====================
!Help file for !MPEG
====================

Version 2.0.6  (01 Jun 1993)


Based on the public domain player written by:
Lawrence A. Rowe, Ketan Patel, and Brian Smith
Computer Science Division-EECS, Univ. of California
at Berkeley.


Acorn port and additional RISCOS-specific
support code and display routines by:

Paul LeBeau
(plebeau@cix.compulink.co.uk)
--------------------------------------------------

This software is FREEWARE.
Permission for non-profit distribution of this
software is granted, provided it is distributed
"as is", without change.

Further information about (and the source for) the
Berkeley player is available from the Berkeley
FTP site listed below.


Thanks are due to:
   Roger Wilson at Acorn
   Chris Marshall
   Andrew Hersee


If you find any bugs or have technical questions,
then feel free to email me.  Use the email address
above, or alternatively try mailing me at the
following address:

c/- 4Mation
14 Castle Park Rd
Barnstaple
Devon
EX32 8PA
U.K.



---------------------------------------------------

!MPEG Frequently Asked Question list {8-b


(1) How do I make it work?

    1. Set your MPEG file to filetype &BF8 ("MPEG")
    2. Double click on it (make sure !MPEG
       has been seen by the filer first).

    Remember also, that the player doesn't run
    directly (it runs when you double-click on
    an MPEG file), so if you are getting funny
    crashes when you run a file, check that
    you have a reasonable amount of memory in
    your 'Next' slot in the Task display.

(2) Where do I get MPEG files from?

    Try the following FTP sites:

    toe.cs.berkeley.edu (128.32.149.117)
       in the directory /pub/multimedia/mpeg

    phoenix.oulu.fi (130.231.240.17)
       in the directory /pub/mpeg

    Remember to ensure you are in 'binary'
    mode before downloading any files.

(3) What about sound?

    As far as I know, the part of the MPEG standard
    that deals with sound has not been completely
    finalised as yet.  There is certainly no software
    that supports it yet.  When the Berkeley sources
    (which this port is based on) support it, then
    I will.

(4) Why isn't it faster?

    The MPEG file decoding and decompression is
    written in C.  The DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform)
    compression method is pretty slow (have you tried
    decoding a JPEG file lately!).  I have a few ideas
    for speeding it up and I intend to implement these
    eventually.

(5) How does this affect Replay?

    It doesn't.

    I've used the same colour translation/dithering tables
    and methods as Replay (courtesy of Roger Wilson) but
    that's pretty much as far as it goes.

