QuickTime SMIL Activity - Assemble files

  1. Use the files in the "activities" folder that you've dragged from your CD to your desktop. This activity will take place in the "quicktime" folder.
  2. To use the files you just created with MAGpie, copy the captions file ("ahg2007.en_US.qt.txt") and the SMIL file ("ahg2007.qt.smil") to the "quicktime" folder from the "magpie" folder.
  3. Open the SMIL file generated by MAGpie ("ahg2007.qt.smil") in a text editor by dragging the file to the WordPad icon. If you see a jumble of letters, you've probably opened the file in Notepad. If so, close the file and open it in WordPad.

    4. Configure the SMIL File

  4. In the following steps, you will be typing or verifying the red, bolded text as shown below:


    5. SMILtext <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <smil xmlns:qt="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/resources/smilextensions" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-smil" qt:time-slider="true">
    <head>
      <meta name="title" content="Accessing Higher Ground 2007 Captioning Demo"/>
      <meta name="author" content="Your name here"/>
      <meta name="copyright" content="2007"/>
      <layout>
        <root-layout height="335" width="330" background-color="black"/>
        <region height="240" width="320" background-color="black" left="5" top="5" id="videoregion"/>
        <region height="80" width="320" background-color="black" left="5" top="245" id="textregion"/>
      </layout>
    </head>
    <body>
      <par dur="0:01:03.71">
        <video dur="0:01:03.71" region="videoregion" src="ahg2007.mov"/>
        <textstream dur="0:01:03.71" region="textregion" src="ahg2007.en_US.qt.txt"/>
      </par>
    </body>
    </smil>


    Add Metadata

  5. In the SMIL file, add "SMILtext" to beginning of file. This allows QuickTime to recognize the file as a QuickTime SMIL file so it will display it properly.
  6. Add metadata to the meta tags.
    1. Add a title where "Accessing Higher Ground 2007 Captioning Demo" is shown above (for example, "My Test Video").
    2. Add an author where "Your name here" is shown above (for example, type your name).
    3. Add copyright information where "2007" is shown above (for example, "2007").

    7. Synchronize Files

  7. Check <par dur>, <video dur> and <textstream dur> duration tags to confirm that they match the video run time as displayed in the QuickTime "Movie Inspector" dialog as follows:
    1. Run the video in QuickTime by double clicking the file "ahg2007.mov".
    2. In QuickTime, select Window->Show Movie Inspector (Window->Show Movie Info in older versions of QuickTime).
    3. Find the video's duration, also called Total Run Time. Ensure that this value is in the <par dur>, <video dur>, and <textstream dur> tags. See the code above.
  8. Check videoregion src= parameter to make sure the video file name and path are correct. Your SMIL file should use the file name "ahg2007.mov" for the video file. In this case, no path is needed since the video is located in the same location as the SMIL file. (Note that you should use "http://" and the full address if the file is located on a different server or domain.)
  9. Check textregion src= parameter to make sure the caption file name and path are correct. Your caption file should use the file name "ahg2007.en_US.qt.txt" (or the name used when you exported the caption file from MAGpie). (Note that you should use "http://" and the full address if the file is located on a different server or domain.)
  10. Save the modified file. Note: All three files ("ahg2007.qt.smil", "ahg2007.en_US.qt.txt", and "ahg2007.mov") should be in the same folder, in this case, the "quicktime" folder.

    11. Configure File Encoding

  11. Although your file may work at this point, you should configure the file encoding to match the encoding specified at the top of the file -- UTF-8.
  12. Drag and drop the .smil file to the Notepad icon (not WordPad as before). This should open the file in Notepad.
  13. Select File -> Save As from the menu.
  14. Under "Encoding" at the bottom of the Save As dialog box, select UTF-8.
  15. Click the Save button to save the file as UTF-8 encoded.

    16. Try It Out

  16. Now try it out. Drag the saved SMIL file ("ahg2007.qt.smil") over the QuickTime icon and QuickTime should launch, showing your video with captions. If the video doesn't play correctly, see the Troubleshooting section below.
  17. If you have time, now go back, open your SMIL file or caption file in Notepad, and experiment with different height and width values for the root layout or the video or text regions, or change the metadata you edited above. Save and test.

Troubleshooting

If the video doesn't work, try one or more of the following modifications:

  1. Open the SMIL file ("ahg2007.qt.smil") in a text editor (Notepad, not WordPad) and use Save As to save the file in UTF-8.
  2. Rename the SMIL file so it has a ".mov" extension at the end of its name (i.e., "ahg2007.qt.smil.mov") .
  3. Rename the file using the .sml file extension (i.e., "ahg2007.qt.sml").
  4. Drag the SMIL file over the QuickTime icon instead of double clicking on the SMIL file.
  5. Open QuickTime by double clicking the QuickTime icon, and then use File->File Open to open the SMIL file.
  6. Make sure all files are in the same folder.

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