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mitchell_pgh · Jun 5, 2003, 12:33 PM

I know, I know... I should learn how to program and do it myself, but I thought I would ask some programers and see how easy/difficult this would be.

There is a program called SimpleVideoOut (source available from Apple on the developer Web site http://developer.apple.com/samplecod...leVideoOut.htm )

The program basically plays quicktime video through a firewire device (Camcorder, etc. etc.) to your TV. I use it to watch iMovie clips that I have.

MY QUESTIONS

1) How difficult would it be to make a nice UI for this application.
My Guess: Not Very Hard

2) How difficult would it be to implement BASIC (non-video capture) freevo like MOVIE ONLY capabilities ( http://freevo.sourceforge.net/ ). I'm talking about being able to browse a video folder on my hard drive and selecting one (using the keyboard or something...)
My Guess: Rather Complex

3) How difficult would it be to implement BASIC iTunes capabilities (after step 2 is achieved)
My Guess: Somewhat Complex

4) How difficult would it be to implement BASIC iPhoto capabilities (after step 2 is achieved)
My Guess: Somewhat Complex

I think the hardest part is done, but I am NOT a programmer, so that is something that I can say... :-)

Thanks in advance...

iOliverC · Jun 5, 2003, 02:18 PM

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
IMY QUESTIONS

1) How difficult would it be to make a nice UI for this application.
My Answer: Simple, just follow the Aqua guidelines and it should look great.

2) How difficult would it be to implement BASIC (non-video capture) freevo like MOVIE ONLY capabilities ( http://freevo.sourceforge.net/ ). I'm talking about being able to browse a video folder on my hard drive and selecting one (using the keyboard or something...)
My Answer: Opening files? That should be (guessing) pretty simple, easy as opening html files etc.

3) How difficult would it be to implement BASIC iTunes capabilities (after step 2 is achieved)
My Answer: Depends, do you mean music playback? Equalizer? But, if you need basic music playback, Apple also has source for a mp3 player.

4) How difficult would it be to implement BASIC iPhoto capabilities (after step 2 is achieved)
My Answer: See question 3.

Hope these answers help...
Oliver

mitchell_pgh · Jun 5, 2003, 03:08 PM

Interesting... wonder why nobody runs with this kind of a thing... Firwire to DV converters are becomeing more and more common...

I would LOVE to see something like freevo for OS X... This looks like half the puzzle... If we could only get DivX capabilities... we would be golden... Sell a box for around $50 with a firewire to RCA/S-Video connector...

Uncle Skeleton · Jun 5, 2003, 05:40 PM

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/17029

ambush · Jun 5, 2003, 08:37 PM

Originally posted by iOliverC:
Hope these answers help...
Oliver

I'm actually pretty sure it's move complex than that, Oliver.

mitchell_pgh · Jun 5, 2003, 09:27 PM

Originally posted by Uncle Skeleton:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/17029

This IS simple video out... they have added a TINY bit of code and are trying to make money off of it...

I have been hunting around and now it looks like Apple has given us almost EVERYTHING for a application that I'm talking about (I'm not dumb enough to think that it would only take a few hours to do this, but it's almost all here...)

Hack TV carbon is the encoding application that will record incoming video over Firewire...

SimleVideoOut is the app to send it out...

Chuckit · Jun 5, 2003, 10:20 PM

So basically what you're thinking is a general multimedia player that can output to a DV device?

Diggory Laycock · Jun 6, 2003, 04:00 AM

I have a Formac Studio.

Vidi does the capture part well - and I use Simple Video Out to output the DV to my TV.

I was thinking about writing something like this - but Quicktime scared me. Lots of Classic-style stuff with GWorlds.

One of these days I'm going to take the plunge and get into the QT docs.

all it really needs to do is catalogue a folder of DV and preview/ output it.

I'd love to see this app. (as freeware!)

mitchell_pgh · Jun 6, 2003, 08:33 AM

Originally posted by Chuckit:
So basically what you're thinking is a general multimedia player that can output to a DV device?

Yes/No...

What I would like to see is something JUST LIKE FREEVO... OK, there, I said it :-) I have come to realize that Tivo is expensive (I'm tired of monthly fees)... I also don't want another "box" under my TV... I'm also tired of having redundant systems (DVD Player, DVD Player in Computer, Music collection, music collection on computer...) I would also like something that is a little more "connected" (could alert me when something is happening...)

My "that would be nice" idea would be:
- Something that would encode/decode stuff to and from my TV (where I could theme the user interface)
- Record shows in a high quality MPEG4 (file size not too big, image quality not too low)

My OH MY GOODNESS!!! This is a must have application!!! would be:
- Something that would encode/decode stuff to and from my TV (where I could theme the user interface)
- Record shows in a high quality MPEG4 (file size not too big, image quality not too low)
- Have predetermined recording abilities like Tivo/Freevo (AKA Record Every Simpsons @ 6:00 Monday - Friday)
- Play iTunes playlists through my TV (and stereo)
- Show iPhoto galleries through my TV (and stereo)
- Play DVDs through my TV
- Play CDs through my TV
- Remote control capabilities

I'm basically looking for a nice TV front end to all of the cool things we already have on the Mac.

And like Diggory Laycock said... it needs to be free...

Diggory Laycock · Jun 6, 2003, 08:54 AM

The trouble with MPEG-4 is that you can't display it on a standard TV - you'd need specialised ADC hardware to convert it to analogue for the TV.

This is what the formac studio does - but it has a hardware DV codec.

theoretically you could get your computer to transcode the MPEG-4 to DV live - but thats not possible with today's horsepower. (I don't think)

So basically you have to keep the video in DV.

The good news is that big storage is so cheap now - I hear you can get a 60Gig HD for �80.

Uncle Skeleton · Jun 6, 2003, 10:56 AM

Originally posted by Diggory Laycock:
theoretically you could get your computer to transcode the MPEG-4 to DV live - but thats not possible with today's horsepower. (I don't think)
[/B]

isn't this what the movieOut app does? I can't really test it much because even the Apple sample code doesn't work well with my Dazzle hardware (it works once per machine restart)

Diggory Laycock · Jun 6, 2003, 01:17 PM

no - I don't think so - I think it just sends the file out to the converter.

Uncle Skeleton · Jun 6, 2003, 01:28 PM

but this app supports all quicktime formats. No converter supports anything but DV, does it?

Diggory Laycock · Jun 6, 2003, 01:48 PM

Originally posted by Uncle Skeleton:
but this app supports all quicktime formats. No converter supports anything but DV, does it?

hmm - now you've made me unsure - unfortunately my formac is off having its firmware updated so I cant check either.

Does anyone else want to test this?