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Linux DVD Players Reviewed
Anonymous Coward writes "Linux Journal have posted a review of DVD players on their site. Interesting review, that covers most of the main players, although there are a few minor errors." I've
settled on Xine since it does most of the divx, wmv, and mpegs I want to see. If
it just did Sorenson QT, it'd be perfect.
Why not just get an el cheapo dvd standalone unit for your TV. You get a remote and probably a bigger picture. Why would anyone watch DVDs on their computer, Gnu/Linux or Windows?
http://saveie6.com/
Since the review is allready dead to the world, I tought I'd ask the people here if htey knew of any Linux based DVD players with support for hardware decoders such as those by Creative Labs and Real Magic.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
this may seem a little off topic, but does anyone have an idea of how these two compare?
I've already maxed out my karma so I dont want more.. here's the article since it's slashdotted..
Linux Review: GNU/Linux DVD Player Review
Posted on Monday, May 06, 2002 by Jon Kent Printer Friendly Page Send this Article to a Friend
Multimedia Jon takes a look at Xine, VideoLAN Client, MPlayer and Ogle--four GNU/Linux DVD playback applications.
Playing DVDs under GNU/Linux has not had the happiest of histories, what with the DeCSS debacle and subsequent legal battle. So you'd be forgiven for thinking that you will never be able to play your DVDs on your GNU/Linux system. Luckily, this is not the case, and there are several applications available for you to download and use. The issue with DeCSS is still with us but is slowly getting clearer. However, this has left some of the DVD players officially not supporting encrypted DVDs, although unofficially, playback is possible via third-party additions.
This introduction to DVD playback applications for GNU/Linux looks at Xine, VideoLAN Client, MPlayer and Ogle. In addition to playing encrypted DVDs, unofficially in some cases, several of these players also will play back other file formats.
Xine
Xine has quite a large following, and for good reason, as it is a very capable DVD player. In addition, like most of the players reviewed here, Xine is capable of playing a large range of file types in addition to unencrypted-DVD playback. Xine easily can be extended with additional functionality as it supports plugins that enable you to incorporate new codecs (open- or closed-source) or any additional function easily. There are many plugins available for Xine on the Net ready to be downloaded.
Xine only supports the playback of unencrypted DVD directly, but support for encrypted DVDs is provided by a third-party plugin (xine_d4d_plugin). It is unlikely that Xine will support encrypted DVDs directly. The legal status of this plugin is, as always, debatable, but it is easy enough to find and install. There are some useful links on the Xine web site, and a search at Google should find the required links for this plugin. It is stated on the Xine web site that encrypted DVD playback is not going to be supported directly because of the legal issues that surround this area. However, once you have installed the plugin, Xine's playback of encrypted DVDs is smooth with no noticeable problems with audio synchronization or any video glitches.
Xine's interface is tidy and provides most of the function you might require. Depending upon your preferences, you may find that it takes up too much space on your desktop. As Xine is currently not skinnable, there is no way to change the size or layout of the GUI. If you are running XFree86 4.x, with a supported video card, you can switch Xine from windowed to full-screen mode and back again smoothly. If this is not supported by your video card or version of X, Xine still can be viewed in a window, which is the default startup mode.
Unfortunately, Xine does not support DVD menus directly; however, there is a plugin called dvdnav (available from prdownloads.sourceforge.net/dvd) that adds this functionality to Xine. This plugin is a must-have if you intend to use Xine for DVD playback. The plugin works very well, even with the complex animated menus that some DVDs have, and although this is not required for DVD playback, it obviously gives you complete access to all the features available. The code for the DVD navigation was written referencing the original Ogle DVD menu code base.
Xine is a good DVD player, and with the use of plugins it can be extended in many ways. It appears to have a solid following, which should ensure its survival. The interface, however, may not be to everyone's taste.
VideoLAN Client
The VideoLAN Client is part of the VideoLAN Project, a full MPEG-2 client/server solution. However, the VideoLAN Client also can be used as a standalone program to play MPEG-2 streams from a hard disk or DVD. It currently has GTK+, GNOME, KDE and Qt front ends and can use either X11, XVideo, SDL or DirectX for video output. For audio, VideoLAN Client supports OSS, ALSA and ESD. To access encrypted DVDs, VideoLAN Client uses the library libdvdcss, which is a simple library designed for accessing DVDs like a block device without having to bother with the decryption. VideoLAN Client does not use DeCSS but a different implementation that does not use the cracked Xing decoder key. The libdvdcss was written by the VideoLAN Client development team, using the original DeCSS code as a reference base.
