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hazelnut
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Joined: 17 Apr 2002
Posts: 26
Location: Cambridge, UK
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 Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2002 8:42 pm Post subject: mplayer usability issues.. |
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Hi all,
Recently intalled Gentoo and very happy with it along with KDE 3. I've installed mplayer and it's very good at all videos (excepting Quicktime of course  ) but I do have some issues which I hope someone can help me with. I've looked at the docs but I can't find the right bit if this is in there.
The most annoying thing is that if I set it to fullscreen and then open a different vid (or even stop and restart the current one) then it starts playing in the default size in the top left hand corner of the screen - it still thinks it's in fullscreen mode because I have to select full screen twice. Also I wish I could get it to remember a size setting between sessions, and also to only ever start one copy of mplayer. If I doubleclick though a directory of my shorter videos (drag races mostly  ) trying to find the one I want, I end up with loads of copies of mplayer running which is a pain.
Cheers for any help. |
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Malakin
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Joined: 14 Apr 2002
Posts: 1692
Location: Victoria BC Canada
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| Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2002 11:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Also I wish I could get it to remember a size setting between sessions |
I put this in my ~/.mplayer/config file which makes it play in an 800x600 window by default:
| Quote: | | I end up with loads of copies of mplayer running which is a pain. |
This really annoys me also. I'm not aware of any fix for either mplayer or Xine. |
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variable
n00b
Joined: 17 Nov 2002
Posts: 17
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| Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2002 1:32 am Post subject: Re: mplayer usability issues.. |
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| hazelnut wrote: | Hi all,
Recently intalled Gentoo and very happy with it along with KDE 3. I've installed mplayer and it's very good at all videos (excepting Quicktime of course :wink:) but I do have some issues which I hope someone can help me with. I've looked at the docs but I can't find the right bit if this is in there.
The most annoying thing is that if I set it to fullscreen and then open a different vid (or even stop and restart the current one) then it starts playing in the default size in the top left hand corner of the screen - it still thinks it's in fullscreen mode because I have to select full screen twice. Also I wish I could get it to remember a size setting between sessions, and also to only ever start one copy of mplayer. If I doubleclick though a directory of my shorter videos (drag races mostly :D) trying to find the one I want, I end up with loads of copies of mplayer running which is a pain.
Cheers for any help. |
I have never ever used mplayer gui. GUI belongs to window$. mplayer's gui is workaround for those who are really afraid of CLI. mplayer has many-many features that can never be available throught gui and i dont see any reason why one should use GUI.
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hazelnut
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Joined: 17 Apr 2002
Posts: 26
Location: Cambridge, UK
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2002 4:26 pm Post subject: |
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Well variable, thanks for that very illuminating assistance. Feel better and more 'superior' yet or would you like to say some more???
 
GUI does not belong to window$ as you put it, GUI belongs wherever it makes the users' tasks easier IMHO. I think windows has a lot of problems due to the fact that the GUI is god, but that is not (the concept) GUI's fault.
Let me enlighten you as to what advantage I get out of the GUI. I click on directories of video clips of drag races, some of which are named sensibly and others more ambiguously.. I am looking for one I remember seeing but don't remember the name exactly. With a GUI I can click through and launch all the clips that my brain thinks *might* be the one I am looking for until I find the one I remember seeing. Doing this on the command line will take a lot of typing of filenames etc etc.
Anyway, what possible use would mplayer have without the GUI (Graphical User Interface)?? I'd love to see you watching clips in mono ASCII.. cos you consider the GUI rubbish and only for those lusers who are scared of CLI. I know you were only talking about the launching process really, but rubbishing the GUI as a whole makes you look like an idiot when you're talking about video players!!
Lastly, I am not scared of CLI interfaces - I love em in fact and hate it when they're not there in an acceptable manner (i.e. MacOS v6 or 7 or whatever I used back in 1989 on work placement). I've used a lot of CLI's (christ I even used to know how to drive VMS & CICS, not that I care to remember now) starting with the Sinclair ZX Basic CLI (haha) and moving swiftly on to AmigaOS by 1988 which is nearly 15 years ago! I use Solaris every day at work. Does this sound like someone who's afraid of the CLI?? Or could it be that GUI's do have their uses, and being a CLI snob is rather pathetic?
Anyway thanks to Malakin for the useful advice. Much appreciated.
