[MPlayer-users] Quicktime playback on MPlayer/Linux -- Somevideos play in ultra-slow-motion?

[Dominik 'Rathann' Mierzejewski]

On Sunday, 31 August 2008 at 20:24, Terry Linford wrote:
> Dominik,
> 
> On Sun, Aug 31, 2008 at 11:04 AM, Dominik 'Rathann' Mierzejewski
> > I hope that explains the issue a bit.
> 
> It's a reasoned and, in contrast to others', polite comment.  Thank you.
> 
> Still, it doesn't /change/ this user's experience to know this.

I would hope it might change your attitude.

> The
> bottom line is, we install a mainstream distro, paying for disks to
> support the Linux community, and follow recommendations to install
> "X".

Since MPlayer is not officially part of OpenSUSE, you're already
leaving supported environment. I know you just want to play your
movies, but it's not that easy. That's not how this world works,
unfortunately. Well, Ubuntu says it is easy, but their packages are
not so good either, as our experience shows.

> When problems arrive, we're thrust into a melee of project politics,
> difficult personalities, etc, with each entity pointing the finger
> elsewhere.  I'm curious -- how far should an "average user" be
> expected to go to get a product that works?
> 
> It may be the 'best' product out there, but unless it /works/ for the
> average/typical user -- which is /not/ a build-it-from-snv developer
> -- it shouldn't be touted as such.

Ah. There lies the misunderstanding. Many open-source developers don't
think of their software as "product". It is simply the software that
they write for themselves and if someone uses it, then power to them.
If they report bugs, all the better. Many of us work on the software
in our free time. I think one of the key differences between commercial
products and open-source software is that the latter invites user
participation in its development. Be it by sending code fixes, reporting
bugs or suggesting new features. While we strive to make it "just work",
it's not possible to test everything in every possible configuration.
So we release what works for us and await bugreports.

Back to your "too old" problem, though - we can't do anything about it.
We can't produce packages for every major distribution out there. And
even if we could, it doesn't make sense. It doesn't scale well, there
are too many versions and hardware combinations. Also, someone would
have to track all that. It's the distributor's job, not ours. So as
I said: all problems should be reported through your distributor first.

> A quote from one of the reivews references @ the MPlayer site says it best --
> 
> "What should the Linux movie player of your dreams do? It should play
> any movie/video that you throw at it. No questions asked—just play.'
> 
> I agree.  And, I'll choose simply to not use this product as a result,
> and don't expect for one single moment that any of these
> build-it-yourself-ers care about my decision or experience.

Well, it's too bad if your experience with Packman's package was less
than ideal, but we can't do anything about it, for the reasons explained
earlier. You made a choice when you decided to install OpenSUSE and now
you have to live with the consequences. If you want to blame somebody,
blame Packman's maintainer, Novell and the US legal system.

Regards,
R.

-- 
MPlayer http://mplayerhq.hu | Livna http://rpm.livna.org
There should be a science of discontent. People need hard times and
oppression to develop psychic muscles.
	-- from "Collected Sayings of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan