an enormous file to download just to see a few seconds of video, even over a modem.

Resource Conservation:

If you deliver your Web pages only within your enterprise, you'll also like VivoActive. Because VivoActive is optimized for modems, bandwidth usage in your network is not disrupted.

Consistency:

Because Vivo's technology allows your video content to be highly compressed, it also means your viewers will see the video as you designed it to be seen. Other live-media web technologies use techniques that cause video and audio quality to deteriorate when the Internet is busy.


Things to know about VivoActive

VivoActive image resolution is Quarter Common Intermediate Format (QCIF), which refers to the size and amount of information available in each video image (frame). QCIF images are 176 x 144 pixels.  You cannot change this resolution, but you can control the video’s placement on a web page to some extent.

If the file you use for creating the Vivo video is either larger or smaller than 176 x 144 pixels, the VivoActive Producer automatically resizes it to QCIF when generating the Vivo video.

The VivoActive audio codec (coder/decoder) is optimized for speech as opposed to music. If you produce a video that includes music or background noise as well as speech, the speech may be hard to understand.


	Hints on audio and video
	General Tips
	Tips for creating video
	Tips for creating audio


General Tips

   What video formats can I use?

   Are there advantages to having a faster PC ?

   Are there disadvantages to having a slower PC?

   Do I need a special audio card?

   How do I decide what settings to use in the VivoActive Producer?

   How many VivoActive videos can I put on a Web page?


What videos formats can I use to create VivoActive videos?

VivoActive supports only .avi files. We plan on adding more formats in the future.  It is best to use uncompressed .avi files so all of the compression can be done in the VivoActive Producer.


Are there advantages to having a faster PC for creating videos?

The only advantage is that the .avi files will be converted more quickly to .viv format.


Are there disadvantages to having a slower PC for creating videos?

No.  You will only run into problems if you have a 486SX or a really slow video card.  You may notice that the video looks like it is transferring into memory, but it is never played.


Do I need a special audio card to listen to VivoActive videos?

No.  As long as your audio card is recognized by your operating system and you can play standard .wav files, you should not have any problems listening to VivoActive audio.


How do I decide what settings to use in the VivoActive Producer when creating videos?

See To adjust the tuning controls.


How many VivoActive videos can I put on a Web page?

In Version 1.0 you can have one video on a Web page. If you  put more than one video on a  page, viewers of your page will get an error message during attempted play stating that this is not supported.

You can simulate multiple movies on a Web page by providing viewers with a table of “poster” frames (a single frame saved as a .gif image from each movie). Make each .gif image a link to a VivoActive video, and let users select one video at a time as desired.


Tips for creating video

   Preparing the set and equipment

   Preparing subjects and subject matter

   Optimizing techniques during a shoot


Preparing the set and equipment

Brighter lighting gets coded better. Avoid dark frame contents, large shadows, etc. Areas that are dimly lit can generate video “noise” which will be interpreted as changing frame contents and will be unnecessarily encoded.

If possible, always use a stationary (tripod-mounted) camera, especially for “talking heads,” office interiors, even outside location shots. This is probably the single most important factor for high quality compressed video.

Don't use automatic exposure controls; maintain constant brightness. For example, while shooting an interior location, as people move into and out of the scene the background light level should not change. Changing background lighting levels will be interpreted as changes in frame contents and will be unnecessarily encoded.

Digitize video in uncompressed format. When you connect your source video tape to your computer’s video capture board, capture the video using RGB, YVU9, YUV 4:1:1 format or motion JPEG at a compression ratio of 5:1 or less compression. Avoid Indeo and Cinepak. Capture at a resolution of 176x144 if possible (VivoActive’s display size, based on the H.263 video compression standard). If you capture at another resolution (for example,  320x240 or 160x120) the VivoActive Producer will automatically scale your video up or down to achieve a 176x144 picture. Capture 10 - 15 frames per second, or higher depending on the connection rate of your target audience.


