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View DICOM images?

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Ant

unread,
Apr 7, 2015, 11:29:57 PM4/7/15
to
Hello.

What is the best free (no trialwares!) software that can view DICOM
images, from doctors' offices and hospitals, in updated Windows XP Pro
SP3? I only need to view the images.

Thank you in advance. :)
--
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Paul

unread,
Apr 8, 2015, 1:12:07 AM4/8/15
to
Ant wrote:
> Hello.
>
> What is the best free (no trialwares!) software that can view DICOM
> images, from doctors' offices and hospitals, in updated Windows XP Pro
> SP3? I only need to view the images.
>
> Thank you in advance. :)

Are you sure there isn't a viewer on the CD ?

*******

You could start with an article on DICOM.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dicom

*******

Or, you could start with a sample from a site that
keeps medical imaging samples. This one, for example,
is a human knee. The beginning of the file contains
an index section. Using a hex editor, you'll eventually
find "PNG". And that is the beginning of the first image.

http://www.mypacs.net/repos/mpv3_repo/viz/other/61840350.ipd

What isn't clear, is whether anything on that site is
official DICOM or not.

*******

I'm sure the staff at the hospital have had this
question before. I found the staff at reception
where I visited, to be pretty helpful. There was
a medical technician hanging around at the desk,
and he answered all my questions. (This is not
reception at the front of the building, but
reception at a specialist clinic inside
the building, where clever people will be
hanging around.) I did a dry run before my
appointment, making sure I could find the
place.

In reading an article today, I find out that the
hospital makes $12 million a year off parking fees.
Now you know why the hospital is so big. It's to
max out the money they can make off the parking :-)

Paul

VanguardLH

unread,
Apr 8, 2015, 3:37:56 AM4/8/15
to
NOTE: Original article posted to:

microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics
microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support

Removed the duplicated microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support in my
reply and to reduce the number of newsgroups to which the cross-posted
article was shotgunned (from 4 down to 3). Was considering removing
microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics but decided to leave it for now.


Ant wrote:

> What is the best free (no trialwares!) software that can view DICOM
> images, from doctors' offices and hospitals, in updated Windows XP Pro
> SP3? I only need to view the images.


Like Paul says, there's probably a viewer included on the disc where are
the imaging file copies. That's where I remember finding one after
getting an MRI. As I recall, the one they gave me on the disc wanted to
install but, I think, I managed to run it from the disc.

http://www.radiantviewer.com/download.php
It's free for evaluation (i.e., expiring trial version). Fully
functional. While it is trialware, it appears you merely have to
re-download the product to get an extension to the expiration.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/opendicomviewer/
That one is free and open source.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/opendicomviewer/
That one is free and open source.

http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/36014/DICOM-Image-Viewer
Supposedly derived from:
http://imagej.net/

http://www.dicomlibrary.com/viewer-online/
That's a shared library of DICOM images, perhaps for educational
purposed. If you're willing to upload your DICOM images (in a .zip
file) then you can use their web-based viewer. You don't need to
install any software but you do have to upload your images. They say
"Do not upload files with information written on image!" and it's likely
that you do have personal info in the image files.

Ant

unread,
Apr 8, 2015, 8:36:19 AM4/8/15
to
>> What is the best free (no trialwares!) software that can view DICOM
>> images, from doctors' offices and hospitals, in updated Windows XP Pro
>> SP3? I only need to view the images.
>
> Are you sure there isn't a viewer on the CD ?

Nope. Here is what I have in my local DVD (not CD) copy:

Directory of F:\transfer\discs\DVD\MyHeart12222014\Echocardiogram

04/07/2015 08:03 PM <DIR> .
04/07/2015 08:03 PM <DIR> ..
04/08/2015 05:03 AM <DIR> EXAM0
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 49 EXAM0.LST
1 File(s) 49 bytes

