Version 2.61 (DOS)


DOS based Multimedia viewer
No Windows is required!


For the German documentation please read QV.DOK.

QuickView is Shareware. This means that you can test it for at most three weeks. After that period you must register, i.e. pay a small registration fee or discontinue using it. See REGISTER.DOC for details.


Features of QuickView:

QuickView views the following file formats at present:

Video formats:

.AVI, .DIV:
.MOV, .QT:
.MP4:

Supported video codecs for AVI, DIV, MOV, QT and MP4:

8BPSQuickTime Planar RGB (Grayscale, 8, 24, 32 bit)
AASCAutodesk Animator-Codec
AASCAutodesk Animator-Codec
AP41Angel Potion 4 definitive version 1
ASV1ASUS Codec V1
ASV2ASUS Codec V2
AVDJMotion JPEG
AVRNMotion JPEG
BLZ0Warcraft3 movie
CDVCDV Codec
CJPGMotion JPEG
CRAMMS Video 1 (8, 16 bit)
cvidCinepak (8, 24 bit)
CJPG
CLJR
COL1
cyuvCreative Video Blaster
DIB 4, 8, 16, 24, 32 bit
div3DivX ;-) Low Motion
div4DivX ;-) Fast Motion
divxDivX 4
dmb1Rainbow Runner
dx50DivX 5
DXGM
DVC DV Codec
DVCPDV Codec
DVCSDV Codec
DVSDDV Codec
FMP4FFmpeg MPEG-4 Codec
H263H.263
H264H.264
HFYUHuffman Lossless Codec YUV and RGB formats
I420
I263Intel H.263
IV31Indeo(tm) 3
IV32Indeo(tm) 3
IV50Indeo(tm) 5
IYUV
jpegMotion JPEG
KMVCKarl Morton's Video Codec
M263Microsoft H.263
MJPAQuickTime Motion JPEG A
MJPGMotion JPEG
MP42Microsoft MPEG-4 Version 2
MP43Microsoft MPEG-4 Version 3
MP4VMPEG-4 Video
MPG4Microsoft MPEG-4 Version 1
msvcMS Video 1 (8, 16 bit)
QPEGQPEG V1.0 und 1.1
raw QuickTime None (4, 8, 24, 32 bit)
rle QuickTime Animation (1, 4, 8, 16, 24 bit)
RLE8MS RLE
RT21Indeo(tm) 2
rpzaQuickTime Video (HiColor Playback only)
smc QuickTime Graphics
SVQ1Sorenson v1
TSCCTechSmith Camtasia Screen Capture-Codec
ULTIUltimotion (OS/2 AVIs)
UYVY
V422
VCR1ATI VCR1 Codec
VIDM
VIXLMiro VideoXL
VYUY
WHAMMS Video 1 (8, 16 bit)
WMV1Windows Media Video V7
WMV2Windows Media Video V8
WMV3VC-1 Main Profile
WRLEQuickTime BMP (4, 8, 24 bit)
WVC1VC-1 Advanced Profile
X263Xirlink H.263 Video Codec
XVID
Y41P
YV12
YUV2QuickTime Component
YUY2
YVU9
ZMBVDosBox Capture Codec

Supported audio codecs for .AVI and .DIV:
  • A-law
  • AAC
  • Audio MPEG incl. MP3
  • Creative Labs ADPCM
  • DivX Audio
  • GSM 6.10
  • IMA ADPCM
  • MS ADPCM
  • PCM
  • u-law

    Supported audio codecs for .MOV, .QT and .MP4:
  • A-law
  • AAC
  • IMA ADPCM
  • GSM 6.10
  • MP3
  • raw
  • twos
  • u-law

    .DL: Versions 1,2 and partly 3

    .CEL (Original Animator CEL Files),
    .FLC,
    .FLI

    .GIF animations

    .MPG, .M1V, .MPE, .MPV and .DAT: MPEG 1 video files.
    DAT files are files from the VideoCD that are usually named AVSEQ01.DAT and so on.

    VideoCDs and CD-i (partly) are supported using the -VCD command.

