[MPlayer-users] ffmpeg and the DLL codecs for WMV (etc)

[Ivan Kowalenko]

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On Jun 18, 2006, at 01.01, Vacuum Joe wrote:

>>> It looks like most video going around these days is either MPEG  
>>> or WMV
>>
>> Unfortunately, it seems that a LOT of video is being converted to  
>> SWF these days (see: YouTube, news sites, etc.), and thereby  
>> locked up in a propritary format. It's unplayable for anything  
>> other than Windows/Mac/Linux, and a really poor, crippled,  
>> interface even on supported platforms.
>
> I have noticed that.  That is painful in fact.  The ONLY reason why  
> SWF format video is getting so popular is because the Flash plugin  
> has faster start-up times and uses a smaller buffer than the other  
> video formats.  That's it.  It's not like the Flash video format is  
> anything different.  AFAIK, it's basically MPEG-4 just like  
> everything else.  And yet everyone loves them just because the  
> player happens to be tuned for low buffering and fast startup.

And don't forget that it's built for use in a web browser, and  
embedding in a web page. Part of the reason people like it is because  
it's an integrated solution. FLVs play in the browser, no additional  
programs need to be loaded, or anything like that. Personally, I hate  
playing anything in my browser. I like my solutions as un-integrated  
as possible. Gives me some freedom.

> I was hoping that everyone would just start using MPEG-4 because  
> it's at least as good as any other format, and it is the best- 
> documented with the most player options available, and the patent  
> constraints aren't too painful.  But no... people started using  
> wMV.  Well, now we have VC-1, which is also openly documented so  
> we're soon going to have some good 100% open source players.  But  
> now people are sing SWF.

I know, I hate it too. I generally tend to use my XBox for playing  
back most of my media (don't worry, it's using MPlayer-based XBMC and  
MythTV for those jobs, so I haven't gone all proprietary on you). FLV  
is worthless outside of a web browser. No real control, impossible to  
transcode properly.

> Hopefully VC-1 / WMV3 will get more popularity.  I love MPlayer, I  
> just hate having to use that closed-source codec pack.  At least if  
> it's open source I can run it on non-386 machines, and it's easier  
> to link it in with JNI, etc.

Tell me about it. I'm using an iBook (PPC), so I'm pretty much locked  
into whatever MPlayer and FFMPEG can give me. I'm stuck using awful  
hacks to get WMV9 and greater to work properly. Ugly proprietary non- 
free hacks. Truth be told, though, I don't really like VC-1. I'd  
rather see something like a new version of Theora take its place.
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