Making a small Multimedia CD-ROM in Rev

[Scott Rossi]

Recently, Matt Denton wrote:

> 01 How well does Rev play off CD?  Are there seek issues or is it
> pretty fast loading?  (We will test this early next week)

"Well" is a relative term.  Performance is not specifically a function of
Rev, it's also a function of the complexity of your app the power of the
host system.  A low end graphics card and/or out of date video drivers can
affect performance on Windows.  Overall, I doubt there's any clear cut
answer for your question, but Rev is perfectly capable of loading quickly.


> 02 How compatible is Rev using QTime across the expanding Windows
> family?  Are there abnormalities and playback issues on some PC
> configurations /Windows boxes?

Some people have mentioned a bug with the controller (look in the archives
for this).  Another minor issue is that QT needs to "initialize" or
something the first time it's called, so you might want to run a short blank
movie  at startup to hide any initialization delay.  Other folks may have
more experience with QT performance.

One possible benefit for you is that Rev can play multimedia without QT, by
using whatever multimedia capability is present on the machine.  This is not
100% reliable (some users may have disabled their multimedia functions) and
control options are more limited, but it's a good backup option.


> 03 How well does it cope in small RAM footprints?  Multimedia is a
> glutton, should I be worried with Rev's RAM load on older machines?

At startup, Rev loads entire stacks into RAM.  If you're concerned about
systems with low memory, you might consider dividing your content across
several stacks and loading/purging each stack as needed.


> 04 How well does RevGoURL work across all computers (ie in Mac land, is
> AppleScript the most backward compatible way to launch an URL?)

Can't answer how RevGoURL works, but it should be pretty reliable.  On
pre-OSX systems, the default method for launching a URL was: send myURL to
program "Finder" with "GURLGURL".  Another "last resort" method for both
platforms is to write a simple HTML to the drive and launch it.


> I'm happy and confident with Rev
> when we are not talking about CD-ROM delivery or Multimedia
> functionality on older machines, can anyone help who has experience
> with this?

The only real problem I found in the past (this is also in the archives) is
with auto-starting RedBook audio but unless you're employing this media it's
probably not worth relating.  Suffice it to say, Rev is probably capable of
doing what you want; doing some tests is a good idea.

Regards,

Scott Rossi
Creative Director

Tactile Media, Multimedia & Design
Email: scott at tactilemedia.com
Web: www.tactilemedia.com