FOAK: Autorun commands and stuff

I have two MPEG films that I send out to customers on two CDs. One
shows laser cutting and the other laser engraving. They autorun when
placed in the CD drive.

How's the business going now? Haven't seen you in ages.

Nicely thanks. Yeah, last year I don't think I went on one UKRM
rideout. I'll try to do better this year. What about you?

I'd prefer to send out one CD with both films and a menu allowing the
customer to chose which movie to watch.

a] how do I do this?

b] can someone do it for me?

c] yes I'll pay if you invoice me.

for a start, what format are the movies in - i.e. are you making an
assumption that your customers will have a particular piece of
software on their PCs?

To get started, the CD should have a file called autorun.inf in the
root directory - you use this to specify what will happen when the CD
is inserted (or when the user double-clicks the CD's icon in Windows
Explorer).

The contents of this file should look like:

[AutoRun]
open=whatever.exe
icon=whatever.ico

where whatever.exe is the name of the program you want to launch on
autorun - if you're going to build a webpage with links to your movies
as Ant suggested, this would read iexplore.exe. The icon line isn't
necessary - you only need it if you want a custom icon for the
appearance of the inserted CD in WinExp.

You'll also need your html file - call it index.html for convention's
sake. So, the 2nd line of your autorun.inf file should read:

open=iexplore.exe index.html

Don't bother with launching IE, just put the filename there instead
and windows will launch it using the default browser:

open=index.html

Would launch my text editor of choice :-)

Saves a load of hassle for the nerds without IE, etc.

does that work then?

I'm sure it didn't use to.

But then, it's been a very long time since I was involved in CD-ROM
production.

if you want to run IE in kiosk mode, put a space and then -k after the
html.

Brilliant. I'll try what you and Ant have suggested.

try Ant's open=index.html first, because it'll work cross-browser, if
it works, IYSWIM.

Why not just get some DVDs made with a menu?

Would be very nice if you made a couple of web pages, like a mini
web site, that popped up when you put the CD in the drive.

There would be a nice looking intro page, with some links down to
more info about the company, contact details and so on. Then you'd
have the links to the two movies on the disk.

You should be able to get the page to autorun just by pointing the
batch at the html page instead of the film. Just make sure all your
links are suitably named and you'll be fine.

I'll post you an invoice for the consultancy.

Ulead have a trial download DVD maker with Menu Options

if you want to go the DVD route, I have a full copy of ULead
MovieFactory (albeit not the latest version).

I'd very much like copy please

it's a pity for you that I don't tend to get involved in pirating
software, then, isn't it ;-)

you cheeky sod!

Still, God loves a trier, eh?

Have you taken up multiple replies, or did he email you? :-)

the latter - just his address, no less.

Which may have been a mistake.

dont ask, dont get
ask, and ......

get a delivery of semtex.

I was thinking of a nice jiffy bag of hydroflouric acid.

Sod that. Just a bit of flour would put the wind up him.