Making my mpeg autorun

jimingo wrote on 4/6/2005, 8:28 PM

I made a mpeg-1 file with vegas. The client wants this on a cd-rom and wants it to autorun. My mpeg-1 file is caled DesignCenter.mpg
I made a text doc. called autorun and wrote
"open=DesignCenter.mpeg" I made a cd-rom with the text doc and the mpeg both in the root directory but the cd doesn't autorun.
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks
-Jim

Comments

BillyBoy wrote on 4/6/2005, 8:35 PM

Since its a Windows feature, lets go to the horse's mouth:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/shellcc/platform/shell/programmersguide/shell_basics/shell_basics_extending/autorun/autoplay_intro.asp

Here's another less technical page

http://www.phdcc.com/shellrun/autorun.htm

Remember there are two similar things auto play and auto run. Easy to mix them up.

jimingo wrote on 4/6/2005, 8:44 PM

Thanks
It seems I'm missing my startup app. I thought it would just play using windows media player or whatever player is set to open mpegs on that computer.

johnmeyer wrote on 4/6/2005, 8:58 PM

I haven't done this for awhile, but I still have the files from CDs that I created that would automatically launch a picture viewer. You put a file in the root directory of your CD called AUTORUN.INF. You then edit this in Notepad and add something like this:

[autorun]
OPEN=start.bat

Change the "start.bat" to whatever program you actually want to run. Burn a CD-RW so you can verify that it works before you waste a CD.

This worked perfectly with Win98 and WinME. I assume it still works in WinXP.

Chanimal wrote on 4/6/2005, 9:11 PM

I use Autorun Assistant by TyphoonSoftware.com

It is $24.95 for personal and $39.95 for professional and it sets everything up for you automatically. You can have a splash screen, music, menus, pick your default viewers, launch programs in succession (depending on what is on the machine) or do a simple autoplay your video file with whatever viewer is the default.

It is cheap, I've used it for corporate videos for GE and it is very easy to use.

Worth checking out (plus has a trial version--but it only works on the machine that created it).

jimingo wrote on 4/6/2005, 9:11 PM

I found a program with one of billyboy's links called Mac Image. It automatically creates the files to make your cd-rom autorun on both mac and windows machines. I'm gonna try it out...I didn't know you could get a cd-rom to auto run on a mac.

jlafferty wrote on 4/6/2005, 10:17 PM

What a small world...

I just asked this question on another forum -- apprently you can only autorun a CD on Macs pre-OSX. For the details, here's the response I got on the other forum:

To autorun on a PC --

Pretty easy to do. In the root directory, place three files.

autorun.bat, autorun.inf, and index.html.

To create autorun.bat, open up notepad and type this in:
Code:

@echo Loading Super Cool Awesome CD
@start index.html
@cls
@exit

Save as autorun.bat.

For autorun.inf, open up notepad and type this in:
Code:

[autorun] open=autorun.bat

Autorun on Macs --

http://www.macdisk.com/cdstarten.php3

"Please note that Apple silently dropped the autorun feature under Mac OS X, and that there is no hope to see such a feature again on the Macintosh platform."

- jim

rs170a wrote on 4/7/2005, 2:18 AM

On the root of the CD, put:

autorun.inf
mplayer2.exe
DesignCenter.mpg

mplayer2.exe is the basic Windows MediaPlayer (version 6.4) and it's only 5K in size.
Even XP still has it. This way, there's no worries.

The autorun file reads as follows:

[autorun]
open=mplayer2.exe /fullscreen /play /close \DesignCenter.mpg

Proper spacing here is critical. Create this in Notepad and save it as AUTORUN.INF
When you're saving, make sure to select "All Files" in the "Save as type" drop down box. HTH.

Mike