Preparing subjects and subject matter

Have your subject wear bright colors. Red, pink, yellow, and light blue solids are good. Black and navy are bad – dark colors generate video “noise” which gets interpreted as changing frame contents and is thus unnecessarily encoded by the VivoActive Producer.

Have your subject wear solids instead of patterns. Herringbone, checks, stripes, paisleys, and prints all contain complicated edge details that must be encoded and compressed taking precious bits away from the details you want to render, like facial expressions and moving lips.

These color and pattern recommendations apply to background detail as well. It’s much better to shoot your subject in front of a piece of uniformly colored seamless paper than sitting in front of a bookcase filled with books or a window covered by venetian blinds.

Use large, clear fonts for titles, credits, superimposed images, computer screen shots, and so on. The picture is going to be small to begin with – and it will be difficult to read fine print in a compressed image. Larger text will make your viewers much more comfortable.


Optimizing techniques during a shoot

Use short depth-of-field if possible. Soft, out-of-focus backgrounds are easier to code than sharply defined complicated details and textures. Choose a shorter shutter speed and a wider aperture to reduce depth-of-field.

Plan for limited motion in and through the scene. For example, if you’re shooting a talking head, put the person in a chair that can’t rock back and forth. If your subject is particularly lively, shoot from farther back to reduce the amount of motion in the frame.

Plan for "settle time" after transitions. Say you’re creating a training video and shooting screen shots of a computer application. You show the mouse clicking on a menu item, and a sub-menu drops down. The sub-menu will be a bit blurry when it first makes its appearance. Wait a few seconds for the text to clear up.

Avoid rapid-fire music-video style cuts, dissolves, wipes, pans, zooms, and other special effects. Images that aren’t on the screen for more than a second or two won’t have a chance to resolve themselves to clarity.

 Avoid the "fuzzies" by controlling the relationship between bitrate, frame rate and bits per frame:

Keep the bitrate the same and encode fewer bits per frame by keeping the camera stationary  or shooting from farther back.

Keep the bitrate the same and capture / encode fewer frames per second.

Increase the bitrate - that is, have your user connect to the Internet with something faster than a modem, like an ISDN line or a T-1 connection. Then the extra bits required to clear up the picture will arrive on the user’s screen faster, so you can encode them into the frames in the first place. For good lip synch in talking head shots plan on displaying at least 10 frames per second.


Tips for creating audio

Use a good microphone to reduce or eliminate background noise as much as possible. Place the microphone as close to the subject as you can. For “talking heads” use a wired (not wireless) clip-on lavaliere microphone. In crowded areas, use a shotgun or boom microphone, as directional as possible.

Do not use a camcorder's built-in microphone. These generally pick up motor noise in the camcorder itself in additional to omnidirectional sounds in a noisy environment. The camcorder’s microphone is generally too far from the subject as well.

Set microphone gain properly. If the gain is too high, clipping or distortion may result. If it’s too low, the audio may be too faint to be encoded properly or heard upon playback.

 	Understand the limitations of the G.723 audio compression algorithm. The audio heard at the far-end, when decompressed, will be of telephone “toll quality.” The frequency range of the audio will be between 300 Hz and 3400 Hz. Don’t expect to hear high sibilant treble or booming bass sounds. G.723 audio lends itself quite well to a single human speaker, not as well to music, and somewhat poorly to a simultaneous combination of speech and music.

Digitize audio at 8 kHz 16-bit mono. When the time comes to perform audio capture from tape onto your computer, these settings work best for VivoActive’s G.723 audio compressor. Avoid 8-bit samples, and avoid stereo sampling.


If you have problems
	If you have problems . . .
VivoActive Player

   Why do I get what looks like a broken puzzle symbol when I try to view a VivoActive Video?

   Why do I get a message that Netscape is unable to load a plug-in for MIME type video/vnd.vivo

   Why do the colors in the VivoActive video look grainy?

   Why do VivoActive videos take a long time to start, and why do they pause when they are playing?

VivoActive Producer

   When I create a video of a person speaking, why aren’t their lips synchronized with their voice?

