How Do I Make CD Drive do 'Autoplay'?

[Jethro]

I have an older system that has a CD-R drive in which I can play a
video clip just fine. However I want to make it work using 'autoplay'
feature. That is, I want the disk to activate my video player
software (MS Media Player) automatically. I have found no way yet to
do that. It is not a choice under autoplay.

I am running XP PRO SP2.

Thanks

Jethro

 

[Wolf Kirchmeir]

I have an older system that has a CD-R drive in which I can play a
video clip just fine. However I want to make it work using 'autoplay'
feature. That is, I want the disk to activate my video player
software (MS Media Player) automatically. I have found no way yet to
do that. It is not a choice under autoplay.

I am running XP PRO SP2.

Thanks

Jethro

First, make sure that your system has all current updates.

If WMP doesn't show as an option under Autoplay, then this part of the
system isn't aware of WMP, which suggests a corrupted or missing
registry key. Try: uninstall WMP, clean the registry, then reinstall.
Update WMP. Then try Autoplay selection again.

Another poster may give you a more direct fix. Good luck.

 

[Ken Maltby]

I have an older system that has a CD-R drive in which I can play a
video clip just fine. However I want to make it work using 'autoplay'
feature. That is, I want the disk to activate my video player
software (MS Media Player) automatically. I have found no way yet to
do that. It is not a choice under autoplay.

I am running XP PRO SP2.

Thanks

Jethro

You can turn the Autorun and AutoPlay features on
and off in XP. I think it is by drive, even.

http://www.soniacoleman.com/FAQs/FAQ00158.htm


If you are creating these CDs (or DVDs) then you could
use Autorun instead of depending on AutoPlay. Just put an
autorun.inf file in the root directory of the CD or DVD.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa969330.aspx


Luck;
Ken

 

[Jethro]

You can turn the Autorun and AutoPlay features on
and off in XP. I think it is by drive, even.

http://www.soniacoleman.com/FAQs/FAQ00158.htm


If you are creating these CDs (or DVDs) then you could
use Autorun instead of depending on AutoPlay. Just put an
autorun.inf file in the root directory of the CD or DVD.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa969330.aspx


Luck;
Ken

I did all this and still get same result. It just may be that the
CD-R drive itself and/or its driver is not capable of 'autoplay'. Is
this possible?

Thanks

Jethro

 

[Grinder]

I did all this and still get same result. It just may be that the
CD-R drive itself and/or its driver is not capable of 'autoplay'. Is
this possible?

Not really. Autoplay and Autorun are functions of the operating system
-- not the driver or hardware. If the file structure can be seen on the
disc, then autoplay and/or autorun has what it needs to perform.

 

[kony]

I did all this and still get same result. It just may be that the
CD-R drive itself and/or its driver is not capable of 'autoplay'. Is
this possible?

No, the OS looks for the files same as if it were accessing
the drive through any other initiated read request.

You may have autorun disabled in the OS settings, check
this:
http://autorun.moonvalley.com/enable.htm
http://forum.tweakxp.com/forum/shwmessage.aspx?forumid=7&messageid=146482

See this page for more info on autorun options,
http://navasgrp.home.att.net/tech/autoplay_vcd.htm

 

[Jethro]

Not really. Autoplay and Autorun are functions of the operating system
-- not the driver or hardware. If the file structure can be seen on the
disc, then autoplay and/or autorun has what it needs to perform.

It's just that the video disk in question is in standard VCD format,
which has no 'autorun'.

Jethro

 

[Jethro]

No, the OS looks for the files same as if it were accessing
the drive through any other initiated read request.

You may have autorun disabled in the OS settings, check
this:
http://autorun.moonvalley.com/enable.htm
http://forum.tweakxp.com/forum/shwmessage.aspx?forumid=7&messageid=146482

See this page for more info on autorun options,
http://navasgrp.home.att.net/tech/autoplay_vcd.htm

This site leads me to conclude that I cannot autoplay the VCD disk
without re-making it.

It says:
A pure Video CD (VCD) will not Autoplay (automatically play the video
on an inserted disc) in Microsoft Windows without some sort of
"helper" application.

