FOAK: Autorun commands and stuff

I have two MPEG films that I send out to customers on two CDs. One
shows laser cutting and the other laser engraving. They autorun when
placed in the CD drive.

I'd prefer to send out one CD with both films and a menu allowing the
customer to chose which movie to watch.

a] how do I do this?

b] can someone do it for me?

c] yes I'll pay if you invoice me.

 

Would be very nice if you made a couple of web pages, like a mini
web site, that popped up when you put the CD in the drive.

There would be a nice looking intro page, with some links down to
more info about the company, contact details and so on. Then you'd
have the links to the two movies on the disk.

You should be able to get the page to autorun just by pointing the
batch at the html page instead of the film. Just make sure all your
links are suitably named and you'll be fine.

I'll post you an invoice for the consultancy.

 

for a start, what format are the movies in - i.e. are you making an
assumption that your customers will have a particular piece of
software on their PCs?

To get started, the CD should have a file called autorun.inf in the
root directory - you use this to specify what will happen when the CD
is inserted (or when the user double-clicks the CD's icon in Windows
Explorer).

The contents of this file should look like:

[AutoRun]
open=whatever.exe
icon=whatever.ico

where whatever.exe is the name of the program you want to launch on
autorun - if you're going to build a webpage with links to your movies
as Ant suggested, this would read iexplore.exe. The icon line isn't
necessary - you only need it if you want a custom icon for the
appearance of the inserted CD in WinExp.

You'll also need your html file - call it index.html for convention's
sake. So, the 2nd line of your autorun.inf file should read:

open=iexplore.exe index.html

if you want to run IE in kiosk mode, put a space and then -k after the
html.

 

I doubt Cane's customers fall into the same sad geek category as you,
though.

I very much doubt that'll work.

 

Don't bother with launching IE, just put the filename there instead
and windows will launch it using the default browser:

open=index.html

Saves a load of hassle for the nerds without IE, etc.

 

Ulead have a trial download DVD maker with Menu Options

 

What is it with those people? They're already using "windoze", so if they
think "M$" is evil or buggy, they're kind of pre-fucked

 

If you made a DVD, people could put it in a DVD player or a PC (unless their
PC's total shit)

 

Brilliant. I'll try what you and Ant have suggested.

 

Has it occurred to you that people use other web browsers because they
prefer the functionality they offer, rather than just because the hate
all thing MS?

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2
`\|/`
`

 

does that work then?

I'm sure it didn't use to.

But then, it's been a very long time since I was involved in CD-ROM
production.

 

I'm struggling to find a compelling piece of functionality that Firefox has
and IE doesn't, TBH - you type stuff in, websites appear, etc...

 

try Ant's open=index.html first, because it'll work cross-browser, if
it works, IYSWIM.

 

if you want to go the DVD route, I have a full copy of ULead
MovieFactory (albeit not the latest version).

 

actually, that's a much better suggestion - it's probably actually
easier to do for a more professional result.

Depends on what format his existing videos are in, mind - if they're
Flash or something...

 

I'd very much like copy please

 

Most of the packages I've used for making DVDs - even iDVD - are pretty good
at converting between formats, but yes, Flash would take the piss rather.
Paradoxically, that's probably the best format for a CD/HTML mashup,
though - Flash is probably available on more computers (PCs and Macs) than
any single video codec, and in the rare instances when it isn't, it's a
doddle to download and install.

 

I use Firefox at work, because I use a super-secret proxy that isn't
monitored by our mailmarshalls / molested bit fucking Finjan
Surfingate (even the name makes me gag). I use IE for the internal
apps that I can't access when using the super secret proxy

 

Did somebody specify firefox? TBH I'd prefer to continue using
Netscape, except it's been removed from our work machines, for one
simple reason - if you Cut from an HTML table and Paste it into e.g.
Excel it's possible for it to dump the entire contents into a single
column, which makes for much simpler data manipulation. Sure, there
are other more 'clever' ways of doing this, but with IE you don't get
this choice.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2
`\|/`
`

 

it's a pity for you that I don't tend to get involved in pirating
software, then, isn't it ;-)