   Why do the videos I create look blocky?

   Why do the videos I create play locally but give “MIME type” errors when I post them to a Web page?

   Why do VivoActive videos always appear on the left side of a Web page?

   Why does the .viv file have a size of 0 Kbytes when the VivoActive Producer created it successfully?

   When I create a video, why is the quality poor?


Why do I get what looks like a broken puzzle symbol when I try to view a VivoActive video on a Web page?

The link to the Vivo file is probably incorrect in your HTML code. Make sure that you have included the correct path and that the file name is entered in the correct case.


Why do I get a message that Netscape is unable to load a plug-in for MIME type video/vnd.vivo?

Make sure you are you running Windows95 or Windows NT (3.51 or 4.0).

Make sure you are using a 32-bit version of Netscape 2.0 or higher.

If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or higher, you may be low on memory. Try closing other applications or restarting your computer.

If you have multiple copies of Netscape, you may have installed the VivoActive Player into a different directory than the copy of Netscape you use. Make sure that the VivoActive Player resides in the same directory as the copy of Netscape you use. To find the directory you use, find your operating system in the table below, and follow the steps.

Verify that you are running the copy of Netscape where the plug-in is installed.

Check to see if you can use other plug-ins in Netscape. If not, you may need to reinstall Netscape or even Windows.

Windows 95 / Windows NT  4.0	Windows NT 3.51
1. Click once on your Netscape icon to highlight it.	1. Click once on your Netscape icon to highlight it.
2. Click the right mouse button once and select Properties.	2. From the File menu select Properties.
3. Select the Shortcut tab. 4. Make sure this directory is the same as the one where you installed the VivoActive Player	3. Make sure that the directory shown in the Command Line field is same as the directory where you installed the VivoActive Player

If you installed the VivoActive Player into the wrong directory, remove it and reinstall it as follows:

Windows 95 / Windows NT 4.0	Windows NT 3.51
1. From the  taskbar, select Settings, then Control Panels	1. From the File Manager, go to C:\Netscape\Nav\Program\plugins
2. Double click on Add/Remove Programs 3. Select the Install/Uninstall tab	2. Delete the files Npviv32.dll and npul32.dll. Also delete the folder NpViv32
4. Click VivoActive Player 1.0 5. Click Add/Remove 6. When the VivoActive Player has been removed, locate vivoplay.exe and double-click to reinstall it. When prompted for a directory in which to install it, specify the director for the copy of Netscape that you use.	3. When the VivoActive player has been removed, locate vivoplay.exe and double click to reinstall it. When prompted for a directory in which to install it, specify the directory for the copy of Netscape that you use.

Note:

By default, the VivoActive Player for Netscape users is installed in the Netscape directory. Usually this is:

Windows 95 / Windows NT 4.0:	C:\Program Files\Netscape\Navigator\Program\Plugins\NpViv32.dll

Windows NT 3.51:	C:\Netscape\Nav\Program\plugins\NpViv32.dll


Why do the colors in the VivoActive video look grainy?

You are probably running your system using 256 colors (8 bits). To get better results when viewing Vivo videos, increase the number of colors your system uses to 16  bits. (The maximum number of colors you can set depends on your display adapter.)

Windows 95 / Windows NT 4.0	Windows NT 3.51
1. From the taskbar, select Settings, then Control Panels	1. From the Main Program Group, double click Display.
2. Double click the Display control panel 3. Select the Settings tab	2. If the Color Palette is set to 256 colors (8 bits), use the dropdown to set the display to 65,536  colors (16 bits).
4. From the Color Palette dropdown, choose High Color (16 bit)	3. Close the Display control panel
5. In the Desktop Area section, if the slider moves, adjust it to reset desired screen resolution.	4. Restart your computer to have the new settings take effect.
6. Click OK
7. Restart your computer to have the new settings take effect.


Why do VivoActive videos take a long time to start, and why do they pause when they are playing?

