Autostart Quicktime

Hi,

is there a possibility to make a quicktime movie inside a PARCEL_MEDIA texture start immediatly and automatically as soon as a visitor enters the parcel? i don't want the user to have to notice the little quicktime control at the bottom of the screen (it took me quite a while to find it...) or touch the movie texture before it starts.

thanks for your help!
flloyd

Nope. That's a function of the viewer, and cannot be controlled by script for obvious reasons. The user must always manually control media playing on their screen. Note that you *can* allow the user to control the movie with functions like Play/Pause/Stop(Rewind), etc via script, but they still won't see it unless they press the play button themselves first.

Some might argue that you could just modify the source code to the viewer and release your own viewer which forces all media to play automatically unless shut off by the user, but I don't know anyone who would want that choice forced on them, let alone use someone else's unknown third-party viewer due to obvious trust issues.

Thanks, Talarus, for your fast and very comprehensive answer! It spared me a lot of frustrating trial and error, i guess.

Thanks again,
Flloyd

Well I don't know if the question has been fully answered. You can turn on a movie player, only if the client has it enabled in the first place in preferences. A media player will 'shout' the url comand to the client on a timed basis, if the movie urls are in a playlist.

Or you can control the playing of a movie based on the Proximity switching mode we have in our Proximity server system, that allows more than a single movie to be played in a parcel at the same time. There is another system that uses the compression codex technique that can bring up to 6 QT streams into a parcel and play all 6 on screens all at the same time.

EML Entertainments (our sister company) showcases the Proximity Server system, currently sporting 6 screens with different movies showing, although the maximum is 7. Each screen has a 'sensor' that can be adjusted for range and communication type. Bring along 5 friends and check it out.

Very soon, we will also be showcasing the Silver Server System, thats a Sim server than can provide streams to 'smart' screen anywhere in the Sim, including any parcels within. The addition of other media streams such as music and TV will also be available on the system, along with personal HUD screens/portals that will have the same functions, along with 'Buy from the screen' functions for shopaholics.

None of which will play unless I press the "Play" button on the media control at the bottom of the viewer screen. That was specifically asked by the OP.

This is incorrect. If llParcelMediaCommandList is called containing PARCEL_MEDIA_COMMAND_PLAY, and no PARCEL_MEDIA_COMMAND_AGENT has been specified, then the stream will begin playing for all agents on the parcel who have video enabled, without them pressing the play video button themselves.

It's happened to me plenty of times, particularly when I'm on a large public parcel which has a video system somewhere that uses the above command. I'll start hearing an audio stream, and soon realize it's from a video, without knowing where the screen is or even that there was a screen. It annoys the frakk outta me.

hm, i tried PARCEL_MEDIA_COMMAND_PLAY instead of PARCEL_MEDIA_COMMAND_LOOP but the movie still doesn't start to play automatically. it starts after i touch the object. it starts as well after i edit and save the script. besides it isn't a movie, it's just a gif but that shouldn't make any difference, right?

this is my script:

default
{

state_entry()
{

llSay(0, "running...";

llParcelMediaCommandList( [
PARCEL_MEDIA_COMMAND_URL, "http://www.example.org/example.gif",
PARCEL_MEDIA_COMMAND_TEXTURE, (key) llGetTexture(0),
PARCEL_MEDIA_COMMAND_PLAY
] );
}

touch_start(integer total_number)
{
llParcelMediaCommandList( [
PARCEL_MEDIA_COMMAND_PLAY
] );
}
}

maybe something else i missed?

thanks fo looking into it,
thomas

Setting the media URL and/or texture using llParcelMediaCommandList apparently does not take effect until after the function call is completed. So if either of these were blank before the call, you will need to make a second call, containing PARCEL_MEDIA_COMMAND_PLAY/LOOP.

And note, this will only apply to avatars on the parcel at the time the command is executed, not those who enter afterward.

I'll include this part again for you...
[Well I don't know if the question has been fully answered. You can turn on a movie player, only if the client has it enabled in the first place in preferences. A media player will 'shout' the url comand to the client on a timed basis, if the movie urls are in a playlist.

Or you can control the playing of a movie based on the Proximity switching mode we have in our Proximity server system, that allows more than a single movie to be played in a parcel at the same time. There is another system that uses the compression codex technique that can bring up to 6 QT streams into a parcel and play all 6 on screens all at the same time.]

Using media players with a series of short movies in a playlist and scripted to play in sequence or random, will broadcast its url etc to any clients within the sim/parcel and if that client has movie enabled, it will begin to play automatically! Hope that clarifies it?