DVD playback with VideoLAN Client is very smooth with no noticeable problems with audio synchronization. When you start viewing a DVD, it defaults to opening up a window to display the movie, but you switch to full-screen mode quickly and easily by pressing the F key, as with the other players reviewed here. The switch from windowed view to full-screen view, and back again, is very quick and smooth with no slowing of playback.
VideoLAN Client GUI is a rather large window by default, the largest of the group. This seems unnecessary, and although you can shrink it down, it does not scale very well--a minor point, but it does seem overly big for what is a simple interface. That said, the GUI itself is fairly easy to navigate, with buttons to Stop, Pause, Forward and so on. Preferences also can be modified for items such as the path to the DVD/VCD device, audio device and output to use, the default interface and so on. It is the only player reviewed here that allows you to modify the preferences from the GUI.
The only drawback to VideoLAN Client is that there is currently no support for DVD menus, so you only can see the movie and you cannot access any additional items. This is not a major drawback and should not be held against VideoLAN Client as its DVD playback is as good as Xine and MPlayer. If you are not too worried about having DVD menu support and can live with the largest GUI of the players reviewed here, VideoLAN Client is a good choice.
MPlayer
MPlayer is another movie player that can play most MPEG, VOB, AVI, VIVO, ASF/WMV and QT/MOV files supported by many native, XAnim and Win32 DLL codecs. In addition to this you can watch VideoCD, SVCD, DVD, 3ivx and even DivX movies. In this respect it supports more formats than any of the other players reviewed here.
In addition to all of these video formats, MPlayer also supports a wide range of output drivers. It works with X11, Xv, DGA, OpenGL, SVGAlib, fbdev and AAlib, and you can use SDL and some low-level card-specific drivers (for Matrox, 3Dfx and RADEON) as well. Most of them support software or hardware scaling, so you can enjoy movies in full screen. Lastly, MPlayer supports displaying through some hardware MPEG decoder boards, such as the DVB and DXR3/Hollywood+. Blimey that's a list and a half.
So this looks like a one-stop shop for movie playback, but how does it perform? Very well. There are occasionally synchronization problems with DVD playback but nothing too major. The only thing to remember is that MPlayer does need to be run on a fairly powerful PC (greater than 500MHz) to work properly. If you are running on low power, MPlayer definitely is not for you. On lower spec machines the audio synchronization can get very messy, and the video becomes jerky, making the DVD, and other movie types, unwatchable. If you are using a lower spec machine, VideoLAN Client would appear to be the best option.
Encrypted DVDs are supported using the libcss library and, optionally, libdvdread for chapter support. As with the other players, encrypted support is not provided directly by MPlayer; you will need to download the libraries yourself. Unlike Xine, MPlayer does not support plugins, so you need to ensure that the libraries are installed before compiling.
MPlayer does not compile with a GUI by default, which is a little bizarre. To be fair, this is not a negative point as this is not really required if you just intend to use MPlayer to play back DVDs, as it does not support DVD menus. So having a GUI is not really necessary for DVD playback. However, if you intend to use MPlayer to play back other file types, you will need the GUI. To have GUI support you need to specify this if you compile from source by adding --enable-gui to the configure script.
To access the GUI you then either start MPlayer with a -gui switch (MPlayer does not use the standard --, which is usual for switches of more than one letter) or link MPlayer to gMPlayer, and then call gMPlayer instead. Another hurdle to get over with a GUI is that MPlayer is skinnable, but the standard source code has no skin, so the GUI still will not work. You need to download a skin from the MPlayer web site and install it, which is an irritating step. However, once all these additional steps are completed you are then presented with a usable interface to MPlayer. The interface, using the default skin, presents a simple and clean looking interface, that does not take up too much screen space. For those of you that find the Xine interface a little too bulky, MPlayer may suit you.
MPlayer's main drawback, or at least irritation, is that you cannot access a DVD from the GUI; instead you have to start MPlayer with the -dvd flag in order for it to play your DVD. To view another DVD currently means that you have to restart MPlayer. Lastly, there is no support for DVD menus available at present, so you cannot access the additional features of your DVD with MPlayer.
