How to Avoid Palette Flash During Playback of Video Overlays

 Last reviewed: December 22, 1995
Article ID: Q135367
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Win32 Software Development Kit (SDK) versions 3.5, 3.51, 4.0
  • Microsoft Video for Windows Development Kit (VfWDK) version 1.1

SUMMARY

Developers of multimedia titles that overlay background bitmaps with AVI (audio-visual interleaved) files are frequently surprised by what is often called "palette flash." The flash or palette re-realization can be eliminated with careful design and consideration during authoring.

MORE INFORMATION

The Windows Palette Manager attempts to satisfy the demands of the foreground window first (the AVI), and leaves background windows to contend for any unused palette entries. Windows that use identical palette entries do not flash, so the key is to author the background image and the AVI with the same palette. Incorporate the playback palette from the AVI into the background image. This works because most video Codecs (compressors and decompressors) can suggest optimal playback palettes.

Additional reference words: 4.00 1.10 3.50 dib
KBCategory: kbmm kbprg
KBSubcategory: MMVideo

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Last reviewed: December 22, 1995
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