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Parole - Usage

Main Parole Window

When you first open Parole, you are presented with the window shown in the example below:
The three main parts of the window are highlighted in the example:

Parole main window

    • The menu bar has options to control all aspects of Parole including: opening and playback of media files, adjusting the Parole display and configuring preferences and plugins.
  1. The main playback window
    • This is where video files are played and where effects can be shown while listening to audio files.
    • Used to control playback, adjust volume, toggle fullscreen mode and toggle the display of the playlist pane.

Using the Control Bar

The control bar contains several items to control both the playback of media as well as the Parole display modes.

Parole's control Bar

  • The Previous Track and Next Track buttons allow you to jump to the previous and next files in the playlist. These buttons are only active when there are multiple files in the playlist.
  • The Play/Pause button is a toggle. Repeated clicks will start, pause and restart the play of a media file. It is only active when there are files in the playlist. You can also use the spacebar to play/pause.
  • The Playback Slider allows you to quickly fast forward and rewind through the currently playing selection by dragging the control button with the mouse. You can also click anywhere along the slider bar with the mouse to immediately jump to that point in the playback. The number to the left of the slider shows the elapsed time as a selection is playing. The number on the right indicates the total length of the active selection in the playlist.
  • Clicking the Volume button brings up a slider that allows you to adjust the volume.
  • Clicking the Fullscreen button switches Parole into fullscreen mode. Clicking it again when in fullscreen mode will return to windowed mode.
The playlist pane is not visible when in fullscreen mode
  • The Show/Hide Playlist button is another toggle which is used to display or hide the playlist pane which appears to the right of the main Parole window.
The Control Bar is set to autohide any time a media selection is playing. You can unhide it temporarily by moving the mouse anywhere inside of the main Parole window.

Another way to control some playback functions and the Parole display is by right-clicking anywhere inside the main playback window. This will pop up the menu shown in Figure 3 below.

Parole's Right-Click Menu

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The Playlist Pane

When you first open Parole, only the main window is visible, as shown in the Figure 1 above. If you're going to be playing more than one selection in a Parole session, you will probably want to see those selections in a playlist. There are three ways to open the playlist pane: click PlaybackShow Playlist from the menu, click the Show/Hide Playlist icon on the playback control bar (Figure 2) or press the F9 shortcut key.

There are several buttons at the bottom of the playlist pane to help you manage your media selections. Refer to Figure 3 below for a description of the button functions. With the playlist open, you can also hover your mouse over the buttons to see those same descriptions. The horizontal resize bar can be used to widen the playlist pane so that you can see longer filenames. To widen, position the mouse over the dots in the center of the vertical separator bar until the double-headed arrow appears, click and drag to the left.

Parole's Playlist Pane

Switching to fullscreen mode temporarily hides the playlist pane. When you leave fullscreen mode, the playlist will be visible again.

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Playlist Actions

The buttons at the bottom of the playlist pane allow you to manage your selections and control playback sequence.

Add to playlist
Brings up an Open Media Files window to select files. You can select multiple files and click the Open button to add them all at once or you can drag and drop single items from the Open Media Files dialog to the playlist.
Remove selected media
Highlight one or more entries and click this button to remove the selected items from the playlist.
Clear playlist
Removes all items in the playlist at once.
Repeat and Shuffle
These modes can be enabled separately or together. When both are enabled, the entire playlist will play through in random order and upon completion, will be shuffled and begin playing again in a different order. When clicked, the background of these buttons turns dark gray to make it easier to see when these modes are in effect. See Figure 4 below.
Move Up and Move Down
Clicking these buttons will move a selected playlist entry up or down in the list one row per click.

Repeat and Shuffle Button Disabled

Repeat and Shuffle Button Enabled

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Using the Menus

Play Media

To play local media files, choose MediaOpen, or alternatively press the Ctrl-O keys. This will bring up the Open Media Files dialog, which will allow you to navigate to the directory containing the media file.

Open Media

To play network or internet media files, choose MediaOpen Location..., or alternatively press the Ctrl-L keys. This will bring up the Open Network Location dialog, which will allow you to enter its path and the full name of the URI in the case of a network media file, or its hyperlink URL in the case of a internet media file.

Parole needs additional plugins, like text/html decoder, to play internet media files

Open Location...

The MediaOpen Recent option will display a list of the recent media files played by parole, allowing a more convenient method of playing media files previously played.

Open Recent

The list of the recent media files played by Parole can be cleaned just by clicking MediaOpen RecentClear recent items....

Choose MediaSave Playlist... if you want to save a customized list of media files that you want to see or hear later, as a playlist. This will bring up the Save Playlist as.. dialog, which will allow you to define the playlist name and its location.

Save Playlist

For example, you can create a playlist that includes several tracks from multiple CDs, a link to a radio station and a video clip.

The functionality available in MediaPlay Disc will allow a more convenient method of playing DVDs. After inserting a DVD in your CD/DVD drive, just select it to enter the DVD menu, allowing you to have access to specific titles and chapters, special features, and change the audio and/or subtitles language.

Play Disk

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Playback

To activate the repetition of an item being played, or all items in the playlist, choose PlaybackRepeat.

