WINDOWS 1002000 PROFESSIONAL RESOURCE KIT [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Using Multimedia Effectively

Windows 2000 opens new possibilities for creating audio, video, and multimedia content and for using it more effectively on your intranet.

For more information about configuring audio, video, and multimedia devices and workstation defaults (such as audio playback level), see "Optimizing Workstations for Multimedia" earlier in this chapter.

Playing Multimedia

Windows 2000 supports a wide range of playback devices and multimedia sources, technologies, and file types. For example, you can play audio from a MIDI device, or play radio from a radio station that is broadcasting over the Web. You can play video or multimedia on DVD using DVD Player, or watch a streaming broadcast over the Web using Windows Media Player.

For more information about setting preferred devices for playing audio, see "Configuring Sounds" earlier in this chapter.

Playing CDs

You can play audio compact discs (CDs) on a CD-ROM drive or a DVD drive. (Standard CD-ROM drives cannot read DVD discs.) When you insert an audio CD into a CD drive, Windows 2000 Professional starts CD Player, as shown in Figure 11.3.

Figure11.3 Windows 2000 CD Player

CD Player can automatically read play lists and album information when you insert a new CD. For more information about using CD Player or playing audio CDs, see Windows 2000 Professional Help.

As multimedia information is read from a CD-ROM drive, the multimedia subsystem determines what the data stream contains and then separates and routes the data accordingly.

To provide the best possible performance from CD-ROM drives, Windows 2000 includes the 32-bit CDFS for reading files from CD-ROM drives quickly and efficiently.

You can set the default volume for playing CDs or enable digital audio playback by using the following procedure.

To set CD playback options

In Control Panel, double-click Sounds and Multimedia.

Click the Hardware tab. Under Devices, select the CD device, and then click Properties.

Set the volume and digital playback properties:




Under CD Player Volume, set the default volume for playing audio on CD.

Under Digital CD Playback, select the Enable digital CD audio for this CD-ROM device check box to send the playback from the CD player to a digital device, such as USB speakers. Selecting this check box disables audio output from the headphone jack on the CD-ROM drive.

Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) is a serial interface standard that allows for the connection of music synthesizers, musical instruments, and computers. The MIDI standard is based partly on hardware and partly on a description of the way in which music and sounds are encoded and communicated between MIDI devices.

MIDI is used as a development tool for musicians. Virtually all advanced music equipment supports MIDI, and MIDI offers a convenient way to precisely control the equipment.

Windows 2000 supports the General MIDI Specification to request particular instruments and sounds. This specification is an industry standard that defines how MIDI should be used, and it is supported by Microsoft and most MIDI sound-card manufacturers.

MIDI devices supported by Windows 2000 include the following:

FM Synthesis

Hardware Wavetable Synthesis

Software Wavetable Synthesis

MPU401

You can also download standard MIDI files from the Web and play them by using Windows Media Player.

To configure a preferred MIDI music playback device

In Control Panel, double-click Sounds and Multimedia.

Click the Audio tab, and then under MIDI Music Playback, click the preferred device that this workstation should use for playing MIDI music.




To specify the default playback or recording level for the selected device, click Volume, and then set the volume controls.

To display information about the selected device, click About.

For more information about installing and configuring MIDI devices, see Windows 2000 Professional Help.

For more information about MIDI devices and the MIDI standard, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base link on the Web Resources page at: http://Windows.microsoft.com/windows2000/reskit/webresources.

Playing DVDs

Windows 2000 DVD Player lets you play multimedia content and provides instant access to advanced DVD features, including movie chapters, optional closed-caption support, and choice of playback formats.

DVD Player is shown in Figure 11.4. It contains, from left to right, buttons for choosing a channel; VCR buttons for controlling playback; and menu navigation buttons for using the on-screen menu choices.

Figure11.4 Windows 2000 DVD Player

DVD Player has only basic functionality and can be replaced by a third-party application. You can install or uninstall DVD Player from Control Panel by using the Add/Remove Programs option.

NOTE

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When DVD Player is started, it searches all local drives in alphabetical order, starting with C, for a folder called Video_TS. When this folder is located, the data file in it is loaded and video streaming begins. If this folder exists on a drive that comes before the preferred DVD drive, DVD Player tries to play the data in the first folder it finds.

For technical information about DVD devices and options, see "Configuring Multimedia Devices" earlier in this chapter.

Playing Multimedia From Files or the Web

You can play audio, video, or multimedia from files or from the World Wide Web as follows:

Click a hyperlink to a source of streaming audio, video, or multimedia, such as Advanced Streaming Format (.ASF). Windows Media Player contacts the server and begins streaming the multimedia to play in real time. Because the multimedia is streamed rather than downloaded, no files are stored in your temporary Internet cache, conserving hard drive space.

Download a nonstreaming audio, video, or multimedia file in a compatible format, such as MIDI, MP3, or .WAV, and then play the file locally by using Windows media player.

Use the Internet Explorer Radio toolbar to tune to a radio station that is broadcasting over the Internet.

To play a radio station over the web or an intranet

Start Internet Explorer On the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then click Radio.

On the Radio toolbar, click Radio Stations, and then select the radio station that you want to play.

If Windows Media Player is registered as the default media player, it automatically plays the streaming and nonstreaming file types shown in Table 11.2. When you open a file that has one of these extensions, either by double-clicking a file icon or clicking a link in a Web page, Windows Media Player starts.

Table 11.2 File Formats Supported by Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player works with the server to negotiate the most efficient allocation of bandwidth and deliver high-quality streaming media. The higher the bandwidth of your Internet connection, the higher the quality of the streaming multimedia. The best results are achieved by using high-speed connections, such as a T1 connection, or through a cable modem or digital subscriber line (DSL) line.

