MediaTracker v2.2 Readme
========================
Mingzhe Li
lmz@cs.wpi.edu
[Last Update: Wed Dec 13 14:24:00 EST 2006]
New in version 2.2
==================
1. Buffer counts (including init-buffer)
2. Instaneous Frame rate. (reversed computed from the smoothed frame rate report by windows media core)
3. Provide UTC time of each sample.
4. PlayerState (playing, buffering, reconnecting... etc.)
5. Tested for Windows Media Player v10 and v11.
New in version 2.1
==================
1. Fixed the bug that MediaTracker may crash on those urls with space in the path/file name.
For Advanced User
=================
If you are familiar with Windows Media Player (c) and how it
works, you don't need read all the readme file. But you should read
this section before you start using MediaTracker.
1. MediaTracker was developed on WMP 9.0 Beta. I recommend you have
WMP 9 beta or later version installed on the computer. However, I have
tested that MediaTracker works fine with WMP 7.0. The limitation
of using WMP 7.0 is that the .wpl playlist will not work (WMP 7.0
supports .asx but not .wpl) and the screen resize is not perfect.
2. The Command line parameters:
MediaTracker.exe [playlist.wpl|playlist.asx] [logfile.dat]
If only one parameter is given, it will be treat as the playlist
file. And the MediaTracker will generate a logfile name use the
current date for you such as "20021025153112.dat" and put it in the
same directory with the MediaTracker.
Please note, if the playlist file is not located in the same directory with
Mediatracker.exe, you should give the playlist path in URL format, such as:
file:///C:/Mediatracker/Playlist1.wpl
The logfile could take the regular file path format (absolute or
relative path) but you should make sure that the path exists.
CONTENTS
========
Overview
Features
Usage
Playlists
Data file
Source Code
Links
Copyright
Overview
--------
MediaTracker is a customized version of Windows Media Player developed
using Windows Media Software Development Kit (SDK) (C). MediaTracker
provides the basic ability of playing back Windows Streaming Media
clips, such as .wmv and .asf files using MMS protocol through the
Internet. And the main purpose of MediaTracker is providing windows
media researcher the ability to record application statistic
information while playing back the media clips, such as the bandwidth,
playing bit rate, and frame rate and etc.
MediaTracker is developed for the multimedia research project of the
Congestion Control Group (http://perform.wpi.edu/cc) CS department of
Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
System Requirement:
1. Recommended: Windows Media Player (c) version >= 9.0 beta.
2. Required: Windows Media Player (c) version >= 7.0.
Compatility:
MediaTracker was developed on WMP 9.0 Beta. I recommend you have WMP
9 beta or later version installed on the computer. However, I have
tested that MediaTracker works fine with WMP 7.0. The limitation of
using WMP 7.0 is that the .wpl playlist will not work (WMP 7.0
supports .asx but not .wpl) and the screen resize is not perfect.
Features
--------
1. Windows Media clip playback. MediaTracker uses the Windows Media Player
(C) core, and therefore support all kinds of media type that supported
by WMP.
2. Application and network data recording every 500 ms. The data
recorded includes:
bandWidth: the current bandwidth of the clip.
bitRate: the current bit rate being received.
buffering Progress: the percentage of buffering completed.
encoded FrameRate: the video frame rate specified
by the content author.
frame Rate: the current video frame rate.
frames Skipped: the total number of frames skipped
during playback.
lost Packets: the number of packets lost.
max Bandwidth: the maximum allowed bandwidth.
received Packets: the number of packets received.
reception Quality: the percentage of packets received in
the last 30 seconds.
recovered Packets: the number of recovered packets.
source Protocol: the source protocol used to receive data.
3. WMP playlist format support: .asx and .wpl.
4. Command line interface support: MediaTracker supports command
parameters parsing, which can be used for easy integrated in
automatic scripts.
5. Automatic shutdown: after finish all the clips in the playlist, the
MediaTracker will automatic shut down in 15 secs.
Usage
-----
GUI use:
1. Double click on the MediaTracker icon, MediaTracker will started
and the GUI is a simple dialog based windows application.
2. Click the "Open" button, input the URL or use the "Browser "button
to locate the playlist file. Then click on the "OK" button of the Open
dialog box, and MediaTracker will automatically start to playback the
URL or the playlist and record data.
3. For the GUI interface, the logfile name is automatically generated by
MediaTracker and saved in the same directory as the MediaTracker.exe
file. You cannot change the name or the location.
4. After the clip/playlist is finished, the auto shutdown messagebox
will pop up. You can click on the "OK" buotton to shut down or click
on the "Cancel" button to stop the auto shutdown progress. If you do
nothing, MediaTracker will shutdown after 15 seconds.
Command Line Interface use:
1. The command line interface format:
MediaTracker.exe [playlist] [logfile]
If no parameters are given, the MediaTracker will started just like
double clicks on the icon.
If only one parameter is given, the parameter will be treated as a
playlist (or URL). MediaTracker will generate a logfile name using
the current date, such as "20021025153112.dat", and put it in the
same direstory as MediaTracker.
The playlist can be .wpl and .asx file or an URL. If the playlist
file is located in the same directory as MediaTracker.exe,
you can just give the name of the playlist file, otherwise, you
need to input the playlist path in a URL format, such as:
file:///C:/Mediatracker/Playlist1.wpl
The logfile can take the regular file path format (absolute or
relative path) but the path must exist. If no path is given, the
logfile will be put in the same directory as Mediatracker.exe.
2. After the clip/playlist is finished, the auto shutdown messagebox
will pop up. You can click on the "OK" button to shut down or click
on the "Cancel" button to stop the auto shutdown progress. If you
do nothing, MediaTracker will shutdown after 15 seconds.
Playlists
---------
You can create playlists to playback multiple media clip one after
there another. There are two major kinds pof laylist files: .wpl and
.asx. You can use either format to create the playlist, but if you are
running WMP 7.0, you will not be able to use .wpl playlist since it is
only available for WMP 9.0.
The simplified formats of these two playlists are shown below:
asx playlist:
Playlist1