Since we seem to be getting off the gaming subject a tad, I figure I would pose a question to you guys. Hopefully someone out there can find me an answer.

When I film a short video and burn it onto a CD, I save it as an .avi, .mpeg, etc... How can I make a video player appear on the screen that will play the video instead of the user having to copy the video file from the CD onto their harddrive before playing it on their own video player (Windows Media Player, Real Player, etc...)

I hope I'm making my question clear. If any of you know of such a software, please let me know! I've looked everywhere!

steve the gaming guy

Erm, look into Autorun.inf files...

It's basically a text file that just points to another file it "runs" when the CD's put in.

Steve

You probably want the end user to have thier own choice of video player automatically started to run the video you supply on CD, not force them to use your choice of player or run an exe or something.

You need to look up how to use the 'autostart' options on a CD.

Liv

if you are using XP, right-click on the drive in My Computer, and go to the Auto-run tab. Select the Video files option, and make sure that Prompt the user to select an option each time option is selected.

"autostart" == "autorun.inf" ... google should return exactly what needs to be inside autorun.inf

Secondly, 007Bond - He said user... Not his own machine. Not everyone uses XP.

Thirdly, Liv - right in assuming that not everyone uses the same player... I think that the autorun.inf file basically tells explorer to run that file, so whatever program opens that file isn't specified...

Steve

I agree with most of the previous posters, but with one caveat.

Yes, you ought to have the CD start the end user's own choice of player for whatever video (or program for any other file) you want to launch from your CD, and yes, the 'autorun.inf' is the place to specify the file you want to open - but it ain't as simple as that of course... (it is MS Windows - what did you expect? )

Certain versions of Windows (e.g. NT) don't support the standard 'autorun.inf' shelling to the associated program because (without gettng too technical) the required command isn't 'built in' to the OS. What you need to do is run a self-contained exe from the CD which can identify what the file associations are and start the user's associated program, passing it the selected file to open.

I use a tiny utility program called 'shelexec' which is easy to use and works a treat with every windows PC I've tried it on so far. If you want to, e-mail me and I'll send you a copy and instructions for how to use it with your choice of files - it is very simple.

Al (MaDbRiT)

ok thanks, guys. There is another reason why I wanted this software. On certain computers (or certain CD drives), it is too slow to simply run the file right off the CD. I thought maybe there was a video player that solves the slow down issue where the PC is trying to read from the CD rom as you watch the video.
I can only think of one example right off the bat. There is a demo disk for The Sims 2 that has its own design player and it seems to work the same as other media players but without the lag here and there of CD rom read time.

Whatever the case, MaDbRiT, I'll email you and see how that doo-hickey works!

Thanks,
steve the gaming guy 8)

I suppose a .bat file is in order there then... Copy the file onto the user's PC and run it (deleteing it would be harder).

Unbelieveable. MaDbRiT actually signed in!

007bond wrote:Unbelieveable. MaDbRiT actually signed in!

He has cookie problems, big deal.

Steve...

Just out of curiosity, is this a student film, or just a home video?

well then perhaps MaDbRiT should get Firefox. It's working wonders for me, not to mention a whole lot of other people in the world.

It's probably more complex than that, 007Bond. Perhaps at ISP level even.

S1aY3R wrote:It's probably more complex than that, 007Bond. Perhaps at ISP level even.

he just likes to sound smart sometimes..... he's like the Homstar Runner...

"Science Again! I Said Science Again!" - Homestar

007 Bond wrote:

well then perhaps MaDbRiT should get Firefox

For the record, I HAVE got Firefox, but when working from certain of my PC's - mostly those with AOL as the ISP - trying to log in is such a P.I.T.A that I don't bother.

I do always put my name at the bottom of guest postings though

I know, and that's handy

Ste wrote:
Steve...

Just out of curiosity, is this a student film, or just a home video?

Not a student film. It's just fun amateur stuff.

steve the gaming guy