Home...                                             Tip of the Week:  Part 1

      "How to use a $99.00 personal DVD player as a dynamic-display communication aid!"

In this new age of convergent electronic technologies, it is not uncommon for an audio-visual consumer device to have embedded technologies that once were found only in powerful desktop computers.  It is also not uncommon for prices to fall to just a fraction of what a "cutting edge" device cost just a couple of years ago.  Indeed, convergence and commoditization go hand-in-hand.  Something becomes a commodity when nearly everyone can afford it. 

Have you ever stopped to think that maybe the hand-held DVD player that your kids play with in the back seat of the car, or laying on the floor in the living room, or sitting on their bed, is actually capable of becoming a sophisticated dynamic display communication aid?  Well, it can!  And here's how to do it......

First, a little background on DVD players and DVD authoring systems.  Most DVD players are capable of playing movies, displaying slide shows, and playing MP3 sound or music files.  DVD disks are the same physical size as CD's (compact disks) but they can store over 7 times as much data.  When you load a DVD movie into a DVD player, usually you will be presented with a MENU of several choices--after viewing the FBI copyright warning!.  One choice may be a Setup menu where you can adjust special features, such as subtitles, audio, and screen display parameters.  There may also be a main Scene Selection menu which in turn can branch to sub-menus.  These sub-menus may have several thumbnail pictures representing specific scenes in the movie.  Selecting a thumbnail picture will instantly take you to the beginning of that scene, regardless of where in the movie that scene is located.  This is true "random access!"  You can't do this with a linear medium, such as video-tape. 

OK, so  we know that we can put movies (video clips), music, sound (speech clips) and still pictures on a DVD.  But where do you get the media, how do you organize it for storage on a DVD disk, and how do you access this media.? Let's start with the last question first.  You of course could use the built-in controls on the player itself.  There will always be at least a Play, Fast Forward, Reverse, and Freeze Frame button.  Doesn't sound very practical, does it? 

Then, there is the handheld iR remote control that probably came with your player.  At least it has a 4-way directional control and a Select button.  You can use it to select from among multiple options on the screen by zig-zagging up/down, left/right until the choice you want is hi-lighted.  Then a click of the Select button will activate the choice and you are on your way!  Sure isn't as easy to use as a mouse, but then usually you only make three or four selections total to play the movie. 

But----did you know....?  Each button choice on a menu screen has a NUMBER associated with it.  Usually the number correlates with the order in which the buttons were created by the DVD author.  So, next time you load a movie DVD in your player, try this....   Count the buttons on the screen; for example if there are five buttons, then try using the numeric keypad on the iR controller and push the numbers 1 thru 5 in turn and see if this activates the buttons.  If nothing happens, don't fret.  Different controllers use different iR (infraRed) codes to shoot a beam of iR light at the DVD player's iR receiver "eye."  You MAY have to hit "0-1, 0-2, 0-3, 0-4, and 0-5."  In other words, some players expect a 2-digit code for the numbers 1 thru 9.  And then there are some "finicky" players that make you physically press the Select button after hi-lighting your choice.  Still not very promising.....BUT      NEXT