Andy. |
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bpkri
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 07 Aug 2002
Posts: 118
Location: Germany
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2002 4:33 pm Post subject: |
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Well - yes. I also think that the gui belongs to where the users want them. Let's not start a war about Linux and GUIs here. There's not really a thing to argue about. If you have a window system like x, and a mouse, why should it not be used to control the applications you like? And if you don't like it: Well - use the keyboard. It's your choice.
However I also do not consider the mplayer GUI to be very good. You can indeed control it faster and better with the keyboard. |
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Pigeon
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Joined: 21 Jun 2002
Posts: 307
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2002 9:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Not to sound like a CLI nazi, (honest, I'm not!) but are you familiar with mplayer's CLI interface? I prefer mplayer's CLI interface. It's faster and more convenient, especially if you're going to be viewing a bunch of short clips. To each his own though. *shrug* |
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dr_strange
Guru
Joined: 16 Apr 2002
Posts: 480
Location: Cambridge, UK
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| Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2002 10:20 am Post subject: |
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just to throw in: mplayer now can play quicktime videos! and has now an OSD settings menu
visit www.mplayerhq.hu and download the latest cvs snapshot and the new codec packages |
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paul138
Guru
Joined: 09 Aug 2002
Posts: 370
Location: Ottawa, ON
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| Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2002 4:05 pm Post subject: Poof |
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Please don't feed the trolls
I tend to agree that mplayer is quite annoying in many ways but it's really the best (?) choice for a X media application (as far as video goes anyway). Xine-ui is nice but it too has usability issues (too many on-screen dialogs, cryptic config context, etc.).
The best you can do is use them and hope that some day the authors of the UI's will tweak the usability of it all to be more practical.
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metalhedd
l33t
Joined: 30 May 2002
Posts: 692
Location: Ontario Canada
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| Posted: Sat Jan 04, 2003 6:34 am Post subject: |
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| Malakin wrote: | | Quote: | | Also I wish I could get it to remember a size setting between sessions |
I put this in my ~/.mplayer/config file which makes it play in an 800x600 window by default:
| Quote: | | I end up with loads of copies of mplayer running which is a pain. |
This really annoys me also. I'm not aware of any fix for either mplayer or Xine. |
i tried putting the same thing in my ~/.mplayer/config an d movies still open in fullscreen... what gives? |
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jaymz
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Joined: 07 Nov 2002
Posts: 171
Location: /dev/chair
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| Posted: Sat Jan 04, 2003 8:59 am Post subject: |
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| try to look at /etc/mplayer.conf maybe there is still a line saying fs=yes..... just comment it |
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Cleotis
n00b
Joined: 09 Aug 2002
Posts: 53
Location: Belgium
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| Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2003 12:14 pm Post subject: Re: mplayer usability issues.. |
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| hazelnut wrote: | | (excepting Quicktime of course ) |
The latest version has it built-in, it works here just fine 
| hazelnut wrote: | | try to look at /etc/mplayer.conf maybe there is still a line saying fs=yes..... just comment it |
Yupz, it's there by default (so beware of an etc-update ) |
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metalhedd
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Joined: 30 May 2002
Posts: 692
Location: Ontario Canada
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| Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2003 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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| that was it, Its fixed now. |
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Das Damen
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Joined: 20 Mar 2003
Posts: 49
Location: Barrie, ON Canada
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| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2003 5:34 pm Post subject: |
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| metalhedd wrote: | | Malakin wrote: | | Quote: | | Also I wish I could get it to remember a size setting between sessions |
I put this in my ~/.mplayer/config file which makes it play in an 800x600 window by default:
| Quote: | | I end up with loads of copies of mplayer running which is a pain. |
This really annoys me also. I'm not aware of any fix for either mplayer or Xine. |
i tried putting the same thing in my ~/.mplayer/config an d movies still open in fullscreen... what gives? |
Well, you could just use kmplayer, but I understand that you're a command line kinda guy |
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mrchaotica
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Joined: 14 Dec 2002
Posts: 45
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| Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2003 5:44 am Post subject: Re: mplayer usability issues.. |
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| variable wrote: |
I have never ever used mplayer gui. GUI belongs to window$. mplayer's gui is workaround for those who are really afraid of CLI. mplayer has many-many features that can never be available throught gui and i dont see any reason why one should use GUI. |
In that case, tell me how I can use mplayer CLI mode while multitasking in X (and playing a movie in a window)?
