MovieSafe ReadMe file

MovieSafe is shareware written by Colin Mummery who can be contacted at equitysoft@iname.com and whose homepage is www.kagi.com/equitysoft.

The MovieSafe product is delivered in a single ZIP file. The ZIP file name indicates the date that the product version in the file was built in day/month/year order. The ZIP file contains the following:

The MovieSafe program packaged as a single JAR file called "MovieSafe.jar"
This readme file
A changes file
The license agreement
A registration program that runs under Windows

Running the software

The product can be run under Windows or Solaris by double clicking (or clicking) on the file "MovieSafe.jar". Applets created with MovieSafe will run on any MS IE4.0 or better browser, or on any Netscape 4.06 or better browser. The product itself however requires the Java 2 runtime be installed which is free and can be downloaded from Sun Microsystems. (Java 2 is also sometimes referred to as Java 1.2 - it's the same thing).

On other platforms the following Java command can be used:

    java -jar MovieSafe.jar

At the time of writing Java 2 is not available for the Macintosh so it's not possible to create applets on a MAC. See Apple's Java page for more details.

Supported codecs

The file formats supported can be found in the accompanying table which also shows sound formats supported by "SoundSafe", the sister product to MovieSafe. The first column shows those formats which can be played without resorting to the JMF plugin. This document is the copyright of Sun Microsystems and is taken from the JMF 1.1 documentation.

Previewing movies

MovieSafe relies on the Java Media Framework to play movies. This does not need to be installed for applets to be created but it does if you wish to preview movies with the "Run" button or if you wish to preview applets. The author recommends installing it. The JMF is a free download from Sun and it's advisable to install the "performance pack" for your platform. If the option to include the player software in applets is not switched on then the users who view applets will also need to install the JMF on their machine. The plugin is necessary to run MPEG movies although other formats such as quicktime can be run by including the player software with the applet.

Optimal use of MovieSafe

For maximum protection of movies it's recommended that applets are created with the "check server prefix" turned on to ensure applets can't run locally.

Windows specific installation

At this stage the product is not provided in a form that creates the appropriate "start" menu entries and program icons for Windows. It is best to set aside a folder for the product and put the unzipped files into that folder. Custom installation is planned for the future.

MovieSafe directories

When MovieSafe is run there are two directories that are created in the same directory as the "MovieSafe.jar" file. These are:

"applets" - which is the default directory for saving the HTML and JAR files for protected movies
"props" - this directory contains various system files for MovieSafe

Known issues

When including the JMF player is the applet, Quicktime movies will flicker in MS IE if they have been resized. AVI movies will always flicker in IE when the player is included in the applet.

Certain recent quicktime codecs are not currently supported.

Apple Mac: MovieSafe applets that include the JMF player can be viewed on Mac with Internet Explorer provided that MRJ 2.1.2 or better is installed.

Paying for the software

The evaluation period is the standard 30 days given for most shareware. After that period payment should be made using the KAGI shareware payment service. The best way is to run the enclosed Windows program that generates output that can be e-mailed, faxed or posted to KAGI. If payment must be made by phone there is a US$5 surcharge and it can be done by ringing (510) 658-5244 in the US. Alternatively payment can be made over the internet by going to the EquitySoft pricing page. While the software is not registered the applets that MovieSafe creates will work for 72 hours only from the time of creation. Professional web designers should note that a MovieSafe license allows the protection of movies on a single website only. When using the product for multiple web sites then multiple license should be purchased.

The policy on new revisions of products

Products are regularly updated with new features. My policy is not to charge any fee for new releases which may only include bug fixes, cosmetic changes and minor functional changes. In general therefore, the original registration code that you receive on paying the initial license fee should be kept and reused after downloading a new product version. Do not pay for another license unless you're sure it's absolutely required.

Replacing an old version with a new version

If you want to keep all your existing applet files then replace only the old version of "MovieSafe.jar" with the new version. However some session settings will be reset.

Feedback

Any feedback about bugs or feature requests should be sent to the author, Colin Mummery at EquitySoft@iname.com. All feedback is most welcome and carefully read.