    Picture formats:

    .BMP:
    uncompressed: 1, 4, 8, 16 and 24 color bits
    RLE compressed: 4 and 8 color bits
    including OS/2 bitmaps
    furthermore all kindred formats:
    .RLE, .DIB, .BGA, .VGA, .RLE, .RL4, .RL8

    .GIF:1-8 color bits, GIF 87a and GIF 89a extensions

    .JPG,
    .JIF,
    .JPE:Baseline and Progressive JPEG, with grayscale, YCrCb or RGB color space.

    .PCX:1-4, 8 and 24 color bits

    .TGA:
    uncompressed: 8, 15, 16 and 24 color bits, black & white
    RLE compressed: 8, 15, 16 and 24 color bits, black & white


    Sound formats:

    .MP1,
    .MP2,
    .MP3: Audio MPEG 1.0/2.0/2.5, Layer 1,2 and 3
    .VOC:
    .WAV: Supported audio codecs are:
  • A-law
  • Audio MPEG incl. MP3
  • Creative Labs ADPCM
  • DivX Audio
  • GSM 6.10
  • IMA ADPCM
  • MS ADPCM
  • PCM
  • u-law

    .OGG: Ogg Vorbis Audio


    System Requirements:

    QuickView Pro is a 32 bit protected mode program and therefore needs at least a 80386 processor and a VGA card. It will run under DOS 3.0 or better, or in a DOS shell under Windows 95/98/ME and OS/2. The DOS support of Windows XP or later however is restricted so that QuickView will only run with limitations. Most ISA sound cards are supported as well as some PCI sound cards. You should take care that you have a VESA 2.0 compliant graphics card or driver as it has a high influence on the video playback performance. Videos are scaled to full screen either by software or by hardware if one of the supported graphics chips is present. These are most chips from the following companies: 3Dfx Interactive, Inc., ATI (3D Rage, Rage 128, Radeon), Matrox, Neomagic Corporation, nVidia Corporation (TNT, GeForce), S3 Inc., Trident Microsystems. For a complete list look here.


    Installation:

    Simply place all files of the package in the same directory. That's it! QuickView will automatically detect your machine, memory and graphics card. Since there is no installation necessary, the uninstall can be done easily by deleting all files.
    For sound support with a Sound Blaster or compatible you must have the Environment variable BLASTER set containing port address, IRQ and DMA channel or the appropriate ULTRASND variable for the Gravis UltraSound. A Windows Sound System card is autodetected. There are external drivers for PCI sound cards that you can download from http://www.multimediaware.com/qv/snddrv/.


    Command Line Format:

    The command line format to run QuickView is:

    QV [options] [filename]

    filename can be a file that QuickView views or a name that contains the wildcards * and ?.
    Example: QV -A -Q2 VIDEO.AVI

    Options:
    An Option can start with a "-" or a "/". This documentation uses "-". All parameters are case-insensitive.

    -M Select 25 lines menu mode. QuickView uses 50 line menu mode by default. For 25 lines you can use the -M option.

    -V Don't use VESA. QuickView autodetects many graphics cards and uses VESA by default. The -V option tells QuickView to not use the VESA interface if installed, but if you want to use HiColor or TrueColor modes the VESA interface must be used. If your graphics card does not support VESA you can use a VESA TSR like Scitech Display Doctor (see below).

    -B Don't autodetect video chipset. This also disables the detection of video chips that are supported with hardware acceleration.

    -Rx Select screen resolution:
    x=1: 320x200
    x=2: 640x480
    x=3: 800x600
    x=4: 1024x768
    If a mode is not possible auto select will be used.
    default: auto select.

    -Wa,b,c,d,e Set sound card parameters
    a: card type:
    a=0: no sound card
    a=1: Sound Blaster or compatible and ESS
    a=2: Gravis UltraSound Classic or Max
    a=3: Windows Sound System
    a=4: enforce Sound Blaster Pro use
    a=5: encorce Sound Blaster 2.0 use
    (You can also just use -W4 and -W5 as option. The other parameters will be taken from the BLASTER environment variable.)
    a=6: PC speaker sound. Note that the quality is low and that it doesn't work under Windows
    b: port address, hexadecimal
    c: IRQ
    d: DMA (for the Sound Blaster 16 or higher: Low DMA channel)
    e: high DMA channel (only for the Sound Blaster 16 or higher)
    Example: "-W1,220,5,1" for Sound Blaster, Port 220h, IRQ 5, DMA 1
    For no sound card, use -W0

    Use the -W parameter only if really necessary, for example if the program crashes when it tries to autodetect a sound card. Please note that your system might crash if you use wrong parameters.

