Movie Applications

Abstract

This section will discuss movie players available with Mandrake Linux. It will introduce the best applications, hint at the problems you could face while using them, and suggest resources to get the best out of them.

Introduction

The main problem with video players under GNU/Linux is that most popular video codecs are proprietary, and to implement them in a free software application (mainly due to the cost of licensing), the codecs have to be reverse-engineered. This is very complex and may not be legal in some countries, which limits the availability of such codecs, and thus the type of video files that can be reproduced under GNU/Linux.

For example, it will be virtually impossible to play Quicktime files or DVDs without downloading the corresponding plugins from the Internet.

Warning

In some countries, the status of the DVD playback and reverse-engineered codecs is still under review. That is why MandrakeSoft does not include all the plugins to use those codecs[12]. The information included here is meant to help Mandrake Linux users who know that, in their country, using these is legal. MandrakeSoft does not encourage law violation and you should verify the law(s) that apply in your case, before you download these codecs and plugins.

Xine

This is one of the most interesting video application for GNU/Linux. It supports a wide range of formats and input sources. It is fast, flexible and extensible. The last version, 0.9.22 at the time of this writing, is quite stable and able to support all popular formats.

To launch Xine, simply select the Multimedia+Video->Xine item of the main menu. You can also run Xine from a terminal. Type xine --help to see all available options.

The 1st time Xine is invoked, its configuration dialog window will be opened in the foreground and will be waiting for you to accept the suggested settings or change them to your liking. Make your choices and click on the OK button. The window that is empty apart from the application name and the URL of its web site, will be used for actual movie playing. Unless, of course, you decide to use full-screen playback mode.

The other one, is the application's main window, containing all the controls. Its interface can be modified by selecting different skins. Here we will refer to the default skin, as shown in Figure 12.13.

Figure 12.13. Xine's Control Window

Xine's Control Window

If the meaning of one of the buttons is not immediately clear, leave the mouse pointer over it for a second or two, and you will see a nice help balloon explaining the button's function. The interface itself is very similar to that of a CD player, so many of the controls should be self-explanatory. To watch a DVD (unencrypted only) or VCD disk, insert the medium in the drive, click on the DVD or VCD button, then on the Play button. To choose a file, click on the MRL Browser button (the one labelled ://, located at the lower left corner, just above the Quit button) to open a window which will let you navigate the directory tree and choose the desired file.

To move the control window, click on it with the left mouse button and keeping it pressed, move the mouse pointer. When in full-screen mode, you will be able to hide and recall the control window by simply clicking once with the right mouse button and removing (to hide) or adding (to show) the mark from the GUI visibility menu entry, a very handy feature when you do not want the control window to “interfere” with movie playback.

MPlayer

MPlayer is yet another interesting application and supports multiple output drivers, and even old video cards. It also supports DVD, AVI, VideoCD, amongst others. You will probably have to download and install winDLLs and proprietary codecs to make it work with many popular video formats. On one hand this might seem unfortunate, but on the other it gives you access to all formats supported under Windows.

Install the mplayer-gui package (refer to Chapter 21, RpmDrake: Package Management for more information on package installation). Then, choose Multimedia+Video->MPlayer to launch MPlayer.

The interface is very similar to that of Xine (see Figure 12.14), unless you opt for some of the more “exotic” skins. It is less user-friendly, however, lacking some of the features that are expected from modern software (such as help balloons for all the buttons), but fortunately the pop-up menu is very easy to access and use: just right click anywhere on MPlayer's interface and you will be able to choose the most important options.

Figure 12.14. MPlayer's Control Window

MPlayer's Control Window

You can easily switch to and from full-screen playback mode pressing the F key over MPlayer's video output window. When in full-screen playback mode, the main window can be hidden by simply moving the mouse over it and then out of it; clicking on the screen will bring the main window back.

To watch a movie, either a file or a DVD/VCD disk, choose the appropriate medium in the pop-up menu, e.g. Open->Play VCD ...: it will start immediately. Use the VCR buttons to suspend, resume, fast forward or rewind the video playing.

Do not forget to check MPlayer's web site from time to time. You will be able to follow its progress and to download new versions, skins, plugins, etc.

Other Movie Applications for Linux

XMovie

This application is tailored to playback high resolution movies such as MPEG1, MPEG2 and AVI files. It is not really made to playback compressed files such as Quicktime, but does support MPEG2 streams.

Totem

Totem (available in package totem) is a GNOME 2 application based on Xine's libraries. As you might imagine, its capabilities are very similar to those of its “parent”, but it is better integrated in the GNOME environment.

KXine

KXine (that can be downloaded from its web site) is a KDE application based on Xine's libraries. As you might imagine, its capabilities are very similar to those of its “parent”, but it is better integrated in the KDE environment.

Finally, there are other video applications for GNU/Linux such as vlc (an MPEG2 files/streaming video and DVD player), Ogle (a DVD player which supports menus and navigation) and RealPlayer (which is proprietary software). We encourage you to explore them as they might answer your specific needs.



[12] The boxed set editions of Mandrake Linux do include some of the codecs.