XDC Player

Usage

xdc_play.exe <switches> [filename] <switches>

Command-line switches

/? or /h — display summary help

/q — Quiet mode; plays the video without requiring a sound card.

/kN — how much disk data to read in a single operation.  N is a number representing kilobytes, from 4 to 58.  (There is little reason to use this switch; it is provided for debugging purposes.)

/p — Presentation mode.  In this mode, no messages are displayed, the video starts as soon as it is buffered, and the player exits without going back to text mode.  This switch is meant to enable “chaining” several videos together in a batch file.

/d — Queue depth indicator display.  This turns on a tiny display in the upper left corner that shows the current buffer queue depth level.  (There is little reason to use this switch; it is provided for debugging purposes.)

Video Output

Color output can be viewed via the composite color output jack of a CGA card.  If you don’t have a composite jack on your CGA card, you can still view the video on an RGB monitor, although it will display in black and white.

640×200 black-and-white videos display identically on both the composite jack and an RGB monitor.

There is no support for Hercules graphics cards at this time.  Use of a CGA “simulator” such as SIMCGA is not recommended, as the encoder and player are tuned for extremely high performance that such simulators would easily disrupt.

Audio Output

A Sound Blaster card (or compatible) capable of auto-init DMA is required for audio output.  The Sound Blaster 2.0 and Sound Blaster Pro series have been tested; other cards may also work.

If your card does not work, you can still play videos silently using the “/q” switch.

Advertisement