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NAME of the Registry Value.
- Leave the string blank.
Netscape Enterprise Server 3.0
Edit the mime.types file in the server's config directory.
This will contains lines of the form:
type=video/x-msvideo exts=avi
These can also be of the form:
type=video/x-msvideo exts=avi,vid,vvv
when multiple file extensions map to the same MIME type.
The server reads this file to associate the MIME type video/x-msvideo
with files with the file extension avi.
The Netscape help site is:
http://help.netscape.com/
This includes many articles on the Netscape server including a
discussion of MIME types and the mime.types file.
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AVI and Java
Plans for Java include a collection of Java Media and Communications
API's (Application Programmer's Interfaces). These include the Java
Media Framework (JMF for short). The first part of JMF is the Java
Media Player, an API for synchronization, control, processing and
presentation of compressed streaming and stored timed media including
video and audio. A public specification for the Java Media Player has
been released. According to this the Java Media Players will be
designed to support many media types including AVI. A beta release of
the JMF software is scheduled for the second quarter of 1997 and may
be happening as of 5/15/97 (some rumors at least although I have not
seen the software).
For further information on Java Media Framework, see:
http://java.sun.com/products/java-media/jmf/index.html
For further information on Java, see the Java site:
http://java.sun.com/
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AVI and VRML
The Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML, often pronounced
'vermal') is the file format standard for 3D multimedia and shared
virtual worlds on the Internet.
VRML supports a "node" known as a MovieTexture. This allows a video (or
movie) to be mapped onto the surface of an object. A MovieTexture node
is referenced by the texture field of an Appearance node. Each object has
an Appearance node.
The VRML MovieTexture node includes a url field. The url field, as the
name suggests, is the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of a video file
to map onto the surface of the VRML object. The VRML 2.0 specification
requires that this video file must be in either MPEG-1 Systems (audio and
video) or MPEG-1 video only format. AVI is not directly supported.
It is necessary to convert an AVI file to MPEG-1 format to use the AVI file
with VRML. This is VRML 2.0 VRML 97 may be different.
For further information on VRML, see the VRML Consortium Web Site.
http://www.vrml.org/
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Configuring Netscape Navigator 3.01 to Display AVI Files
The following remarks apply to Netscape Navigator 3.01 for
Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and Windows NT 4.0.
Netscape Navigator displays .AVI files either through a helper application
such as the Microsoft Media Player or a Netscape Plugin that supports
AVI playback, such as the Netscape npavi16.dll and npavi32.dll plugins.
A helper application is a separate application, executable, that is
invoked by the Web browser. The helper application runs as a separate
process with its own window or windows. The helper application is not
tied to the Web page.
A Netscape plugin is a dynamic link library that extends the
capabilities of the Netscape Navigator. Typically the plugin will
receive control over a region of the Web page displayed by the
browser and display its output in that region. The output appears to
be embedded in the Web page.
To view and configure helper applications, select the General Preferences
item from the Options menu of Netscape Navigator. Select the Helpers tab
of the General Preferences. Helpers lists registered File types (MIME
types), associated actions, and file extensions.
Options | General Preferences | Helpers
A File Type is a MIME type such as image/gif or video/avi. MIME
stands for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions. MIME types are
a mechanism to identify the data type of multimedia attachments to
Internet e-mail messages. MIME types are also used by Web servers
to identify to Web browsers the data type of multimedia files such as
AVI files on Web sites.
An action can be blank, Ask User, Browser, or a helper application such
as Media Player (mplayer.exe). The blank action appears to be used
in cases where a Plugin is installed and may be used for other cases as
well. The Ask User action indicates to pop up a dialog asking the user
what to do: save to disk, select an application, or cancel. Browser
indicates that the File Type is supported by the browser. For example
gif and jpeg decoding is built directly into Netscape Navigator.
To view installed plugins, select About Plugins from the Help menu. This
produces a listing of installed Plugins. The list has an
entry for each currently installed Netscape Plugin. For example:
NPAVI32 Dynamic Link Library
MIME Type
video/msvideo ... other information ...
video/x-msvideo ... other information ...
is the information presented for Netscape's npavi32.dll plugin in
Netscape Navigator 3.0 on Windows NT 4.0 Server (Service Pack 2).