Directory of F:\transfer\discs\DVD\MyHeart12222014\Echocardiogram\EXAM0

04/08/2015 05:03 AM <DIR> .
04/08/2015 05:03 AM <DIR> ..
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 16,375,430 file1
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 331,804 file10
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 11,678,294 file100
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 4,517,762 file101
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 12,059,656 file102
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 5,017,474 file103
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 11,719,720 file104
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 4,550,646 file105
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 986,326 file106
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 13,976,398 file107
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 4,607,682 file108
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 987,340 file109
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 338,206 file11
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 334,212 file110
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 337,104 file111
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 344,766 file112
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 352,302 file113
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 68,234 file114
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 45,362 file115
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 336,502 file116
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 323,386 file117
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 58,306 file118
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 331,762 file12
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 6,018,276 file13
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 11,673,814 file14
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 4,627,824 file15
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 72,424 file16
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 14,014,640 file17
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 14,693,776 file18
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 5,212,676 file19
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 15,670,614 file2
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 14,758,828 file20
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 4,645,260 file21
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 949,500 file22
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 931,966 file23
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 16,056,350 file24
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 4,981,502 file25
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 14,308,352 file26
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 12,960,668 file27
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 16,726,700 file28
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 13,627,760 file29
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 25,456,074 file3
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 14,279,482 file30
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 14,811,124 file31
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 15,147,050 file32
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 5,108,430 file33
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 14,774,916 file34
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 5,403,042 file35
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 13,820,338 file36
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 8,390,502 file37
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 6,436,524 file38
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 884,612 file39
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 25,454,952 file4
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 886,712 file40
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 6,513,772 file41
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 818,998 file42
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 14,605,644 file43
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 14,418,040 file44
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 4,354,576 file45
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 786,728 file46
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 441,710 file47
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 810,614 file48
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 14,231,418 file49
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 25,293,962 file5
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 311,364 file50
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 5,398,684 file51
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 4,514,956 file52
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 12,693,200 file53
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 14,308,224 file54
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 14,109,190 file55
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 5,149,980 file56
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 16,860,092 file57
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 4,574,720 file58
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 14,572,062 file59
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 25,295,336 file6
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 15,267,874 file60
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 15,341,374 file61
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 4,206,712 file62
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 13,358,638 file63
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 4,291,792 file64
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 863,068 file65
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 457,982 file66
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 467,172 file67
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 4,276,334 file68
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 4,510,980 file69
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 382,944 file7
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 886,608 file70
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 13,394,986 file71
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 5,207,374 file72
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 882,814 file73
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 878,212 file74
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 294,672 file75
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 934,124 file76
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 12,942,382 file77
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 12,730,530 file78
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 12,018,642 file79
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 393,358 file8
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 280,544 file80
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 8,544,196 file81
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 5,532,044 file82
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 12,993,872 file83
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 4,067,640 file84
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 881,320 file85
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 441,320 file86
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 14,960,032 file87
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 13,779,846 file88
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 15,169,274 file89
04/07/2015 11:16 AM 14,854,084 file9
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 21,259,972 file90
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 13,735,844 file91
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 14,458,810 file92
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 14,569,862 file93
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 4,669,026 file94
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 14,031,310 file95
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 13,808,370 file96
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 4,290,020 file97
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 877,378 file98
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 10,182,248 file99
04/07/2015 11:17 AM 1,575 PS.DIR
119 File(s) 939,903,791 bytes

Directory of F:\transfer\discs\DVD\MyHeart12222014\RenalArtery

04/07/2015 08:03 PM <DIR> .
04/07/2015 08:03 PM <DIR> ..
04/08/2015 01:22 AM <DIR> EXAM0
04/07/2015 10:53 AM 49 EXAM0.LST
1 File(s) 49 bytes

Directory of F:\transfer\discs\DVD\MyHeart12222014\RenalArtery\EXAM0

04/08/2015 01:22 AM <DIR> .
04/08/2015 01:22 AM <DIR> ..
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 3,953,038 file1
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 4,019,000 file10
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 4,075,728 file11
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 3,482,690 file12
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 3,419,294 file13
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 1,801,934 file14
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 1,808,506 file15
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 1,810,922 file16
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 4,090,452 file17
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 4,056,390 file18
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 3,987,860 file19
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 3,524,892 file2
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 3,529,586 file20
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 1,783,576 file21
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 1,794,236 file22
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 1,784,390 file23
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 4,025,152 file24
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 4,033,358 file25
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 3,980,554 file26
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 3,530,774 file27
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 4,034,634 file28
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 3,532,902 file3
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 3,993,024 file4
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 4,033,812 file5
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 3,891,012 file6
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 3,992,776 file7
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 3,449,430 file8
04/07/2015 10:52 AM 4,006,042 file9
04/07/2015 10:53 AM 385 PS.DIR
29 File(s) 95,426,349 bytes

Total Files Listed:
151 File(s) 1,035,330,238 bytes
14 Dir(s) 64,484,802,560 bytes free


> *******
>
> I'm sure the staff at the hospital have had this
> question before. I found the staff at reception
> where I visited, to be pretty helpful. There was
> a medical technician hanging around at the desk,
> and he answered all my questions. (This is not
> reception at the front of the building, but
> reception at a specialist clinic inside
> the building, where clever people will be
> hanging around.) I did a dry run before my
> appointment, making sure I could find the
> place.
>
> In reading an article today, I find out that the
> hospital makes $12 million a year off parking fees.
> Now you know why the hospital is so big. It's to
> max out the money they can make off the parking :-)

Yeah, they're so expensive. Also, their constructions to expand isn't
helping recently! I had to pay almost 13K just to test on my almost 40
years high blood pressured old heart recently. :(
--
"Don't step on ants... they're people too." --a quote from ANTZ movie.