    -WE$filename Use external sound driver, example: -WE$D:\QV\VIA.SDR

    -Ox Set audio volume (x between 0 and 15).

    -@x Playlist file where x is a file name. Example: qv -@playlist.txt
    MP3 playlists (M3U files) can also be played: qv -@playlist.m3u
    A playlist file is a plain text file that contains file names with parameters that QuickView shall play one after another. The meaning of the parameters for each file in the playlist file is the same as described under Command Line Format. The playlist file must be a plain text file that you can write with any editor. It must not be a Word file or anything similar. Command line parameters that you give qv.exe at start are valid for the whole playlist file.
    Example: qv -R2 -@listfile.txt will use the 640x480 resolution with all pictures and videos in the playlist file. Parameters in a playlist file line are locally and only valid for the specified video, picture or sound file. You can make one loop if you write the following in a separate line:
    :l
    It stands for label and defines the position where QuickView shall return when it finds a
    :g
    This stands for goto label.
    Here is an example of a playlist file: -R2 -T100 picture.jpg
    :l
    -N -K0 video1.mpg
    -N -K0 video2.mpg
    :g
    It will display picture.jpg with 640x480 resolution for one second. Then it will play video1.mpg and video2.mpg without scaling in a never ending loop while picture.jpg is still visible in the background (if it wasn't overwritten by a video). Note: You can leave this loop only with ALT+X.
    The non-registered version allows to view at most 10 files with the playlist feature.

    -A No sound with videos.

    -P Preload and decompress AVI sound in advance. This will give better performance with slower systems, especially if the sound is compressed. However, you have to wait some time until the video begins to play. Preloading the sound will work only if you have sufficient memory of course. Thus, you won't be able to preload the sound of a whole movie since this would require memory in the gigabyte range. You won't get any sound in this case.

    -D Don't drop frames if behind with AVIs and MPEGs. The sound will automatically be disabled with this option.

    -4 Don't use 320x240 mode. QuickView will use the 320x240 mode with all color depths by default if the video or picture is larger than 320x200. The 320x240 video mode with 256 colors is available on every VGA card, however with HiColor and TrueColor only if they are supported by the VESA BIOS. 320x240 is a non-standard VGA mode and may cause problems. Turn off 320x240 support in this case.

    -Qx Video quality:
    x=0: TrueColor
    x=1: HiColor
    x=2: 256 colors
    x=3: Grayscale
    For details see under video options below. The default is HiColor if it was not changed in the config file. Note that not all video codecs offer TrueColor or HiColor quality.

    -Kx Type of video scaling:
    x=0: No scaling
    x=1: 2x scaling
    x=2: Software full screen scaling
    x=3: High quality scaling with DivX and H.264 codecs and MPEG-1 files, otherwise normal software full screen scaling
    x=4: Hardware full screen scaling. This is available with certain graphics chips only. If hardware scaling is not supported with your hardware, then software scaling will be used.

    Default: Full screen hardware scaling if available, otherwise software full screen. Note that software full screen requires some CPU power. If you get frame drops, select no scaling with -K0

    -UAx Select audio stream of AVI videos. x=0 is the default stream.

    -UB Use banked video memory access instead of linear frame buffer. Use this option if QuickView crashes while video playback or when showing pictures. Some VESA BIOSes (for example certain SiS chips) are buggy.

    -UCx Select character set for subtitles. x=0: Western, x=1: Eastern, x=2: Cyrillic (Win-1251), x=3: Cyrillic (KOI-8R)

    -UD Disable MTRR register programming

    -UF Don't show pictures full screen.

    -UG Use different volume programming for Sound Blaster compatible sound chips

    -UH Don't use the hlt command if the system is idle. Using hlt helps to save power (important for Notebooks) and keep the CPU temperature low.