Netscape Plugins are dynamic link libraries stored in a plugins
directory. For example, \Program Files\Netscape\Navigator\Program\plugins\
Many Netscape plugins including the Netscape AVI plugins (npavi16.dll for
16 bit Windows and npavi32.dll for 32 bit Windows) can be dowloaded from
the Netscape Web site.
http://home.netscape.com/
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Netscape Navigator Plug-ins to Play AVI Files
Netscape LiveVideo
Netscape Navigator 3.0 includes LiveVideo which supports playback of
AVI files on Windows 3.x, Windows 95, and Windows NT platforms. This is
implemented through the dynamic link libraries npavi.dll, npavi16.dll, and
npavi32.dll.
http://home.netscape.com/
You can download the latest Navigator 3.0 with LiveVideo from Netscape.
Netscape also maintains pages with Netscape Plug-Ins, mostly from other
companies. These include CineWeb by Digigami and MacZilla by Knowledge
Engineering which provide AVI playback.
To get to the Audio/Video Plug-Ins page (as of May 15, 1997), go to the
Netscape Home Page. There is a graphical text
"Get the latest Netscape Software".
Underneath this text there is pulldown list of the many Netscape products.
This initially reads "Pulldown to select products".
Click on this to show the pulldown list (it is very long).
Choose "Navigator Plug-Ins".
Click on the Product Info icon under the pulldown list.
This presents a page for Inline Plug-Ins. Select the Audio/Video option.
This brings up a page of audio/video plugins that add support for various
audio and video formats.
CineWeb by Digigami and MacZilla by Knowledge Engineering are both in
this list. These plug-ins are also available directly from their
makers.
CineWeb by DigiGami
Digigami produces a Netscape Navigator Plug-in for Windows 95 and Windows
NT called CineWeb that provides playback of AVI, QuickTime, and MPEG files.
http://www.digigami.com/cineweb/
MacZilla by Knowledge Engineering
MacZilla is a Netscape Plug-in for the Power Macintosh that adds AVI,
QuickTime, and MPEG playback.
http://maczilla.com/
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Configuring Internet Explorer 3.0x to Display AVI Files
The following applies to Internet Explorer on Windows 95 and Windows
NT 4.0. The information may also work for Windows 3.1
Select the Options item from the View menu of Internet Explorer. Select
the Programs tab. Within the Programs sheet, click on the "File Types ..."
button.
View (menu) | Options (item in menu) | Programs (tab) | File Types ... (button)
Internet Explorer 3.0x uses the Windows 95 System Registry or
Windows NT System Registry to determine what to do with a file. This is
the same mechanism that the Windows 95 or NT 4.0 Desktop uses to
determine which application to use when a user double clicks on a file
icon. This is achieved through a Content or MIME type "value" (name
and data pair) in the registry. See the section on how AVI is handled
in Windows 95 for more details.
The "File Types ..." brings up a list of file types and associated
actions. This can be used to edit and modify the actions.
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How to embed an AVI file in a Microsoft Word Document?
Media Player acts as an OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) server. This means
that application such as Microsoft Word that support OLE can embed
a movie.
With Word 6.0 (Microsoft seems to keep changing the user interface for
Microsoft Word so I need to qualify which version of Microsoft Word),
1. Select Insert from the menu bar. This pulls down a long menu.
2. Select Object... from the pulldown menu. This pops up a dialog box.
3. Select the Create from File tab.
4. Select the AVI file from the file browser.
5. Select OK
This inserts a link to the AVI file at the current location within the
Microsoft Word document that you are editing. The first frame of the
AVI file is displayed. Double click on the first frame of the AVI
file to start playback.
NOTE: With Word 6.0, this sequence of Word commands embeds a graphic
of the first frame of the AVI file along with instructions to invoke
Media Player on an external file in the Word document. The binary AVI
file remains separate. Only the file specification and a graphic
image of the first frame are actually inserted in the Word document.
The on-line help documentation with Word 6.0 is misleading or outright
false on this point.
Other Windows applications that act as OLE clients will be able to do
similar things with AVI files.
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Size limits on AVI files
An AVI file cannot be larger than the disk partition that
contains it. Different filesystems have different maximum sizes
for disk partitions.
Under the 16 bit FAT (File Allocation Table) filesystem used by DOS,
disk partitions are limited to a maximum size of 2GB (Gigabytes). In
DOS, a hard disk is divided into 512 byte sectors. DOS Version 4
added support for 32 bit sector numbers. 2 raised to the 32 is roughly 4
billion, multiply this times 512 bytes in a sector to get the 2GB
limit. FAT16 partitions are limited to 2GB, necessarilly limiting AVI
files to a maximum size of 2GB as well.