As a one-stop shop for movie playback, MPlayer scores very highly. It is fast (assuming you have a fairly new PC), and DVD playback is very good with no audio synchronization problems. With the support for multiple file format, you may find that MPlayer is all that you need.
Ogle
Ogle is purely a DVD player and was the first to support DVD menus and navigation, the code of which is now used in the Xine plugin as mentioned earlier. As with VideoLAN Client and MPlayer, Ogle uses libcss and libdvdread to decode and read DVDs. The MPEG decoder features various levels of acceleration to take advantage of MMX processors and some hardware MPEG decoders.
Ogle can be run directly from the shell, but a GUI is also available if you prefer. The GUI is more compact than VideoLAN Client's, but manages to contain more functionality. All of the major functions are present, such as pausing, forwarding the DVD and menu keys. That said, the interface to the control GUI is still larger than the standard MPlayer GUI and is not as nice to look at. Unfortunately, although there is an option to edit preferences, it is not currently functional.
When you first access your DVD from Ogle you are presented with the DVD menu, which you navigate using your mouse. You also can navigate the DVD menu by using the arrows on the GUI, but navigation using the mouse seems to be the easiest method by far. Unfortunately, playback of encrypted DVDs is occasionally not as smooth as with VideoLAN Client or MPlayer as there are freezes and audio glitches. However, this is occasional and does not detract too much from watching a DVD, but it might be a consideration. As with the other players reviewed, you can switch between windowed and full-screen mode, and again, switching between the modes goes smoothly.
Ogle does have a few drawbacks, the main ones being that there is no chapter menu support, no angle selection during playback and no closed-caption support. The most annoying issue is that you have to restart Ogle to play another DVD, which is the same problem MPlayer has. These may not be major issues to you but are worth taking into consideration.
Ogle is the only one of the players reviewed here that only plays DVDs and not any other formats. Its main claim to fame was the DVD menu support, but thanks to the fact that Ogle is open-source, the code base is now being used in other players. If you only want to play DVDs, then Ogle is worth reviewing, but if your needs are wider than that, you probably will want to look at one of the other players.
In conclusion, playing your bought-and-paid-for DVDs under your favorite OS is now achieved easily using any of the players reviewed here. There are many other players available; the ones we reviewed here have the most supporters and users. As always, because there are a wide range of DVD players to choose from, you should be able to find a player to suit your requirements. So go ahead and enjoy your DVDs on your GNU/Linux box.
Jonathan Kent is a system integration consultant working in the financial sector on real-time market data delivery systems. He has been using UNIX for the past ten years and GNU/Linux for four years. He lives with his family in the United Kingdom.
What about DivX files? I've heard of some upcoming stand-alone players that play MPEG4 stuff, but they probably won't be cheap, and right now most DVD players play DVD/(S)VCD/mp3/CD. If you have a DVD drive on your computer anyway, and a 17" monitor (or TV output capabilities), then doesn't it make sense to find good software to make your computer an entertainment center? The biggest misconception that a lot of the movie industry has is that people don't want to watch movies on their computer monitor. As a student I do this all the time.
"Now gluttony and exploitation serves eight!" - TV's Frank
How does this tie back to Linux DVD players? Well, it's a minor miracle when there's any publicity for anything that even remotely challenges the status quo. It's one more crack in the wall....
---
Destiny-land.
The happiest blog on earth.
...a DVD->ANSI Animation converter. How cool would that be?
It'd solve a lot of those bandwidth problems... much like this site which was posted a while ago.
You wouldn't need a player if it's ANSI animation either, "cat" and "type" could become the hottest media players around.
I'll have something intelligent to add one of these days...
DVD how-to this is a great how-to for getting xine to work with dvd nav! great how-to!
keanmarine.com
Xine however has possilby the worst interface I have ever had the misfortune to use.
Someone decided that it would be a good idea to implement their own file open dialog and playlist and design in a way that bears no resemblance to any other interface i have ever used. Using, or at least trying to use Xine is cruel and unusual punishment.
I suggested it to a friend who wanted to watch some DivX files and the interface was so bad it mad him laugh (then cry).
And to add even more potential for confusion it uses its own skinning system.