    -UI Don't check in advance if the sound with AVI playback will be decoded just in time but assume that there will be no sound buffer underruns.

    -UJ Use index to sync AVI video and audio during playback.

    -UK Use the BIOS to query the keyboard instead of direct programming. This way e.g. infrared remote controls can be used.

    -UM List only supported files in the menu.

    -UO Use speaker output instead of lineout with external sound driver.

    -UPx Sound parameters (not supported by all sound chips):
              -UPB8 Enforce 8 bit sound
              -UPB16 Enforce 16 bit sound
              -UPC1 Enforce mono sound
              -UPC2 Enforce stereo sound
              -UPFx Enforce sound sampling frequency x Hertz, example: -UPF22050
              -UPH Enforce half sampling frequency

    -UR Keep aspect ratio when showing pictures and videos full screen.

    -US Don't synchronize video playback with the vertical retrace of the monitor. If you use this option you might get tearing artefacts. However, synchronizing takes some time. If you're getting framed rops you should try to use this option.

    -SUBx Select subtitle file for AVI. Example: -SUBd:\videos\film.sub
    Supported subtitle files are: SRT (SubRip), SSA (Sub Station Alpha), SUB (MicroDVD), SUB (SubViewer), TXT

    -VCDx Start VideoCD playback. x is the track number. If you don't give a track number, track 2 will be assumed for VideoCDs and 1 for CD-i.

    -VCDSx Same as -VCDx but the second CD drive will be used.

    -MMX Don't use MMX enhancements for video playback.

    -RND Shuffle Play. Play the files given with wildcard in a random order (at most 10 in the non-registered version). Example: QV -RND *.MP3

    -LOW Lower quality for slow computers. It is equivalent to -UPB8 -UPC1 -UPH -US -K0 . Moreover, it limits the colors to HiColor.

    The following parameters are only available with the registered full versions, i.e. neither with the shareware version nor in the registered light version:

    -C Don't switch to text mode after playing.

    -N Don't set video mode. This can be used together with -C, -J, -X and -Y to display graphics around the video for example. You should take care that the color depth of the video mode that is set when you start QuickView is equal to the one that would be selected for the video or picture.

    -Fx Start AVI/MPEG at frame x or MP3 at time x (in 1/16 seconds). Example: -F137

    -Gx End AVI/MPEG at frame x or MP3 at time x (in 1/16 seconds).

    -FPx Similar to the -Fx option, however means the x percentage of the total length here.

    -Lx Loop video and MP3 x times respectively, 0 means until key pressed, default for AVI/MOV/MP4/MPEG/MP3 is 1, default for CEL/FLI/FLC/DL is 0, default for GIF is the loop counter in the GIF.

    -Sx Set playback speed of AVI, CEL, DL, FLC, FLI and MPEG files. x is the time between two frames in microseconds.example: -s100000 gives 10 frames per second. The sound of videos will automatically be disabled with this option.

    -Tx Wait x/100 seconds after playing, 0 means wait for keypress.

    -Jx,y Size of the video or picture window, x is the horizontal size and y the vertical size. You can also use this option to correct the aspect ratio of a video, e.g. 4:3 instead of 16:9. Example: -J300,200

    -Xx Position video or picture window at horizontal position x (must be a multiple of 4).

    -Yx Position video or picture window at vertical position x.

    -Zx Mouse and keyboard playback control. Each bit of x triggers a certain mouse or keyboard event:
    bit 0: Mouse move stops
    bit 1: Left mouse button press stops
    bit 2: Right mouse button press stops
    bit 3: Middle mouse button press stops (not supported with all mouse drivers)
    bit 4: Every key press stops
    bit 5: Ignore keyboard while playback (not evaluated if bit 4 is set)
    bit 6: Do not read keyboard at all while playback
    Example: stop video when mouse is moved or the left mouse button is pressed would be -Z3

    -CAx,y Address of a callback routine. The callback routine will be called periodically during playback so that programmers can call QuickView as external program and get full control over the playback.
    x=R: Real mode address, then y in the form segment:offset
    y=P: Protected mode address, then y is the linear address.
    Further details upon request.



    The Menu:

    QuickView always shows you all the files in the current directory, along with all the visible subdirectory names. The arrow keys will move the file selector bar around. CTRL+right or left move the file selector to the next or previous supported file respectively.

