Time Calculation

The branching nature of the DVD-Video format makes time calculation more complicated than in a linear medium such as videotape. If you want your DVD-Video application to maintain accurate playback time then you must account for the following list of complicating factors.

  • Jumps from one program to another regardless of whether those jumps are authored into the content or initiated by the user.
  • Jumps from one program chain to another regardless of whether those jumps are authored into the content or initiated by the user.
  • Interleaved content in angle blocks.
  • Transitions to content that may not have a natural time aspect to it, such as a still, or playback in shuffle mode.
  • Transitions to and from other domains.
  • Playback at alternate speeds such as fast forward or reverse.
  • Fast forward or reverse through program jumps or multi-angle content.

The DVD-Video API has a number of interfaces, such as IDVDProgramChain, IDVDDataSearchInfo, and IDVDStreamControlInfo that can help you track playback time in your application but there is no one interface or method that will do it all for you. Ultimately, you will have to implement a time tracking solution to meet the specification requirements for your application.

See Also

Advanced DVD Player Application Topics

 Last updated on Thursday, April 08, 2004

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