DOS versions prior to DOS 4 limited disk partitions to 32MB (Megabytes).
These earlier versions of DOS used 16 bit sector numbers in all I/O
routines. 2 raised to the 16th power is 64K, multiply this by 512 bytes
in a sector to get the 32MB limit.
Partitions using other filesystems such as the Windows NT File Systems (NTFS)
may not be subject to the 2GB limit.
The new FAT32 filesystem available with Windows 95 permits partitions larger
than 2GB. Unfortunately, a 1 or 2 GB file size limit is hard wired
into some of the code for the Microsoft Video for Windows. In
particular, the RIFF parser code and MCIAVI (the MCI driver for
AVI files) contain a 1 GB or 2 GB limit hard wired into them.
Microsoft's Active Movie, which replaces Video for Windows, contains
fixes for the 1-2 GB size limits hard wired into Video for Windows.
Microsoft's OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2) incorporates FAT32. Earlier
OEM releases and the retail version of Windows 95 (as of 2/15/97) do
not include FAT32. Microsoft sayeth: "Neither MS-DOS 6.x nor retail
versions of Windows 95 will recognize a FAT32 volume". To see if you
have OSR2, go to the Control Panel, select the System icon, and click
the General tab. It will say "4.00.950b". If there is no trailing
letter or "4.00.950a", then you do not have OSR2.
OEM versions of Windows 95 cannot be purchased separately as off the
shelf software. They are bundled on systems created by companies
like Dell, Compaq, and so forth. The retail version(s?) of Windows 95
can be purchased at software stores or through software resellers.
I believe that there was some sort of beta release of FAT32 prior to
OSR2, either a special version of Windows 95 or a way to install FAT32
in versions of Windows 95 that did not come with FAT32.
OSR2 and FAT32 seem to have some problems. Some applications
such as Corel's Paradox 7 fail on FAT32 volumes. See:
Bug Net Web Site
or search the Microsoft Knowledge Base for the keyword OSR2.
The header for an AVI file includes a 32 bit AVI file length, imposing
a restriction of 4GB on the AVI file size.
The Open Digital Media (OpenDML) Consortium has defined
OpenDML AVI File Format Extensions to add support for
professional video functionalities to AVI. This includes
a fix for the 4 GB limit. Microsoft has incorporated this
extended version of AVI into ActiveMovie 1.0 from
Microsoft.
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How to Fix Problem with CorelMove4.0 AVI Files
CorelMove 4.0 exports AVI files that cannot be played using
Video for Windows 1.1 or the Windows 95 Video for Windows or
ActiveMovie 1.0.
Corel has a fix file that can be downloaded from their software
library. The file is called "cmvfix.exe."
The URL is...
http://www.corel.com/products/graphicsandpublishing/draw4/library.htm
Description text from the Web page...
Title: CMVFIX.EXE For CorelMOVE 4.0 AVI export correction
CMVFIX.EXE by Corel Corporation 1994 contains these
compressed files: CMV4FIX.EXE is a compressed file that
contains fixes for CorelMOVE 4.0's AVI file exports. These
are new replacement .DLLs. AVI4FIX.EXE is a Windows
application that will allow you to correct older CorelMOVE
4.0 AVI files to work with MS-Video For Windows 1.1. If you
create an AVI file AFTER installing the CMV4FIX update that
accompanies this fix, then you will NOT be required to run
this application. This will change the RLE compression in
the CorelMOVE AVI files.
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Sources of Information on AVI and Related Topics:
TECHNICAL
How to Digitize Video
by Nels Johnson
with Fred Gault and Mark Florence
John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1994
ISBN 0-471-01440-0
Article
"Digital Video File Formats"
by Mark Florence
Dr. Dobbs Sourcebook of Multimedia Programming, Winter 1994
Microsoft Software Development Kits (SDK)
and Device Driver Kits (DDK)
Microsoft's SDK's and DDK's are included with
various products such as Visual C/C++ and in a
subscription to the Microsoft Developer Network.
The Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) is a service
where Microsoft sends CD-ROM's with Microsoft
Operating Systems, Software Development
Kits, Device Driver Kits, and miscellaneous
other Microsoft products to the developer.