Ant

unread,
Apr 8, 2015, 8:49:01 AM4/8/15
to
On 4/8/2015 12:37 AM, VanguardLH wrote:
> NOTE: Original article posted to:
>
> microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
> microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
> microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics
> microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
>
> Removed the duplicated microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support in my
> reply and to reduce the number of newsgroups to which the cross-posted
> article was shotgunned (from 4 down to 3). Was considering removing
> microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics but decided to leave it for now.

Oops, thank you for catching that!


>> What is the best free (no trialwares!) software that can view DICOM
>> images, from doctors' offices and hospitals, in updated Windows XP Pro
>> SP3? I only need to view the images.
>
> Like Paul says, there's probably a viewer included on the disc where are
> the imaging file copies. That's where I remember finding one after
> getting an MRI. As I recall, the one they gave me on the disc wanted to
> install but, I think, I managed to run it from the disc.

Nope. Here is what I saw in my local DVD copy (so slow!) to HDD.
> http://www.radiantviewer.com/download.php
> It's free for evaluation (i.e., expiring trial version). Fully
> functional. While it is trialware, it appears you merely have to
> re-download the product to get an extension to the expiration.

That program worked. However, I changed the dates to years later as a
test, but it nagged me to download. I just installed its latest. :P


> http://sourceforge.net/projects/opendicomviewer/
> That one is free and open source.
>
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/opendicomviewer/
> That one is free and open source.

Duplicates? ;) Hmm, this requires Java?


> http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/36014/DICOM-Image-Viewer

I get "Sorry, I can't read a DICOM file with this Transfer Syntax." with
my image files. :(


> Supposedly derived from:
> http://imagej.net/
>
> http://www.dicomlibrary.com/viewer-online/
> That's a shared library of DICOM images, perhaps for educational
> purposed. If you're willing to upload your DICOM images (in a .zip
> file) then you can use their web-based viewer. You don't need to
> install any software but you do have to upload your images. They say
> "Do not upload files with information written on image!" and it's likely
> that you do have personal info in the image files.

Heck no to that. These are privates. :/
--
"The tiny ant dares to enter the lion's ear." --Armenian

Paul

unread,
Apr 8, 2015, 11:49:56 AM4/8/15
to
Ant wrote:
>>> What is the best free (no trialwares!) software that can view DICOM
>>> images, from doctors' offices and hospitals, in updated Windows XP Pro
>>> SP3? I only need to view the images.
>>
>> Are you sure there isn't a viewer on the CD ?
>
> Nope. Here is what I have in my local DVD (not CD) copy:
>
> Directory of F:\transfer\discs\DVD\MyHeart12222014\Echocardiogram\EXAM0
>
> 04/07/2015 11:16 AM 16,375,430 file1
> 04/07/2015 11:16 AM 331,804 file10
> 119 File(s) 939,903,791 bytes
>
> Directory of F:\transfer\discs\DVD\MyHeart12222014\RenalArtery\EXAM0
>
> 04/07/2015 10:52 AM 3,953,038 file1
> 04/07/2015 10:52 AM 4,019,000 file10
> 04/07/2015 10:53 AM 385 PS.DIR
> 29 File(s) 95,426,349 bytes
>
> Total Files Listed:
> 151 File(s) 1,035,330,238 bytes
> 14 Dir(s) 64,484,802,560 bytes free

I checked the "MAGIC" file on the Windows port of the
Linux "file" command, and it has one entry for DICOM.
The magic string in the header is "DICM", at offset 128 bytes.
I didn't see any evidence that file.exe is capable of
looking any further than that.

Using the file.exe command, whether on Linux or Windows would
be a start. But only if you don't have a hex editor
handy.

http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/file.htm

That package is a bit tricky, in that file.exe
won't work right, unless the lib and bin folders
are at the same level. The file.exe program goes
searching for the magic file as ../lib/magic
or similar. Normally, for the GNUWIN32 stuff,
I just throw package components into a single
folder and use them that way. But for "file.exe",
a part of the directory structure must be maintained.

And really, all you're doing in that case, is
the same sort of thing you could do with a hex
editor. Namely, look at offset 128 (0x80 hex)
and see if the DICM string is present.

*******

The last time I was researching the topic, this FAQ
showed in the search results.

http://www.dclunie.com/medical-image-faq/html/part8.html

The text on this page, makes reference to a JAVA based viewer.

http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/36014/DICOM-Image-Viewer

* Preamble: comprising 128 bytes, followed by,
* Prefix: comprising the characters 'D', 'I', 'C', 'M', followed by,
* File Meta Header: This comprises, among others, the
Media SOP Class UID, Media SOP Instance UID,
and the Transfer Syntax UID. By default, these
are encoded in explicit VR, Little Endian. The
data is to be read and interpreted depending
upon the VR type.
* Data Set: comprising a number of DICOM Elements,
characterized by tags and their values.

