Use phonon from Qt or kdesupport?

[Thiago Macieira]

Em Terça-feira 21 Julho 2009, às 13:49:35, Pau Garcia i Quiles escreveu:
> Dependency on a specific backend is undesirable but some times it is
> also a requirement.
>
> For instance, if you want to play video coming from a RTSP source:
> - the Xine backend cannot do that (it does not support non-seekable
> sources) 
> - the GStreamer backend is able to do that
> - the DirectX backend is able to do that but it requires to install a
> special codec and usually that special codec needs its own semantics
> (for instance, if you use the RTSP codec Axis provides, you need to
> use axhttprtsp:// instead of just rtsp://)

That's a case of backend dictating front-end feature. It will happen for 
multimedia and users are used to it. Installing plugins and codecs is normal.

But it's no reason to require a backend in the application.

> So, in my case, I have an application which plays video from Axis
> surveillance cameras and also has to be able to play Camtasia-encoded
> videos (for training). Both at the same time. On Linux, this is not
> possible: if I use the GStreamer backend, I cannot play
> Camtasia-encoded videos. If I use the Xine backend, there's no
> surveillance cameras. I have not tried the VLC or mplayer backends yet
> but I'll be doing that next week.

That means you need to get Xine or GStreamer to improve their code.

> It would be nice if we could specify backend preference for each
> MediaSource. If that backend is not available, the next backend is
> tried.

No. It would be better if the backend were improved.

If applications switch backends depending on the media source, they could end 
up supporting different features for different sources (imagine being able to 
play MP3 everywhere, except when from HTTP).

-- 
Thiago Macieira - thiago (AT) macieira.info - thiago (AT) kde.org
  Senior Product Manager - Nokia, Qt Software
      PGP/GPG: 0x6EF45358; fingerprint:
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