Dvpeg 3.0l - dvpeg.doc file --------------------------------- Use: Dvpeg is a DOS based (286 or up) JPEG / GIF / Targa / PPM viewer (limited BMP support) that will run under DOS, Windows, OS\2. Limitations ----------- Viewing of JPEG, some Targa and all PPM images require a 15/16/24 bit video card for speed and image quality. JPEG images can be viewed on 256 color modes but will take longer to decode. Targa and PPM images can be viewed on 256 color modes but they will be in grayscale. If the original image was color the red portion is used to set the brightness. 16 color modes are supported as color or gray. Nothing less (ie monochrome) is supported. Speed ----- For maximum speed set the shrinking to 1:1 You can always shrink the picture after, if the panning is on. For faster JPEGs on 16 color modes turn off the quantizing (default). For speed on 256 or 16 color card use 1 pass quantize, no dithering or grayscale viewing. For faster scans of directories turn off the "4DOS info" and "file info". JPEG Image Quality ------------------ Best quality for 16 & 256 color video mode JPEGs is 2 pass quantizing. The JPEG medium/high quality switch will usually show no difference. But the high quality setting is slightly more accurate and slower. To run dvpeg use: dvpeg \ ie dvpeg ..\gifs\new\*.jpg or dvpeg <@file> ie dvpeg +mask *.jpg [this is the same as dvpeg *.jpg] ie dvpeg +initshow *.jpg <+addslide joey.tga> +slideshow this setups up theslide show, adds all *.jpg files the joey.tga and then runs the slideshow where anything in "<>" is optional For example using: dvpeg +title "*This is it" stars.gif +exit will show the picture file stars.gif with the title 'This is it', pause for a keypress and then exit. The @file is called a response file. DOS is limited to lines of 256 characters. If you wish to have very long files of options then you can put all of the options into a text file and simply give the viewer the name of the file. One option per line of the response file. Options on the command line or response file -------------------------------------------- Each option must start with one of the following characters: ; -> start of a comment line in the response file (line is ignored) + -> turns an option on - -> turns an option off * -> the rest of this arguement is a text string (only used for the title to be displayed or the text line; nothing else Anything else is assumed to be the a filename for viewing For each option you must use at least the first 3 characters. For each of the lines a # symbol means that a number is expected. NOTE: There is a difference between response files and command line options. For example on the command line you need double quotes around character strings while they are not required for response files. ie on the command line: +name "*copyright message here" or the response file: +name *copyright message here All options require a + or - prefix. External Control Options (not available in the viewer) ------------------------------------------------------ config -> the name of the configuration file must follow this clscreen -> setup, clear the text screen and print title notext -> do not return to text screen when exiting DVPEG -> this will leave the picture on the screen in graphics mode name -> with this you can set the name printed in the lower left corner -> if a text string follows it will be used as the string to print -> otherwise the file name is used -> ie -name or +name or +name *This is the file name title -> this allows you to print a title to the top, center of the screen -> if a text string follows it will be used, if there is no string -> then the 4DOS file description is the default controls -> turn pause after decoding picture on/off (on = no pause) -> this is reset to pausing after a slideshow -> pausing means waiting for a keypress usefiles -> don't clear the list of files added to the slideshow list -> this means the slideshow files will be the only ones on the -> file list when it pops up exit -> this will result in an immediate exit from the viewer, it will -> not set the text screen unless the notext option is off! Control Options (changable within the viewer) --------------------------------------------- nolist -> turn off the file selection list, The user then has 3 options; ESC to exit, RTN and N for next picture, P for previous picture. No other options exist. delay # -> the delay between pictures in the slideshow keypress -> wait for an immediate keypress lock # -> This will lock/unlock the viewer into using one video resolution -> for example +lock 480 will lock it into the 640 * 480 mode for -> all pictures, -lock will turn it off -> no number is expected menu -> this will turn the menu on ie where you can select the video -> resolution and change some options like panning beep -> turn the end of picture beep on or off mask -> if + add a file mask to the list (maximum 5 currently) -> if - then clear the list of file masks tree -> turn file tree on/off drives -> turn list of drives on/off long -> toggle file list between short/long fifty -> turn 50 line text mode on/off clgr -> turn clear_graphics_screen_before_draw on/off path -> set the file drive, path used by the viewer ie d:\pics\new -> do not use a \ at the end -> other examples: \\gifs\new ie hop back to the root but keep drive -> or ..\test\pics ie hop back one branch and add to it -> or pics\new ie add to the current dir. path (don't need .\) Slideshow Options ----------------- initshow -> initialize the slideshow and clear the list of files -> this must be called before any slideshow files are put into -> the list addslide -> add a file name to the slideshow slideshow -> start the slideshow of the given file names -> it will exit if the user hits ESC or there is a file error -> on a severe error the viewer may terminate -> the continous slideshow flag is cleared upon exiting the show continous -> if used before slideshow the show will run continously Viewing Options --------------- -shrink -> turn automagic shrinking on/off (shrink to fit video mode by +shrink # -> using 1/1, 1/2, 1/3, .. 