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Awesome Multimedia Technology Heads for KDE
An anonymous reader writes "Linux Devices is reporting on a cool new multimedia technology that's slated to be incuded in KDE 4.0. The two key components are Phonon, a central hardware configuration database said to free multimedia applications from the need to configure hardware, and NMM (network-integrated multimedia middleware), a distributed multimedia architecture whereby multimedia content can be readily shared among networked devices and even 'handed over' from one device to another. Potential NMM applications include networked multimedia home entertainment systems, distributed and parallel media processing applications, distributed streaming servers and services, communication and control systems, and large-scale multimedia installations such as video walls, according to the article, which includes some interesting photos and diagrams. Phonon and NMM will be demonstrated at LinuxTag, May 3-6, in Wiesbaden, Germany."
Seriously, I'm hanging out for 4.0...
“Our opponent is an alien starship packed with nuclear bombs. We have a protractor.” — Neal Stepnenso
I saw that headline and thought it would be another Intel VIIV thing.....
In undeveloped countries, the consumer controls the market. In capitalist America, the market controls you.
I FAILED IT!!!
KDE has a tendency to fill every users system with crap that nobody uses. Come on, "kdedu", "kwordquiz" and "kwin"? I think that every user should have the right to install those packages they want. But KDE depends on its own packages: so it seems hard to be without packages like "kmouth".
I just love dependencies!
if ($name ~ k)
{
print "Yep, it's KDE!\n";
}
Nobody is forcing you to install kedu or kwordquiz. You are absolutely free to install them, or to not install them.
As for kwin, yes, a window manager sure is bloat...
Jesus, will these stupid trolls never stop.
OK, I can see the need to make sense out of the abysmal state of Linux video device drivers. But this is hardly a multimedia platform. Sure you can do cool stuff with multimedia once you've got your hardware configuration sorted out, but the demos look like mere stunts. Do I really need to stretch a picture across two laptops, one Linux and one Windows? I could just email the Wintel laptop half the picture. Show me something PRACTICAL and USEFUL.
cant wait to get the little widgets on my desktop, and all the multimedia, and its gonna be so much better to look at than vistas Aeroglass crap, and all the games... oh...
:(
****
guess its still not THAT great afterall... come on someone, put up a hundred grand prize for the first "big name title" (some criteria to exclude stuff already on linux, and crap like madden from being eligable) to provide a native Linux version. or something... pretty KDE is nice and everything but... i miss my games
XML - A clever joke would be here if
I know this new multimedia technology is awesome, but I need to know, is it mad crazy, too? The submitter forgot to say.
I fail to see how a lot of software that is kde compatible is a bad thing. Maybe you don't want to play battleships. Others like it, though, and are happy that the interface to this amazing mindgame is compatible to the interface of their editor, spreadsheet or terminal program. Much software is a benefit. If you don't like it, don't install it.
Is this a new attempt at including Digital Restrictions Management in Linux? I've read posts on here that have discussed the DRM inclusions in GNOME's GStreamer. Could KDE be next? Real, Fluendo, and other copyright trolls are a threat to watch out for, similar to the looming threat of binary kernel modules. We as Linux users must be on guard against the copyright mafia's incessant attempts to neuter our computers.
If you don't like it don't install it, if your using Linux select the packages you want not the 'KDE' meta package with "all the official packages" takes a little longer but works just as well, hell if your really worried put together a metapackage of your own with just the bits you want, and none of those you don't. Yeah you will hit some issues with dependencies but not all that many, and you can get rid of a huge amount of bumf if you don't want it, I'm happily using a lightweight KDE with components of my own choosing, but if I install KDE on someone else's PC they tend to get the whole lot, and are generally happy.
Oh and for people who are not worried about bloat and people new to Linux its all "nice features" trying to make KDE attractive to people is not a bad thing, especially when you want to have all the latest wizz bang stuff.
After all Linux gives you choice, its not like you can get rid of all the boat in Windows or even the gnome metapackage...
Just my view
Those that do not understand {Directshow, UPnP} are doomed to reinvent them.. Poorly.
It all sounds really neat, but IMHO it should be a middleware layer, or something like that. It should lie *under* KDE, not be part of KDE. For that matter, it should optionally like under GNOME, or under my current non-KDE, non-GNOME icewm or xfce desktops.
The linkage to KDE for this software layer seems inappropriate to me.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
KDE 4 may seriously cause me to switch from Gnome.
...because I would give head for awesome multimedia technology for KDE!
I haven't been able to figure out yet what major advantages NMM has (if any) over UPnP.
Whether it does or not, UPnP is a standard that is beginning to be widely supported by new PC software and embedded hardware devices, while NMM is going to be stillborn unless it can achieve the market penetration that UPnP has.
Who cares about network-oriented decentralized multimedia when nothing on the network except your PC supports it?
The KDE developers would be much better off focusing on improving UPnP support so that KDE can "play nice" with other devices/software coming on the market, and THEN start researching replacements for UPnP.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Since multimedia is very low on my list of things to do with my computer, it's not something that will endear KDE to me.
My GUI of choice is actually the Enlightenment Window Manager rather than any of the desktops, even then, I spend more time in a cli only environment than in an X session.
J. Henager: If the average user can put a CD in and boot the system and follow the prompts, he can install and use Linux
'nuff said.
It's about networking and device discovery. While you need UPnP to find everything, it doesn't mesh the media playback, etc. seamlessly. NMM is more analogous to DirectPlay and probably HAS a backend for UPnP or can easily enough. If you'd have read up on what NMM was, you'd know this, though...
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Shouldn't post this early in the morning without my IV bottle of coffee...
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Wtf? The post mentioned technologies that have nothing to do with GUI widgets but you're talking about Aero Glass? The post mentioned stuff that will make our lives easier but you're talking about missing a few games?
Phonon is an API a KDE app will use to do sound/video. Phonon is really just an abstraction layer. You can have an arts backend, alsa backend, gstreamer backend, even a windows backend.
... that you can use on top of the existing (excellent) abstraction layer that is GStreamer? Does it add anything, or are they just NIH people?
... so they're making/adding Phonon, why, exactly?
So Phonon is an abstraction layer
I can't see it being used by a Gnome app, they already have gstreamer (which can do arts, esd, alsa, oss, windows, etc too).
Right
The webpage says: "If you need multimedia functionality in your program, Phonon is for you. Use it from simple audio playback to full blown video playback with audio and video effects. Use it to record an audio signal or capture from a webcam. Use it to concentrate on your program and not on getting the mediaframework to work for you."
So, as a developer, why would I want to use this instead of GStreamer? GStreamer is here, working, has a lot more functionality than Phonon, and has bindings to all my favorite HLLs. What exactly does Phonon offer?
Oh good, a digg style headline on Slashdot.
UPnP AV is a wireline protocol (Which has A/V components to it...) for device discovery and "use", not an API.
NMM is basically an API and is at a much higher level. To compare what we're talking about here you should really compare DirectShow, etc. with NMM, not UPnP.
UPnP is analogous to URB's, etc. within the USB spec. You typically do not see people coding for URB's and talking to the HID layer, etc. for USB devices- unless they're making device drivers or higher-level programmer API's for the devices.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas