Xref:	news2.mv.net comp.os.msdos.djgpp:5261
From:	lehmann AT mathematik DOT th-darmstadt DOT de (Alexander Lehmann)
Newsgroups:	comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject:	Re: Playing AVI's in dos
Date:	22 Jun 1996 00:33:28 GMT
Organization:	Technische Hochschule Darmstadt
Lines:	29
Message-ID:	<4qff0o$nsu@rs18.hrz.th-darmstadt.de>
References:	<835389313 DOT 24351 DOT 1 AT gememail DOT demon DOT co DOT uk>
NNTP-Posting-Host:	fb0401.mathematik.th-darmstadt.de
To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway:	from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp

Owen (owen AT gememail DOT demon DOT co DOT uk) wrote:
: could anyone tell me how  / give me source code to play AVI files in
: dos. or if avi's aren't suitable for dos, what else can I use instead?

Well, the mail problem with AVI playback is that the most common
format CVID (Cinepack) is patented by Radius, so that source code for
reading this is probably not legally available. There was source code
for Cinepack play in xanim in previous versions (before the patent was
awarded), but the current versions only have CVID support as
precompiled object file for a couple of platforms.  Since CVID is not
that complicated, you may be able to program a decoder yourself, but I
think this will still be liable to patent fees, so it is not a good
idea. The same is the case with QuickTime, which uses the same format
(both also have different, probably free formats, but these will not
compress as well, I guess). If you have enough CPU power available,
using MPEG should be an option, maybe with I frames only, in this case
the decoder is less complicated and also not as CPU intensive.  Most
DOS programs seem to use their own video formats (e.g. 11th hour or
the Lucas Arts games), I'm not sure if any of the documented ones are
useful, maybe FLIC.


bye, Alexander

--
Alexander Lehmann,                                  |  "On the Internet,
alex AT hal DOT rhein-main DOT de  (plain, MIME, NeXT)         |   nobody knows
lehmann AT mathematik DOT th-darmstadt DOT de (plain)          |   you're a dog."
!!CHANGED!! <URL:http://www.mathematik.th-darmstadt.de/~lehmann/>

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