Dreamcast 4XM video testing

[Ian Micheal]

thank ya ian.
i might get around to doing another test tomorrow.
i will drop audio to 128kbps 44.1khz and video to 8000 bitrate.
we might figure out the best settings this week?
btw that hd-trailers link requires a login.

so if a 4min 30sec video is around 47mb...
a 20min video should be in the range of 230-250mb.
it might be possible to get a 50min video on one cd-r?
its all trial and error and figuring it out...
but it does seem like the only real limitation will be the amount of time to encode.

Not sure why it does not for me http://www.hd-trailers.net/movie/venom- ... e-carnage/ ?

[SMiTH]

ian i added to the previous post an idea.
let me know what you think?
so it turns out its my damn script block that caused a login nag screen.
its fine now.

this:

which an estimate for encoding a 50min video on its own would be 25 hours.
but 4 instances of 4xm_comp is 6 hours for 4 - 12min 30sec. 4xm videos.
we could add them all to one disk and link each video in a seperate config. (part1, part2, etc.)
this way its not encoding for a full day.

[Ian Micheal]

ian i added to the previous post an idea.
let me know what you think?
so it turns out its my damn script block that caused a login nag screen.
its fine now.

this:

which an estimate for encoding a 50min video on its own would be 25 hours.
but 4 instances of 4xm_comp is 6 hours for 4 - 12min 30sec. 4xm videos.
we could add them all to one disk and link each video in a seperate config. (part1, part2, etc.)
this way its not encoding for a full day.

Sounds like super smart thinking the only thing i have not worked out and should be possible by the docs is loading back to the dreamon menu some config missing..

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4X Movie Ginsu Player
(c) 4X Technologies 2000
------------------------------

it works like playvid!
And you need audio64...

>----<

Make the following setting in the movie CFG file:

LAUNCH
PATH "\"
EXEC "4XmPLAY.BIN <Filename.4xm> <-c"voice channel">"
AUTO
LAUNCH_END

The voice channel is optional.

Add in the relevant Product information, and place an entry in the MENU.CFG as follows.

"GAME TITLE" : MOVIE,"<filename.cfg>","<logo.pvr>",SEGA,AUTO

>----<

Press Start to leave the playing movie.

>----<


Now this looks for audio64 not 4x something 
Never got this to work but it was included in katana r11
for dreamon sample

Included below is not compiled by me but included with katana r11 for testing thing is it dont work ?

Anyways i know it does not load AUDIO4X.DRV but audio64.bin just which one works with it or do we just rename the other to it..

It's a mystery

check hex for what it loads driver file names..

Might need some hacking of this bin i dont know to work it's supposed to work with the dreamon menu

I love the idea but no idea why on dreamon menu when i did that more then one movie only one would load no idea has me stumped.. even copy of the same cfg loading the same movie as the other 2 times i have never got it to work..

[SMiTH]

i know ginxfer.bin is what is used to go back to the main screen in this case its dreamON.
ginreset.bin is what will allow you to use the button combo to go back to dreamcast system menu like you reset the console.
this might not be what you are looking for but this is why some apps that are included in dreamON, ginsu, generator, etc require those bins.
if you look at 4xm_play.bin it has strings for each of these bins including the main 1st_read.
so you might be able to disable this with the source code?
a simple hex edit does nothing.

AUDIO4X.DRV is AUDIO64.DRV i just renamed it on that odds&sods disk because it needed to be renamed for everything to work.
I used the files from odds&sods to make the selfboot script.
if you look in the new selfboot script i renamed audio4x back to audio64

the parameter for <-c"voice channel"> wtf is that?

this is how a movie is loaded in dreamON:

LAUNCH
PATH "\"
EXEC "4XMPLAY.BIN VIDEO.4XM"
GDDA 6
AUTO
LAUNCH_END

but in readme it shows this:

LAUNCH
PATH "\"
EXEC "4XmPLAY.BIN <Filename.4xm> <-c"voice channel">"
AUTO
LAUNCH_END

[Ian Micheal]

i know ginxfer.bin is what is used to go back to the main screen in this case its dreamON.
ginreset.bin is what will allow you to use the button combo to go back to dreamcast system menu like you reset the console.
this might not be what you are looking for but this is why some apps that are included in dreamON, ginsu, generator, etc require those bins.
if you look at 4xm_play.bin it has strings for each of these bins including the main 1st_read.
so you might be able to disable this with the source code?
a simple hex edit does nothing.

AUDIO4X.DRV is AUDIO64.DRV i just renamed it on that odds&sods disk because it needed to be renamed for everything to work.
I used the files from odds&sods to make the selfboot script.
if you look in the new selfboot script i renamed audio4x back to audio64

the parameter for <-c"voice channel"> wtf is that?

Ok that solves that hehe.. Voice you can set many sound tracks on the one video like lang's not got to grips with that but one of the katana sample 4xm just press a button and the lang changes 3 times on the same scene pretty nifty lol

Well you see this bin says you just press start to go back to the menu .. but i have never got this one to do a dam thing..

[SMiTH]

i added more to the last reply again lol sry

GDDA 6 - for movie
GDDA 4 - for a game

i guess i will redo the script again to v3 lol

language settings? that is interesting. how in the hell would you implement that?
load subtitles??
load voice tracks.
damn are we going to go down that rabbit hole next lol?

