

                           VidAmp Plugin v1.0

                  Copyright (C) 2000 by Christer Sundin
                        mailto:christer@sundin.nu


Introduction

This plugin lets you play AVI, MPEG, MOV (QuickTime), and ANIM video clips
using WinAmp. AVI and MPEG files are played using the Windows MCI drivers
and MOV using Apple's QuickTime for Windows. VidAmp has native support for
IFF ANIM files (types 5 and 7).

Installation

Just copy the plugin file "in_vid.dll" to your WinAmp plugin directory,
usually "C:\Program Files\WinAmp\Plugins". Uninstalling is just as easy:
Delete the file "in_vid.dll"  =)

To improve playback of AVI and MPEG files, you may need to install the
Windows Media Player, available on Micro$oft's web page:

    http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/en/Download/default.asp

For QuickTime support, you need to install QuickTime for Windows, available
at:

    http://www.apple.com/quicktime/

Instructions

* The VidAmp plugin window

The VidAmp plugin window has two "panels" of buttons. On the left are the
navigation buttons (from left to right):

+ Play backwards (doesn't work for all video formats)
+ Step backwards (doesn't work for all video formats)
+ Pause / unpause
+ Step forwards
+ Play forwards

On the right are the control buttons (from left to right):

+ Menu:   Brings up the menu (About / Options)
+ Info:   Opens a dialog with information about the current file
+ Repeat: Toggles repeat mode
+ Scale:  Toggles scaling of the movie

You can also get a more detailed menu by right-clicking on the buttons.
If no such menu exists, you will get a default menu.

* Scaling

You can bring up the scaling menu by right-clicking on the "Scale" button.
The options are:

+ Scale:         If on, VidAmp will enlarge the movie to fill its window.
                 Note that VidAmp will always shrink the movie if it
                 doesn't fit in the available window.
+ Integer scale: If on, VidAmp will only scale the movie size using an
                 integer scale, i e the size will be double, triple, half,
                 etc. the original size.
+ Full screen:   If on, VidAmp will maximize its window and thus use the
                 *entire* screen for playback. Might run slowly though... =)
                 You can also toggle full screen mode during playback by
                 pressing the space bar (when the VidAmp window is selected).

* Repeat points

You can manually set the start and end points of the repeat cycle by
pressing the buttons "1" or "2" respectively (but make sure the VidAmp plugin
window has the keyboard focus first!). Pressing "Shift-1" or "Shift-2" will
reset these points to their default values.

* Configuration

These are the options available in the configuration dialog:

"Fullscreen playback"              If set, the entire screen will be used for
                                   video playback.

"Mute the sound"                   If set, the sound will be turned off.

"Use ActiveMovie / DirectShow"     If set, the VidAmp plugin will try the
                                   newer (ActiveMovie or DirectShow) drivers
                                   first, then the older MCI drivers.

"Use DVD hardware for MPEG files"  If this option is not set, VidAmp will
                                   try to avoid using the DVD drivers to
                                   play MPEG files (mainly because VidAmp
                                   doesn't work properly with DVD).

"Hot key"                          Here you can choose a "hot key" that can
                                   be used to toggle the VidAmp plugin window.
                                   Note: This hot key only works if the
                                   WinAmp main window has the input focus.

* Closing/opening the window

If you close the VidAmp window, there are three ways to make it appear again:

1) Enter WinAmp preferences, go to "General plugins", select "in_vid"
   and click "Config".

2) Use the hotkey defined in the configuration dialog. This hotkey
   is disabled by default, since I have no way of knowing which keys
   aren't already used by WinAmp itself. I personally use "Alt-V" :)

3) Start playing a video clip.

* Docking the window to WinAmp

You can dock the VidAmp plugin window to any of WinAmp's windows. Please note
that this feature is not quite perfect. The main problem is that once the
plugin window is docked, its position will always follow that of WinAmp's
main window (even if you have docked to another of WinAmp's windows).

Skins

Just like WinAmp, the Vid plugin supports custom skins. I have already drawn
VidAmp skins for my favourite WinAmp skins, and I will put them on my web page
"http://www.sundin.nu".

If you would like to draw your own skin, you can easily figure out the layout
from one of my skins. Tip: You can use the playlist editor skin (PLEdit.bmp)
as a starting point for the VidAmp skin (VidAmp.bmp).

Bugs / limitations

* When the VidAmp plugin is used for the first time in a WinAmp session
  it will try to find all MCI video drivers. This will take a few seconds
  and if you have a DVD decoder board, the screen might flicker a bit.

* DVD isn't really supported in this release, but it *might* work if you
  have a working MCI driver for DVD. Alas, I have "Creative" drivers, so
  that doesn't work for me...

* Playback of IFF ANIM type 7 is implemented, but untested.

Fineprint

This software is distributed as is, without warranty of any kind, neither
expressed nor implied, including fitness for a particular purpose. The author
shall not be held liable for any loss of data or revenue or any other direct
or indirect damage caused by this software.

This means that even if this program actually does what is expected of it,
the author takes no responsibility. Or something =)

Revision history

1.0   * Proper fullscreen mode (and only used when playing a file)
      * Improved the skin format
      * Fixed several bugs

Copyright and credits

The VidAmp Plugin was developed by Christer Sundin <christer@sundin.nu>.

This software may be used and redistributed free of charge, for non-
commercial use only, provided that all files are copied unchanged.

For other use, please contact the author.

News and updates will be posted on http://www.sundin.nu