A subscription is usually for one year
and usually includes several full releases
of sets of CD's. The Microsoft Developer
Network CD's usually include Beta releases
of various API's and new products that
Microsoft is developing. See the
Microsoft Web site
http://www.microsoft.com/
for more information on the Microsoft
Developer Network.
Windows 3.1 Software Development Kit (SDK)
Win32 Software Development Kit (SDK)
Video for Windows Software Development Kit (SDK)
Windows 3.1 Device Driver Kit (DDK)
Windows NT Device Driver Kit (DDK)
specifically,
Windows Multimedia Programmer's Guide
- includes overview of RIFF
Video for Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) Programmer's Guide
- includes overview of AVI
RIFF Specification is available on World Wide Web at (11/7/96):
http://www.seanet.com/HTML/Users/matts/riffmci/riffmci.htm
DirectX Software Development Kit (SDK)
- DirectX 3 SDK Contents
- ActiveMovie 1.0 SDK Contents
included with Visual C++ 5.0 Professional Edition and other
Microsoft products.
Practical Digital Video with Programming Examples in C
Phillip E. Mattison
John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
New York, (c) 1994
ISBN: 0-471-31016-6
A Technical Introduction to Digital Video
Charles A. Poynton
John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
New York, (c) 1996
ISBN: 0-471-12253-X
Multimedia Developer's Guide
Paul Perry
SAMS Publishing: A Division of Macmillan Computer Publishing
Indianapolis, IN 1994
ISBN: 0-672-30160-1
Library of Congress Catalog Number: 93-86963
Information on Windows Multimedia using MCI, AVI, and Video
for Windows. Dumps of Windows SDK references.
Video Demystified: A Handbook for the Digital Engineer
by Keith Jack
HighText Publications
Solana Beach, CA
1ed (C) 1993 by Brooktree Corporation
ISBN: 1-878707
Library of Congress Catalog No.: 93-14705
A popular highly technical book on analog and digital video
technology. Not much on AVI, Video for Windows, or PC Video
but plenty of details on NTSC, PAL, SECAM, and other video
topics. Now in a 2nd edition with new information on
MPEG and H.26x
Publishing Digital Video, 2nd. Edition
by Jan Ozer
Academic Press, 1997
Price: $34.95
Covers video capture on PC/Windows, video editing, windows
video compression, and MPEG-1 compression for digital video
and multimedia authors. Includes chapters on streaming audio
and streaming video.
The Windows NT Device Driver Book
A Guide for Programmers
by Art Baker (Cydonix Corporation)
Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 1997
Price: $44.95
An introduction to Windows NT Device Drivers with simple examples and
source code. Does not use video display adapter drivers or video
capture drivers as examples. Sticks with simple examples.
Microsoft provides a number of detailed documents for the
Microsoft NetShow product in Microsoft Word format.
Microsoft NetShow Content Creation Authoring Guide (CCAG)
Microsoft NetShow Tools Guide
Microsoft NetShow System Administration Guide
See the Microsoft NetShow Web Site:
http://www.microsoft.com/netshow/
BUSINESS and POP COMPUTING
"The 800-Pound Gorilla's New Toy: Microsoft's new video software is
coming on strong" Business Week, May 11, 1998, p. 60
- article on NetShow 3.0
"Set-top boxing" by Edward W. Desmond, Fortune, November 10, 1997, p. 91
- Microsoft and WebTV (pretty thin)
"Real Revolution" by Robert H. Reid, Wired, October, 1997, p. 122
- All about Progressive Networks (now renamed
RealNetworks) and its CEO Rob Glaser, the purveyors of
RealAudio streaming audio and RealVideo streaming video.
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Internet Newsgroups with Information on AVI and Video
Internet or USENET Newsgroups are a good source of current
information on AVI and video. Some useful newsgroups are:
VIDEO SPECIFIC NEWSGROUPS
rec.video.desktop
comp.os.ms-windows.video
comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video
comp.dcom.videoconf Videoconferencing
OTHER USEFUL NEWSGROUPS
comp.multimedia
Broad coverage of multimedia including video.
comp.compression
Both technical discussions of compression algorithms and
codecs, as well as end user issues such as utilities and
configuration issues.
alt.binaries.multimedia.utilities
Utilities for handling multimedia.
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Where to Find Information on Audio and Video Standards Other Than AVI
Apple QuickTime
Apple maintains a Web site on its QuickTime multimedia file format and
family of products.
