Videogram Technology
Videogram technology from Alaris allows you to produce
highly compressed video files that can be downloaded from the Internet or sent via email.
Fit a 60 second video onto a single 3.5 inch floppy!
Videograms can be viewed on any PC (minimum 486 DX2/66)
running Windows 3.x, Windows NT or Windows 95. Since the Videogram viewer can be embedded
in the Videogram itself, you can distribute your video messages to nearly anyone with a
PC.
The Videogram Player is an optimized utility that can play
back Videograms on any PC running Windows. Because the Videogram Player is very small and
can be embedded in the Videogram file, publishers can distribute video clips containing
company or product information and be assured that their message will be viewable by a
large audience.
Alaris’ Videogram technology uses a proprietary video
compression algorithm to provide significantly higher compression ratios than existing
compression algorithms including Indeo, Cinepak and MPEG. Combined with Alaris’ TELP
and MUZIP audio compression technologies, Videograms achieve file sizes previously
unattainable without significant loss in quality and frame rate.
New Features
Feature Summary
Download Latest Player
Streaming Test Page
For Web Masters
Setting Up Your Web Site to Stream
Netscape Plug-In
Movies
New Features in Streaming Videogram Player
The latest version 1.16 release (03/24/98) of the Streaming
Videogram Player includes many bug fixes from 1.00 including the following features:
- Multiple instances. You can now run multiple copies of the
Streaming Videogram Player simultaneously. You can also stream/download multiple Videogram
files at the same time. Just click on a second file to start streaming 2 files at once.
The number of instances of the Streaming Videogram Player your computer will be able to
support will depend on your computer's processor performance and the amount of memory in
your PC.
- Faster transition between segments. There is a much smaller
hesitation between segments of different resolutions.
- The installation file is now smaller. We are continuing to
work on reducing the installation file size. Right now, the player takes less than 300 KB
while the installation program takes more than 400 KB! We hope to have this fixed in the
near future.
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Streaming Videogram Player
The Streaming Videogram Player will play any Videogram
including Videograms created using any previous versions of our QuickVideo products. The
Streaming Videogram Player also supports video streaming over the Internet or an internal
network. Videograms with embedded players can also be played back using the new player.
The Streaming Videogram Player can be downloaded from this
website.
The Streaming Videogram Player works with Netscape as a
Helper App and will also work as a standalone application. After installation, just click
on a link and video will start streaming immediately. The Netscape Plug-In version has the
same capabilities but works with the Netscape Browser as a Plug-In. The video is actually
displayed in a window in the web page!
Features
- Plays any Videogram including those with embedded players.
- Stream video over a network by specifying a URL or VGX link
file.
- Streaming Player works standalone and as Netscape Helper App
so you can click on a link and start viewing video immediately.
- Netscape Plug-In versions allow Videograms to play directly
in a web page.
- Download monitoring feature lets users with slow
communication links view a Videogram as it is being downloaded allowing the user to
terminate the download at any time.
- Double click on a VGM, VGX or VGP file to automatically
launch the Streaming Videogram Player. The Videogram will start playing immediately.
- A future Videogram Server will allow a previously truncated
download to resume without loss of data.
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Download Latest Streaming Videogram Player
The following two files contain the 16-bit and 32-bit
version of the Streaming Videogram Player. You should download the 16-bit version if you
are running Windows 3.x and the 32-bit version if you are running Windows 95 or Windows NT
and using the 32-bit version of Netscape. If you are running the 16-bit version of the
Netscape browser on Windows 95, you should download the 16-bit installation file. When
these setup files are run on your system, they will:
- Check to see if you have Netscape installed.
- Install the standalone version of the Streaming Videogram
Player in the following directories: C:\VIDEOGRM on Windows 3.x systems and C:\PROGRAM
FILES\VIDEOGRAM on Windows 95 and Windows NT systems.
- Install the correct MIME types in Netscape and Windows so
that double clicking a VGX, VGP or VGM file in Windows will launch the player and clicking
on a VGX, VGP or VGM link in a web page will also launch the player.
To install the Streaming Videogram Player just download the
appropriate version of the following installation program into a temporary directory such
as C:\TEMP and then run the file from Program Manager (in Windows 3.x) or Explorer (in
Windows 95).
Click on the correct version of the player below. When
asked by your browser about where to save the file, specify C:\TEMP (or any temporary
directory). After the file has been downloaded, choose RUN from the FILE menu in Program
Manager or from the START menu in Windows Explorer and enter C:\TEMP\SETUP16.EXE or
C:\TEMP\SETUP32.EXE depending upon which file you downloaded.
