RVA (Random Video App) Readme

RVA isn't the most user-friendly application, but it gets the job done.

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Required: Intel-based Mac. Only tested on Mac OS 10.5.

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Getting Started

To start, launch the app and the test video files will play randomly.

To show basic video controls and info, type the tab key. Type it again to hide the controls. 

To quit, type the esc key. 

If these keys don't seem to work, make sure the app is in focus by clicking on it. 

NOTE: the 'video' folder must reside in the directory that RVA is in or the app won't find the videos and bad things happen.

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Settings

Basic playback settings are stored in a plist in the RVA's app bundle. Control-click RVA and select Show Package Contents from the context menu. In the resulting Finder window, open the Resources folder and open the startup.plist file in a text editor.

The settings are straight-forward. 

Video Size
You can change the display height and width of the video (you should probably make your video the size you want to display it, then enter that size here instead of making it bigger or smaller). 

Playback Rate
I've never had a reason to play video faster than normal speed, but knock yourself out.

Fullscreen or windowed
You may want to play the video in windowed mode if you're testing or whatever.

Once you have the settings the way you like, save the file and launch RVA as normal and you should see the new settings take affect.

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Videos

How does RVA know what videos to play? You tell it! In the same Resources folder in the the application's app bundle where the settings.plist lives, you may have noticed a playlist.plist file.

First, make sure you have all your video in the video folder. The video folder doesn't need to be called 'video' but it does need to live alongside the RVA app. For each video you'd like to randomize in your playback, you need an entry for it in the plist file. The <string> node in each <dict> node of the XML tells RVA where to load the video from. It is a path to your video relative to the location of RVA. 

For example, RVA comes with four test videos in a folder called video. The string for each reads 'video/video1.mov', 'video/video2.mov', etc.

Once the playlist.plist file is complete. Save it and launch RVA to see your video played back randomly.