Reannouncing rtvPlayer for Windows  

Updated November 2, 2003

rtvPlayer 0.92 is a Windows-based video player for MPEGs extracted from ReplayTV 4000, 4500, 5000, and 5500 recorders. rtvPlayer supports automatic skipping of commercial segments and these
rtvPlayer features:
* Automatic or manual AutoSkip for commercial or content segments
* Overscan elimination (now the tops of your videos won't "dance")
* Aspect Ratio control (clips the black bars on "widescreen" shows)
* A segment bar to show which parts of a show are content vs commercials
* Segment editor to add or delete segments or adjust the times when they begin or end; segment info can be saved for rtvEdit
* Playback looping by selecting a portion of the video from the segment bar
* Adjustable Instant Replay duration (7 to 120 seconds)
* Adjustable Quick Skip duration (15 seconds to 3 minutes)
* Replay-like keyboard navigation for absolute and relative jumping
* A full keyboard interface for all controls

Here's the user interface, minus the video part of the window:
http://inside.drexel.edu/ksb/rtvPlayer/rtvPlayer091.gif

Requirements:
* An MPG and the corresponding NDX (for 4000's and 4500's) or EVT (for 5000's or 5500's) file
* Windows XP, 2000, or 2003 (Windows 9x has not been tested)
* Windows Media Player 7.1 or higher (only tested with 9)
* Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1

The current version is available at http://inside.drexel.edu/ksb/rtvPlayer. I look forward to your comments.

--Ken

Everyone, I've put together a special debug build with a message box as its first executable line. Try it out at http://inside.drexel.edu/ksb/rtvp-debug.zip and let me know what happens.

kjac, I'm working on the 5xxx support. (Can you send me a real EVT file at ken.blackney+rtvplayer@drexel.edu?) The code is currently VB.Net because it was an extremely quick and dirty (I wrote the main guts while over the Atlantic) project. I'll be rewriting it in C# in the next week or two and then releasing the source.

How unpleasant. Oh, well, this is why no one likes testing.

I've created two new test programs at http://inside.drexel.edu/ksb/rtvPlayer They are both Hello, World programs built on my computer. One is built in VB, the other in C#. Try them out and let me know what you get.

I'd prefer to get the feedback via the Ken.Blackney+rtvPlayer@drexel.edu address rather than here. Here I think it just clutters the board and will confuse users who don't want to be part of the test group.

Thanks to everyone who's tried rtvPlayer. It really is a cool little app. The show segment bar (I refuse to call it a status bar because I'm afraid of some of the other forum occupants ;-) makes it clear almost immediately how much commercials interrupt some shows while others are so "clean."

Since I have no idea why rtvPlayer 0.5/6/7 are not working, I've decided to focus on the C# rewrite. First, that will clean up a lot of dangling code that is still there (how can so much unwanted code accumulate in something that's only a week old?). Second, it will remove any embarrasment that I might feel from letting others see my crappy VB code. Third, it will let me release the source to those who want to help.

Expect to see an 0.8 (in C#) on Thursday. (There isn't much to this and I code fast.)

Thanks, everyone. --Ken

Thanks, Julian. I've uploaded all three DLLs found in the bin directory created by VS.NET. I don't know if users will need just the one identified so far, or if one or both or the others will also be needed.

The DLLs are at http://inside.drexel.edu/ksb/rtvPlayer

The C# conversion is coming along. The UI is done and the movie starts. The next steps is to attach the event processing code to the UI elements. I expect to be done with the conversion by Thursday evening.

If one or more of these DLLs are needed, the earlier calls for an installer will have to be dealt with. Oh, well..