Gnome Xine will hopefully be a vast improvement and have the sense to bear at least some resemblence to quicktime/microsoft mediaplayer/realplayer.
Loads fine here, bit slow, but it loads, i guess its a bandwith problem.
Where do the DVD API's for Linux stand? These days it's becoming relatively simple under Windows thanks to DirectShow. Anybody can write a DVD player as they don't need to do any low-level stuff: it's just a matter of making API calls to the navigator. Can the same be said for Linux? E.g. what would it take to write a Mozilla plug-in so that I could display a training movie within a web page - a plug-in that would work for most DVD players/decoders without having to write custom code for each?
This is false. If you start gmplayer, and then middle click in the video window, you get a menu which clearly states: "Play DVD"
So in fact, you do not need to start it from the command line. A real problem though is that sometimes this does not play back the desired audio track. Depending on the DVD, you may have to specify the audio track on the commandline.
All in all, mplayer is a sweet piece of software and arpi and the others deserve thanks for providing us (me at least) with a great media player.
For some reason mplayer doesn't seem to get too much press. But honestly, it is easily the best one..
At the moment it is easily the fastest (I know; I have a p500, and the speed difference between it and many others (I've tried way more than this review) is incredible), and development is very fast at the moment (xine is rather stagnant). The team is working hard at getting core features down before they hit the frills. Some people may argue that all the optimizations aren't supposed to be considered core issues, but screw that. I want smooth DVD playback!!
At this moment they have lots of amazing features like mencoder, which is a related video encoding project, vidix output (their own hardware accelerated video output, which is blazing fast), support for many many file types, and the speed is incredible.
Some gripes people have had, for instance (a) wasn't GPL and (b) binaries need to be compiled on a specific machine for optimization--both are moot points now! They are now fully GPL and are moving all the optimization to runtime configurable rather than compile-time defined (they are very far along with this). You should expect official packages to enter all distributions soon.
Really, it's an amazing project. They catch some flak, but honestly, it performs very well, and is going to get even better! Once the core has stabilized they will polish up all the outside stuff.
First step : run Xine. Oh, except it sucks, because the version packaged with my distro is several months old. Watch out for this.
Second step: uninstall current Xine, go to the Xine homepage, and install the latest version. You may need either the tarball like I did, or there may be an RPM for you.
Third step: look in the links section at the bottom for CaptainCSS, download it, follow the instructions carefully, as they are non-standard, and you will have a fully working DVD player.
Final step: remember to click the D4D button rather than the DVD button.
Oh ... actual final step: curse the MPAA for making your life harder than it needs to be. Yes, DVD encryption sucks, but I won't go into why here, there are plenty of other /. stories that cover that. Anyway, that should get you going. If you get stuck, then try opening a ticket at protonic :)
... even with the same video signal. Whoever modded the parent post up as "insightful" has shit for brains.
In answer to the question posted: Why not just get an el cheapo dvd standalone unit for your TV. You get a remote and probably a bigger picture. Why would anyone watch DVDs on their computer, Gnu/Linux or Windows?
Television looks like shit. It is interlaced, with only 480 lines of resolution (NTSC) or 576 lines (PAL). This means that each stroke of the electronic pen only writes 240 lines (288 lines PAL) per stroke, with each stroke happening 60 times / second (50 times / second PAL). In short, the image is low res, flickery, and fuzzy.
Contrast that with a 1920x1200 24" LCD monitor, which can play DVDs in progressive, rather than interlaced mode (meaning each swipe of the electronic pen across the screen, 60 times each second, writes all 480 [PAL: 576] lines, rather than just have of them), and can do so at resolutions most consumer televisions simply cannot match, such as 720p.
Hell, you can take analog video signals, captured with either V4L(1|2) or firewire, encode and compress them into xvid format, and have a better picture than the TV was capable of displaying during the live broadcast. I know. I've done this with two episodes of Max Headroom, with astonishing results. Even my old 8-mm college videos (not hi-8 mind you, just 8-mm video tape) looks better after it has been digitized, deinterlaced, and displayed on a computer monitor than it does fresh from the master source displayed on the same monitor (but still interlaced), much less the low res television.