This occurs when you are connected to the Internet at a lower rate than the bitrate of the file you are viewing (for example, if you are connected with a 28.8 Kbps modem and the file was recorded at 56 Kbps). The lower connection cannot handle the large amount of information being transferred, so some information must be stored in memory before the video can start playing. This accounts for the extended waiting time.

If you are viewing a long video, interruptions occur when more information is being transferred into memory. You may also experience problems with longer start times and interruptions if you have a bad connection to the Internet. If you notice that pages are coming up slowly in general, try reconnecting to the Internet to get a better connection.


When I create a video of a person speaking, why aren't their lips synchronized with their voice?

When audio and video are synchronized, you see the person’s lips move and you hear their voice at the same time. To get the best “lip synch,”  create a video that displays more frames per second (fps). You can do this when creating videos in the VivoActive Producer. In the Tuning section, move the "Sharper Detail / Smoother Motion slider toward Smoother Motion. This lets you process all possible frames in your AVI file.

 If you continue to have problems with lip synch, check that the AVI file was captured with at least 10 frames per second.

Related Topic

  Adjusting the Tuning controls.


Why do the videos I create look blocky?

In the Tuning section of the VivoActive Producer, try increasing the bitrate by moving the Faster Start / Better Quality slider toward Better Quality.

If the bitrate cannot be increased any further, try lowering the maximum frame rate by moving the Sharper Detail / Smoother Motion  slider towards Sharper Detail. This often  improves the frame  rate, especially if the video has a lot of motion.

Increasing the bitrate increases the amount of image information in each frame and may cause delays and interruptions when visitors to your pages are connected at modem speeds.

Related Topics

   Adjusting the tuning controls


Why do the videos I create play locally but give "MIME type" errors when I post them to a Web page?

Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) doesn’t recognize the video/vnd.vivo registered MIME type.  Send a note to the Webmaster at your ISP and request that they recognize the MIME type. Click here to see a sample letter you can use.


Why do VivoActive videos always appear on the left side of a Web page?

All videos appear left justified at the point on the page where they are embedded.  If you want to change the position of the Vivo video, try embedding into tables or frames, or use the HTML "align" command with the paragraph tag, as in the following example, which centers the video:

<p align=center>


Why does the .viv file have a size of 0 Kbytes when the VivoActive Producer said it was created successfully?

In Windows Explorer, close the folder containing the Vivo video. When you reopen the folder, the file will be displayed with the correct size.


When I create a video, why is the quality poor?

Check the AVI file. If its file size is very small, you may have generated the Vivo video from a compressed file. It is best to use uncompressed AVI files so all the compression can be done in the VivoActive Producer.

Related Topic

   Adjusting the tuning controls


The VivoActive Player

The VivoActive Player lets you view VivoActive videos directly in World Wide Web pages. Depending on how the web page author specified the use of video, a Vivo video will either play automatically when the page opens, or when you click the Play button on the Control Panel (located in the lower right corner of the video window).

Related Topics:

   Using the VivoActive Player


To register the VivoActive MIME types

   Information for webmasters

   Information for video producers


Information for Webmasters

In order for your web server to deliver Vivo videos to viewers, you must tell the server about the MIME content-encoding type for Vivo. Vivo's MIME content-encoding type, registered with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, is video/vnd.vivo. The file types for Vivo are .viv and .vivo.

If you attempt to display a web page containing a Vivo video, and the MIME type is not set up correctly on the server, your browser will display a broken puzzle piece in place of the video.

   CERN httpd servers

   NCSA or Apache servers

   Netscape Commerce servers

   Microsoft Internet Information servers


CERN httpd servers

1	Locate the server configuration file.  It is usually called /etc/httpd.conf or /usr/etc/httpd.conf.

2	Append the following two lines to the server configuration file:

AddType .vivo video/vnd.vivo binary

AddType .viv video/vnd.vivo binary

3	Make sure the last line of the server configuration file ends with a newline character.

4	Restart the server.

Note:

For more information on configuring the CERN server, see http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/Daemon/User/Admin.html.


