Windows User's Guide to the 

****GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer (tm)****

Revision 1.0
 August 28, 1994

Presented by Entertainment Drive (tm), a division of The Musicom Corporation, in association with
Digital Video Productions and Visual FX Software.

Welcome! This document provides information on using the GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer for Windows. 
Experience has shown that while the concepts are familiar to Macintosh users, they are new for
Windows users. Currently, installing QuickTime for Windows takes more than 15 steps and hours of
time and frustration. 


Entertainment Drive proudly presents a new and easy to use (and install) movie viewer! Many thanks
to Jeffrey King, Tim Hitchings and Terry Woodward for their help in bringing you this breakthrough
program.

We're proud that the file EVIEW.EXE is the now the only one you need to watch QuickTime movies.
To watch great QuickTime movies, visit the Entertainment Drive Forum's Library 16, Multimedia, and a
few other Libraries (check the News Flash for details).

Comments, corrections, questions, or improvements are always welcome. For more information about
the GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer, write to Tim Hitchings at CompuServe address 73637,66 in the
Entertainment Drive Forum. For questions relating to QuickTime, write to Bob Currier, Mac Multimedia
QT Manager, at CompuServe address 73210,1403 in the Entertainment Drive Forum.

--Michael Bolanos, President & Executive Producer, Entertainment Drive

GO EDRIVE MOVIE VIEWER: Questions & Solutions

* What is the GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer?
 
 The GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer is software which allows you to watch video clips from movies and TV
shows on your personal computer. Without needing special video hardware, you'll join thousands who
have a first exclusive look at the entertainment of tomorrow. 

* How do I install GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer on my PC?
 
 Follow the directions below. It's not hard (that's the whole idea), but please follow it carefully to avoid
frustration. (For those of you who downloaded the QTW files this new installation is a "GodSend")
 
 Here are the files needed to run video highlights and where they are located on CompuServe:
 
 A)  EVIEW.EXE This file is a self extracting file, which
 includes this readme.txt file. Its in EDRIVEs Library 16, Multimedia, and in Library 5, Utilities.
 
 B)  UNSITI.EXE This file is a self-extracting file.  This file converts movie files from .SIT (stuffed, kinda
like .zipped) to .MOV (unstuffed, like unzipped) files, watchable by GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer. Its in
EDRIVEs Library 5, Utilities.
 
 INSTALLATION Instructions
 
 1)    Download EVIEW.EXE and UNSITI.EXE. After downloading these files copy them to a diskette
for safe keeping.
 
 2)    Create a directory called temp and copy EVIEW.EXE to this directory.
 
 3)    Double-click on EVIEW.EXE. It will self extract into that directory (you will not have to unzip it).
In File Manager, go to the Window scroll down menu and Refresh the directory. Then double-click on
SETUP.EXE. When done, you should have a new program group in Program Manager. 
 
 4)    The program creates a GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer icon group in Program Manager. Run the GO
EDRIVE Movie Viewer program by double-clicking it's icon. Make sure to read the Shareware text file.
You will find a sample movie. Try that and be sure it plays before trying other movies.
 
 SPECIAL NOTES about .SIT (compressed) FILES:

QuickTime movies that originate on the Mac are often compressed. There are a number of
compression programs used on the Mac, but the most common is StuffIt. Files compressed with
StuffIt can be recognized by the extension .SIT. Fortunately, there is a program which can "un-stuff"
these files, even though they originated on the Mac. To use a .SIT file on your PC you will need to
download a copy of UNSITI.EXE, which can be found in the Entertaiment Drive forum, Library 16,
Multimedia. Then:

1)      In File Manager, create a directory called movies. Copy UNSITI.EXE into this directory. 
Double-click on this file.  It will extract two files. Then go to the File menu and select Associate. Type
SIT in the box that says Files with Extension. Type UNSTUFF.EXE in the box that says Associate
With. 

2)      If you download movie files from EDRIVE which have the extension .SIT, simply double-click on
the names in File Manager and they will be changed into
.MOV files, which can be viewed with GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer.

3)       Keep all the movie files in the "Movie" directory.

4)       If you have problems locating any of these files; then choose Library from the WINCIM menus
and Search for the file by its name.
 
 
 * Is the GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer related to Video for Windows?
 