Then there are all kinds of scaling issues involved when trying to use consumer DVD players with high quality monitors or plasma screens, so much so that many videophiles build HTPCs (Home Theatre PCs) in order to fix the scaling artifacts and achieve better quality output than is possible even if spending tens of thousands of dollars on specialized scan converters and scaler hardware designed to do the very same thing.
The general purpose computer is the best A/V display device available to normal people today, and will remain so for the forseeable future, unless congress decides normal folks shouldn't be allowed to possess the power of a home computer and passes the Hollings Bill or some variant thereof, in which case it is time to emigrate.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
mplayer and xine work ok. My favorite is ogle, as it is the most complete dvd support you will find. vlc (video lan client) I have heard also works well. non-ogle players typically take a long time to wade through css encryption when present, and has better sdupport for dvd menus (dvdnav works mostly, but still has a few issues compared to ogle.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
One of the MPAA arguments against DeCSS is that there is no significant no-infringing use. Well I guess there are now many significant legal uses for DeCSS. Furthermore, I would argue that any binary version of xine/mplayer/videolan that would be found in a distribution (as RPM) should be perfectly legal...
Opus: the Swiss army knife of audio codec
getting a little ot on this one... though your dvd+rw drive will be able to play dvd's if you install some of the software mentoined in the article.
as far as backups... it's been said over and over, the most cost effective backup (solely for backup/recovery purposes) is HDD. usb, IDE, EIDE whatever, it's all cheeper and easier than fiddling with virgin non-standard dvd writing technology. plus as an added bonus, you can be up and running in minutes not hours when you have lost data/hardware failure. it also makes it a little more challenging for someone else to get to any sensitive data. personally i think dvd+rw is just a fad. we went from 1.2mb 5.25 -> 1.4 mb 3.5 -> 650 mb 4in disk. 650 -> +/- 8GB isn't quite the jump for mass storage. i'll be waiting for something like a 400GB portable storage medium. all my mp3's mpegs, jpgs, databases, life history, all on one little "disk".
There are in my opinion two really good DVD players for Linux:
:-/
1. Xine
2. Ogle
I use Xine for the most time since it's also capable of playing all kinds of video formats. But actually Ogle is better for pure DVD playing. I'm not sure if this is true anymore but Xine uses Ogle's code for DVD menu navigation. DVD menu navigation is something we had to wait a really long time to get in Linux. I was even so desperate I tried some strange (propably illegal) port of WinDVD called LinDVD a while ago, but now I'm proud to support real GNU projects.
Very strange is that neither of the players can manage to play Depeche Mode - The Videos DVD with sound.
Ciryon
Uh. well, DUH! Apple's minimum RAM spec for Mac OS X is 128MB. So you are getting disapointing performance because you have half the RAM that the Operating System requires. What do you expect?
so tweaking needed yes....
Well if you want to use the system against the recomendation of Apple, I guess you would need tweaking.
but like every system it isn't perfect...
Well in your case, you are not even close to using Mac OS X as it is advertised. So how can this be a real complaint on your part? Its like driving a car with only half the tires on and bitching that it won't go fast.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
That way, you get a DVD decryption key, and everything will JUST WORK.
Wow. It's amazing. If you want to pay, then do so, and you don't have to go through the hassle of downloading an extra piece of software!
Otherwise, will you please stop with your Apple can do no wrong mantra? Please? All platforms have their faults, to pretend that OS X is more UNIX than Linux is just, well, so utterly pointless it's untrue. Who cares?
From the article:
Xine only supports the playback of unencrypted DVD directly, but support for encrypted DVDs is provided by a third-party plugin (xine_d4d_plugin).
...
Unfortunately, Xine does not support DVD menus directly; however, there is a plugin called dvdnav (available from prdownloads.sourceforge.net/dvd) that adds this functionality to Xine. This plugin is a must-have if you intend to use Xine for DVD playback
Actually, the current recommended way to play all DVDs, encrypted and unencrypted, is with dvdnav. If you have installed libdvdcss (preferably the one available at the Ogle web site, I believe), dvdnav will recognize it and use it.
The xine_d4d_plugin isn't maintained well and doesn't work at all with the latest versions of Xine, AFAIK. dvdnav is the better choice.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
mplayer is the shit. it can output with aalib, AND also play movies from the *console*, using VESA
How about I pay for the OS and get the DVD player for free? Best part, I don't have to download a darn thing, its built into the operating system.
