TechNote (Archived)

MPEG video in Director

Introduction
System Requirements
MPEG on Windows
MPEG on Macintosh
MPEG2 and DVD video
Additional information

Introduction

The MPEG file format for digital video is not a native Director cast member type, but there are several ways it can be used in Director. MPEG is a video and media file format that uses a powerful compression algorithm to reduce file size while minimizing degradation of the video quality. MPEG is an acronym for Moving Picture Experts Group, the group that created the MPEG video and audio compression format specification.

There are several iterations of the MPEG format, including MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4. Generally, each later MPEG version has better video and audio quality for the file size reduction it produces.

MPEG files can have many different file extension names. Here are some of the common MPEG file extensions: MPEG, MPG, MP2, MP2V.Note: Sometimes AVI files are encoded using MPEG compression but the file extension remains AVI.

System Requirements

MPEG player software
Codec
Hardware capabilities

MPEG player software
The end user must have some kind of MPEG player software installed to play MPEG media inside Director projects. This can be a media player application or it could be a system resource such as Microsoft DirectX.

Codec
The user must also have the codec installed that the MPEG file was encoded with. A codec is the specific software algorithm used for compressing and decompressing the video file. There are many different types of codecs that an MPEG file can be encoded with.

Hardware capabilities
The end-user must have sufficient computer capabilities to play back the MPEG video. Digital video is still very taxing on computers, so it is important know what the end user's system capabilities will be. The end-user's processor speed, built-in memory (RAM), video card capability, bus speed, and other factors all combine in determining how well the system can play video.

The developer can take measures to ensure the video itself is optimized for playback on the target end-users' systems. The developer can optimize video properties such as: data transfer rate (sometimes known as 'data rate' or 'bit rate'), frame rate, display size, and more to affect the playback performance of digital video.

The developer can also control how the video is used inside the Director project top optimize performance. For example, high quality video playing at full screen will generally be the most taxing on the system.

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MPEG on Windows

Windows Media Player

Director MX 2004 adds support for using Windows Media Player to play back various media types. This is available on Windows only. With this feature, the developer can use Windows Media Player (WMP) to play most media types that are supported by the user's installed version of Windows Media Player, including many types of MPEG files. Please see Using Windows Media Player in Director (TechNote 19172) for more information on using this feature.

ActiveX Control

The Windows version of Director can use ActiveX controls inside a Director project. The developer can choose to use an ActiveX control that plays MPEG video for playing MPEG files in Director. ActiveX is a Microsoft technology and it will work only on the Windows platform. For more information, please refer to MPEG and AVI in Director using Microsoft's ActiveX control (TechNote 13675).
Note: Macromedia does not provide technical support for ActiveX implementation.

MPEG Xtras

MPEG can also be imported and controlled using 3rd party Xtras. Some MPEG Xtras may provide additional or different functionality than other methods of integrating MPEG in Director. Some popular MPEG Xtras include Mpeg Advance Xtra from Tabuleiro andOnStage Media for Director from Visible Light. Mpeg Advance Xtra is the successor to DirectMediaXtra and MpegXtra. The OnStage Media for Director Xtra is the successor to OnStage SE Xtra. Prior to the 2004 release third party MPEG Xtras were the most common and popular way of deploying MPEG in Director movies.

3rd party Xtras for use with Director, including MPEG related Xtras, are listed at:
Macromedia Director Exchange
UpdateStage

QuickTime Player

Newer versions of QuickTime Player have the ability to play MPEG video on Windows. The end user must have QuickTime Player installed in order for Director to play MPEG files through QuickTime. The QT6Asset Xtra is required for playback of media using QuickTime Player. Through this Xtra, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4 video can be used in Director.

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MPEG on Macintosh

QuickTime Player

Apple's QuickTime Player is installed by default on Macintosh machines. QuickTime Player can be used to play MPEG files in Director. The QT6Asset Xtra is required for playback of media via QuickTime Player. Through this Xtra, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4 video can be used in Director.

MPEG Xtras

Please see MPEG Xtras in the MPEG on Windows section above for details about MPEG Xtras. Not all 3rd party Xtras are cross-platform compatible.

MPEG2 and DVD video

MPEG-2 video files are used as the starting point for creating DVD-Video. An MPEG-2 video file is turned into a VOB file before including it on a DVD-Video disk. VOB files are specialized MPEG-2 files that contain the MPEG-2 video data along with navigation and search information. The DVD media feature in Director only supports playback of correctly authored VOB files, and not straight MPEG-2 video files. To play MPEG-2 video in Director, the developer can look at the various methods for playing MPEG in Director that are outlined in this TechNote. To learn more about using DVD media in Director, please see DVD video capabilities in Director MX 2004 (TechNote 19156).

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