    By pressing a character the file selector bar jumps to the first file starting with that character. Use lower case for files, upper case for directories. A mouse is not supported.

    To view a file or change a directory just hit Enter. If you try to view a file QuickView does not handle nothing will happen. If you have tagged some files QuickView will view these files without going to the menu in between. Hit Enter or Tab if you want to view the next file and Backspace for the previous one. Esc breaks and returns to the menu.

    More keys during file selection:

    ALT+D: Change drive. A drive selection box will appear, prompting you for the drive letter you want to log onto. QuickView will attempt to change to the desired drive. If an error occurs, QuickView will remain logged onto the current drive.

    F1 :Help.

    F2 :Display information about the system.

    F3 or ALT+I:Get information on the currently selected file.

    F4 :Software Information.

    ALT+O:Change options of QuickView. For details see below.

    + - :Increase or decrease resolution respectively. The currently selected resolution is highlighted. "Automatic" automatically selects the lowest resolution which will display the whole picture if possible.

    Space: Tag/untag the current file.

    ALT+T: Tag all files in the current directory.

    ALT+U: Untag all files.

    ALT+S: Shuffle Play. All files in the current directory are played in a random order. If you've already tagged files, only these files will will be played in a random order.

    ALT+L: Load subtitle file that will be played together with the next AVI video.

    ALT+M: Toggle between listing of all files and supported files only.

    ALT+R: Reread the directory

    Del : Delete file.

    ALT+X: Exit QuickView.


    Options in the Menu:

    Press the red characters to toggle the state of the option. You can also use the up/down arrow keys and the Space bar. If you press "C" a configuration file is created or updated. You are given the option to save the command line parameters in the config file so that you don't have to enter them with every start. Command line options override the config file. Note that changing the use of VESA is only effective if you leave QuickView and start it again.

    Include 1280x1024 mode: Some monitors (mainly older ones) don't support the 1280x1024 screen mode. If you tell QuickView to support this mode your monitor might be damaged. Please consult your monitor handbook.

    Use 320x240 mode instead of 320x200 if appropriate: For more details look at the -4 command line option.

    Display images full screen:
    Note that 2 color pictures will not be scaled.

    Keep video/picture ratio with scaling:
    Use the video/picture ratio instead of the 4:3 ratio of the monitor.

    Video options:
    Sound support: Play the sound of the videos?

    Preload Sound: Look at -P command line option.

    Never drop frames: If you use this option, no frames will be dropped if the system is not fast enough. This option automatically disables sound.

    Loop:Use this if you want an AVI, MOV, MP4, MPEG or MP3 file to start again after playing.

    Sync with monitor: Tearing artefacts can be avoided if frames are only updated when the monitor is in VSync. Note that you might get less frames per seconds if the option is enabled.

    Video quality: These options depend on the codec used:
  • Grayscale: Usually the fastest playback mode.
  • 8 color bits: 256 colors.
  • HiColor: 32768 or 65536 colors depending on the graphics card's features.
  • TrueColor: Will give the best quality with more than 16 million colors.
    Note: QuickView will use at most the amount of colors that the codec uses.

    Video Scale:Type of video scaling. Available options are:
  • No scaling
  • 2x zoom: The video will be played twice as big. Note that 2x Zoom might require a higher screen resolution so that the video doesn't appear bigger.
  • Software full screen: The video will be played full screen using software scaling. This is CPU very CPU intensive. On slower systems use one of the previous options.
  • HiQ software full screen: High quality scaling with DivX and H.264 codecs and MPEG-1 files, otherwise normal software full screen scaling.
  • Hardware full screen: The graphics chip's hardware scaling and color space conversion facilities will be used to play the video full screen.


    Commands While Viewing:

    For all file types:
  • Esc: Stop viewing.
  • Enter or Tab: View next file.
  • Backspace: View previous file.
  • + -: increase and decrease the sound volume respectively.
  • ALT+X: Leave QuickView immediately.