Otherwise, will you please stop with your Apple can do no wrong mantra? Please? All platforms have their faults, to pretend that OS X is more UNIX than Linux is just, well, so utterly pointless it's untrue. Who cares?
Bite your tongue Linux boy! How can I be an Apple Zealot if I don't feel they can do no wrong? Mac OS X is more UNIX than Linux, period. UNIX is a trademark owned by the Open Group. Apple has permission to use the UNIX trademark from the Open Group because its operating system meets the Single UNIX Spec., Linux does not.
Disclaimer: I use Linux for what its best suited for...serving.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
iDVD is the DVD production software for Macs, not the viewer. I assume you are talking about the viewer. My answer? I have never noticed nor have I been bothered by interlacing on my movies. Check out MacFixIt, they always have great answers for unique problems.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
I have both a PlayStation 2 and an Xbox, both of which I have purchased the DVD playback kits for. Though it's not necessary for the PlayStation, the remote certainly is more useful for DVD playback than the controller is.
:)
Anyway - the remote for the PlayStation 2 is $20 at Wal Mart or Best Buy. The DVD Playback Kit for Xbox is $30 and contains a remote and a piece of hardware that fits into one of the controller ports (same as on PS2). Whereas on PS2 you can play DVDs without the remote, it is necessary for the Xbox. That means that the cost is nowhere near £80 - more like £20 or USD $30.
While it may just be a matter of personal preference, I do feel that the Xbox remote is better all-around. I don't like the ergonomic look of it, but its function far surpasses the PS2's. The PS2 basically made their remote a "wireless controller" complete with Triangle, Circle, Square and X buttons. I shit you not. Why they couldn't have omitted these and made something a little more normal looking, I'm not sure. But they're there.
The Xbox remote, on the other hand, is just a perfectly normal DVD remote. No silly buttons - it's all about playing back DVDs. It works. That's the most important thing.
To use the newer DVD software, one must buy a $35 memory card for their PS2 and install the software to that. The Xbox, of course, has the software on the hard drive, which isn't getting filled up any time soon. But an 8MB memory card can go relatively quickly if you play a lot of games and have the DVD software installed.
As for actual DVD playback quality, hands-down Xbox. The PS2 has several display problems that have already been noted in replies here. The Xbox just looks like a normal DVD player. I consider this a good thing.
You may want to purchase the "Advanced AV Pack" for the Xbox if you plan to use it as a DVD player - it comes with S-Video cables, which I personally consider necessary to viewing DVDs. YMMV.
To break it down: The Xbox will cost you $330 with a DVD playback kit and will put out some great looking images. The PS2 will cost you $300 to play DVDs and will look okay most of the time but will really irritate the living hell out of you at others. To make it an actual home-theater DVD watching component, you'll want to spend another $35 for the memory card and $20 for the remote, for a total of $355.
To break it down even further: useful DVD playback will cost you an extra $30 for the Xbox or $55 for the PS2. And the Xbox looks better. Don't be stupid. Use the Xbox.
One caveat: the Xbox doesn't support progressive scan. This probably won't be an issue, unless you have a progressive scan TV. If you do, you probably have enough money to buy a separate DVD player that supports progressive scan. So just do that.
Every once in a while I like to masturbate a new word into my vocabulary, even if I don't know what it means.
Except you can't actually buy Cyberlink's Linux DVD player, unless you're a business intending to put it on embedded PCs etc.
Why do companies do this? I'd be willing to fork out $50 for a decent, efficient, legal, DVD player for Linux. I bet others would too. Since when have the majority of Linux users been people using set top boxes and other devices requiring embedded versions?
KMSMA (WWBD?)
Remember that the DVD player isn't technically free - you pay for it when you buy your Mac. Why pay for it if you already have a set top DVD player like my Mac friend? He never ever uses his Mac for playing DVDs, because he prefers the living room.
Why pay for something you don't need? Better to pay for only the stuff you do need, or to download a free player and get a cheaper platform as a result.
Nice trolling, but I'll bite.
Play games: almost finished JK II with Wine, I just need a bit more free time (those black Jedis are quite hard to defeat). After that, I'll probably add it to my usual round of native LAN games: UT, Q3A, Wolf...
Word processing: LaTeX (I'm doing a masters), OpenOffice. Didn't tried AbiWord lately.