NCSA or Apache servers

NCSA and Apache servers have several configuration files. They are named:

access.conf

httpd.conf

mime.types

srm.conf

Typically, these files are  in the directory /var/www/conf or a similar path.  The first part of the path (/var/www) may vary depending on your installation, but the configuration files can almost always be found in a subdirectory named conf.  To add the VivoActive MIME type, you need to edit one of these configuration files. If you can't find the configuration files, type the following UNIX command:

find / -name mime.types -print

To add  the VivoActive MIME type:

1.	Edit the file named mime.types and add the following line to the end of it:

video/vnd.vivo vivo viv

2.	Make sure there's a newline character at the end of the line.

3.	Restart the server.

On Apache Servers (optional)

If you're running the Apache server, and you prefer, you can:

1.	Edit the file srm.conf, and add the following line to the end of it:

AddType  video/vnd.vivo vivo viv

2.	Make sure there's a newline at the end of the line.

3.	Restart the server.


Netscape Commerce servers

The Commerce Server supplied by Netscape Communications Corporation keeps track of its MIME types in the configuration file named mime.types. The configuration file can be found in a subdirectory named config. To add the VivoActive MIME type to your server, you need to edit the  mime.types configuration file. If you can't find the configuration file, type the following UNIX command:

find / -name mime.types -print

To add  the VivoActive MIME type:

1.	Edit the file named mime.types and add the following line to the end of it:

type=video/vnd.vivo	exts=viv,vivo

2.	Make sure there's a newline character at the end of the line.

3.	Restart the server.


Microsoft Internet Information servers

Add the Vivo file types to the MimeMap key in the Registry by following these steps:

1	From Administrative Tools, run the Registry Editor.

2	Display both the keys and values, in left and right panes.

3	Click the names of registry keys in the left-hand panel, to go to the following location in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\InetInfo\Parameters\MimeMap

4	Click the MimeMap folder icon in the left-hand panel of the registry.

The right-hand panel of the registry should display a large number of strings describing MIME types, such as the following:

text/html,htm,/unused,1  :REG_SZ:

image/jpeg,jpg,/unused,5  :REG_SZ:

image/gif,gif,/unused,5  :REG_SZ:

The data types of the entries are "REG_SZ," and the values of the entries are blank.  The exact details of what the right-hand panel shows aren't important, and may be slightly different from this example.

5	Add a new entry by selecting Edit / New Value from the menubar.

6	A dialog box with two fields appears. Carefully type the string shown below into Value Name field. Do not type any spaces. (If you make a mistake, you will have to delete your registry entry and add a different one).

video/vnd.vivo,viv,,5

7	Make sure the pulldown menu field labeled Data Type: shows the value REG_SZ.

8	Press Enter.

9	A second dialog box appears, requesting a Value: for the registry string.

10	Click OK. (No value is needed.)

11	Repeat Step 6 using the following string

video/vnd.vivo,vivo,vivo,,5

12	Restart your Microsoft Internet Information Server.

Note:

This information is derived from two different Microsoft KnowledgeBase articles, Q142558 and Q146193.  These two articles give different key-names to use in the Registry for adding MIME types.  It appears that the two different key-names are actually aliases of one another.  Q142558 seems to be the more complete and reliable article on this subject.


Information for video producers

If your videos play locally, but give  errors regarding the MIME type when you try to post them to a web page, it may be that the Webmaster at your site has not registered the Vivo MIME types. Following is a sample letter you can use for requesting your Webmaster to register the Vivo MIME types.

Dear Webmaster,

I would like to view Vivo Software’s VivoActive video files from your web server. In order that I may do this, please add the following Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) registered MIME type: video/vnd.vivo.

This MIME type should be associated with files containing the following extensions: “.viv” and “.vivo”. Please add this MIME type to your server’s configuration.