 The GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer plays flattened QuickTime movies. QuickTime is software designed
and licensed by Apple Computers, Inc. to play video clips. Just as you need a word processing
program to write a letter, you need QuickTime to watch a movie. Once you have the viewer, you can
download and play any flattened QuickTime file. If you have an Apple System using System 7,
QuickTime is already installed. Mac users can GO MACMEDIA with questions about QuickTime for
Macs.

In response to Apple's introduction of QuickTime, Microsoft developed a similar product called "Video
for Windows." VFW needs more hardware "horsepower" to get decent video performance. On anything
less than a top-of-the line PC, Video for Windows will appear pretty slow. If you don't want to spend
more money on hardware, the GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer is the better solution.

Entertainment Drive has selected flattened QuickTime movies over VFW for several reasons: 1) The
quality is high even with less than state-of-the-art equipment; 2) Both Windows and Mac users can
play these files (otherwise there would have to be two sets of files for each clip); 3) QuickTime 2.0
(which is coming for Windows users this Winter) has some outstanding improvements and the GO
EDRIVE Movie Viewer will easily be upgradable to the new format; and 4) The file sizes are smaller,
thereby saving you time and money when downloading. Bell Atlantic selected QuickTime for their new
"Video on Demand" project, and EDRIVE has too.

 Video for Windows files typically have the extension .AVI, while QuickTime movies have the
extension .MOV when under Windows. (If the QuickTime movie has the extension .SIT, its
compressed. See instructions below)
 
 * What do I need to use the GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer ?

You need a reasonably fast PC running Microsoft Windows 3.1 or later (Windows for Workgroups
greatly enhances file opening and viewing times). By "reasonably fast" we mean a 33 Mhz '386 or
faster. Slower PCs will play the movies, but the images will be jerky and you may lose sound sync
(i.e., it will look like a badly dubbed movie).  You will want 256-color mode for good-looking playback.
High color (15-bit) mode will be better still. Standard VGA (16-color) mode is watchable, but not great.
You can look at movies in monochrome mode, but they are intended for color. You can improve
playback performance greatly if you have a Windows-accelerator VGA card. (Which is a really good,
inexpensive upgrade anyway!) To hear the sound you will need a sound card installed in your PC. 
SoundBlaster and any of the compatibles work fine. Basically, if you have a PC which is MPC
compliant, you are all set in the hardware department.
 
 * Where can I get a copy of GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer for Windows?
 
 On CompuServe, you can get a copy of the GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer by using the "go" word
EDRIVE and downloading EVIEW.EXE from Library 16 (Multimedia). If you have never visited
Entertainment Drive before, you will need to JOIN the forum when prompted to do so. The GO EDRIVE
Movie Viewer is shareware, so if you like the program please register the program.
 

* Where can I get more QuickTime movies?
 
 On CompuServe you can find GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer movies by using the GO word EDRIVE and
looking in Library 16 (Multimedia). If you go to Library, then Browse, and look for the keywords "GO
EDRIVE Movie Viewer" or "movie" you will find lots of files.

* Will all GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer movies from the Mac play on my PC?
 
 No, unfortunately not all QuickTime movies are PC compatible. In order to run on both the Mac and
PC the movie must be "flattened," which is a fancy word for "made portable."  Not all producers of
QuickTime movies do this, although they are certainly encouraged to do so. Typically a "flattened"
movie will be noted as such in the description of the file.

* QuickTime movies are really big! Why?
 
 Video takes a lot of data! The GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer greatly compresses the data, but it still
adds up. For a relatively small movie it is not unusual to need a megabyte of data for a 15 second
movie. There is not much more than can be done, although the compression algorithms continue to
be improved.  Because QuickTime movies are already compressed, further compressing them with
compression programs (like Stuffit) save only a small amount of storage, typically no more than 5-8%.
Were working with software developers and Apple to further reduce the file sizes for your convenience.
 

 * What about movies with a .BIN extension?
 
 These are typically uncompressed files. Download the program to your PC and from File Manager
Rename it to have a .MOV extension. Try playing it.

If it won't play, it may have what is known as a MacBinary header on the file. You can use
UNMACA.COM, which can be found in GO GRAPHSUPPORT, Library 14 (Misc Utilities and Code),
to remove the MacBinary header.  If the movie still won't play, it may not be a "flattened" movie, which
means that it is not compatible with the PC.
 
 * I downloaded a movie that was not compressed, but it still won't play. What do I do?
 
