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Real to Offer Open Source Windows Media for Linux

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the open-source-the-drm-too dept.

cpugeniusmv writes to tell us News.com is reporting that RealNetworks plans to release an open source method to allow Linux users to play Windows Media files. Currently Linux users are able to play the two main Windows Media formats (wmv and wma) but only if they install closed-source modules. The ability to launch this initiative comes from a recent licensing deal between RealNetworks and Microsoft and the antitrust settlement against Microsoft.

6 of 228 comments (clear)

  1. False Summary by brunes69 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Currently Linux users are able to play the two main Windows Media formats (wmv and wma) but only if they install closed-source modules...

    Totally false. ffmpeg / mplayer / vlc etc. can all decode WMV files *natively* using the ffmpeg libavcoded libraries.

    The problem is not decoding the files, that is trivial. The problem is dealing with the copy protection. Another open source library is not going to help this, because it will still never be allowed to decrypt the copy-protected files.

    1. Re:False Summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Totally false. ffmpeg / mplayer / vlc etc. can all decode WMV files *natively* using the ffmpeg libavcoded libraries.

      Well, mostly. ffmpeg can decode WMV 7/8/9 and WMA 7/8. There is no decoder for WMA Pro, WMA voice, or WMA lossless. WMV8 decoding has bugs and may drop certain keyframes.

  2. Re:already there? by freshman_a · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yes, but I think the legality of the way mplayer does it is questionable since it uses Windows DLLs directly. It sounds like this is going to be completely separate code written by Real.

    I do love mplayer though.

    --
    Slackware
  3. Re:That'll be great by ledow · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Possibly. I just wish that they wouldn't do everything possible to make their primary piece of software (at least by downloads) so obnoxious.

    1) Try to instruct a novice user to find and download the free version on their website. Not an easy task but doable.

    2) Try to install it without it inserting stuff into Windows startup - I use Startup Control Panel but not everyone is so lucky.

    3) Try to remove the messages/popups etc. from a standard installation - again, not for the novice.

    I applaud any attempt at open-sourcing software but I would worry about the quality of the code if their primary app is in this much of a mess.

  4. Dear RealPlayer, by Geoffreyerffoeg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Please open up your own format first before going and opening up other peoples' formats. Windows Media is already easy enough to play most anywhere. Streaming (or even non-streaming) RM is a pain to convert to another format - and most of the downloadable converters require you to have RealPlayer itself already installed (so it can use the DLLs). This is as much a "solution" as Captive NTFS, and it doesn't work on platforms other than x86/Windows.

    (My underlying complaint is that you don't have a half-recent version for Windows Mobile. I've tried to convert these to WMV but it doesn't work well. Releasing a WM5 player - or even a J2ME player - would shut me up for now, but your real problem is you have the obscurest, proprietariest file format ever.)

  5. Re:already there? by kidgenius · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When Redhat or Suse ship their distro, they are not allowed to include the DLLs. The location you downloaded them from is not allowed to distribute the DLLs. You are not allowed to download the DLLs. It has not stopped me from doing it for xine, mplayer, etc., doing this is in violation of copyright. What Real is doing is providing a LEGAL way of acquiring these codecs.