If you have questions, please contact Vivo’s Technical Support Center by sending email to support@vivo.com

Thank you

(your name here)


To view VivoActive videos

If a VivoActive video doesn’t start automatically when you visit a Web page containing one, click the Play button. To pause a video, click the Pause button.

Note:

If the Play and Pause buttons are not visible, move the cursor inside the video window and click the right mouse button once. Select Show Video Controls.

Be sure that you’ve installed the VivoActive Player and instructed the Webmaster at your site to create the MIME type “video/vnd.vivo” and associate it with the file extensions “.viv” and “.vivo”.

Related Topics:

   Using the VivoActive Player's video controls

   Registering the VivoActive MIME types


To use the VivoActive Player's video controls

_____________	_______________________________
	A revolving Vivo icon indicates that Vivo is downloading the initial segments of video into your computer’s memory
_____________	_______________________________
	The Play Button is green when the video plays.
_____________	_______________________________
	The Play Button points down and flashes red and yellow when Vivo is downloading additional video into your computer’s memory.
_____________	_______________________________
	The Pause Button is red when the video pauses.
_____________	_______________________________


To use the VivoActive Player's context menu

You can see this menu when a VivoActive video is visible. Move the cursor into the video window and click the right mouse button once. To see what a menu item does, click it in the illustration below.


Play

Plays the video if it is paused.


Show video controls

Toggles the video controls on and off.


Video Info

Displays this box of video info:

Author:	the video's creator
Title:	the video's title
Copyright:	holder of the video's copyright
Producer:	version of the VivoActive Producer that generated this video
Version:	version of the VivoActive Player displaying this video
Duration:	elapsed time of the video in milliseconds (ms)
Length:	size of the video in bytes
Rate:	number  which,  when multiplied by eight, gives the bitrate at which the video was designed to stream
Delay1:	Ms of video buffered before initial play begins
Delay2:	Ms of video buffered during subsequent pauses
Buffer:	minimum amount of data in bytes buffered
Preroll:	amount of data in bytes buffered before video begins
Pause:	numerical code indicating what is shown during a pause
LS:	amount of time audio is delayed for lip synch


Help

Displays this help file.


About VivoActive

Provides information about VivoActive.


The VivoActive Producer

The VivoActive Producer lets you publish Vivo video content from your website using Video for Windows (AVI) files as the source material. After obtaining or creating an AVI file, you use the VivoActive Producer to compress and convert it to a Vivo formatted file, which you can then place in your web pages.

The Browse button lets you bring up a file selection dialog and select AVI files that you want to convert. Next, you make some selections affecting video quality versus playback speed and then select the Generate button to convert the files.

Related Topics:

  Using the VivoActive Producer


To start the VivoActive Producer

Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0

1.	Click Start on the taskbar.

2.	Choose Programs.

3.	Choose VivoActive.

4.	Choose VivoActive Producer.

Windows NT 3.51

1.	From the Program Manager double click the VivoActive Program Group.

2.	Double click  VivoActive Producer icon.


To acquire .avi files

AVI files are available from many  commercial “clip art”  packages on CD-ROM as well as at various sites on the Internet.  You can also create AVI files from a digital camera or from an analog source such as a video tape if you have a video capture card and software such as Video for Windows to digitize and compress the video.


To select an .avi file for processing

Click on the Browse button and navigate to the AVI file you want to select.

Or, type the path and filename of an AVI file.


To choose a name for the .viv file

Click in the Generate As box and type an output file name. Give it a .viv extension.


To indicate starting and ending frames

In the frames section, type the beginning and end frames to generate (or click in a field and move the slider to select a frame).


To provide author, title and copyright information

Click in each field and provide the appropriate information.

The information can be seen in the Video Info box, displayed when someone viewing the video

selects Video Info from the VivoActive Player’s context menu

Related Topics

   Using the VivoActive Player’s context menu

   The Video Info box


To adjust the tuning controls

Click on a slider for information about setting it.


Faster Start / Better Quality

This slider affects start-up time of the Vivo file, and should be adjusted based, as much as possible, on the expected connection rate of people who will view the video.

