DOS multimedia player — using QuickView
When multimedia is mentioned, many people think of Windows, and it was indeed the appearance of Windows that drove the large-scale spread of multimedia PCs. However, multimedia is not Windows's exclusive domain; other operating systems also have very powerful multimedia capabilities, such as DOS, which people generally consider relatively “weak” in multimedia functions.
There is a lot of multimedia software under DOS. Besides familiar ones like SEA, in recent years, with the development of multimedia technology, DOS multimedia software—especially foreign DOS multimedia software—has also clearly increased, such as MP3 music format players, of which there are nearly 20, not to mention other types. These new DOS multimedia programs have very good playback results and support a wide range of formats. Specifically, you can see them in the “DOS Multimedia” section under the “Using DOS” column on this site.
Among all this software, I think QuickView Pro is an outstanding one. It can not only play music in MP3, WAV, and other formats, but also view images in many formats, such as JPG, GIF, BMP, TGA, PCX, and so on. It can even play many media formats such as MPG, MOV, AVI, FLC/FLI, DivX, etc., as well as VCDs. It also supports playlists and repeat playback, and can display long file names (for example, they can be displayed in a DOS window under Win9x; if you want to display long file names under pure DOS, you can use a long file name driver under DOS, such as DOSLFN or LFNDOS. The latest version 1.07 of the latter supports Chinese long file names, and both can be downloaded in the “Drivers” section). Its playback quality is also very good, and the sound quality can fully compare with WinAmp, and it is still being updated continuously. It supports both command-line and graphical interface modes of operation, so everyone can choose whichever mode they like. Below I will talk about its specific usage methods.
First, let’s talk about its graphical interface mode. After starting its main interface with the QV command, you will see a file manager containing a list of all files and folders in the current directory. Press Enter on a folder to enter it. If you want to switch drives, you can press Alt+D; at that time it will show a drive list, and you only need to enter the corresponding drive letter to go there. After entering the appropriate path, you can select one or more files in the interface to play. Among these files, those shown in white are files that QV can play, while those in yellow cannot be. For example, pressing Enter directly on one file will play that file; if you first select multiple files with the Space key and then press Enter, it can play multiple files. If you want random playback, press Alt+S. During playback, you can also perform various controls, for example, the Space key pauses playback, and to continue, press any other key; pressing the left and right cursor keys can fast-forward/rewind; pressing Enter or TAB plays the next file; pressing Backspace plays the previous file; ESC cancels playback; +/- adjusts the volume, and so on. In the main interface or during playback, you can press Alt+X at any time to exit QuickView. If you want to view system information or file information, you can press F2 and F3 respectively, and F3 will display detailed information for all supported media files. For graphic files, you can also set their display resolution: in the main interface, press the + or - key to choose among “Auto Select” / “300*240” / “600*480” / “800*600” / “1024*768” / “1280/1024”, and the selected result will be shown at the top of the screen. You can also set many QuickView options, such as full-screen playback, number of display colors, 50-line interface mode, and so on; press Alt+O to enter its options menu. If you want to use these settings permanently, you can save them.
Next, let me introduce its command-line mode. Its basic command-line usage is: QV . You can use the /? option to view all of its command-line parameters. It is very easy to use. For example, the command QV *.MP3 will play all MP3 songs in the current directory, or QV /@SONGS.M3U will play all files specified in the playlist file SONGS.M3U. It can mix playback of files in various formats, such as QV *.*, meaning that if there are media files of multiple formats at the same time (for example MP3, WAV, as well as JPG, AVI, and so on), they will all be played in sequence. Using its /RANDOM option enables random playback. When playing from the command line, the keys used in graphical mode also work, such as Enter or TAB to play the next file, ESC to cancel playback, Alt+X to exit QV, and so on. When you want to watch a VCD or CD-i, you only need to enter the command QV /VCD. See, isn’t it very convenient and practical?
One especially outstanding advantage of QuickView is that it is small and fast. For example, version 2.43 is only 180K, less than 1/50 the size of ACDSEE under Windows, and it only needs the single file QV.EXE to run. Its latest version is 2.50, which was only just released in late August this year, and it is still under continuous development. Everyone can go take a look at its website: www.multimediaware.com/qv For everyone’s convenience, I also specially registered/cracked and Chinese-localized versions 2.42 and 2.46, both of which can be downloaded in the “Media Software” section. In addition, in order to accommodate lower-spec computers (such as 386s and 486s), its author has also kept a download for a real-mode version of QuickView, version 1.03b. The biggest features of its real-mode version are that it is even smaller and faster. Although it is only a little over 50K, its functions are already very powerful; it supports most of the formats supported by its protected-mode version, such as WAV, BMP, GIF, AVI, FL? and so on. Moreover, it not only supports output through a sound card, but also supports output through the speaker, so that lower-spec computers without sound cards can also produce sound.
In short, QuickView is a very powerful, convenient, and practical multimedia program under DOS. Everyone may as well use it; that can also encourage its author to continue developing this excellent DOS software.
Author: Wengier, thanks to Teacher Mo for the revisions
When multimedia is mentioned, many people think of Windows, and it was indeed the appearance of Windows that drove the large-scale spread of multimedia PCs. However, multimedia is not Windows's exclusive domain; other operating systems also have very powerful multimedia capabilities, such as DOS, which people generally consider relatively “weak” in multimedia functions.