Download music: Don't know, as I only listen to radio, and it's a news channel. And besides, if you don't want to view DVDs under Linux for claims of "semilegality", what are you doing downloading music?
Print: Don't know either, as I don't own any printer, and at the Uni there's only Windows computers. So it's not "reboot", it's "get up, walk a few minutes, print and come back". But it's not because of the OS: it's because if I ever buy a printer, I want a bigass departmental color laser printer. Which is kinda too pricey for me right now.
DVD: Began watching the Slap Shot 2 DVD this morning, but didn't have enough time to finish it. Will be tonight, since the Canadiens don't play before tomorrow.
You know...
I have a pretty decent 17" monitor and a pretty nice but not stellar 20" TV.
I have a very good desk, but the chair really isn't good for sitting all through the movie. The monitor isn't really good for watching stuff from far away. TV, on the other hand, looks just nice from my couch or bed.
Also, the fact that television looks like shit is a good thing. No, it may not be always desired with DVDs. But for video tapes, VideoCDs, or DivX-recorded clips, the TV viewed from far away, or even about one meter, is much better than computer screen - because on the monitor I can see the artifacts and the horror that is VHS. Somewhat softer image is sometimes a very good thing =)
Smart-ass...
Look at the link again and then go to their shop and try to buy it. I'll save you the search. You CANNOT buy this product since it's for EMBEDDED OEMs only!
Same shit is also with InterVideo: "LinDVD, InterVideo's Linux software DVD player, is currently available only to manufacturers for evaluation and integration. Linux users should be aware that we are engaged with top computer, Internet appliance, and set-top box manufacturers to provide the highest qualilty DVD playback for their devices."
Which leaves you only with the open source players option and you simply CANNOT buy an end-user Linux DVD player application..
Hetz (Heunique)
I dislike its interface too. I rarely use Xine since I like Mplayer's GUI better.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Its free to me. When throw money at a new Mac, I consider it a hardware purchase where Apple throws in the OS and additional software as a freebie. We can quarrel about this mindset but it would be a silly debate. Macs are a complete package for the most part.
Why pay for it if you already have a set top DVD player like my Mac friend? He never ever uses his Mac for playing DVDs, because he prefers the living room.
Because I am a mover and shaker and watch movies on airplanes. Plus the chicks in first class think you are hot stuff when you whip out your 15.2 inch widescreen G4 to watch a movie.
Note: If you are single, when flying, always keep a chick flick with you just in case.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
I have an audio-server box that I've avoided installing X on. It's a glorified file server that sits with my TV & audio components, but it also has a DVD-ROM drive and video card with composite output plus a DXR2 decoder card that I'm not exploiting. I enjoy the minimal command-line and console style interface on that box, and I don't accumulate a lot of extra processes or libraries. So is it possible for me to play back DVDs (or DiVXs) from the command-line without X? ie, the app would send the output to the DXR2's composite/s-video output, or possibly to a full-screen VGA buffer? (ie, I don't want/need a windowed GUI environment on this box)
Stampede GNU/Linux
Sorceror GNU/Linux
Linus didn't right the whole OS, you know. You think he is some kind of a GOD?
Since DVDs are made using the TV resolution, when you watch them on a monitor, the DVD player software has to resize the image to make it look right. This makes it fuzzy. There's no way around it.
You're absolutely 100% dead wrong.
From the xine hacker's guide:
when in doubt, use lower case. BTW: This thing is called xine, never Xine.
time is a funny concept
They managed to get other important parts of the GNU system to work in time, though.
Programming can be fun again. Film at 11.
Any plane trip requires my laptop and a fresh dvd for an in flight movie, it'll drive the guy sitting next to you nuts.
In response to an incredibly uninformed reply, Anonymous wrote:
:-), not only without a loss in quality but with an actual gain in quality.
You're absolutely 100% dead wrong
Amen.
Not only that, but there are deinterlacers, interpolators, and various image enhancement/sharpening filters that (and, using transcode under GNU/Linux for example, or VirtualDub under Windoze) can take a less than perfect TV image regardless of source (for the clue challenged, this includes DVD) and improve the image in resolution, color quality, and just about every other measurable metric over the original source.