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/
ISO (International Organization for Standardization) MPEG
The International Organization for Standardization, usually called ISO,
produces a family of digital audio, video, and multimedia standards
known as MPEG, Motion Pictures Expert Groups. The MPEG standards include
MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and MPEG-7.
The official ISO MPEG Web site is:
http://drogo.cselt.it/mpeg/
Tristan Savatier's comprehensive MPEG Web site is:
http://www.mpeg.org/
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Microsoft's Changing Names
Microsoft has an annoying tendency to rename API's, software
components, products, and perhaps even entire companies. One has to
wonder if this is good marketing or a symptom of politics within the
colossus. This has happened to a number of video and video related
products, most notably ActiveMovie.
List of Changed Names
---------------------
Quartz ( original codename for ActiveMovie )
Active Movie 1.0 ( new video software to replace Video for Windows)
Active Movie 2.0 ===> DirectShow 2.0 ( March, 1997 )
The change to DirectShow seems analagous to Ford renaming the Mustang
the Putt-Putt Mobile in 1967.
ASF (Active Streaming Format) (new video file format, to replace AVI?)
ASF (Advanced Streaming Format) Active is dropped in Sept. 1997
Somebody doesn't like Active????
(Microsoft's Streaming Video Product)
Microsoft NetShow ==> NetShow Services (late 1998?)
(new Operating System to replace Windows 95)
Memphis ==> Windows 97 ==> Windows 98
Progressive Networks, marketers of RealAudio audio compression
for the Internet, was founded by Rob Glaser, a former top executive
at Microsoft. In late 1997, Microsoft invested in Progressive
Networks, reportedly acquiring an option to acquire 23% of the
company. Progressive Networks renamed itself RealNetworks, possibly
to improve the prospects of its Initial Public Offering (IPO).
Progressive Networks (that was then)
RealNetworks (this is now 12/20/97)
RealNetworks has licensed and markets Iterated Systems fractal video
codec under the name RealVideo. Iterated used to call their video
codec ClearVideo.
ClearVideo (that was then)
RealVideo (this is now 12/20/97)
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Business and Economics of AVI
Practical Business Uses of AVI
ADVERTISING
Probably the most practical use of digital video on computers is for
short advertisements such as movie trailers on Web sites and packaged
with other materials. Short means in the range of 30 seconds to a few
minutes.
Bandwidth restrictions and the discomfort of watching video on
computer monitors at short distances for extended
periods of time probably insure that relatively short video clips that
contain a recognizable story will dominate the successful use of
digital video on computers and especially Web sites.
The common practice of putting movie trailers on promotional Web
sites for motion pictures provides a good illustration of this trend.
Movies have tended to use QuickTime, most prominently with the highly
successful trailer for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, rather
than AVI or ASF (Windows Media).
Such advertisements could also include product demonstrations.
Talking Heads video is rarely interesting and entertaining although
inexpensive to produce.
Business and Economics of Standards
AVI is a de facto industry standard. Standards in general, and
de facto standards in particular, play a big role in the business,
economics, and politics of information technology and
Microsoft and Intel (WinTel) in particular.
GTW Associates is
a consulting firm specializing in standards and related issues.
As of May 6, 1999 their Web site contained many excellent papers
and resources on business, political, and economic issues of
standards. GTW Associates clients, according to the Web site, include
Microsoft, the colossus itself.
http://www.gtwassociates.com/"
W. Brian Arthur is an
economist who has written extensively on increasing returns for
adoption, standards, and related topics.
http://www.santafe.edu/arthur/
Standard Based
Monopolies and Near Monopolies: The WinTel Example
(in the Adobe Acrobat PDF format) is my personal
opinion about how Microsoft and Intel, and many other computer
related businesses, function as near monopolies.
Antitrust
Reason Foundation
which publishes Reason magazine has substantial coverage and links
on the Microsoft antitrust saga. Reason is a libertarian
organization with a distinct anti-antitrust or pro-Microsoft
bias, depending on how one looks at it.
http://www.reason.org/
The Consumer Project on Technology
maintains an extensive Web site with extensive information on the legal,
political, and economic issues of technology. This includes
a large section on Microsoft and the antitrust cases against Microsoft.
Despite an obvious political agenda, this is a very comprehensive site.
http://www.cptech.org/
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GLOSSARY
A quick guide to the acronyms, jargon, and techno-babble related
to AVI, Video for Windows, ActiveMovie, DirectShow, desktop and
networked video.
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