
PMMPEG.EXE Release 3.0 - An OS/2 Presentation Manager MPEG movie player.

This program will play MPEG  (Motion Picture Experts Group) digital  movies
in a window on your OS/2 desktop.  It can handle I-Frame style movies  that
are used by the DOS Xing MPEG player, plus IBP-Frame style movies that  the
Xing can't  currently handle.   It cannot  play movies  that have  embedded
sounds, such as those generated by the ReelMagic card.

I received a great  deal of  quality feedback  from dozens  of people  that
tried previous releases of  PMMPEG.  Here are of  some of the new  features
that have been implemented based  on your suggestions.  Please continue  to
send suggestions and bug  reports, it will help  to make PMMPEG better  for
everyone.

New Features in PMMPEG 3.0:

* Added DIVE support.  This is the high-speed graphics and color conversion
  interface built into every video driver that ships with OS/2 Warp
  running with at least 256 colors.

* Designed smaller icons in the toolbar to save screen space.

* Redesigned the menus and added new options, as outlined below.

* Added a Registration feature.  Don't worry!  It gently reminds you
  to register each time the application starts up.  There is no reduced
  functionality and none of your files is changed in any way.

* Added Save current movie feature.

* Added Half/Normal/Double playback size options.

* Added Unlimited/Fast/Medium/Slow playback speed options.

* Added an option to turn the menu/toolbar on and off.  When off, you can
  still access the menu and toolbar with a click of Mouse Button 2.

* Added an option to maintain the aspect ratio during a resize of the
  playback frame.

* Updated the status bar to show the movie size, frame rate and an indication
  of the movie type: I frame or IBP frame.

* Redesigned the sizing scheme.  Removed the Small/Large button in the
  toolbar as you can resize the movie by resizing the frame to any size you
  like.  You can even Maximize it!  The Half/Normal/Double menu options help
  to get exact sizes with a click.  You can use the maintain the aspect ratio
  menu item to keep the movie properly proporationed as you resize it.

* Moved all saved information out of the OS/2 INI file and into PMMPEG.INI,
  which lives in the same directory as the PMMPEG.EXE file.

* Removed the Beep at the end of the movie.

* Updated possible command line options.

* Updated configuration data values saved between runs.

* Updated popup panel when non-understood file is loaded.

* Updated the popup message when no help file found more understandable.

* Mentioned how to make Ultimotion movies with the VideoIn application
  from the OS/2 Warp Bonus Pak.

* Bug fix: Client was sized just a little too small, this has been fixed
  by virtue of the new sizing method.

* Bug fix: No one discovered a latent bug where the Open File dialog would
  fail if a movie name was passed on the command line with a relative path.

New Features in PMMPEG 2.1:

*  Optimized  playback  speed  with  I/B/P  movies.   They  play  at   much
higherframe rates and as a side effect the bug with stepping frame by frame
in I/B/P movies has been corrected.

* Added Slideshow feature.  This allows  you to select multiple files  with
the File Dialog, drag/drop multiple files from somewhere on the desktop  or
specify multiple files on the  command line.   PMMPEG will  then play  each
movie, one after the other,  and optionally loop back  to the front of  the
list and play again if the Loop mode is set.

* Added Toolbar buttons  that allow you  to save the  current frame to  the
Clipboard or to an OS/2 Bitmap file

* The Statistics  dialog has  been replaced  by a  Status bar  that can  be
optionally displayed at the bottom of  the frame.  This shows the  relevant
statistics for the movie: resolution, frame count (for I/B/P and  displayed
frames) and frame rate in frames/second.

* If a decoding problem occurs on  a particular frame, the status bar  will
optionally be displayed with a red background for that frame.

* A pop up message will  be displayed if the current display  configuration
is not set up for at least 256 colors.  This is required for proper display
of the images.

* Added WS_ANIMATE bit to respect system window animation option.

* Updated MPEG movie site information.

* Added MPEG-2 decoder discussion to help file.

* Added DIVE discussion/problems to help file.

* Tested increasing color dithering space up from 128 colors but there  was
not much visual difference and performance suffered.

* Optimization: Check and  don't change  a button  if it's  already in  the
required state.

* Optimization: Quickly skip initial frames until a non-all-black frame  is
found.  This will always display the first valid frame of any movie.

* Optimization: Better frame/second calculation, still mildly optimistic.

* Bug fix: Leaves movie positioned at last frame when it ends.

* Bug  fix:  Only  one  error  message  on  improper  end  sequence,  stops
gracefully.

* Bug fix: Gets focus on startup as it should.

* Bug fix: Fixed memory leaks and optimized internal table use.

* Internal: Cleaned up compiler warnings in source, removed dead code.

* Internal: Removed frame size calculation hack.

New Features in PMMPEG 2.0:

* Toolbar with tape controls (Play/Stop/Rewind/Step/Size/Color/Loop)

* Accept MPEG filename on command line and automatically play it
  - Useful for Mosaic, Desktop Object, Associating all MPEG movies

* Command line options for playback size, color and looping

* Configuration data saved between runs

* Drag/Drop MPEG movie onto PMMPEG

* Double size playback is possible both in Color and Grayscale

* Now plays more movies than Release 1 could handle

PMMPEG is a Shareware program.  The cost is $15 and has been bargain priced
to recoup some of  the development,  postage and  network costs  associated
with distributing it.

PMMPEG  can  be   ftp'd  from   ftp.cdrom.edu.   It's   currently  in   the
/pub/os2/incoming directory as pmmpeg30.zip, but  will be moved shortly  to
/pub/os2/mmedia.

Mike Brown
SES Computing, Inc.