Any source correctly filtered in this manner can have its resolution upscaled to 1080p or, in my case, 1200p
How is this possible? Hint: interpolation and some of the various other filters actually create information. The more intelligent filters make very good educated guesses as to what belongs in the missing space, so much so that your jaw will drop when you see the result.
The poster to which you replied (indeed both followup posts) may want to believe that a fuzzy TV looks better playing back a DVD or a recorded video source, but that is only true if one is using consumer playback products, rather than their PC, which can do so much more with the image. Those of us who have built their own, super-high-quality PVRs will never go back to watching painfully low-res, interlaced television.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
The requirements I'm looking for are:
Does anybody have any experience with this type of procedure? Do you have any advice to share? I have a pile of old VHS tapes that are decaying, and I'd like to get a high-quality digital capture of them before they get too bad.
have u tried turning using_dma on with hdparm on /dev/cdrom? Common mistake and fixed everything up with me... also are u using cvs or some version... cvs mplayer is very stable and tends to fix these bugs
S-Video to WinTV?? I would suggest a digital capture card inside your PC. Just get the cable from dish to PCI card and you're done. S-Video looks like shit compared to digital broadcast signal captured by specialized card inside your computer. And while you're spending cash get a high quality DLP projector instead of that 32" monitor. How 160" wide-screen sounds like? [Disclaimer: I only have 80" 4:3 screen but S-Video looks like shit even with it. I also have Hauppauge WinTV card and I can assure that while it's an OK card it's far from perfect.]
However, with less than perfect source your best bet is to have interlaced display. I've seen far too many DVD's/digital broadcasts that have flags set saing that the content is 16:9 progressive when it's in reality 4:3 interlaced and so on. With a traditional TV equipped with a 16:9/4:3 (auto)toggle you probably don't even notice the problem but with hardware that honors those flags (e.g. turns of deinterlacer for source that has progressive flag set on) the result is often miserable.
_________________________
Spelling and grammar mistakes left as an exercise for the reader.
Color laser printers for home users make about as much sense as the proverbial space shuttle to go to the corner store, but less cost effective.
you use windows? when are you going to graduate from a toy to a real tool?
You're right, you are a real tool.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
A screenshot
Homepage
Description (from the homepage):
Copyright (C) 2001-2002 Gürer Özen
Sinek is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
Sinek is a GTK+ video/audio player, capable of supporting all formats libxine supports. At the moment, this includes; Audio MPEG 1, 2, and 3, Vorbis (.ogg), Video MPEG 1 and 2, MPEG 4 (aka OpenDivX), MS MPEG 4 (aka DivX) and motion jpeg.
One of the main differences between Sinek and other popular multimedia players is that it doesn't use skins; instead, it has a standard GTK+ interface. In other words, it doesn't clash with your GTK+ theme.
Other features are
* scriptable with scheme language,
* supports text subtitles,
* you can adjust font (any X font!) and placement of subtitles on the fly,
* playlist with repeat, repeat current, and shuffle options,
* configurable key bindings,
* changing the volume with the mouse wheel,
* want something else? just tell on our mailing list
unfinished: (adj.)
Try AAlib. You can watch any video or DVD right in the term you are using. You'll want to stand away from the computer to be able to "understand" the image.
:)
You don't need X, you don't even need a video card. You don't even need a terminal at that computer. You can watch a remote "aalib" though telnet
Mplayer uses aalib, and i think Xine can use it too.
unfinished: (adj.)
You might want to check out a satelite or HD tuner with a firewire modification. Run it through your computer via firewire, do any scaling necessary in software, and display using whatever display device you prefer (24" LCD, 50"-60" Plasma, projector).
:-)
Contrary to popular myth, DVDs viewed using a computer and the proper software scaling look better than anything consumer or even most prosumer products can deliver. Anyone telling you "it looks best on an old interlaced TV" simply hasn't done their research, or has limited their lines of inquiry to traditional, consumer media electronics (i.e. they haven't considered a PC with good scaling and filtering software).
have fun!
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
"BTW, if you took an OS design class, you would learn about file systems, virtual memory, swapping, program execution... what the kernel does. The rest is apps and libs that run on the OS."
Fine. You can call an OS anything you want. With these same guidelines, Mac OS X is just a derivative of the BSD operating system.
But then, what use is using the concept of OS in discussing things anyway?