videoodyssey(1mms) — Commands
NAME
Video Odyssey − Video Screen Saver with support for JPEG AVI files
SYNOPSIS
videoodyssey [-bg background] [-f VideoFile] [-fg foreground] [-geometry geometry-string] [-iconic]
DESCRIPTION
Video Odyssey is a screen saver that plays video clips on your screen.
The Video Odyssey program runs in the background and monitors mouse position and keyboard. When a preset time has elapsed with no mouse or keyboard activity, Video Odyssey takes over the screen and continuously plays a compressed video file until you either move the mouse or press a key.
Video Odyssey comes with a sample video file. However, you can play any JPEG-compressed AVI file by clicking on the Video File button on the control panel.
You can use the AlphaVCR utility to make your own video files for playback with Video Odyssey, or play the sample AVI files provided with Multimedia Services.
TYPICAL USAGE
Run Video Odyssey in the background with the following command line:
videoodyssey &
The control panel will be displayed and give you the option to change settings such as sleep time and saver effect.
You can also start Video Odyssey from the Session Manager. Video Odyssey can be added to the list of applications that can be started from the Session Manager by using the Options Menu. Once it is added, Video Odyssey may be started by default at login time.
Video Odyssey saves new settings in a file in your home directory whenever you change them. It uses this configuration file to initialize the program settings when the program starts.
When you are satisfied with the settings, click on the minimize button in the upper right corner of the window border to minimize the control panel. (Some window managers require you to perform other tasks to minimize a window. Do whatever your window manager requires to minimize a window.)
STOPPING
The program may be terminated by activating the Close menu item in the window’s control menu. Some window managers allow double clicking on the upper left control button to close a window.
VIDEO FILE
Video Odyssey accepts industry standard JPEG-compressed AVI files. These files are typically given the extension .avi. Other extensions used with JPEG compression are .mjpg and .jpg.
Note: There exist AVI files that do not use JPEG compression. Indeo and Microsoft Video 1 are two alternate compression schemes in use today. Video Odyssey supports only those AVI files that have JPEG compressed video data in them. If Video Odyssey returns the error "Not a JPEG file", it means that one of the above alternate compression schemes has been used.
Whenever a new video file is provided, there will be a startup delay during which time Video Odyssey configures itself and builds an in-memory table of contents for the specified video file.
SAVING YOUR SETTINGS
Everytime you change a setting in the control panel, Video Odyssey saves a copy of the program’s settings (sleep time, on/off state, brightness, contrast, and so forth). The settings are stored in a file in your home directory with the name .videoodyssey.cnf. If this file is removed, or if the program cannot create the file, it will use its own default values for the settings and any changes made will not be saved.
A reasonable file would look like:
/ Video Odyssey Configuration File - Saved user settings
1 // Enable flag: 1 = enabled, 0 = disabled
99 // Sleep time 1 - 99
0 // Effect ID 0 - 4
race.avi // Video file name
0 // Large Window flag 1 = large, 0 = normal
0 // Password protect flag 1 = use password
3 // Number of floating windows 1 - 4
3 // Floater speed 1 - 10
1 // Video playback rate 1 - 10
6.0 // Brightness 0 - 10
5.0 // Contrast 0 - 10
2.0 // Saturation 0 - 10
The file is created to save the user’s choice so that the next time the screen saver displays, the user does not have to re-enter preferences.
CONTROL PANEL
When Video Odyssey is invoked, a control panel is displayed on your screen. This control panel lets you change the way the program operates. Each time a control is changed, the new settings are saved in the .videoodyssey.cnf file in your home directory. The control panel settings and their functions are as follows:
On Button
Enables the screen saver. When this control is turned off, the screen saver is not active.
Controls the sleep time for the screen saver. Sleep time is the length of time the mouse and keyboard have been inactive. Once this time has been reached, the screen saver is activated. Move the arrow buttons up to increase the sleep time and down to decrease the sleep time.
tion
Lets you select from a list of screen saver effects. These effects are:
ComboCycles through all the Video Odyssey effects.
FloatersLets you choose from one to four floating windows
and their floating speeds. These windows constantly
move and bounce off the sides of the screen.
SnapshotCauses one floating window to appear and randomly
places a frame on the screen as the window continues
float. Eventually, the entire screen is filled with
different frames from the video clip.
StriperPlaces tiles on the screen in a left-to-right and
top-to-bottom sequence, filling up the screen in
the process.
PileupPlays a video clip from a window centered on the
screen while randomly placing frames on the screen
underneath this centered window. Eventually, the
entire screen is filled in the process.
Video File Button
Lets you select the video file you want to use. When you click on the Video File button, a standard Open File dialog box appears. Select an AVI file from this box.
Lets you double the size of the video windows. Click on the button to increase the windows to twice the normal size. Regardless of the size, you retain one floater.
s
Lets you adjust the video settings. These controls are:
Floaters Sets the number of floating windows in the
Floaters screen saver selection.
Floater SpeedSets the speed of the floating windows.
Video RateSets the playback rate of the video. A value of 1
is the slowest rate.
BrightnessAdjusts video brightness.
ContrastAdjusts video contrast.
SaturationAdjusts video color saturation.
Button
Starts the screen saver without waiting for the sleep time to elapse.
Preview Button
Lets you adjust the settings while viewing the video. When done, click on the Stop button.
? Button
Displays the help window.
Button
Displays the version and copyright information.
SLEEP HOTSPOTS
If you move the cursor to the extreme lower left corner of the screen, the screen saver will start immediately without waiting for the sleep time to elapse. As long as the cursor remains in the extreme lower right corner of the screen, the screen saver will be disabled.
GENERAL NOTES
Video Odyssey is compute intensive. Video playback rate is highly dependent upon system speed, the number of background processes, and speed of the frame buffer. Video Odyssey is meant for workstations with single users. Enabling Video Odyssey when other users are remotely logged in to the system may result in poor performance for both Video Odyssey and for users who may notice their applications slowing down.
For protection against degrading the system’s response time to remotely logged in users, Video Odyssey acts as a "nice" process running at the lowest possible priority. Video Odyssey voluntarily gives up the processor to any other processes running at higher than the lowest system priority. For more details on how to set process priorities see nice(1).
OPTIONS
Video Odyssey accepts the following command line options that can also be specified in the ~/.Xdefaults configuration file as resources:
−bg ColorName −background ColorName
Specifies the background color for the Video Odyssey control panel. Valid names are red, black, steel blue, and so forth. Color names may be substituted with color values.
−f VideoFile
Specifies the JPEG-compressed video file to be played back. The file should be in Microsoft’s AVI format.
−fg ColorName −foreground ColorName
Specifies the foreground color for the Video Odyssey control panel. Valid names are red, black, blue, and so forth.
−geometry +X_offset+Y_offset
Positions the upper left corner of the control panel’s window at the specified value relative to the upper left corner of the screen.
−iconic
Brings up Video Odyssey as an icon.
RESOURCES
Explanation of these resources is provided under OPTIONS. These resources can be set in the .Xdefaults file. A reasonable setting might be:
videoodyssey∗background: light steel blue
videoodyssey∗foreground: yellow
videoodyssey∗geometry: +150+250
videoodyssey∗iconic: no
FILES
/usr/bin/mme/videoodyssey
/usr/lib/X11/uid/videoodyssey.uid
/usr/lib/mme/help/vo.hlp
~/.videoodyssey.cnf