Re: How to play these files on Debian (Sarge)

[Robert Glueck <rglk1@web.de>]

Marc Shapiro wrote:
> 
> I'm being schizo and replying to myself, again.  Xine
> seems to actually
> be doing the job, at least with the w32codec installed. 
> (I will try it
> w/o the codec tomorrow.)  So far it is the only player
> that is playing a
> .mov file.  How does it do on other file types (RealAudio,
> MPEG, mp3,
> OGG, other Quicktime formats, etc)?  Any feedback from
> actual users
> would be appreciated.  If Xine can do all the work, then I
> can get rid
> of the others.  One media player for all formats would be
> my ideal, if it can be done.
> 

You wanted some feedback on which media players play which
formats in Debian Sarge.  I just ran a couple of tests on
my media players using common media formats.  Here are the
results:

                 mov     avi     wmv     rm      mpg   mp3
Xine          yes      yes     yes       no       yes    yes
VLC       vid only  yes     yes       no       yes     yes
Mplayer vid only  yes     yes      no       yes     yes
RealPlayer  no      no      no       yes      no      yes

With mov, MPlayer produced the error message "needs codec
for audio format 0x324D4451".  Perhaps the same codec is
what's needed for VLC, too.  I'll see if I can find it
somewhere.  

Versions installed:

Xine 0.99.3
MPlayer 1.0cvs
VLC 0.8.2-svn
RealPlayer 10.0.6.776 (Gold) for Linux

Codecs installed:

Xine: codecs for Xine are automatically installed with the
Xine package, I believe
VLC: VLC either comes with its own codecs or perhaps it uses
the codecs in /usr/lib/win32
RealPlayer: RP installs its own codecs
in .../RealPlayer/codecs
MPlayer: the "essential codecs" package from
http://www2.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/essential-20050412.tar.bz2,
installed in /usr/lib/win32

I also installed the "windows all" and some QuickTime
packages (windows-all-20050412.zip,
qt65dlls-20040704.tar.bz2, qtextras-20041107.tar.bz2) from
http://www2.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/
in /usr/lib/codecs and created a symlink "ln
-s /usr/lib/win32 /usr/lib/codecs".

I also copied the RealPlayer10 codecs
(in .../RealPlayer/codecs/) to /usr/lib/win32
         
General comments on codecs packages needed: The "essential"
package should be enough. The "windows-all" package
contains codecs for all platforms (Linux, Windows and some
other Unixes).  It also contains RealPlayer codecs which
are already installed by RealPlayer.  In case of trouble
with some QuickTime movies, you can install the separate
QuickTime packages as well (otherwise don't) and see if
that helps.  Put the codecs in /usr/lib/win32.

Re Richard Lyons saying:

"I had something similar a couple of days ago, watching a
DVD.  vlc has
an 'audio' menu, IIRC, containing mono, stereo and something
else. It
was defaulting every time to the something else, and
clicking on stereo
switched the sound on."

I can't find this 'audio' menu anywhere in my version of
VLC.

HTH,

Robert