Repeat

The repeat option will not repeat only one item if various items are selected, it will play all the items in the playlist once, and then play them again.

The PlaybackShuffle option will enable or disable the shuffle mode.

Shuffle

With the shuffle mode activated, the items in a playlist or tracks from a CD/DVD are played randomly.

To show or hide the playlist pane, to the right of the main Parole window, choose PlaybackShow Playlist, or alternatively press the F9 key.

Show Playlist

The playlist pane contains several buttons at the bottom to help you manage your media selections.

For information about advanced configuration of playlists, refer to the Playlist Settings section of the Preferences page.

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DVD

Whenever you start playing a DVD, a new menu item appears on the menu bar. This DVD menu item allows you to select several options which are specific to this medium.

The DVD Menu

Some or all of these options may not be applicable to the DVD you are playing. It depends on whether the DVD was authored with that type of content. Each option is explained in more detail below.

DVD Menu
If the DVD has a main or title menu, clicking this option suspends playback and displays that menu. You can then select an item from the menu to play that choice, or you can click DVD Menu again and playback will resume where you left off previously.
If the DVD has no menus, this option will restart playback from the beginning.
Title Menu
This option differs slightly from DVD menu. It will also display the DVD's main menu if one exists but your only option is then to select an item from that menu.
If the DVD has no Title Menu, this option will restart playback from the beginning.
Audio Menu
Displays a selection of audio tracks to choose from. For example, some DVDs have multiple audio tracks in different languages.
Angle menu
Allows you to choose different camera angles.
Chapters
Brings up a sub-menu of chapter numbers if they are available on the DVD. Select a chapter and playback will jump to that point.
When you play a DVD containing chapters, those chapters' numbers will appear in the playlist pane if it is visible. However, you must use the DVD menu item to switch to those chapters. You can't switch to them by clicking on them in the playlist. Also, the buttons at the bottom of the playlist are all disabled during DVD playback.

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Audio

The AudioVolume Up option will raise the volume of Parole's output audio.

Volume Up

The AudioVolume Down option will lower the volume of Parole's output audio.

Volume Down

You can also adjust Parole's output audio by clicking the volume button in the control bar. This will bring up a slider that allows you to adjust the volume.

The AudioMute option will mute, or unmute if previously muted, the volume of Parole's output audio.

Mute

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Video

The VideoFullscreen option, or alternatively the F11 key, will switch Parole to full screen mode. To return from full screen mode, press the Esc key.

Fullscreen

By switching to full screen mode, the player controls might appear for a short period of time. To restore the checks after they disappeared, move the mouse or press any key.

The VideoAspect Ratio option will allow to define the proportional relationship between the width and the height with which you intend to reproduce your videos. Below, is a brief explanation of the six possible choices available.

Option Definition
NoneNo image adjustment is made
AutoThe image is adjusted automatically to present the video with the most suitable size.
SquareThe image will be adjusted to present the video in a square format.
4:3 (TV)The image will be adjusted to present the video in the standard television format.
16:9 (Widescreen)The image will be adjusted to present the video in the international standard format of HDTV, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television PALplus.
20:9 (DVB)The image will be adjusted to present the video in the Digital Video Broadcasting format, which is similar to the widescreen cinema standard.

Aspect Ratio

The option VideoSubtitles will not only enable, or disable, the subtitles and captions of a video but also allows to choose the language in which they will be displayed, by selecting the correspondent language file.

Subtitles

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Tools

There are two selections under the Tools menu which can be used to configure Parole and extend its functionality.

Tools

For information about using plugins, refer to the the Plugins page.
The Preferences page explains how to configure Parole to your liking.

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Help

In the unlikely (we hope) event that you find a problem with Parole, use the Report a Bug option on this menu to help the developers resolve the problem. Before reporting the bug, be sure to check the online documentation, which you can open using the Contents option or hitting F1 on your keyboard. Use the About option to find which version of Parole you are running. When you click on About, you will also see a link to the Parole website where you can find the latest information about Parole.

Help

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Keyboard Shortcuts

Several keyboard shortcuts are available in Parole to make navigation quicker and easier. They are listed below, grouped by function:

Playback

Keys Action
p Play/Pause
Spacebar Play/Pause
Right arrow Seek ahead 10 secs
Left arrow Seek back 10 secs
Ctrl-Right arrow Seek ahead 60 secs
Ctrl-Left arrow Seek back 60 secs
Page Up Seek ahead 10 mins
Page Down Seek back 10 mins

Menu Items

Keys Action
Ctrl-M Show/Hide menu bar
Alt-M Media
Alt-P Playback
Alt-D DVD (only when DVD inserted)
Alt-A Audio
Alt-V Video
Alt-T Tools
Alt-H Help

Media

Keys Action
Ctrl-O Open
Ctrl-L Open Location
Ctrl-Q Quit

Playlist

Keys Action
F9 Show/Hide Playlist
Del Remove selected item from playlist
Up arrow Move up to next item in playlist
Down arrow Move down to next item in playlist

Volume

Keys Action
+ Volume Up
- Volume Down
0 Mute

Display

Keys Action
F11 Fullscreen/Leave Fullscreen
f Fullscreen/Leave Fullscreen
Esc Leave Fullscreen

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