The installation program will guide you through the rest of
the installation.
Streaming Videogram Player (Version 1.16 released
03/24/98):
16-bit version: setup16.exe
(318 KB) 
32-bit version: setup32.exe
(397 KB)
Please report any bugs to vg@alaris.com or call our
technical support line at 510-770-5766. Currently only the Streaming Videogram Player is
available for download. The Netscape Plug-In will be released for download soon.
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Streaming Test Page
After you have downloaded and installed the Streaming
Videogram Player, try streaming some Videograms from our test
page at:
Videogram Streaming Test Page:
"http://www.alaris.com/html/cool_movies.htm"
Please do not re-distribute your copy of the Streaming
Videogram Player. Due to legal reasons and to help us monitor the number of users of the
player, we request that all users download the Streaming Videogram Player from this web
page. Downloading the player from this page will also ensure that you get the latest
version of the player and that the player has not been modified by a third party.
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If You Are A Web Master
Setup a link from your website to download the Streaming
Videogram Player. You are welcome to put a link for users browsing your web site to
download the Streaming Videogram Player. The URL for the installation files are:
16-bit version:
"http://www.alaris.com/vgplayers/setup16.exe"
32-bit version:
"http://www.alaris.com/vgplayers/setup32.exe"
You can also add a link to this web page if the user needs
more information on how to setup and install the player. The URL for this page is:
URL for this page:
"http://www.alaris.com/html/products_videogram.htm
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Setting Up Your Web Site For Streaming
The Streaming Videogram Player can be run as a standalone
application to play back any Videogram on your computer including Videograms with embedded
players but the Streaming Videogram Player's main use is as a Helper Application that is
launched by your browser.
If the player has been properly installed, the user's
browser should be set up to launch the Streaming Videogram Player if a file of MIME type
"video/x-videogram" is attempted to be downloaded.
If the Netscape Plug-In has also been installed, files with
extensions of "VGP" should be set up with a MIME type of
"video/x-videogram-plugin".
Web Masters should set up their web servers to insert the
above MIME types on files with extensions of "VGX", "VGP" and
"VGM" as follows:
type=video/x-videogram ext=vgm,vgx
type=video/x-videogram-plugin ext=vgp
VGX and VGP files are "pointers". They contain
the location of the VGM file to be streamed/downloaded. These pointer files are used to
enable the Streaming Videogram Player to bypass your browser when streaming a Videogram
file. The pointer files also provide a level of indirection so that the VGM files may be
located on a server other than your web server.
VGM files are Videograms that do not contain the embedded
Videogram player. You can open any file with a VGM extension for the Streaming Videogram
Player to play. The location of the VGM file may be on a local drive or at a URL. The URL
should be the complete path (not a relative path, eg. the URL should look like
"http://www.alaris.com/samples/cnet.vgm").
In most cases, the location will be a URL on the same web
server where the page is located. Web Masters expecting a large number of streaming
requests may want to set up a separate server where the Videograms will be stored.
The difference between VGX and VGP files are simply that
one is used to launch the standalone Streaming Videogram Player (VGX) and the other is
used to launch the Netscape Plug-In (VGP).
The Streaming Videogram Player will also play any Videogram
file with a EXE extension (files that include the embedded player). The Streaming
Videogram Player will ignore the embedded player and will open the file for playback using
its own resources and the latest codecs. Since we continue to improve the performance of
the Videogram Player, this is a good way to test whether the latest player has improved
playback performance on the target system.
We do not currently support the streaming of Videograms
with embedded players since this wastes time downloading the embedded Videogram player.
To create the VGX and VGP files, use a text editor to enter
the URL of the VGM file in the first line of the file. The contents of a VGX or VGP file
should look something like:
http://www.alaris.com/samples/id4.vgm
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Netscape Plug-In
To embed a Videogram window in your web page, you will need
to use the following HTML code:
<EMBED SRC=FILENAME.VGP AUTOSTART=TRUE WIDTH=160 HEIGHT=138>
-or-
<EMBED SRC=FILENAME.VGP>
You should substitute your pointer VGP file for
FILENAME.VGP. The AUTOSTART and WIDTH and HEIGHT parameters are optional but if you do
specify the height, it should be 18 pixels taller than the video window to allow room for
the playback controls. The AUTOSTART parameter will cause the Videogram to start playing
immediately when the page is loaded.
If you have the Netscape Plug-In installed, try loading our
Netscape Plug-In test page. |
