Audio Playback; Profile Emulation; Licenses; Hap Codec - PRG MBOX User Manual

Audio playback

Mbox v4 follows many of the same rules/guidelines that Mbox v3.x did in terms of audio playback. In most cases the
audio works better and performance overall is greatly improved. Like Mbox v3.x, Mbox v4 has two playback engines,
a preferred engine for movie content that is rendered using spatially compressed codecs (ProRes, Photo-JPEG)
and movies without embedded audio, and a secondary engine (AVFoundation player) for movies using temporally
compressed codecs (H.264) and movies with embedded audio that have the .audio tag. Use of the AVFoundation player
does not mean second class performance as it did in Mbox v3.x but some aspects of playback may be unavailable in the
AVFoundation player (see below).
Either separate ("sidecar") audio files or audio that is embedded in the QuickTime movie can be used. Both should
produce the same result with regard to performance and sync between audio and video. To use embedded audio, add
".audio" to the end of the file name, before the .mov file extension – the same as with Mbox v3.x.
Movies with embedded audio must use AAC encoding for the audio, files with Linear PCM encoding will exhibit audio
playspeed issues. Sidecar audio files can use AAC, MP3, AIF, M4A, or WAV encoding. Sidecar files should have the
same index number as the movie they are associated with and should be placed into the same content folder.
As with Mbox v3.x some playmodes may not produce useful audio output – e.g. Random, reverse modes, and so on...
because the don't play the movie forwards in a sequential manner.

Profile Emulation

Mbox v3 allowed the use of a greater version of the product software in a mode emulating a lesser version of the
software. e.g. Running Mbox Studio as if it were Mbox Mini. However, Mbox v3 did not allow a lesser version of the
software to emulate a greater version. Mbox v4 has added the ability for a lesser version to emulate a greater version.
Of course, if a feature is limited or disabled in the lesser version, it will still be limited not be available for use. However,
the emulation mode will allow Mbox to replicate a show programmed in a greater version as correctly as possible given
the differences in the product capabilities.
Also, there are emulation modes for the most recent previous version of Mbox software (v3.8 – 3.10.2 footprint) to
provide the ability to use a previously programmed show file to control the new Mbox software in some case. Emulation
for versions prior to Mbox v3.8 is not supported.
These emulation features are intended as a convenience to allow users to more easily run a show that has been
programmed using a different version of the Mbox software. While every attempt has been made to ensure compatibility,
some features may not work in emulation modes. Testing the functionality in advance is strongly recommend, and no
guarantee of full compatibility is given.

Licenses

Mbox v4 uses a different license than Mbox v3.x. Therefore a soft license or USB license key for Mbox v3.x will not
license the Mbox v4 software. A license upgrade is required, contact Mboxsupport@prg.com or a PRG rep for more
details.

Hap Codec

Mbox v4.1 adds the necessary frameworks for native playback of movies encoded using the Hap codec. The Hap codec
was created by VidVox LLC. and Tom Butterworth to take advantage of hardware-accelerated (GPU) decompression
rather than CPU-based decompression. Movies encoded with the Hap codec will provide better performance if the
computer has both a good graphics card and a fast disk system (SSD or flash). For more information, visit http://vdmx.
vidvox.net/blog/hap
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