Set a faster start time if . . .

you expect most of the people to connect at a low rate, as with a modem. This will produce a video with less image information in each frame, which allows the video to download quickly and play with fewer interruptions. However, some clarity is sacrificed.

Set better quality if . . .

you expect people to connect at higher rates, such as through a direct connection to the Internet, or over a corporate or in-house Intranet. This produces a video with more image information in each frame, so the images are clearer. However, the video will take longer to download and may have more interruptions. This happens because VivoActive stores segments of the video in advance of playback.

Move the slider left to choose a lower transmission speed and produce a Vivo file that starts faster and has fewer interruptions.

Move the slider right to choose a higher transmission speed and produce a file that has better clarity but may take somewhat longer to start.


Sharper Detail / Smoother Motion

This slider controls compression and specifies how many frames of the original AVI file to skip when producing the Vivo file.

Move the slider left for sharper detail. This compresses the AVI file more and produces a Vivo file with sharper detail (crisper image outlines because there are more bits per frame). However, there is less synchronization with audio.

Move the slider right for less compression. This includes more original frames, which  results in smoother motion and better audio synchronization, but the image outlines are less sharp (because there are fewer bits per frame).


To generate the .viv file

1.	Select an AVI file to process:

Use the Browse button and navigate to a file. Or, click in the top field and type the path and filename of an AVI file.

2.	Specify an output name for the file. Give it a .viv extension.

3.	Adjust the Tuning sliders For more information see To adjust the tuning controls

4.	Click on Generate.

As the VivoActive Producer  creates the Vivo file, you see a  preview in the window above the Generate button. A progress bar below the window indicates how much of the Vivo file has been created.

Note:

There is no sound during Vivo file creation. This is normal. In addition, the file will appear to run very slowly while it is being created. This too is normal and merely represents the time it takes for the VivoActive Producer  to code each frame. It is not indicative of how the Vivo file will run.


To include a .viv video in a Web page

1.	Start an HTML editor of your choice, for example WordPad.

2.	From the File menu, choose Open.

3.	Navigate to the HTML file (Web page) in which you want to place the Vivo video.

4.	Select the HTML file, and click  Open.

5.	Use the following code sample to include a video that can be viewed with either Netscape Navigator or the Microsoft Internet Explorer. You can copy this code and paste it in the Web page.  However, do not make any changes to the lines shown in bold (except to unbold them if you wish).

<p>

<object class id=”clsid:02466323-75ed-11cf-a267-0020af2546ea” width=176 height=144

codebase=”http://www.vivo.com/ie/vvweb.cab”>

<embed SRC=”pathname.viv”  width=176 height=144 autostart=true videocontrols=on>

<param name=”URL” value=”pathname.viv”>

<param name=”autostart” value=”true”>

<param name=”videocontrols” value=”on”>

</object>

</p>

Click on a “param name” to see what it does.

Note:

•	The “pathname” parameter must be an absolute pathname to the .viv or .vivo file

•	For videos to be viewed on Windows NT systems, the pathname must start with http://

•	The values you use for pathname, autostart and videocontrols must be the same in the “embed” and “param name” declarations.


URL

URL means Uniform Resource Locator. This is a document’s address on the World Wide Web. Typical URLs start with http://, ftp:// or other designations depending on the protocol they use for accessing information on the Internet or over a local Intranet.


Autostart

This parameter specifies whether a .viv (or .vivo) video plays automatically when someone visits a page containing one. The values for this parameter are:

True	The video starts automatically (the default).

False	The user must click the Play button to start the video.

Note:

If the video doesn’t start automatically, and you don’t see the controls, move the cursor over the video and click the right mouse button once. Select Video Controls.


Videocontrols

This parameter specifies whether the video controls are visible when the video plays. The values for this parameter are:

On	The video controls are visible (the default).

Off	The video controls are not visible.

Note:

If the video doesn’t start automatically, and you don’t see the controls,  move the cursor over the video and click the right mouse button once. Select Video Controls.