 See the previous answer. The file may have a MacBinary header or not be flattened.
 
 * How can I view the movies under DOS?
 
 You can't. GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer (and Video for Windows) are strictly Windows applications and
are not compatible with DOS.
 
 * The movie is real small, and if I make it bigger it looks really bad. Why?
 
 Because of the large amounts of data involved with displaying video, there is a limitation on the size
image that can be displayed. Typical movies are often only 160 x 120 pixels. Larger movies can be
created, but will only run on the fastest systems. To have movies play on the widest range of
hardware possible, most people opt to create their movies at the smaller size. 
 If you expand the window that the movie is playing in, the GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer simply
duplicates pixels, making the movie very "blocky." It also increases the amount of data that must be
transferred to the screen, which slows it down.
 
 * I play a movie and it's really jerky. What can I do?
 
 It may mean that the original movie was created with a very low frame rate, meaning that there is
nothing you can do. It may also mean that your PC is simply not up to the task of displaying movies.
If you have a relatively slow PC, or a slow VGA card, here will be a limit to the performance you can
expect. In my experience, getting a faster VGA card (with "Windows  acceleration") makes the
biggest difference. After that, get a faster CPU.  All multimedia puts a tremendous strain on your
system. If you want good performance, you will need to have an up-to-date, fast system.
 
 * When I play a movie the images are really speckled and don't look very good. Why?
 
 GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer is best viewed in either high-color (32,768 color) or super-VGA (256 color)
mode. In 16-color mode the display will be very speckled. Even in 256-color mode there will be some
distortion of the image. To get the full benefit of the data contained in GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer
movies, you will need to have your VGA card in high-color mode.
 
 * The movie is too dark. What can I do?
 
 Since most QuickTime movies are created on Macs, they are adjusted for the Mac's display
characteristics. Because the Mac handles monitor "gamma" differently than the PC, some movies
may appear too dark or too contrasty when displayed on a PC. You will need to adjust your monitor's
brightness and contrast controls to compensate for this.
 
 * Where can I get more information or ask more questions?
 
 A good place to go is EDRIVE on CompuServe. Post a message to Tim Hitchings at CompuServe
address 73637,66, with your question about the GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer, or to Bob Currier at
CompuServe address 73210,1403 with your question about QuickTime and they will usually answer it
quickly. Don't be afraid to ask questions as that is how we all get things done!

This document was prepared by Lorenzo Lewis, Director of MIS, EDRIVE, with special thanks to Bob
Currier, QuickTime Manager for the Macintosh Multimedia Forum on CompuServe.
 
 The GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer is copyright (c) 1994 by Visual FX Software. All rights reserved.
Entertainment Drive, GO EDRIVE and EDRIVE are registered trademarks of The Musicom
Corporation. QuickTime and the QuickTime files are registered trademarks and copyrights of Apple
Computers Inc. CompuServe is a trademark of the CompuServe Information Service.


The following files are installed as part of the GO EDRIVE Movie Viewer Setup program:

installed to your designated directory

edrive.mov      - QuickTime Movie
 eviewer.exe     - Movie Viewer   
 readme.txt      - this file                     
 order.txt               - Shareware Order Information

created in Windows directory

eviewer.ini     - Movie Viewer ini
 eviewset.exe    - setup program

installed to Windows System directory

ver.dll         - setup program support
 setupkit.dll    - setup program support
 qtmovie.vbx     - QuickTime Movie control
 vbctl3d.vbx     - Beekes/Simms 3d Control
 ss3d.vbx                - Sheridan Software 3d control
 vbrun300.dll    - Microsoft Visual Basic Runtime

installed to your designated directory

qcmc.qtc        - QuickTime Support
 qtcvid.qtc      - QuickTime Support
 qtim.dll                - QuickTime Support
 qtimcmgr.dll    - QuickTime Support
 qtjpeg.qtc      - QuickTime Support
 qtnotify.exe    - QuickTime Support
 qtraw.qtc       - QuickTime Support
 qtrle.qtc       - QuickTime Support
 qtrpza.qtc      - QuickTime Support
 qtrt21.qtc      - QuickTime Support
 qtsmc.qtc       - QuickTime Support
 qtvhdw.dll      - QuickTime Support

NOT INSTALLED

setup.exe       - setup support                         
 setup.lst       - setup support