Using Windows Media in Director

Director MX 2004 for Windows introduces the ability to leverage the Windows Media framework for playing back various media types. Primarily, this allows developers to use WMV and WMA files in Director projects. WMV is an acronym for Windows Media Video, while WMA is an acronym for Windows Media Audio.

Director relies on the DirectShow component of Microsoft DirectX for using the Windows Media feature. To learn more about DirectX, see Microsoft's DirectX home page.

Note: Director does not export Windows Media, nor is it a video or sound editor.

• Known issues
• System requirements
• Scripting with Windows Media
• File formats and codecs

Director developers logged into Microsoft Windows XP and 2000 as restricted users will not be able to view Windows Media Files. For more details see Windows Media Files will not play if user has restricted access (TechNote 19280).

In order to successfully use Windows Media files with Director, developers will need to check the following list for developer and end user system requirements.

• Windows Media Asset Xtra is required for playback of media using the Windows Media Player feature.
• Windows Media system framework (Microsoft DirectX version 8.1 or higher)
• Codec required by the media file. This may require having Microsoft Windows Media Player installed, or downloading and installing of special codecs on the end-user system.
• Windows 98, 2000, and XP only. This feature is not supported for Macintosh authoring or playback.
• Shockwave playback of Windows Media requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 or later, or Netscape 6.1 or later.

Use the property environmentPropList to check the installed version of DirectX. For example:

Unlike other Director video media types, Windows Media members do not use movieRate to control the playing of video. Use play() instead. For example:

The Help documentation is not correct on this keyword. The correct method is: play(starttime, endtime). For example, the script below will loop the playback of the video, playing from the 3 second point to the 9 second point:

This pauses the playback of the video sprite. The video is not reset, so the video will resume from where it was paused when a play command is issued. For example:

This method stops the playback of the video sprite and sets the video to the beginning (currentTime = 0). For example:

The rewind function sets the currentTime of the video to 0, but does not stop playback of the video. There is currently no Fast-Forward functionality. For example:

The Help documentation is not correct in describing this property. This property is read-only currently and will always return a rate of 1 (and never 0 for paused or stopped). Other video member types in Director use the movieRate command, but this will not work for Windows Media members. For example:

This property can be read and set. The currentTime property is measured in milliseconds. For example:

or

This is a member property and is read-only. It will return the total time of the media member in milliseconds. For example:

This is a read-only property and will return a symbol telling the status or state of the media member. Please see Director Help for more information on this property and the values it returns. For example:

This property can be read and set, though it currently has no effect on Windows Media sprites - they will always play Direct To Stage (directToStage = TRUE).

Please see the Director Scripting Reference in Director Help for information about using these keywords for Windows Media:

• audio
• loop
• pausedAtStart
• video
• volume
• height
• width

Generally, most media types that Windows Media Player can play will also play in Director through the Windows Media feature, though this does not guarantee a given file or media type will play inside Director. If a file uses a special codec, that codec must be installed on the end-user machine in order for Director to play it using the Windows Media framework.

Here are some file types that can work in Director using the Windows Media feature:

• WMV & WMA
• MPEG-1, MPEG-2
• AVI
• ASF
• DivX
• WAV, AIFF, MP3, MIDI

VOB: Developers should use the DVD video feature in Director MX 2004 for playback of DVD VOB files in Director. When playing DVD video outside the DVD drive or the Root drive (C:/video_ts); developers must set the dvdRef.folder property to a specific "VIDEO_TS" folder. The VIDEO_TS folder must contain all the required file types. These files types are usually: .VOB, .IFO and .BUP .

SWF and CDA (CD audio): These file types are not supported file types for playback through the Windows Media feature. SWF files are already supported as native Director file types through the Flash Asset Xtra.