I'll see if I can make an autoplayable disk as described:
AUTORUN.INF

The contents of the AUTORUN.INF text file are always (assuming the
..ASX file is named VCD.ASX):
Method 1 Comments

[autorun]
ShellExecute=VCD.ASX

The 2nd line (ShellExecute) uses the registered .ASX file
association to process the .ASX Windows Media Metafile. The registered
application is usually (but not necessarily) the current version of
Windows Media Player; if so, playback begins in a default window.
Method 1 is preferred unless you want playback to begin full screen,
in which case use Method 2.
Method 2 Comments

[autorun]
ShellExecute=mplayer2 /fullscreen VCD.ASX

Method 2 is used to begin playback full screen. It should
explicitly invoke the older version (6.4) of Windows Media Player,
which (unlike the latest version) supports the "/fullscreen"
parameter. The older version apparently remains installed even when
the newer version is installed (on Windows XP at least).

Thanks

Jethro

 

[Jethro]

No, the OS looks for the files same as if it were accessing
the drive through any other initiated read request.

You may have autorun disabled in the OS settings, check
this:
http://autorun.moonvalley.com/enable.htm
http://forum.tweakxp.com/forum/shwmessage.aspx?forumid=7&messageid=146482

See this page for more info on autorun options,
http://navasgrp.home.att.net/tech/autoplay_vcd.htm

I created an autorun file and a .asx file, created a disc with them
and the clips, and it autoplayed fine

Thanks

Jethro

 

[Jethro]

Man - I wish I could make sense out of all this.
I have a VCD disk containing two video clips. The files thereon are:
EXT
LOT_X.VCD
PSD_X.VCD
SCANDATA.DAT
MPEGAV
AVSEQ01.DAT
AVSEQ02.DAT
SEGMENT
ITEM0001.DAT
VCD
ENTRIES.VCD
INFO.VCD
LOT.VCD
PSD.VCD

The disk plays on all three of my stand-alone Disk Players, as well as
on my two machines using VLC Media Player and Windows Media Player.
However, naturally, the disk will not auto play on either machine.

In an effort to make the disk auto play, and in order to understand
things, I added these two files to the root directory of a new VCD
disk containing all of the old disk plus the two files.
AUTORUN.INF
[autorun]
ShellExecute=VCD.ASX

VCD.ASX
<ASX Version = "3.0">
<Title>MY TITLE</Title>

<Entry>
<Title>MOVIE CLIP 1</Title>
<Ref href = "MPEGAV\AVSEQ01.DAT" />
</Entry>

<Entry>
<Title>MOVIE CLIP 2</Title>
<Ref href = "MPEGAV\AVSEQ02.DAT" />
</Entry>

</ASX>


Guess what -

On both machines, the disk now auto plays using Windows Media Player,
but VLC Media Player will not play the disk at all. The disk will not
play on any of my stand-alone Disk Players!

So - as I see it, the addition of commands to render the disk auto
playable on my machines rendered the disk unplayable on my stand-alone
players!

Where oh where have I gone wrong?

Jethro

 

[Jethro]

If I put what I want to have end up on a VCD disk into a hard drive
folder thus:
AUTORUN.INF
VCD.ASX
EXT
LOT_X.VCD
PSD_X.VCD
SCANDATA.DAT
MPEGAV
AVSEQ01.DAT
AVSEQ02.DAT
SEGMENT
ITEM0001.DAT
VCD
ENTRIES.VCD
INFO.VCD
LOT.VCD
PSD.VCD

Can I then write all this to a disk as data? IOW will a data-copy of
the folder content above onto a VCD disk then play?

Thanks

Jethro

 

[Ken Maltby]

If I put what I want to have end up on a VCD disk into a hard drive
folder thus:
AUTORUN.INF
VCD.ASX
EXT
LOT_X.VCD
PSD_X.VCD
SCANDATA.DAT
MPEGAV
AVSEQ01.DAT
AVSEQ02.DAT
SEGMENT
ITEM0001.DAT
VCD
ENTRIES.VCD
INFO.VCD
LOT.VCD
PSD.VCD

Can I then write all this to a disk as data? IOW will a data-copy of
the folder content above onto a VCD disk then play?

Thanks

Jethro

It appears that a "VCD" disk is an ISO level 2 data disk,
in Mode 2 /XA format, and without Joliet support. So if
you make such a data disk and your data is in the expected
file structure, it should work. Give it a try, let us know.

Luck;
Ken

 

[Jethro]

It appears that a "VCD" disk is an ISO level 2 data disk,
in Mode 2 /XA format, and without Joliet support. So if
you make such a data disk and your data is in the expected
file structure, it should work. Give it a try, let us know.

