Re: [VCDImager] delay between tracks on an SVCD

[Matto Marjanovic]

 >> It only allows you to do this with the VCD2 format, just because that
 >>  is what I was testing, and I didn't go and try to figure out if it was
 >>  sufficient for SVCD as well.
 >the same PBC is valid for SVCD too! :-)

Well then, I'll just expand the check to include SVCD.  (The real thing
 I was worried about was whether files other than 'psd.vcd' and 'info.vcd'
 needed to be modified as well.)

 >btw, there's something like multiple default timeout targets in selection
 >lists, which aren't documented yet in the header file... I don't know if
 >that's supported in VCD2.0 already...
 >
 >it's basically a selection list feature, enabling you to jump to
 >destination, based on the section of the item you are actually viewing...

nifty --- where in a selection list does/could that go?

 >>  To this end, I've got a question about "entries":  exactly when/how are
 >>  they used?  Are they used at all when the disk is played without PBC,
 >>  or are they only used when a PSD List Item specifies 'entry #N' ?
 >they are used for chapter based play mode, it's supported for VCD1.1 as
 >well, where no PBC is available...

so, perhaps that is when/where the track number is used.  does anything
 bad happen if the default entries (one per track, marking the beginnings)
 are not there?  (lack of VCD1.1 compatibility, smoke, etc.?)

(and, how many different 'play modes' are there?  Track, Chapter, PBC...
 I have only seen PBC and track mode on my DVD players (Pioneer DVD-525).)

 >> After that, the only thing left will be "segment items"....
 >that's my biggest headache at the moment...

i'm curious just to know what (and why) they are.

 >well, and XML :-)
 >
 >that's the only thing I don't like yet about the actual PBC hack =)
 >
 >...are you interesting in helping me out on the XML'ification? :)

sure.  point me to an XML library(*), or whatever it is that needs to
 be used to do the parsing, and i'll give it a whirl (prob. in yet
 another week).  (* - Preferably something that already has a Debian
 package.  :)

The code I wrote has two parts, one that defines a "Pbc_Config" object
 and processes the information therein to create the proper components of
 the VCD files, and another that parses the config file and creates and
 populates a Pbc_Config object.  I'm guessing one can just replace that
 part with something that parses an XML format instead.  I wrote it the
 way I did because I had the code laying around already (and it was pretty
 darn simple).
I actually started peeking the web for XML libraries last night to see
 what that might entail.  Honestly, I still am waiting for someone to
 explain to me why XML is "so cool".  (I can see how the structure might
 be a generally good way to encode complicated structures, but aside 
 from really blind/dumb validation, I don't see how a machine-readable
 DTD helps anyone, since some poor guy still has to write all the real
 code to do something with the entities that an XML parser churns out.
 I'm not knocking it --- just really curious for a non-hype explanation.)

-matt m.