So you can probably dig something up.

ImageJ (needs Java, written in Java to run on multiple platforms)

http://rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagej

To get Java, find a JRE on here.

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html

What you want, is a "file which is big and doesn't have the
word online in the description". The reason for the care,
is adware or drive-by install awaits some lucky "online"
file users. The complete packages tend to be clean.

Windows x64 40.94 MB jre-8u40-windows-x64.exe

It's not clear to me, how compatible the Java streams are.
For example, when Java 8 came out, some Java packages
still worked better with Java 7. So you may still
need to play around a bit.

Happy downloading,

Paul

Don Phillipson

unread,
Apr 8, 2015, 12:51:45 PM4/8/15
to
"Ant" <a...@zimage.comANT> wrote in message
news:4cWdnX7p2MopPbnI...@earthlink.com...

> What is the best free (no trialwares!) software that can view DICOM
> images, from doctors' offices and hospitals, in updated Windows XP Pro
> SP3? I only need to view the images.

Our MRI clinic provided free on the CD software EFilmLt.EXE from
www.merge.com. It works with WinXP.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)


Tim Slattery

unread,
Apr 8, 2015, 2:59:06 PM4/8/15
to
Ant <a...@zimage.comANT> wrote:

>Hello.
>
>What is the best free (no trialwares!) software that can view DICOM
>images, from doctors' offices and hospitals, in updated Windows XP Pro
>SP3? I only need to view the images.

Googling "dicom file viewer" returns quite a few choices, including
some free ones.

--
Tim Slattery
tim <at> risingdove <dot> com

VanguardLH

unread,
Apr 9, 2015, 12:26:48 AM4/9/15
to
Ant wrote:

> VanguardLH wrote:
>
>> http://sourceforge.net/projects/opendicomviewer/
>> That one is free and open source.
>>
>> http://sourceforge.net/projects/opendicomviewer/
>> That one is free and open source.
>
> Duplicates? ;)

More likely a double tap of Ctrl+V.

> Hmm, this requires Java?

Can't have everything your way for free stuff. Even Burger King ditched
their "Have It Your Way" slogan a year ago.

Ant

unread,
Apr 9, 2015, 9:59:59 AM4/9/15
to
>> What is the best free (no trialwares!) software that can view DICOM
>> images, from doctors' offices and hospitals, in updated Windows XP Pro
>> SP3? I only need to view the images.
>
> Our MRI clinic provided free on the CD software EFilmLt.EXE from
> www.merge.com. It works with WinXP.

I must be blind, but I don't see a downloadable EFilmLt.EXE software on
Merge's web site?
--
"Antacid: What ants use to get high." --unknown

Ant

unread,
Apr 9, 2015, 10:01:27 AM4/9/15
to
>> What is the best free (no trialwares!) software that can view DICOM
>> images, from doctors' offices and hospitals, in updated Windows XP Pro
>> SP3? I only need to view the images.
>
> Googling "dicom file viewer" returns quite a few choices, including
> some free ones.

But so many are free to be trialwares only. Many old freewares cannot
seem to open the image files (can't share them in public too). :(
--
Allah's Apostle said, "Once while a prophet amongst the prophets was
taking a rest underneath a tree, an ant bit him. He, therefore, ordered
that his luggage be taken away from underneath that tree and then
ordered that the dwelling place of the ants should be set on fire. Allah
sent him a revelation: 'Wouldn't it have been sufficient to burn a
single ant (that bit you)?'" --Translation of Sahih Bukhari, Book 54,
Number 536

VanguardLH

unread,
Apr 9, 2015, 5:29:36 PM4/9/15
to
Ant wrote:

> Hello.
>
> What is the best free (no trialwares!) software that can view DICOM
> images, from doctors' offices and hospitals, in updated Windows XP Pro
> SP3? I only need to view the images.
>
> Thank you in advance. :)

Another possibility: ask the doc to provide a viewer. The images are
not their property. You (or your medical insurance provider on your
behalf) paid for the services which included the images on film.
Whomever gave you the DICOM image disc should also provide software to
let you view those images.

Paul

unread,
Apr 9, 2015, 6:00:53 PM4/9/15
to
Ant wrote:
>>> What is the best free (no trialwares!) software that can view DICOM
>>> images, from doctors' offices and hospitals, in updated Windows XP Pro
>>> SP3? I only need to view the images.
>>
>> Our MRI clinic provided free on the CD software EFilmLt.EXE from
>> www.merge.com. It works with WinXP.
>
> I must be blind, but I don't see a downloadable EFilmLt.EXE software on
> Merge's web site?


Merge.com makes a "Workstation" software. A guess would
be, you pay big bucks for the Workstation part, then
as a physician you are given the EFilmLt.EXE which is
part of the CD given to patients. It's bundled with the output.