    For pictures:
  • Arrow keys: Scroll picture if it is larger than the screen.
  • Ctrl+Arrow keys: Scroll fast.
  • Home, End: Scroll to left or right border respectively.
  • PGup, PGdown: Scroll to upper or lower border respectively.
  • +, - : Increase or decrease resolution respectively.

    For all video files (AVI, CEL, DL, FLI, FLC, animated GIFs, MOV, MP4, MPEG)
  • Space: Pause Viewing, space again: next frame, any other key: continue.
  • T: Time display.
  • S: Save a snapshot of the current frame into the QV.EXE directory
    If hardware acceleration active and supported by the graphics chip:
  • B: Increase brightness
  • b: Decrease brightness
  • C: Increase contrast
  • c: Decrease contrast

    For the video files AVI, CEL, DL, FLI and FLC:
  • arrow key up, down: play faster and slower respectively. Please note that you must disable the sound of the AVI to be able to change the playback speed. This can be done either with the command line option -A or in the options by unchecking "sound".

    For AVI, MPEG and MP3 files:
  • Arrow-key left, right: forward, rewind respectively.
  • Ctrl+Arrow-key left, right: fast forward, rewind respectively.
  • Keys 0, 1, .., 9: Jump to 0%, 10%, ..., 90% of the total length.
  • Ctrl+F1, CTRL+F2, ..., Ctrl+F12: Set bookmark. The bookmark file QV.BKM is written or updated respectively.
  • F1, F2, ..., F12: Go to bookmark.

    For all audio files and video files with sound
  • L: Toggle between stereo, left and right audio channel

    For AVI with subtitles:
  • G: Toggle between black and transparent background


    Questions & Answers:

  • I only see a black or garbled screen with video playback.
    Maybe the hardware video acceleration does not work (yet) for your graphics chip. Please use software scaling instead and notify the author.

  • Sound problems like:
  • The sound doesn't work at all.
  • The sound card isn't detected.
  • Videos stop after the first frame.
  • Sound parts are repeated over and over again.
  • The sound quality is poor.
    Most of the time the reason for these problems are incorrect sound card settings in the BLASTER environment variable. There must be a command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT like this:
    SET BLASTER=Axxx Ix Dx Hx Pxxx Tx
    with
    A: Sound Blaster base I/O-port,
    I: IRQ,
    D: DMA low channel,
    H: DMA high channel (only required for SB16 or higher),
    P: MIDI port (not evaluated),
    T: Sound Blaster Type (not evaluated)

    Usual values are: A220, I5 or I7, D1, H5.
    If I5 does not work for you, try I7 and vice versa.

    For the original Sound Blaster there is a program called "DIAGNOSE.EXE" which programs the sound card configuration according to the values in the BLASTER variable. Use "DIAGNOSE /S" in your "AUTOEXEC.BAT".

    Under http://www.multimediaware.com/qv/sbdetect.zip there is a program that low level detects the Sound Blaster settings.

    For the Gravis UltraSound there must be the environment variable "ULTRASND".

    If your sound card is not detected properly, you can set the sound card parameter directly using the -W parameter.

    If the system info (F2 in the menu) says that a sound card was detected but you can't hear it with any file then check the volume. You can increase the volume with "+" while playback.

    If you don't get sound with videos but with MP3, WAV and VOC files then check if you enabled "Never drop frames". This will automatically disable sound. If you don't get sound with some AVI, MOV or MP4 files only this might be because they are using an unsupported audio codec. Check what audio codec the video uses by pressing File Info (F3). If you either get the message "unsupported" or "unknown" then this audio codec is currently unsupported. Other possible reasons are insufficient memory or a truncated file.

    If your sound chip cannot be made Sound Blaster compatible you can use an external sound driver. For the current status of the supported sound chips look at: http://www.multimediaware.com/qv/snddrv/

    Some sound cards like the ESS1868F do not work in a DOS session under Windows but only under pure DOS.

  • The video is played jerky.
  • The sound is played with interruptions.
  • Video and sound of AVI files are not in sync.
    If the video itself wasn't captured with a low frame rate, this usually indicates that your system is too slow. QuickView will not show all frames of the video so that the sound can be played without interruptions. But this can also fail if your system is far too slow.

