Unusual Media Player Request

CClub wrote on 12/26/2007, 7:49 PM
I have a problem that I'm hoping someone can help me with: one of my sons has autism, loves movies, but he's broken 100's of tapes over the years and I've had it with recopying them. So I've been working to come up with a better arrangement. I rendered them all digital (each one purchased several times over!) and they're on a hard drive.

I've been trying to figure out a system where he can easily control them in a media player. He likes to start a movie, and in certain spots throughout each movie, he rewinds/fast forwards frequently. He can use a mouse to open a movie file, but he doesn't grasp the concept of moving the cursor around on the timeline to move to different parts of the movie. I purchased a Contour Design Shuttlepro Xpress to assign keyboard shortcuts to it (CTRL + Shift + B for rewind, CTRL + Shift + F I think for FF), or I found you can also use the Left/Right arrow keys. But when I open MS Media Player, these keyboard commands only work AFTER I click the mouse on the Media Player timeline. This is a second step he just can't grasp.

I need to be able to do this: 1) open the movie with a dbl-click. That's the easy part. 2) Without ANY additional steps, I need keyboard shortcuts that will Rewind or Fast Forward.

Also, I use Shuttlepro with Vegas, but with Media Player, the jog control knob moves the movie forward about 3-4 minutes at a time. In the same way, when you press the Left//Right Arrows, the timeline moves at least a minute or so. I was hoping to be able to move 5-10 seconds at a time. Anyone have a better idea of how to get better control from either MS or other media player via keyboard shortcuts or Shuttlepro?

Comments

daryl wrote on 12/26/2007, 9:01 PM
Man, I understand you completely. My wife has a masters degree in special education so I hear a lot about special needs. Years ago I did a lot of programming for multi-media and I think I could have helped, but it's been too long. I just took a look at my Nero 8 software, you can "page up" and "page down" to jump a few seconds ahead or back, would something like that work?
jrazz wrote on 12/26/2007, 9:31 PM
I don't know what is reasonable in this area, but I used to work really closely with the Division of Mental Retardation Services for the State of Tennessee and I could shoot an email to a lady who works there that oversees the Physical Therapy, Speech, Language, Pathology, and Occupational Therapy providers and see if she has any suggestions or devices that might do what you need.

Send me an email if you are interested in this route. Again, I do not know what is reasonable for you price-wise but if this is something you would like to look into let me know and I would be glad to help.

On another note, you might want to contact your states equivalent (if you already are not receiving services for him) and see what they have to offer.

j razz
CClub wrote on 12/27/2007, 3:40 AM
Darryl & Jrazz,
Thanks for the input. Jrazz, I'll send you an email. Re: state services, I actually work as a social worker for my state with people with disabilities, and have many contacts, etc. within the system. I don't want to make this posting about any of my difficulties in life -- I'm certain that we all could do a documentary on the twists and turns life has thrown our way -- I just figured someone has used a player and/or device that works easily with keyboard shortcuts. Often I find there are unusual adaptive devices for people with special needs but they are very person specific.

I'm surprised that you can't move around easily in any media player with something like a Shuttlepro 2 or Xpress. When I move around in Vegas with the Shuttlepro, I can jump frame by frame if I want to. I could even handle the jumping of several minutes when I jog the Xpress. The main thing that's an obstacle for me is that second step of linking the Xpress to the player: If I can just open Media Player and right then, without clicking the player timeline, the Xpress is able to run the player. I guess I'll just have to mess around with the Windows special commands options.

Thanks much, James
Soniclight wrote on 12/27/2007, 1:49 PM
CClub,

I can't be of much tech use to you, but wished to say this:

As someone who has his own challenge (I live on a Soc. Sec. disability income), my hats off to you for what you are doing for your son. I'm repeatedly amazed how diverse and at times moving and inspiring the facts-de-vie can be under the hood of usernames here.

May a solution arise for you.
nolonemo wrote on 12/27/2007, 4:33 PM
When watching recorded TV in Microsoft Media Center (either the XP-based Media Center 2005, or Vista Home Premium, which includes Media Center), the step forward and step back buttons on the remote control advance the video 30 seconds or step back 7 seconds. AFAIK, these intervals can be changed in the setup menu. What I'm not sure about is if the buttons work the same way when playing back other video files (such as .avi files or ripped DVDs). However, a good place to find out would be the forums at www.thegreenbutton.com, one of the larger Media Center sites.
Chienworks wrote on 12/27/2007, 8:26 PM
WOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I've created an overlay for Media Player that accesses almost any function with a command button, and the command buttons all have keyboard shortcuts. And yes, they're all active at any time without needing the mouse. It still needs a file/open dialog and maybe some sort of simple playlist capability and it will be ready to go. Too braindead tonight to finish it off, but i'll get it done tomorrow evening.

In the meantime, if you have a list of what things specifically you'd like to be able to do from the keyboard or shuttlepro buttons post a list here. At the moment i've got the standard play/pause/stop, move forward and backward 10 seconds, move foward and backward 10% of the file, move to beginning/end. If i get creative i may even set up some sort of mapping that lets you choose what keyboard shortcut you want to assign to each control and let you choose how far the buttons should move back and forth in the file.

I don't know about chapter markers. I haven't seen DVD playback features exposed in the API yet, but i'll keep looking.
CClub wrote on 12/28/2007, 11:59 AM
Chienworks,
Oh... my... God. If this works as you say, without exaggeration it'll change my world.

I think that's maybe what the issue I'm struggline with... making the ShuttlePro or the keyboard shortcuts "active." And I found that -- even when Media Player is open -- the keyboard commands/shuttlepro buttons don't work. Then, once I click the mouse on the timeline inside Media Player, it makes it "active" I guess and then some of the commands work. I need to be able to bypass that second step of having to click the mouse on the timeline. If your overlay system addresses that, it'd be big in our house, that's for sure.

The commands that you listed would be incredible. If it's not a big hassle, I would also love to be able to close down Media Player ("quit the program in the current window" is currently ALT + F4 when Media Player is active... not sure if that helps).