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korny
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Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 23
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| Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2003 12:45 am Post subject: |
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| dun know if anyone posted how to get the 0.90 mplayer to go non-fullscreen, but it is done by putting "fs=no" inside the .mplayer/config file. Commenting out that line did not work for me. |
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Malakin
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Joined: 14 Apr 2002
Posts: 1692
Location: Victoria BC Canada
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| Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2003 5:11 am Post subject: |
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Funny to see a 5 month old thread brought back up. Things have changed though.
| Quote: | | I end up with loads of copies of mplayer running which is a pain. |
Both mplayer and xine work with drag'n'drop finally, this helps jumping through multiple vidoes without having to close one window and open another one. Pornview also works really well for this but the latest version doesn't work with the latest vesion of xine-lib (yet).
| Quote: | | Also I wish I could get it to remember a size setting between sessions |
Still can't do this afaik but you can set xine to prevent the window from being resized after you manually adjust it, so you can drag more videos onto the window and it won't change size, works good enough for me. (gui.stream-resize-window:0 in ~/.xine/config)
Using the cli for a lot of things is insane, just ignore the cli trolls. I like being able to click once and jump to any position in my video, or click once and jump to any sound level, you just can't do that without a gui. Previewing a bunch of videos without a gui is also time consuming, drag'n'drop speeds this up a lot (or pornview which is a single click). |
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mikepb78
Apprentice
Joined: 27 Feb 2003
Posts: 171
Location: London
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| Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2003 1:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Malakin wrote: | | Still can't do this afaik but you can set xine to prevent the window from being resized after you manually adjust it, so you can drag more videos onto the window and it won't change size, works good enough for me. (gui.stream-resize-window:0 in ~/.xine/config) |
Use kde. But remembering windows positions can be suicidal with multiple desktops...
| Malakin wrote: | | I like being able to click once and jump to any position in my video, or click once and jump to any sound level, you just can't do that without a gui. Previewing a bunch of videos without a gui is also time consuming, drag'n'drop speeds this up a lot (or pornview which is a single click). |
The mix of CLI and OSD menu and keyboad control as do all of that. ie : using page down and page up and seek cammands. GUI make sense some times.. but by the time you have moved the cursor to the GUI, you could have do it with a keyboard, you just have to know all shortcuts. Or you can use a remote control.
I like xine, but i fall into the category of people that find stability problems and speed problems, and mplayer fixes all of that |
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Malakin
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Joined: 14 Apr 2002
Posts: 1692
Location: Victoria BC Canada
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| Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2003 8:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | but by the time you have moved the cursor to the GUI, you could have do it with a keyboard, you just have to know all shortcuts. |
I disagree, you could be tapping the keys 10 times or more to get it to seek to the right spot, while you can do it with a single mouse click in the gui. Remotes suffer from the same problems, you're still hitting keys instead of clicking on a position for it to seek to. |
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mikepb78
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Joined: 27 Feb 2003
Posts: 171
Location: London
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| Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2003 9:26 pm Post subject: Once press only |
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| Malakin wrote: | | I disagree, you could be tapping the keys 10 times or more to get it to seek to the right spot, while you can do it with a single mouse click in the gui. Remotes suffer from the same problems, you're still hitting keys instead of clicking on a position for it to seek to. |
Nope.
Keep the key down. That is 1 press or use a remote control
And there a multiple type of seeks that you can use. IE : seek to 10/half/10 sec/frame. But really how often you do seek around or change the volume. The UNIX way of thinking is do a task and do it well. And app that plays movie it not there to control the volume etc..
But hey for one or 2 thngs a gui is good. But i am against an excessive desire for gui's (like M$), first the fundamentals right. Maybe the OSD ui will get finished of.