1/6 -> if the shrinking is being turned on the it must be followed with -> a number, 0 = automatic, anything else will lock the shrink ratio panning -> turn the panning ability on/off -> this can use a lot of memory and take time -> do not use this when doing a slideshow since the user can not -> (currently) do any panning or adjust any controls JPEG Options ------------ grayscale -> turn grayscale viewing for JPEGs on/off quantize -> turn 2 pass quantizer on/off dithering -> turn JPEG dithering on/off Memory requirements ------------------- GIF viewing typically requires 190,000 bytes. JPEGs take 174,000 + X size * 144 (X size is the width of the picture) If the image is going to be panned then even more memory (EMS, XMS, ..) is required. In the case of 640 * 480 picture in a 15/16 bit mode (ie hi-color) then another 1M of memory is required. If this can not be found the program will use temporary files on the harddrive (slow). Extra memory for panning is simply: X size * Y size * bytes per pixel. Where 16, 256 color is 1 byte/pixel 15/16 bit are 2 bytes/pixel 24 bit is 3 bytes/pixel Memory Problems --------------- If you are running out of far memory then you should reduce the size of the file list (under F7). The default is 500, maximum is 2,000 and it takes about 50 bytes/item. Slideshow memory problems can be caused by using the decode to buffer. This can require a lot of memory and should not be used unless you have plenty. Memory Problems with JPEGs -------------------------- If you are running out of memory then most likely it is the 'low' or below 640k memory. You will have to remove some drivers or other items that are using the lower memory. One way to free up a bit of memory (and speed up viewing) in DVPEG for JPEGs is to: - under F7, reduce the buffer to 4k (default is 16k) - use the 1 pass quantizer or Greyscale - turn off the panning (you can still shrink the image as it shows) Video Problems -------------- 1) Only 256 color, hi-color (15/16 bit) and true-color (24 bit) video cards are supported. 16 color (VGA) is supported as 16 shades of gray only. 2) CGA, Hercules and anything less than 16 colors is not supported 3) If your video card is not supported use a VESA TSR or driver. 4) If you find the vidsetup.exe program hard to use: 4.1) delete the dvpeg.cfg file, if it was created 4.2) run DVPEG 4.3) If you have problems with pictures not showing properly: Run VIDSETUP.exe and hit enter twice, arrow to video modes which your card does not work with; delete them; hit ESC twice and type Y to save the data I am sorry but that is about as easy as it gets 5) If no images appear on the screen then chances are that the at least one of the video modes in the list is not supported by the video card you have. Use vidsetup to test the modes and delete the offending one from the list. Vidsetup.exe does not have a clue which video modes are supported by a certain video card and this is the cause of many problems. To find out about options, hit F1 at any time. Check the read.me file for detailed information about vidsetup.exe, dvpeg.exe, dvpeg286.exe Basically: vidsetup.exe - allows setting of defaults for the viewer (dvpeg) and testing of video modes dvpeg.exe - 386/486 viewer dvpeg286.exe - 286 viewer dvpeg-re.exe - 386 JPEG/GIF (only) viewer with reduced features The JPEG conversion code came from the Independant JPEG Group (more info is in the source code file) and a lot of the video drivers came from the vgakit41.zip. Their code was free so this is as well. Please send any comments / suggestions to praetzel@sunee.uwaterloo.ca P.S. Many thanks to my beta testers and those who shared their knowledge. I would also like to thank Tom Lane and the IJG along with various people who have compiled video information (VGAKIT, VGADOC) that is on most big sites. - Eric (praetzel@sunee.uwaterloo.ca) ****************************************************************************** Any video card with a VESA driver (TSR or built into the BIOS) should work. You can get VESA drivers for many video cards from the mfg. of the card or use a shareware "universal" VESA driver. One such driver is univbe which can be found on oak.oakland.edu or wuarchive.wustl.edu in msdos/graphics as univbe??.zip Not all cards from a Mfg will support all of these modes. In most cases you will need 1 Meg of video ram for the hi resolution modes and some modes (like the hi_color ones) are recent additions and only supported by the most recent cards sold. To test a certain mode on your video card/moniter setup use vidsetup.exe Usually if the mode is not supported the video card locks up and you can't get back to the text screen. The only solution is to reset the computer. Run vidsetup for a complete list of video modes. Note: They are not all tested. Here is a list of some video cards supported: Diamond SpeedStar 24X, Paradise, WD compatable cards ---------------------------------------------------- ** All modes for this card have to be added by hand. The card is not ** automatically detected. All modes for this card should be supported. ============================================================================= S3 based cards -- ** All modes for this card have to be added by hand. The card is not ** automatically detected. There are at least three different 24 bit ** modes being used by versions of video cards with the S3 chips. ============================================================================= AHEAD (A & B chipsets) ----- =============================================================================== ATI --- =============================================================================== CHIPS & TECH ------------ =============================================================================== EVEREX ------ =============================================================================== OAK TECH -------- =============================================================================== GENOA GVGA ---------- =============================================================================== NCR --- =============================================================================== PARADISE -------- 1M card is also supported seperately. These have to be added by hand with vidsetup.exe Do not allow the autodetection program to run (ie hit N to avoid it when you run vidsetup or else your BIOS setting may be destroyed). =============================================================================== TRIDENT ------- =============================================================================== TRIDENT 8900 ------------ =============================================================================== TSENG (Genoa, Orchid, Willow) ----- =============================================================================== TSENG 4000 ---------- =============================================================================== VIDEO7 ------ =============================================================================== VESA ----