    In order to improve the video playback with slow systems you should use the -LOW parameter. It will lower the sound quality (-UPB8 -UPC1 -UPH), choose no scaling (-K0), disable synchronization with the vertical retrace (-US) and limit the number of colors to HiColor. If this is not sufficient you can select 256 colors or grayscale using the -Q parameter. Also, try copying the file to your hard disk instead of playing it from CD.

    If there are problems with the playback of certain AVI videos, then try the -UI Option.

    If you encounter audio/video sync problems with AVI videos then try the -UJ option.

  • Why is the video quality bad with some videos?
    This might be because you don't have a TrueColor or HiColor card or you don't have a VESA driver in your system. In the latter case you should use the VESA TSR for your graphics card or Scitech Display Doctor, available on many FTP-servers, BBSs, from Shareware distributors or on my WWW page. The VESA driver must conform at least to version 1.2 of the VESA standard. Versions prior to 1.2 of the VESA standard did not define TrueColor and HiColor modes.

  • I get memory error messages with some files. What can I do?
    Select a lower number of colors, e.g. HiColor instead of TrueColor. Turn off sound.

  • I can't forward and rewind AVIs.
    Either the AVI has no index or a bad index, or it does not have keyframes, or there is not enough memory.

  • The text screen is messed up after hardware scaling was used.
    Scaling doesn't work properly with your graphics card. Choose a different scaling type than hardware full screen.

  • I get some lines on the graphics screen with my ATI Mach graphics card under Windows 95/98.
    Try M64VBE with parameter S

  • I get a black or garbled screen when I start QuickView.
    Try starting the program with the parameter -B.

  • I don't have a sound card and I'd like to hear the sound through the PC speaker.
    Use the -W6 parameter.

  • I like the 25 lines menu more. How can I select this mode permanently?
    Press ALT+O in the menu. Then you can select 25 lines with "5" and write a config file with "C".

  • What do I have to do to make QuickView run under Windows NT or XP?
    The software will only run with limitations under Windows NT or XP. You must open a DOS full screen session. Some video drivers have bugs with the VESA support. If you only see color garbage or a black screen (because the monitor doesn't synchronize any more) then use a fixed screen resolution that works either by using the -Rx parameter or by choosing the resolution in the menu with the "+" key. Example: QV -R2 will use 640x480 as screen resolution which works with many graphics chips. Sound however is still a problem under Windows XP and NT. You can try VDMSound, a soundcard emulator for MS Windows NT/2000 DOS boxes.

  • What do I have to do to make QuickView run under OS/2?
    You have to set the following definitions for the DOS session:
    INT_DURING_IO: ON
    IDLE_SENSIVITY: 100
    HW_TIMER: ON
    VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION: OFF
    AUDIO_ADAPTER_SHARING: REQUIRED
    DPMI_DAS_API: ENABLED

    Make sure the BLASTER or ULTRASND environment variable is set properly. The OS/2 Sound Blaster drivers seem to have a DMA handling problem in a DOS session which sometimes causes a lockup with sound output. Try to get an updated sound card driver. If that doesn't help, please either turn off sound or run the program under plain DOS. Also, some OS/2 sound drivers don't handle 16 bit sound properly. If you only hear a strange noise use the -w4 parameter to enable Sound Blaster Pro compatibility.

  • How do I use QuickView's AVI, MOV and Audio MPEG support with Arachne (DOS WWW browser)?
    You should use the APM package of QuickView that is available under http://www.multimediaware.com/qv/qv.apm The MIME types will be configured automatically.

  • What is a codec?
    Video and audio sequences are compressed and decompressed by routines called codecs (short for compressor/decompressor). A codec is responsible for compressing raw video or audio data into a format suitable for distribution. When you play the compressed video or audio sequence, the codecs integrated in QuickView perform a reverse role, converting the compressed data into images or sound that can be played on your system.

  • I have problems with VideoCD and CD-i playback
    Not all CD drives allow proper raw reading of CDs which is necessary for VideoCD and CD-i playback. This especially applies to Windows. For playback of VideoCDs under Windows access the videos as normal files that are usually named AVSEQ01.DAT, AVSEQ02.DAT and so on.

    On the other hand, most DOS CD drivers do not support reading of these files under DOS. The directory is visible but the files itself cannot be accessed. Use the -VCD command under DOS to play a VideoCD or CD-i.