Last edited by mikepb78 on Sun Apr 13, 2003 9:45 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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metalhedd
l33t
Joined: 30 May 2002
Posts: 692
Location: Ontario Canada
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| Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2003 9:29 pm Post subject: |
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| I have to disagree with it being easier to use the mouse, a single click is nice, but positioning your mouseto that precise location takes longer than tapping pgup 10 times. furthermore, if the movie is in fullscreen, you have to go back to windowed mode to use the gui, I HATE that alot. |
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Malakin
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Joined: 14 Apr 2002
Posts: 1692
Location: Victoria BC Canada
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| Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2003 9:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | if the movie is in fullscreen, you have to go back to windowed mode to use the gui, I HATE that alot. |
This may be the case in mplayer but it's not in xine, and the gui sits nicely at the bottom of the screen not blocking the video in any wider format movie, in case the gui does bother you tapping "g" will show/hide it. I don't exclusively use the gui but for me it makes sense most of the time. |
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mikepb78
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Joined: 27 Feb 2003
Posts: 171
Location: London
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| Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2003 10:06 pm Post subject: Single Click |
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| Malakin wrote: | | This may be the case in mplayer but it's not in xine, and the gui sits nicely at the bottom of the screen not blocking the video in any wider format movie, in case the gui does bother you tapping "g" will show/hide it. I don't exclusively use the gui but for me it makes sense most of the time. |
Playing a movie fullscreen should never need a GUI.
BTW : if you do want to hide/show the gui. Then middle click for xine or a single click for mplayer. Press a key and then using the mouse sounds like pt to me
Also kmplayer is a nice little helper and it keeps its ui (you can change this) right at the button and it very small. Or you can use the tiny mplayer theme to do the same.
The end the debate once and for all :
"Post Processing" |
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mikepb78
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Joined: 27 Feb 2003
Posts: 171
Location: London
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TenPin
Guru
Joined: 26 Aug 2002
Posts: 500
Location: Kansas City
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| Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2003 2:24 am Post subject: |
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I would use only mplayer if it had a couple of extra features that I use all the time:
1. Fixed window aspect ratio
2. Bind mousewheel to increase/decrease window size
3. Key bound to dynamically change between common aspect ratios
Xine has these and it makes it incredibly easy to keep the video window how you want.
I'm going to implement them myself in mplayer when I get time.
As it is I have both xine and mplayer installed, between them you are guaranteed to be able to play anything. I also use mencoder from time to time, 2 commands to rip a DVD to DivX is great ! |
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mikepb78
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Joined: 27 Feb 2003
Posts: 171
Location: London
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| Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2003 6:31 pm Post subject: |
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Should i reply or not ?
| TenPin wrote: | | 1. Fixed window aspect ratio |
The vidix and x11 can do this. For xv you can use kplayer. Kplayer also does maintain current aspect ratio which is handy.
| Code: | | emerge sync; emerge kmplayer |
| TenPin wrote: | | 2. Bind mousewheel to increase/decrease window size |
I prefer seeking and changing size. But as an option it would be interesting very much like bsplayer on windows. For now in kplayer "ctl--" and "ctl++" does the same. So remap it to a mouse wheel (One or two line of code)
| TenPin wrote: | | 3. Key bound to dynamically change between common aspect ratios |
That should be easily possible. Or just bing a key for kplayer.(One or two line of code)
| Code: | toggle = new KToggleAction (i18n("Maintain &Current Aspect"), 0, CTRL + Key_W, this, SLOT (onViewMaintainCurrentAspect()), actionCollection(), "view_current_aspect");
toggle -> setStatusText (i18n("Maintains the current video aspect ratio"));
toggle -> setExclusiveGroup ("aspect");
toggle = new KToggleAction (i18n("Force &4 to 3 Aspect"), 0, CTRL + Key_S, this, SLOT (onViewAspect43()), actionCollection(), "view_aspect_4_3");
toggle -> setStatusText (i18n("Sets 4 to 3 video aspect ratio"));
toggle -> setExclusiveGroup ("aspect");
toggle = new KToggleAction (i18n("Force 1&6 to 9 Aspect"), 0, CTRL + Key_D, this, SLOT (onViewAspect169()), actionCollection(), "view_aspect_16_9");
toggle -> setStatusText (i18n("Sets 16 to 9 video aspect ratio"));
toggle -> setExclusiveGroup ("aspect"); |
| TenPin wrote: | | I'm going to implement them myself in mplayer when I get time. |
Thats good. If you want to have fixed aspect ratio for xv drivers then look at the code for x11 driver. But as you can see there does not need to be much work to have it the way to want it. That is if the people accept the patches 
Ideally there should be a merge of all these features.
Pictures Speak a 1000 words :
[img:1960c02a3d]http://dts.sourceforge.net/kplayer-aspect.png[/img:1960c02a3d] |
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