[Ian Micheal]

You can append videos by use the 4xm sound this big rabbit hole this one

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4Xsound enables you to add or delete a soundtrack in a 4XM file. Thus, you can create 4XM
video files containing several soundtracks. This option is frequently resorted to for the
creation of multilingual productions.
4Xsound is used in command mode.
Syntax :
4Xsound_input file .4XM output file .4XM/switches
input file. .4XM Enter the name and where necessary the path of the original
.4XM file
output file .4XM Enter the name and, where necessary, the path of the .4XM file
resulting from the addition or deletion of soundtracks. The name
must be different from the input file.
Sound file.avi File containing the soundtrack to be added. This file may be in either
AVI or WAV format. e.g. : /I speak.wav
/T track number Number of the audio track (default number : 0). As the 4X format can
contain several audio tracks it is indispensable to number each one so
that the player (4XM_Play) can identify them. By default, track 0 will be
played. Example : /T 3
/C packer.id Gives the sound compression format required for the inserted track.
0 = PCM, 1 = ADPCM. PCM is the default format
/O Automatically overwrites the previous track if the track number selected
belongs to a track that already exists in the 4XM input file.
/R track number Deletes the track indicated. Example : /R 2 will delete track 2 in the
4XM input file.
/A Replaces the output 4XM file selected if it already exists.

Can even do subtiles it really is kinda like dvd lol

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Speed (frames/sec) Specify the number of images per second in your video
recording. This parameter is only used when reading the 4XM file
in order to fix the running speed for the images.
NB : 4XM_Comp does not set a time scale.
If you have used a video recording running at 25 images/second
and you enter 15 in the « Speed » box, 4XM_Comp will
compress all the images contained in the input video, but will
play the compressed file at a speed of 15 frames/sec, producing
a slow-motion effect.
Data Rate Defines the throughput in bytes per second. The default value for
this parameter is 800 000 i.e. 780 Kb per second corresponding
to a CDX8 drive. You should count about 100 Kb per second for
a single-speed drive. This calculation takes into account both
images and sound. If there is no sound it is for the images alone.
Crop This option allows you to cut the video sequence to desired
dimensions. Do not enter anything in this box unless you wish to
change the size of the video sequence that is to be compressed.
Crop Width Width in number of pixels of the window to be compressed
Crop Height Height in number of pixels of the window to be compressed
Crop Left X coordinates in pixels of the window to compress, starting from
the left-hand side of the image
Crop Top Y coordinates, in pixels, from the top of the image, of the window
to compress.
Resize This option allows enlargement or reduction of the size of the
video to be compressed. Enter nothing here unless you wish to
modify the size of the video that is to be compressed. The Crop
and Resize functions may be used simultaneously. The Crop
function will then be performed first and afterwards the rest of the
video will be reduced or enlarged to the dimensions specified by
the Resize function.
This function uses bilinear filtering algorithms which may
substantially increase compression times.
Resize Width New width - in pixels - of the video to be compressed.
Resize Height New height - in pixels - of the video to be compressed

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Video Input : Enter the name of the video input file to be compressed.
Audio Input : Enter the name of the audio file to be compressed. The audio file
may be included in the original video file. In this case, enter the
same name in each field.
Movie Output : Enter the name and path of the compressed file to be created
(4XM)
Restart Output : Default option : any file having the same name will be deleted
and replaced by the new file.
Continue Option : Allows resumption of compression after an interruption. In this
case, you must enter the name of the 4XM file created during the
first phase of compression.
Append Output : Allows you to add the compression to be performed to an
existing 4XM file. Enter the name of the 4XM file to which you
intend to add a new sequence. This sequence is then necessarily
added after the existing file.

Would be nice to find on some katana HD dump

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Contact 4X Technologies to get the full 4X Movie cross-platform
package

I have sdk that has the src to it and other docs but it claims there is more to it if you contact them course that's a pipe dream but i know if back in the day i was a sega dev i would of lol..

Not only can you use 4xm for video but animation textures in a game alone in the dark uses them all in the gameplay ..

[SMiTH]

imo we should stick with figuring out the best settings for 4xm on a cd-r for dc hardware.
then howto split everything on the disk (full dvd movie or w/e), manage encoding time..
once we have that, then figure out howto use other things that 4xm offers i.e extra language tracks or w/e
in the end maybe a 4xm_play bin that will load on its own without dreamON.
if we get all of that then we have covered everything.
it is still madness though lol.

so does alone in the dark have a 4xmplay.bin or is it within the 1st_read?

[Ian Micheal]

imo we should stick with figuring out the best settings for 4xm on a cd-r for dc hardware.
then howto split everything on the disk (full dvd movie or w/e), manage encoding time..
once we have that, then figure out howto use other things that 4xm offers i.e extra language tracks or w/e
in the end maybe a 4xm_play bin that will load on its own without dreamON.
if we get all of that then we have covered everything.
it is still madness though lol.

I agree it's madness but kinda fun when you see it plays nothing looks like it on dreamcast Yeah just posted it for easy looking..

Great to see a Hardware accelerated pvr and audio dma thing from katana that was used about a nats or bee's ass..

In the src i can see it uses darkness layer and audio64 uses dma transfer work around that come out with katana r11

Going to work on auto boot version the src and how to use it is not that hard..

But even compiled as standalone i cant get it to boot that way yet lol

[SMiTH]

is it a lba or binhack issue or is it the compiled binary is borked?
in the source you might want to reference the name of the 4xm to load because it will not load a 4xm file on its own. (at least from what we know about the 4xmplay from dreamon..)
maybe do a generic name like video.4xm
idk i'm just throwing out some ideas here.
if you were able to reference the file name in the binary then we could simply put a 4xmplay.bin in seperate folders and rename 4xmplay bin to something else then have a video.4xm in that folder etc.
this way seperate videos could be used in a cfg file or w/e