    Some CD drives spin down the motor too fast after reading. When new data is required they take a few seconds until they are active again. This results in playback pauses. If your CD driver allows to increase the spin down time you should try this.

    More questions and answers can be found on http://www.multimediaware.com/qv/qvfaq.html


    How to get the latest version of QuickView:

    The file name of the package is always qvproxxx.zip where xxx is the version number. Note that some BBSs use a different archiver than ZIP.

  • Internet WWW: The QuickView Pro Homepage: http://www.multimediaware.com/qv/

  • Internet FTP: Official FTP distribution site: ftp://ftp.multimediaware.com/qv

  • You'll get the latest version when registering.


    How to contact the author:

    Please report all bugs and suggestions for improvements or enhancements. If you report any problems please give a detailed description of the problem, together with a list of the hardware you use and what QuickView version you use. Feel free to contact me under http://www.multimediaware.com/qv/contact

    Contact me if you are interested in video playback with your application. There are external AVI, MOV, MP4, MPEG or FLI/FLC players and libraries for various programming languages.

    This program is Shareware. You may test this unregistered version for at most three weeks but after that you must register. You are encouraged to share it with others. If you do so, please pass along the complete unmodified archive. All files must be included.

    ATTENTION: A registration is required for any commercial use.


    Legal stuff:

    This program is copyrighted 1994-2016 by Wolfgang Hesseler, all rights reserved.
    This Software is provided "AS IS". The author makes no warranty of any kind either expressed or implied. In particular the author makes no warranty as to merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose or a particular hardware configuration. Furthermore the author is not responsible for any damages of any kind, including profit losses and data loss or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of your use or inability to use the program. The person using the software bears all risk as to the quality and performance of the software.

    All files belonging to QuickView contain proprietary information which are protected by copyright. This Agreement is governed by the laws of Germany, the State of California and the United States, including patent and copyright laws.

    License agreement for Shareware distributors:
    Shareware distributors may distribute this program if no files of the package are left out or modified.

    The information about some codecs is from XAnim. Thanks to Mark Podlipec.
    Thanks to Edd SonicSound for providing sound processing algorithms.
    Cinepak is a trademark of Radius.
    Indeo and the Indeo Logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the USA and other countries.
    QPEG is a registered trademark of Q-Team Dr. Knabe GmbH, www.q-team.de
    This product uses Ultimotion(tm) IBM video technology. Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 1994, All rights reserved.
    The GSM 6.10 support is based on code from the Communications and Operating Systems Research Group at the Technische Universitaet Berlin; Copyright 1992, 1993, 1994 by Jutta Degener and Carsten Bormann.
    The MPEG Audio Code is based in part on MPG123; Copyright (c) 1995-98 by Michael Hipp, all rights reserved.
    The Graphics Interchange Format(c) is the Copyright property of CompuServe Incorporated. GIF(sm) is a Service Mark property of CompuServe Incorporated.
    TARGA is a registered trademark of Truevision, Inc.
    This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.
    This product includes software developed by DivX DivXNetworks, Inc. DivX is a trademark of DivXNetworks, Inc, www.divx.com
    This product uses parts of FFmpeg, Copyright (c) Fabrice Bellard. FFmpeg is available under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License Source code of FFmpeg can be downloaded from http://ffmpeg.org or is available upon request. The FFmpeg files were used without modification in this product.
    QuickTime is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
    Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
    All other product names mentioned in this software are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
    The video overlay code is based in part on the WarpOverlay! Project Copyright (C) 2002-2005 Valery Gaynullin. All Rights Reserved.
    The Ogg Vorbis code is Copyright (c) 2002, Xiph.org Foundation. This software is provided by the copyright holders and contributors "as is" and any express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed. In no event shall the foundation or contributors be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, or consequential damages (including, but not limited to, procurement of substitute goods or services; loss of use, data, or profits; or business interruption) however caused and on any theory of liability, whether in contract, strict liability, or tort (including negligence or otherwise) arising in any way out of the use of this software, even if advised of the possibility of such damage.

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    Last updated on 23 December 2017 webmaster@multimediaware.com