The program reads some sort of binary file, which contains
the index to the CD.

http://blog.echothis.com/2009/04/02/reading-ct-scans-with-efilmltexe-on-vista/

"It seems that this proprietary reader (eFilmLT.exe), made
by Merge Software, looks for a valid binary "DICOMDIR" file
that points to the metadata for the particular scan images
on the CD"

So rather than that being a directory on the CD, it's a
binary file with information the reader uses to find
stuff on the CD. (In other words, totally unnecessary.)

At the end of that article is a ZIP file with software in it.
Suitable for examination, and without a sample of a working
DICOMDIR binary file.

Paul




Ant

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Apr 10, 2015, 7:02:22 AM4/10/15
to
Hello all.

Thank you to everyone who tried to help me find a freeware viewer. I
finally found a viewer that worked in my very old, updated Windows XP
Pro SP3 machine: MicroDicom DICOM viewer from
http://www.microdicom.com/downloads.html ... :)
--
"Size isn't everything. The whale is endangered, while the ant continues
to do just fine." --Bill Vaughan

VanguardLH

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Apr 10, 2015, 1:26:19 PM4/10/15
to
Ant wrote:

> Thank you to everyone who tried to help me find a freeware viewer. I
> finally found a viewer that worked in my very old, updated Windows XP
> Pro SP3 machine: MicroDicom DICOM viewer from
> http://www.microdicom.com/downloads.html ... :)

That page also had some example DICOM image files. I was able to open
them using XnView, a popular alternative to Irfanview (I have both).
All I saw was the image, none of the data in the files, like patient
information. You said all you wanted was to view the images.

Ant

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Apr 11, 2015, 9:28:05 PM4/11/15
to
Yeah, the ones I have seems to be encrypted or something? Anyways,
MicroDicom DICOM viewer worked well but not IrfanView v4.38 with its
(lat/new)est plugins.
--
"While an ant was wandering under the shade of the tree of Phæton, a
drop of amber enveloped the tiny insect; thus she, who in life was
disregarded, became precious by death." --Martial, Epigrams (c. 80-104
AD), Book VI, Epistle 15.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
/ /\ /\ \ Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net
| |o o| |
\ _ / If crediting, then use Ant nickname and AQFL URL/link.
( ) Axe ANT from its address if e-mailing privately.
A song (i/wa)s playing on this computer: Track 6

Paul

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Apr 11, 2015, 10:07:36 PM4/11/15
to
The danger with this idea, is you would only see the first image
in the file. If the DICOM file contained multiple images,
XnView would ignore all of the ones after the first one.

The reason that can work, is an image viewer is designed to ignore
"tagging" fields. And only look for identity strings or 4CC codes
that are part of a particular image type. So while it might
"run into" an image as it scans the file, the image viewer application
is not designed to extract all possible images in there (as the DICOM
could be like a ZIP file in terms of organization).

Even if you didn't have a complete viewer application, but just had
a DICOM parser to "unzip" the file, that would be better than nothing
in terms of extraction.

*******

To test this out, you and Ant could agree on a test
file to use, then see who can locate the most images
inside it.

Paul

VanguardLH

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Apr 11, 2015, 10:45:32 PM4/11/15
to
Ant wrote:

> On 4/10/2015 10:26 AM, VanguardLH wrote:
>> Ant wrote:
>>
>>> Thank you to everyone who tried to help me find a freeware viewer. I
>>> finally found a viewer that worked in my very old, updated Windows XP
>>> Pro SP3 machine: MicroDicom DICOM viewer from
>>> http://www.microdicom.com/downloads.html ... :)
>>
>> That page also had some example DICOM image files. I was able to open
>> them using XnView, a popular alternative to Irfanview (I have both).
>> All I saw was the image, none of the data in the files, like patient
>> information. You said all you wanted was to view the images.
>
> Yeah, the ones I have seems to be encrypted or something? Anyways,
> MicroDicom DICOM viewer worked well but not IrfanView v4.38 with its
> (lat/new)est plugins.

Irfanview didn't work for me, either; however, XnView did.

Ant

unread,
Apr 12, 2015, 1:59:15 PM4/12/15
to
I e-mailed with Irfan recently and he said these things about my DICOM
issue:

"Sorry, I am using a third party Dicom plugin and not all possible and
crazy Dicom types can be properly loaded ;)"

"My plugin is based on ezDicom ... and yes, ezDicom is not perfect and
there can be crashes.
Dicom is a bad format ... "

"I found the sources but sorry, the Aeskulap code is under the GPL
license and can't be used in non-GPL programs ;)"


XnView isn't free like IrfanView. :(
--
"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise: which
having no guide, overseer or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer and
gathereth her food in the harvest." --Proverbs 6:6-8 (Bible)
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
/ /\ /\ \ Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net
| |o o| |
\ _ / If crediting, then use Ant nickname and AQFL URL/link.

