TechNote (Archived)

Using Digital Video in Director: An Overview

Introduction

This TechNote provides a basic introduction to using digital video in Director, as well as links to video related TechNotes and resources. Please refer to the Help documentation for additional information on using digital video in Director.

Note: Director does not edit digital video. Please refer to Third Party resources for digital video (TechNote 12149) for resources about the creating and editing of digital video.

Video player assets
Video formats
Playback tips
Video file properties
User system capabilities
Additional information

Video player assets

The main ways to play video through Director are through four Asset Xtras:

QuickTime Asset
Windows Media Asset (Windows only)
RealMedia Asset
DVD Asset

Director supports QuickTime and Real Media content for Windows and Macintosh. Director also supports Windows Media content for Windows only. Director supports DVD-video files through the DVD Asset Xtra. To learn more about using these formats in Director, read the Help documentation and the Video formats section below.

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Video formats

This section discusses various video formats and how developers can use them in Director. Additional digital video formats may be supported through third party Xtras. To view a list of third party Xtras, see the Director Exchange, or Updatestage.com.

AVI

Director can import Audio Video Interleave files (AVI) and play them back in projectors and Shockwave movies. AVI files in Windows are supported through the Windows Media Xtra, while they are always imported as QuickTime on Macintosh. For more information about implementing AVI video within Director, see System requirements for using AVI in Director (TechNote 13741).

Note: In Director versions previous to MX 2004, AVI movies play using Microsoft's Video for Windows DLL (msvfw32.dll), unless they are imported as QuickTime.

MOV (QuickTime & QuickTimeVR)

Director can import and play QuickTime video files in projectors and Shockwave movies.

The QuickTime Player must be installed in order to play QuickTime content inside of a Director movie. Also, the QuickTime Asset Xtra must be available for a projector or Shockwave movie in order to use QuickTime content. For the latest information about QuickTime Player, see Apple's QuickTime site. The following TechNotes will provide additional information about using QuickTime content with Director:

QuickTime system configuration and authoring notes for Director (TechNote 13747)
Detecting QuickTime with Lingo (TechNote 15087)
QuickTime cast member properties, cue points and streaming (TechNote 14247)
Projector must be restarted to playback QuickTime (TechNote 15100)
Preload properties in a QuickTime file (TechNote 13942)
How to prevent QuickTime videos from producing a white flash when they begin playing (TechNote 14563)
Overlapping QuickTime and Flash sprites cause a flicker (TechNote 3149)

WMV (Windows Media)

Director supports Windows Media Video and Audio (WMV and WMA) for Windows only. DirectX must be installed to use this feature. Windows Media Player may be required to play files with special codecs. The Windows Media Xtra extensions can also support additional formats such as MPEG-1 (including MP3), MPEG-4, and more.

Please see Using Windows Media in Director (TechNote 19172) for more details.

RM (Real Media)

RealPlayer 8 or RealOne Player must be installed on a computer to author or play back a movie that contains RealMedia digital video or audio.

DVD

DVD-Video is supported in Director MX 2004. For information regarding the use of DVD and Director, see DVD video capabilities in Director MX 2004 (TechNote 19156) and Director and DVD (TechNote 13466).

The following TechNote discusses the details of using DVD in Director in more technical detail: DVD Authoring Issues and Hints in Director MX 2004 (TechNote 19151).

MPEG

MPEG files are not natively supported but can usually be played through either the QuickTime or the Windows Media feature. Please see MPEG video in Director (TechNote 13743) for more details. Most developers use third party Xtras to play back MPEG files. Third party Xtras for MPEG playback have been in use since Director 6. Such history makes third party Xtras for MPEG playback a good choice.

FLV

FLV is not natively supported but can be played via Flash cast members and the Flash Asset Xtra. Please see the Developer Center for more information on using Flash Video files.

Other file formats

It may be possible to play other video formats through the player methods described above, or also through Director's Xtras extensibility. See the Director Exchange for third-party video Xtras.

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Playback Tips

This section discusses some tips for using video in Director.

Importing

Digital video can be imported via the import dialog box (File> Import).

Video files are always linked in Director. It is not necessary to select Link to external file in the Media pop up menu within the import dialog box, since video cannot be embedded*. Video files must be included externally with any projector or Shockwave movie.

Please see Working with linked digital video cast members in Director (TechNote 13746) and Authoring tips on how to effectively use linked media (TechNote 14070) for more information about using linked video.

*Exceptions: The following video or video-like file formats can be embedded in Director:

FLV in a SWF
BMP sequences
FLC animations

Publishing

Most video formats require Xtras. Any necessary Xtras must be included with the projector or marked for "download if needed" for Shockwave movies. Settings for Xtras can be found in the Modify> Movie > Xtras dialog box. To learn more about Xtras in Director, see Using Xtras in Director: An overview (TechNote 14888).

Shockwave security & the DSWMedia folder

For security reasons, Shockwave will only link to media on a local disk if it is in a folder named dswmedia. To test movies in a browser locally before uploading them to a web server, place the movie, linked casts, and linked media in folders within a folder named dswmedia. For more information about the dswmedia folder, read Using dswmedia folders and the support folder. The DVD feature does not require the DSWMEDIA folder. All DVD video must be placed in the DVD drive or in a VIDEO_TS folder.

Frames

The frames of a digital video sprite do not correspond to the frames of a Director movie. Therefore, a digital video sprite does not have to be stretched out in the score in order to play in its entirety. The digital video will continue to play as long as the playback head is within the digital video sprite range.

The most common method for playing a digital video in Director is to place a script in a frame that loops until the digital video is done, then continues to play the rest of the Director movie. To see how this method works, refer to the digital video sample movies available for download.

Video performance and optimization

There are many steps inside Director a developer can take to optimize the performance of video. For more information see Troubleshooting digital video performance in Director (TechNote 12128).

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Video file properties

The following properties of video files can all affect performance and compatibility of the digital video playing in Director on the end-user system. Developers must take these properties into consideration to optimize performance of video in Director projects and for target end-user systems. Keep in mind that the lower the bit rate, the better the playback performance.

Codec (and codec settings when the video was saved or exported)
Data / Bit rate (or data transfer rate)
Display size (and aspect ratio)
Frame rate (fps)
Audio track (sample rate, bit depth, bit rate, codec)
Other tracks (data, text)

Note: A video editing application will be needed to change properties of a video file.

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System capabilities

The more the developer knows about the target end-user system capabilities, the better he or she can plan for and optimize the performance of the video in the Director project.

Hardware

Digital video in Director will almost always play better on a high performance machine compared to playing on a low performing (or older) machine. Some laptops have constraints that can affect video performance that is not seen when playing on an equivalent desktop machine. High performance computers are sometimes marketed as multimedia or gaming systems.

Some system properties that can affect the playback performance of video are listed below:

CPU (overall speed)
Video card (card capabilities, driver, vram)
Fixed media (such as if the video is played off CD or DVD)
Hard disk (seek speed, etc.)

Test against the lowest common denominator system

It is best to begin testing the performance of the project on whatever the lowest common denominator machine will be for the intended audience.

Internet or Network connection

If the project is Shockwave based or uses assets from network or web locations, then the users connection speed can affect the performance of streaming or downloading of assets.