For more information on playing multimedia files using Windows Media Player, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base link on the Web Resources page at http://Windows.microsoft.com/windows2000/reskit/webresources.

Creating Multimedia

Windows 2000 lets you record audio from a variety of input devices, and then save audio files in a variety of different formats, by using Windows Sound Recorder.

Recording Audio

If you have a microphone or other input device connected to your computer, you can record sound by using Sound Recorder as shown in Figure 11.5.

Figure11.5 Windows 2000 Sound Recorder

Sound Recorder lets you add effects, such as echo; increase or decrease the speed or volume; and insert or mix other audio files. You can save audio files in one of three standard formats—CD quality, radio quality, or telephone quality—or you can choose a custom format to maximize compression or utilize a specific audio format (such as .au).

To select an audio format

On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to Entertainment, and then click Sound Recorder.

On the File menu, click Properties.

In the Choose from box, click Recording formats, and then click Convert Now.

In the Format box, click the format that you want, and then in the Attributes box, click the attributes (such as the sampling frequency or number of channels) available for the selected format.

For more information about audio formats and compression, see Windows Sound Recorder Help.

Mixing and Editing Audio

You can insert and combine audio files using Sound Recorder, as described in the previous section. You can mix audio input from different devices using the Windows 2000 Volume Control tool, as shown in Figure 11.6.

Figure 11.6 Windows 2000 Volume Control

The Volume Control tool lets you manage the different audio lines installed on a computer. An audio line consists of one or more channels of waveform-audio data coming from one origin or system resource. For example, a stereo audio line has two data channels, yet it is considered a single audio line. A mixer control can take on many different characteristics (such as controlling volume), depending on the characteristics of the associated audio line.

The number of lines that you can mix by using Volume Control depends on the number of audio source lines that the computer has, and whether they are using Volume Control for input or output.

Creating Dynamic Web Pages

You don't need multimedia authoring software to create multimedia presentations that can be broadcast over your intranet on a server computer running Windows 2000 Server. You can use HTML+Time and Extensible Markup Language (XML) multimedia elements to create interactive, multimedia Web pages.

For more information about using HTML+Time and XML to create dynamic Web pages that incorporate multimedia, see the Knowledge Base link on the Web Resources page at: http://Windows.microsoft.com/windows2000/reskit/webresources.

Using HTML+Time

You can use HTML+Time to add dynamic, interactive content to your Web pages. For example, you can create slide-show-style or multimedia presentations with synchronized text, images, audio, video, and streaming media. These presentations can be timed, interactive, or a combination of both.

HTML+Time provides an architecture that lets you extend and introduce new representations to the XML multimedia space, while taking advantage of the timing and synchronization attributes specified through HTML+Time. Custom representations can express data visualization concepts, three-dimensional models, interactive media animations, and audio and visual content.

To use HTML+Time, add HTML+Time attributes to existing HTML elements on a page. HTML+Time attributes let you specify when an element appears on a page, how long it remains displayed, and how the surrounding elements are affected.

The implementation of HTML+Time relies on Microsoft® DirectAnimation®, which enables time-varying, media-rich content and animations to be expressed in self-contained objects. These objects encapsulate both media and the behaviors that change properties of the media over time. For every HTML element associated with a timeline, you can access DirectAnimation behaviors by using scriptable properties.

NOTE

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HTML+Time features are available as of Internet Explorer 5 and are not supported by earlier versions of the browser.

Creating Custom XML Multimedia Elements

You can also use persistent XML elements and attributes to add timing to your pages. HTML+Time supports a complete object model that extends the existing Dynamic HTML (DHTML) Document Object Model (DOM), allowing you to use properties, methods, and events to add interactivity to pages.

Custom XML multimedia elements make it easy to add multimedia to pages without having to write complex scripts. You can write one script implementing the new element and reuse it as necessary. You can further customize an element by creating properties, methods, and events associated with it.

Overview of DirectX 7.0

Windows 2000 supports DirectX version 7.0, which provides software with quick, transparent access to a broad range of peripherals, including graphics cards, audio adapters, and input devices, and delivers improved performance and enhanced graphics and sound over previous releases of DirectX.

DirectX 7.0 offers language support for the Microsoft® Visual Basic® development system. Improvements include improved 3-D graphics and sound, faster performance, easier development of 3-D sound algorithms, and easier creation of complex musical soundtracks.

DirectX provides a common set of instructions and components that accomplishes two things:

Lets multimedia applications run on any Windows -based computer, regardless of the hardware, and ensures that products take full advantage of high-performance hardware capabilities to achieve the best possible performance.

Provides tools to developers that simplify the creation and playback of multimedia content, while making it easier to integrate a wide range of multimedia elements.

Table 11.3 provides an overview of DirectX technologies.

Table 11.3 Overview of DirectX Technologies

DirectX Diagnostic Tool

Windows 2000 includes the DirectX Diagnostic Tool, a utility for diagnosing problems with DirectX drivers and multimedia hardware. You can use the tool to obtain detailed system and driver information, as well as to test specific devices. The results can be reported to Microsoft Product Support Services to speed up diagnosing and resolving problems. To display the DirectX Diagnostic Tool, as shown in Figure 11.7, on the Start menu, click Run, and then type:

dxdiag

Figure 11.7 DirectX Diagnostic Tool

For more information about using the DirectX Diagnostic Tool, see the tool's Help.

DirectX Software Development Kit

The Microsoft® DirectX® 7.0 Software Development Kit (SDK) contains information for developers, including code samples, diagnostic tools, and sample applications. You can order the SDK on CD-ROM or download it from the DirectX Web site.

For more information about DirectX, or about downloading or ordering the DirectX SDK, see the Knowledge Base link on the Web Resources page at http://Windows.microsoft.com/windows2000/reskit/webresources.