Ant

unread,
Apr 12, 2015, 2:01:15 PM4/12/15
to
On 4/11/2015 7:07 PM, Paul wrote:

> The danger with this idea, is you would only see the first image
> in the file. If the DICOM file contained multiple images,
> XnView would ignore all of the ones after the first one.
>
> The reason that can work, is an image viewer is designed to ignore
> "tagging" fields. And only look for identity strings or 4CC codes
> that are part of a particular image type. So while it might
> "run into" an image as it scans the file, the image viewer application
> is not designed to extract all possible images in there (as the DICOM
> could be like a ZIP file in terms of organization).
>
> Even if you didn't have a complete viewer application, but just had
> a DICOM parser to "unzip" the file, that would be better than nothing
> in terms of extraction.
>
> *******
>
> To test this out, you and Ant could agree on a test
> file to use, then see who can locate the most images
> inside it.

I can't share mine since they are private, but I can share these if they
help from my Linux/Debian stable box:

$ file *
file1: DICOM medical imaging data
file10: DICOM medical imaging data
file100: DICOM medical imaging data
file101: DICOM medical imaging data
file102: DICOM medical imaging data
file103: DICOM medical imaging data
file104: DICOM medical imaging data
file105: DICOM medical imaging data
file106: DICOM medical imaging data
file107: DICOM medical imaging data
file108: DICOM medical imaging data
file109: DICOM medical imaging data
file11: DICOM medical imaging data
file110: DICOM medical imaging data
file111: DICOM medical imaging data
file112: DICOM medical imaging data
file113: DICOM medical imaging data
file114: DICOM medical imaging data
file115: DICOM medical imaging data
file116: DICOM medical imaging data
file117: DICOM medical imaging data
file118: DICOM medical imaging data
file12: DICOM medical imaging data
file13: DICOM medical imaging data
file14: DICOM medical imaging data
file15: DICOM medical imaging data
file16: DICOM medical imaging data
file17: DICOM medical imaging data
file18: DICOM medical imaging data
file19: DICOM medical imaging data
file2: DICOM medical imaging data
file20: DICOM medical imaging data
file21: DICOM medical imaging data
file22: DICOM medical imaging data
file23: DICOM medical imaging data
file24: DICOM medical imaging data
file25: DICOM medical imaging data
file26: DICOM medical imaging data
file27: DICOM medical imaging data
file28: DICOM medical imaging data
file29: DICOM medical imaging data
file3: DICOM medical imaging data
file30: DICOM medical imaging data
file31: DICOM medical imaging data
file32: DICOM medical imaging data
file33: DICOM medical imaging data
file34: DICOM medical imaging data
file35: DICOM medical imaging data
file36: DICOM medical imaging data
file37: DICOM medical imaging data
file38: DICOM medical imaging data
file39: DICOM medical imaging data
file4: DICOM medical imaging data
file40: DICOM medical imaging data
file41: DICOM medical imaging data
file42: DICOM medical imaging data
file43: DICOM medical imaging data
file44: DICOM medical imaging data
file45: DICOM medical imaging data
file46: DICOM medical imaging data
file47: DICOM medical imaging data
file48: DICOM medical imaging data
file49: DICOM medical imaging data
file5: DICOM medical imaging data
file50: DICOM medical imaging data
file51: DICOM medical imaging data
file52: DICOM medical imaging data
file53: DICOM medical imaging data
file54: DICOM medical imaging data
file55: DICOM medical imaging data
file56: DICOM medical imaging data
file57: DICOM medical imaging data
file58: DICOM medical imaging data
file59: DICOM medical imaging data
file6: DICOM medical imaging data
file60: DICOM medical imaging data
file61: DICOM medical imaging data
file62: DICOM medical imaging data
file63: DICOM medical imaging data
file64: DICOM medical imaging data
file65: DICOM medical imaging data
file66: DICOM medical imaging data
file67: DICOM medical imaging data
file68: DICOM medical imaging data
file69: DICOM medical imaging data
file7: DICOM medical imaging data
file70: DICOM medical imaging data
file71: DICOM medical imaging data
file72: DICOM medical imaging data
file73: DICOM medical imaging data
file74: DICOM medical imaging data
file75: DICOM medical imaging data
file76: DICOM medical imaging data
file77: DICOM medical imaging data
file78: DICOM medical imaging data
file79: DICOM medical imaging data
file8: DICOM medical imaging data
file80: DICOM medical imaging data
file81: DICOM medical imaging data
file82: DICOM medical imaging data
file83: DICOM medical imaging data
file84: DICOM medical imaging data
file85: DICOM medical imaging data
file86: DICOM medical imaging data
file87: DICOM medical imaging data
file88: DICOM medical imaging data
file89: DICOM medical imaging data
file9: DICOM medical imaging data
file90: DICOM medical imaging data
file91: DICOM medical imaging data
file92: DICOM medical imaging data
file93: DICOM medical imaging data
file94: DICOM medical imaging data
file95: DICOM medical imaging data
file96: DICOM medical imaging data
file97: DICOM medical imaging data
file98: DICOM medical imaging data
file99: DICOM medical imaging data
PS.DIR: ASCII text, with CRLF line terminators
--
"... Something wrong with the gun," he said. "But what if there is?
They'll get it right again. And even if there's a delay, how can it
alter the end? It's just men and ants. There's the ants builds their
cities, live their lives, have wars, revolutions, until the men want
them out of the way, and then they go out of the way. That's what we are
now -- just ants. Only --" "Yes," "We're eatable ants..." --H.G. Wells'
The War of the Worlds