Luck;
Ken

No - it did not. Not really surprised though. There must be
something else in play here that IO am missing.

Thanks

Jethro

 

[Jethro]

The deeper I gets, then more confused I gets.
That being said -

I chose a new .mpg video clip to test making a VCD disk that will both
auto play on my computer, and will play on my stand-alone disk
players.

I created a VCD disk from said .mpg, using Roxio. The result will
play on all three of my stand-alone disk players. The disk will NOT
auto play on my computer - no surprise since I read somewhere that VCD
disks will not auto play. I can play the disk, though, using Windows
Media Player Classic (V6).

The disk contains:
CDI
EXT
LOT_X.VCD
PSD_X.VCD
SCANDATA.DAT
KARAOKE
MPEGAV
AVSEQ01.DAT
SEGMENT
ITEM0001.DAT
VCD
ENTRIES.VCD
INFO.VCD
LOT.VCD
PSD.VCD

Using navasgrp's technique to make the disk playable, I did the
following:

I copied the content of the disk to a hard drive folder.

I added a file autorun.inf to the folder holding the above containing:

[autorun]
ShellExecute=VCD.ASX

I added a file vcd.asx to the folder holding the above containing:

<ASX Version = "3.0">
<Title>TITLE</Title>

<Entry>
<Title>CLIP</Title>
<Ref href = "MPEGAV\AVSEQ01.DAT" />
</Entry>

</ASX>

I created a file association for .asx to Windows Media Player Classic
(V6),

I double clicked on vcd.asx - Windows Media Player Classic comes up -
says 'playing', but that's all! No video.
I executed Windows Media Player Classic itself, and used its menu to
open file vcd.asx and it then says 'playing', but that's all! No
video.
I created a VCD disk from this folder, by doing a copy using Roxio.
The resulting disk will NOT play on ANY of my stand-alone players!

So, I think I have gone astray somewhere. Has anyone done what I have
done? Has anyone really made a VCD disk that is auto-playable on a
computer and playable on a stand-alone disk player? If so, please
suggest something for me to try.

Thanks

Jethro

 

[Jukka Aho]

Has anyone done what I have done? Has anyone really made a
VCD disk that is auto-playable on a computer and playable on
a stand-alone disk player?

It's possible to add a full-fledged PC/Windows VCD player application on
the CD - in other words, a stand-alone .exe file that supports all VCD
features, including slideshows, playlists, menus and other navigation -
and make that autoplay using the same kind of AUTOPLAY.INF syntax as
commercial CD-ROMs use.

Some of the fancier VCD authoring applications support (or at least once
used to support) this kind of operation as a standard feature and either
come (came) with such player application, or at least allow(ed) defining
where it should go.

I think this might do the trick:

X-VCD Player
<http://www.xequte.com/other/index.html#xvcd>

 

[GT]

I have an older system that has a CD-R drive in which I can play a
video clip just fine. However I want to make it work using 'autoplay'
feature. That is, I want the disk to activate my video player
software (MS Media Player) automatically. I have found no way yet to
do that. It is not a choice under autoplay.

I am running XP PRO SP2.

Thanks

Jethro

Put the name of the file you want to start in the "autorun.inf" file.

 

[Joel]

Put the name of the file you want to start in the "autorun.inf" file.

How about giving more detail of how to auto-play the VCD disc. And as I
said it shouldn't need to do any modification, but if you know how then why
don't you give small detailed instruction.

Also, make sure his/her friends/relatives can auto-play as well... which
means the "autorun.inf" should contain all information for many different
systems with different configuation's.

 

[Jethro]

Put the name of the file you want to start in the "autorun.inf" file.

I agree - and some web sites say just that. Not here however. I
can't get that to work.

Jethro

 

[alpha]

How about giving more detail of how to auto-play the VCD disc. And as I
said it shouldn't need to do any modification, but if you know how then why
don't you give small detailed instruction.

Amen to that brother

Jethro

Also, make sure his/her friends/relatives can auto-play as well... which
means the "autorun.inf" should contain all information for many different
systems with different configuation's.

Ditto

 

[kony]

I agree - and some web sites say just that. Not here however. I
can't get that to work.

Jethro

Have you tried putting "Open=" instead of "ShellExecute=" in
the autorun.inf file?