There is a lot of multimedia software under DOS. Besides familiar ones like SEA, in recent years, with the development of multimedia technology, DOS multimedia software—especially foreign DOS multimedia software—has also clearly increased, such as MP3 music format players, of which there are nearly 20, not to mention other types. These new DOS multimedia programs have very good playback results and support a wide range of formats. Specifically, you can see them in the “DOS Multimedia” section under the “Using DOS” column on this site.
Among all this software, I think QuickView Pro is an outstanding one. It can not only play music in MP3, WAV, and other formats, but also view images in many formats, such as JPG, GIF, BMP, TGA, PCX, and so on. It can even play many media formats such as MPG, MOV, AVI, FLC/FLI, DivX, etc., as well as VCDs. It also supports playlists and repeat playback, and can display long file names (for example, they can be displayed in a DOS window under Win9x; if you want to display long file names under pure DOS, you can use a long file name driver under DOS, such as DOSLFN or LFNDOS. The latest version 1.07 of the latter supports Chinese long file names, and both can be downloaded in the “Drivers” section). Its playback quality is also very good, and the sound quality can fully compare with WinAmp, and it is still being updated continuously. It supports both command-line and graphical interface modes of operation, so everyone can choose whichever mode they like. Below I will talk about its specific usage methods.
First, let’s talk about its graphical interface mode. After starting its main interface with the QV command, you will see a file manager containing a list of all files and folders in the current directory. Press Enter on a folder to enter it. If you want to switch drives, you can press Alt+D; at that time it will show a drive list, and you only need to enter the corresponding drive letter to go there. After entering the appropriate path, you can select one or more files in the interface to play. Among these files, those shown in white are files that QV can play, while those in yellow cannot be. For example, pressing Enter directly on one file will play that file; if you first select multiple files with the Space key and then press Enter, it can play multiple files. If you want random playback, press Alt+S. During playback, you can also perform various controls, for example, the Space key pauses playback, and to continue, press any other key; pressing the left and right cursor keys can fast-forward/rewind; pressing Enter or TAB plays the next file; pressing Backspace plays the previous file; ESC cancels playback; +/- adjusts the volume, and so on. In the main interface or during playback, you can press Alt+X at any time to exit QuickView. If you want to view system information or file information, you can press F2 and F3 respectively, and F3 will display detailed information for all supported media files. For graphic files, you can also set their display resolution: in the main interface, press the + or - key to choose among “Auto Select” / “300*240” / “600*480” / “800*600” / “1024*768” / “1280/1024”, and the selected result will be shown at the top of the screen. You can also set many QuickView options, such as full-screen playback, number of display colors, 50-line interface mode, and so on; press Alt+O to enter its options menu. If you want to use these settings permanently, you can save them.
Next, let me introduce its command-line mode. Its basic command-line usage is: QV . You can use the /? option to view all of its command-line parameters. It is very easy to use. For example, the command QV *.MP3 will play all MP3 songs in the current directory, or QV /@SONGS.M3U will play all files specified in the playlist file SONGS.M3U. It can mix playback of files in various formats, such as QV *.*, meaning that if there are media files of multiple formats at the same time (for example MP3, WAV, as well as JPG, AVI, and so on), they will all be played in sequence. Using its /RANDOM option enables random playback. When playing from the command line, the keys used in graphical mode also work, such as Enter or TAB to play the next file, ESC to cancel playback, Alt+X to exit QV, and so on. When you want to watch a VCD or CD-i, you only need to enter the command QV /VCD. See, isn’t it very convenient and practical?
One especially outstanding advantage of QuickView is that it is small and fast. For example, version 2.43 is only 180K, less than 1/50 the size of ACDSEE under Windows, and it only needs the single file QV.EXE to run. Its latest version is 2.50, which was only just released in late August this year, and it is still under continuous development. Everyone can go take a look at its website: www.multimediaware.com/qv For everyone’s convenience, I also specially registered/cracked and Chinese-localized versions 2.42 and 2.46, both of which can be downloaded in the “Media Software” section. In addition, in order to accommodate lower-spec computers (such as 386s and 486s), its author has also kept a download for a real-mode version of QuickView, version 1.03b. The biggest features of its real-mode version are that it is even smaller and faster. Although it is only a little over 50K, its functions are already very powerful; it supports most of the formats supported by its protected-mode version, such as WAV, BMP, GIF, AVI, FL? and so on. Moreover, it not only supports output through a sound card, but also supports output through the speaker, so that lower-spec computers without sound cards can also produce sound.
In short, QuickView is a very powerful, convenient, and practical multimedia program under DOS. Everyone may as well use it; that can also encourage its author to continue developing this excellent DOS software.
Author: Wengier, thanks to Teacher Mo for the revisions
Wengier - 新DOS时代
欢迎大家来到我的“新DOS时代”网站，里面有各类DOS软件和资料，地址：
http://wendos.mycool.net/
E-Mail & MSN: wengierwu AT hotmail.com （最近比较忙，有事请联系DOSroot和雨露，谢谢！）
欢迎大家来到我的“新DOS时代”网站，里面有各类DOS软件和资料，地址：
http://wendos.mycool.net/
E-Mail & MSN: wengierwu AT hotmail.com （最近比较忙，有事请联系DOSroot和雨露，谢谢！）