Paul

unread,
Apr 12, 2015, 4:06:10 PM4/12/15
to
Ant wrote:
> On 4/11/2015 7:07 PM, Paul wrote:
>
>> The danger with this idea, is you would only see the first image
>> in the file. If the DICOM file contained multiple images,
>> XnView would ignore all of the ones after the first one.
>>
>> The reason that can work, is an image viewer is designed to ignore
>> "tagging" fields. And only look for identity strings or 4CC codes
>> that are part of a particular image type. So while it might
>> "run into" an image as it scans the file, the image viewer application
>> is not designed to extract all possible images in there (as the DICOM
>> could be like a ZIP file in terms of organization).
>>
>> Even if you didn't have a complete viewer application, but just had
>> a DICOM parser to "unzip" the file, that would be better than nothing
>> in terms of extraction.
>>
>> *******
>>
>> To test this out, you and Ant could agree on a test
>> file to use, then see who can locate the most images
>> inside it.
>
> I can't share mine since they are private, but I can share these if they
> help from my Linux/Debian stable box:
>
> $ file *
> file1: DICOM medical imaging data
> file10: DICOM medical imaging data
<<snipped>>
> PS.DIR: ASCII text, with CRLF line terminators

The microdicom site had some sample files.
Find one for which the viewer you downloaded,
locates multiple files. Then Vanguard can try
his viewer and see if he can locate all the
image files inside.

I looked at a couple of sample files from that
site, but with my hex editor, I couldn't
figure out where the images began, and where
I should be snipping. What I was seeing was
weird, and almost looked like it had a
double-byte orientation. This is unlike the
mypacs sample I got, where I could see PNG
multiple times inside the file, and it was
easy to snip them out with the hex editor
and open each PNG separately.

Paul

VanguardLH

unread,
Apr 12, 2015, 4:16:05 PM4/12/15
to
Ant wrote:

> VanguardLH wrote:
>
>> Irfanview didn't work for me, either; however, XnView did.
>
> I e-mailed with Irfan recently and he said these things about my DICOM
> issue:
>
> "Sorry, I am using a third party Dicom plugin and not all possible and
> crazy Dicom types can be properly loaded ;)"
>
> "My plugin is based on ezDicom ... and yes, ezDicom is not perfect and
> there can be crashes.
> Dicom is a bad format ... "
>
> "I found the sources but sorry, the Aeskulap code is under the GPL
> license and can't be used in non-GPL programs ;)"
>
> XnView isn't free ...

Who said XnView isn't free? You? Or were you quoting the Irfanview
author? Of course it is free - for personal use.

http://www.xnview.com/en/xnview/#downloads
"If you intend to use XnView in a company, you must purchase a license."

You never said whatever Dicom viewer you found would be deployed within
a business. So far, it has been all about just you.

> ... like IrfanView. :(

But Irfanview didn't work on the sample images. From Irfanview's
download page, 4.38 is the latest version. That's what I have. I also
downloaded and installed the 4.38 version plug-ins. Under Help ->
Installed plug-ins, DICOM.DLL 4.20 "Dicom images - DCM ACR IMA" is
listed and that's the version listed on Irfanview's download page. It
didn't work when I tried using Irfanview with the Dicom plug-in to view
the sample images. Could be XnView works on some Dicom images where the
Irfanview Dicom plug-in fails, and perhaps visa versa, too.

Ant

unread,
Apr 13, 2015, 11:09:39 PM4/13/15
to
> Who said XnView isn't free? You? Or were you quoting the Irfanview
> author? Of course it is free - for personal use.
>
> http://www.xnview.com/en/xnview/#downloads
> "If you intend to use XnView in a company, you must purchase a license."
>
> You never said whatever Dicom viewer you found would be deployed within
> a business. So far, it has been all about just you.

