Help on using the Virtual Cutter
What is the Virtual Cutter?
The Virtual Cutter allows you to create clips from the multimedia files on SURFmedia and other video servers. The Virtual Cutter allows you to indicate the beginning and the end of a clip within a multimedia file. The Virtual Cutter will generate the HTML code that refers to this clip after you have entered these marks. You can use this code in a webpage or in any other file that can contain hyperlinks, such as Word and Powerpoint files.
Quick start guide
- Open the Virtual Cutter by entering the location of a streaming multimedia file
into the main screen. You can edit files that are
hosted on either the SURFnet Audio and Videoserver or on an external server.
- Click on the button 'Open the Virtual Cutter'.
This will open the editing window where you select the clip.
Supported formats and players
| MPG, MP3, MP4, MPA, RM, RA, RMVB, RAM | RealPlayer Version 5 and later |
| ASF, WMV, WMA, ASX, WMP, MP3 | Windows Media Player Version 7 and later |
| MOV | Quicktime Player Version 4 and later |
| MP4 | Quicktime Player Version 6 and later |
| MPG, MP3, MPA | Kasenna Broadband Player
4 and later. Older version are not supported due to a different format for time codes!
MPEG-2 requires the Mediamatics StreamExpress software. |
| HTML, SMI(L) | Select one
of the supported players. The files will then be analysed and possible
links to media files will be presented in an overview. Please note: HTML files can also be playlists for the Kasenna Broadband Player. |
Note
RAM, WMP and ASX files are not multimedia files but are metadata files. They are text files that refer to one or more multimedia files. The Virtual Cutter analyses metadata files and opens the first multimedia file that is found in the editing window. Other information in the metadata file is ignored.
Opening a playlist
A playlist is a sequence of selections. The Virtual Cutter can create and read playlists. Select the link 'Open a playlist created with the Virtual Cutter' and then select a playlist. The virtual Cutter can only read playlists that were created with the Virtual Cutter.
A direct link to the virtual cutter with a given address
You can directly refer to the editing window of the Virtual Cutter in your own website, online learning environment or any other program that can handle hyperlinks. This is useful when using the Virtual Cutter in education, for instance, where students are asked to select a clip from a file provided by the teacher.
Example (this is a single line!):
http://video.surfnet.nl/virtualcutter/virtualcutter.php?url=http://www.surfmedia.nl/app/video/108226/play?format_id=130266%26gigaman-wm-high.wmv%26mode=url&player=wmedia&lang=en
In the line above, replace the value for url by the url to the media file that you want to provide. If this url contains the ampersand character (&), replace it by the string %26, as was done in the example.
It is not required to indicate the player that is to be used. if no player is indicated the Virtual Cutter will select a player based on the settings on the server (this is equivalent to the option 'automatic' on the main screen). Include the parameter 'player' in the URL to force the player to be used. The example above forces the use of the Broadband Player. The parameter can have the following values:
real (Real Player)
wmedia (Windows Media Player)
quicktime (Quicktime Player)
broadband (Kasenna Broadband Player)
You have the option to provide a title for this URL. The title appears in the Virtual Cutter and is used when generating a hyperlink or playlist:
Add the parameter &lang=en as in the examples to open the Virtual Cutter in English.
Example files
SURFnet has made a number of example files available that can be used for learning how to work with the Virtual Cutter.