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[4.9] How do I play DVD video in HTML, PowerPoint, Director, VB, etc.?
A variety of multimedia development/authoring programs can be extended to play video from a DVD, either as titles and chapters from a DVD-Video volume, or as MPEG-2 files. In Windows, this is usually done with ActiveX controls. On the Mac, until DVD-Video support is added to QuickTime, the options are limited. Newer versions of the Apple DVD Player can be controlled with AppleScript.
DVD-Video and MPEG-2 video can be played back in an HTML page in Microsoft Internet Explorer using many different ActiveX controls (see table). Some ActiveX controls also work in PowerPoint, Visual Basic, and other ActiveX hosts. Netscape Navigator is out of the game until it supports ActiveX objects. Simple MPEG-2 playback can be done in PowerPoint using the Insert Movie feature (requires that a DirectShow-compatible MPEG-2 decoder be installed). DVD and MPEG-2 playback can be integrated into Macromedia Director using specialized Xtras.
|
Price |
HTML (IE only) |
PowerPoint |
ActiveX host (VB, etc.) |
Director |
| Microsoft MSWebDVD or MSVidWebDVD (see MSDN overview ) |
free |
yes |
yes |
yes |
no |
| Microsoft Windows Media Player 6.1 (docs in Windows Media SDK ) |
free |
yes |
no |
no |
no |
| InterActual PC Friendly |
not available |
certain versions |
no |
no |
no |
| InterActual Player 2.0 |
$2000 and up |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes? |
| SpinWare iControl |
PE: $120, Web: $1200 and up |
Web version |
PE version |
no |
no |
| Visible Light Onstage DVD |
$500 and up |
ActiveX version |
ActiveX version |
ActiveX version |
Director version |
| Sonic eDVD (InterActual engine, feature of Sonic products) |
$4000 |
yes |
no |
no |
no |
| Sonic DVD Presenter (InterActual engine, no longer available) |
$40 |
no |
yes |
no |
no |
| Tabuleiro DirectMediaXtra |
$200 |
no |
no |
no |
MPEG-2/VOB files, but not DVD-Video volumes |
| LBO Xtra DVD |
$500? |
no |
no |
no |
yes |
| Matinée Presenter |
? |
Separate presentation application. Plays MPEG-2 files (not DVD-Video). |
Of course, if you simply treat DVD-ROM as a bigger, faster CD-ROM, you can create projects using traditional tools (Director, Flash, Toolbook, HyperCard, VB, HTML, etc.) and traditional media types (CinePak, Sorenson, Indeo, Windows Media, etc. in QuickTime or AVI format) and they'll work just fine from DVD. You can even raise the data rate for bigger or better quality video. But it usually won't look as good as MPEG-2.
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