It's personal home usage so I can view my own images. Ah, I missed that
part. So I tried it, but it failed to open the images. :(


> But Irfanview didn't work on the sample images. From Irfanview's
> download page, 4.38 is the latest version. That's what I have. I also
> downloaded and installed the 4.38 version plug-ins. Under Help ->
> Installed plug-ins, DICOM.DLL 4.20 "Dicom images - DCM ACR IMA" is
> listed and that's the version listed on Irfanview's download page. It
> didn't work when I tried using Irfanview with the Dicom plug-in to view
> the sample images. Could be XnView works on some Dicom images where the
> Irfanview Dicom plug-in fails, and perhaps visa versa, too.

Well, both of them failed for me with the non-sample images I have.
--
"A centipede is an ant made to Canadian/government specs." --unknown

VanguardLH

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Apr 14, 2015, 3:55:36 PM4/14/15
to
Ant wrote:

> It's personal home usage so I can view my own images. Ah, I missed that
> part. So I tried it, but it failed to open the images. :(

For the Minimal version, there are *two* downloads to install:
#1 - Program (Irfanview).
#2 - Plug-ins (including Dicom DLL).

You probably forgot the 2nd download and install. Not all users want
the plug-ins so they have a Minimal version that omits the plug-ins. If
you want the Minimal version with plug-ins, you have to do 2 downloads.
The Standard version only includes some plug-ins, so you'll still need
the plug-ins download to get all plug-ins. I suspect the Dicom decoder
is consider esoteric and probably not included in a partial plug-ins
bundle. The Extended version includes all the plug-ins.

For the install of XnView, I don't included everything they bundle in
their installer. I don't convert batches of images mostly because any
conversion results in loss of quality, so I don't need their Nconvert.
I didn't bother to install their XnShell (Windows Explorer integration).
I directly use the XnView program, not by right-clicking on image files
to use XnView from a context menu. Too many programs want to add
context menu entries in Windows Explorer making it busy and messy. To
me, their Media Detector seems superfluous and wastes memory. It reads
image files on digital memory cards inserted into a card reader. I
don't need a resident program for that.

http://www.xnview.com/en/nconvert/
http://www.xnview.com/en/xnshell/

As I recall, I installed the Minimal edition and the plug-ins package.
That eliminates their bundleware for Nconverter, XnShell, and Media
Detector.

XnViewMP is the successor to XnView. I haven't bothered to look at
XnViewMP (http://www.xnview.com/en/xnviewmp/).

Since you found a Dicom viewer that meets your needs, don't bother with
XnView unless you want an alternate image viewer to Irfanview that has a
more modern user interface.

Ant

unread,
Apr 15, 2015, 7:21:02 AM4/15/15
to
On 4/14/2015 12:55 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
> Ant wrote:
>
>> It's personal home usage so I can view my own images. Ah, I missed that
>> part. So I tried it, but it failed to open the images. :(
>
> For the Minimal version, there are *two* downloads to install:
> #1 - Program (Irfanview).
> #2 - Plug-ins (including Dicom DLL).
>
> You probably forgot the 2nd download and install. Not all users want
> the plug-ins so they have a Minimal version that omits the plug-ins. If
> you want the Minimal version with plug-ins, you have to do 2 downloads.
> The Standard version only includes some plug-ins, so you'll still need
> the plug-ins download to get all plug-ins. I suspect the Dicom decoder
> is consider esoteric and probably not included in a partial plug-ins
> bundle. The Extended version includes all the plug-ins.

I do have all of them.

>
> For the install of XnView, I don't included everything they bundle in
> their installer. I don't convert batches of images mostly because any
> conversion results in loss of quality, so I don't need their Nconvert.
> I didn't bother to install their XnShell (Windows Explorer integration).
> I directly use the XnView program, not by right-clicking on image files
> to use XnView from a context menu. Too many programs want to add
> context menu entries in Windows Explorer making it busy and messy. To
> me, their Media Detector seems superfluous and wastes memory. It reads
> image files on digital memory cards inserted into a card reader. I
> don't need a resident program for that.
>
> http://www.xnview.com/en/nconvert/
> http://www.xnview.com/en/xnshell/
>
> As I recall, I installed the Minimal edition and the plug-ins package.
> That eliminates their bundleware for Nconverter, XnShell, and Media
> Detector.
>
> XnViewMP is the successor to XnView. I haven't bothered to look at
> XnViewMP (http://www.xnview.com/en/xnviewmp/).
>
> Since you found a Dicom viewer that meets your needs, don't bother with
> XnView unless you want an alternate image viewer to Irfanview that has a
> more modern user interface.

I grabbed the whole package, but in portable package. Thanks though. :)
--
"Since the world began, we have never exterminated. We probably shall
never exterminate as much as one single insect species. If there was
ever an example of an insect we cannot destroy, the fire ant is it."
--an entomologist quote mentioned by Leonard Nimoy on In The Search Of:
Deadly Ants (1978)
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