VideoDrive Support
1. Can I have Dolby Digital surround 5.1 sound when playing videos in iTunes or Front Row?
Yes you can. When you have a digital receiver connected to our mac you can have surround sound! For this, you need to install the Perian plugin and follow the five steps described here.
2. Why does QuickTime open my videos briefly while importing?
VideoDrive uses QuickTime to create reference movies or self contained movies (see Question 1) of your videos. For this purpose, it must open the videos in QuickTime. Do not interfere with this process or the video import will fail. Do not touch Quicktime or iTunes while VideoDrive is processing. If you want to cancel the import process, click ‘cancel’ in the process window of VideoDrive. It may take a while before the process is canceled. While importing videos as self contained movies, the QuickTime icon keeps bouncing in the dock. Giving focus to QuickTime stops the bouncing.
3. Why do my movies appear twice in Front Row on Max OS X Tiger ?
Videos added to iTunes also appear in the appropriate category in Front Row (Movies, TV Shows or Music Videos). However, if you store your original video files in the ‘Movies’ folder of your user account and add them also to iTunes through VideoDrive, they will appear twice in Front Row (once in ‘Movies’ and once in the category assigned to them in iTunes). This behaviour is caused by Front Row automatically scanning the ‘Movies’ folder for any videos. To avoid this, do not store your videos in the ‘Movies’ folder. Instead, keep them in another folder, or move them entirely into your iTunes library (in VideoDrive, go to the ‘Import’ tab in the Preferences pane and select the ‘Copy the video files into the iTunes library folder’ option).
4. How do subtitles work?
Perian supports QuickTime playback of subtitles provided as external SRT files. Download it from their website and install it. If you have a video file and supplied an SRT file with the same name located in the same folder (e.g. MyMovie.avi and MyMovie.srt), VideoDrive will make sure the subtitle is included in the video in iTunes. Just make sure you do not use the “Create Media Links” import setting as this option does not support subtitles. As of VideoDrive version 1.6.2 you can switch subtitles on and off by selecting one ore more videos in iTunes, and clicking the “Toggle Subtitles” button in VideoDrive. We recommend using this feature only on videos imported with VideoDrive. For your other videos, consider taking a backup first. Keep in mind that when the trial version of VideoDrive expires, this option is no longer available.
5. What does the subtitle option “Force Subtitles in Leopard Front Row” do?
There are currently issues with displaying subtitles in Front Row under Leopard. As soon as subtitles appeat, the screen goes black while the sound continues to play. These issues are not caused by VideoDrive, but are caused by incompatibilities between Front Row and Perian. Apple is currently investigating the issue but a fix has not been announced yet. In the mean time, VideoDrive includes a practical workaround to display subtitles in Front Row anyway:
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1.Select any videos in iTunes
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2.Click the “Toggle Subtitles” button in VideoDrive (or go through the VideoDrive menu in iTunes)
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3.Check both available options and click the “Toggle” button
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4.Videos will be correctly played with subtitles in Front Row
As this is a workaround, these videos may not play properly in iTunes anymore. Uncheck the “Force Subtitles in Leopard Front Row” option to restore playback in iTunes. Note that if the videos have already been playing in iTunes, a restart of iTunes is required. We recommend using this feature only on videos imported with VideoDrive. For your other videos, consider taking a backup first. Keep in mind that when the trial version of VideoDrive expires, this option is no longer available.
