Which MPEG-1 Player for Menus/Chapters??

[mreed]

Here's the deal I need to autorun my VCD's ben doing it with wmp no prob now that I'm adding menus/chapters what's the best way to go?

Need player compatibility with slower pc's.

Thanks for any input

Mutt

[kfoss]

For completely freeware players, I have found that STHSVCD works good. It plays my menus without any tweaking. You need to use the |<< and >>| buttons on the player for next and previous and you can use the key pad on your keyboard as well. Only thing I haven't figured out is the equivalent of Play (Play on STHSVCD is the same as Pause when the VCD is already playing).

For demo players, I find that WinDVD is good. It even has a little pop-out keypad on the player bar that imitates the DVD remote. Just remember to click on the OK(check-mark) button after pressing a number.

Any other opinions?

[mutt]

Thanks kfoss, how can I use STHSVCD player in an autorun VCD?

Willing to purchase a player if it is a better option for autorun.

[kfoss]

For Mutt,

When you call it an Autorun VCD, are you saying that the VCD has an executable VCD player on it that plays the VCD when inserted? Or do you mean does the player (STHSVCD in this case) already installed on your machine, play a VCD when it is inserted in the drive?

I know that STHSVCD has an autoplay option which I have never been able to get to work. I have avoided making my VCD autorun (ie. putting an AUTORUN.INF on the VCD as you can never be sure what player and version are located on the host computer. I have personally put a freeware VCDPlayer on the VCD at the end of the tracks to allow the user to load the VCD, install the player and play it.

[mutt]

I put this on the vcd

[autorun]
open=mplayer2.exe /play /close /fullscreen \

The way I understand it, it plays with the version of wmp that is on the clients pc.

I appreciate your help

[kfoss]

I hate timing out of my login when I am in the middle of replying to a post.

Anyways, WMP will only play the individual .DAT files in the MPEGAV directory of the VCD. You can autorun any of the .DAT files my putting in the AUTORUN.INF file:

"open=start mplayer2.exe /play /close \MPEGAV\avseq01.dat"

This will not play your menus you have built nor will it play all segments of the VCD (ie. all .DAT files) in a row. You would have to place all them in your autorun file.

I have tried to find any command line input to STHSVCD that could put in the autorun.inf file but none found yet.

[mutt]

AutoPlay Menu Studio 3.0 by Indigo Rose seems like it would do what I am looking for.

Can’t find any info beyond their website http://www.indigorose.com/autoplay/index.html

Has anyone here tried this product??

Mutt

[kfoss]

The idea behind this menu studio is interesting but it sort of moves away the VCD concept. If you are dealing with a PC CDROM based distribution or usage, then this would be fine, because this software looks like it is for PC based only.

I personally want my VCD to play like a VCD, that is in a DVD standalone player, a PC-DVD drive or PC-CDROM. The only way I can achieve this is with a VCD.

[mutt]

Thanks again kfoss for your comments.

That is *exactly* what I am trying to accomplish distrbution of vcd's that will play on pc 's and open to a menu page that will allow the viewer to select different entry points within the vcd and then return to the menu page and select a different entry point.