Optimizing playback of media content

#Marketing seeks to direct advertising towards potential customers. Effective marketing relies on not only the contents of the marketing messages, but also the methods used to convey marketing messages to potential customers. Some studies have shown that marketing messages containing video and interactive presentations have a 60% greater response rate than traditional direct mail pieces.

#Compact disks are one way to incorporate video into marketing messages. Many households have computers or multimedia players to access the video stored in compact disks. However, computers run under different operating systems, such as MICROSOFT WINDOWS® (produced by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.), MAC OS® (produced by Apple Computer Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.), and LINUX (developed under the GNU Public License). Multimedia players may also have different platforms, such as digital versatile disk (DVD) players, BLU-RAY® players (BLU-RAY is a trademark owned by BLU-RAY Disk Association, University City, Calif.), or other video players. Typically, different systems and platforms cannot access content formatted for the other systems stored on the same compact disk. For example, marketing materials authored for the WINDOWS operating system may not be playable in a computer running another operating system, a DVD player, BLU-RAY player, or video player. This incompatibility means that marketing materials may not be viewable by some recipients, thereby diminishing the effectiveness of the marketing materials.

#This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

#In the figures, the left-most digit of a reference number identifies the figure in which the designated component or act first appears.

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an illustrative system facilitating playback of media content in multiple different multimedia players.

#FIG. 2 is a block diagram of another illustrative system facilitating playback of media content in multiple different multimedia players, in which the content is stored in multiple different formats.

#Overview

#As discussed above, different systems and platforms of media players typically cannot access video stored in different formats. To effectively direct advertising towards more potential customers, marketing materials should be easily played back on whatever system and platform of playback device the customer happens to have. The playback of marketing video should also optimize display settings, such as screen size, aspect ratio, and refresh rate, to those suited for the playback device so that potential customers have a good playback experience. Also, after the playback of marketing video, the original display settings of the playback device should be restored.

#This disclosure describes playback of media content stored in a storage medium in multiple different platforms of multimedia devices. While the media content is described in the context of marketing video, this disclosure also applies to other types of media content (e.g., movies, music, games, articles, and other audio, video, and/or textual content). The storage medium comprises a self-contained media engine which is able to decode video and audio contents, so that any installation of software separately on the multimedia devices is unnecessary. Furthermore, the media engine comprises all necessary execution files so that the media content stored in the same storage medium can be played back in any computer including, for example, those using WINDOWS, APPLE, or LINUX operating systems. The media content can also be authored to be playable on DVD players, audio CD players, BLU-RAY disk players, and potentially other types of players.