multimedia infrastructure

[Neil Stevens]

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On Monday December 30, 2002 02:21, Arnold Krille wrote:
> First: Isn't this something for kde-multimedia list?

Yes.

> On Monday 30 December 2002 03:50, Florin Andrei wrote:
> > I've seen the recent discussion on this mailing list about the
> > multimedia issues. IMO, the real issue is not using one player or
> > another, the issue is to have an infrastructure that makes sense.

Yes.  The kde-devel discussions have been among people who aren't bothering 
to follow what's going on in kdemultimedia.

> > Usually, xine is known as a "multimedia player" but that's misleading.
> > In actual fact, xine is a library. Its core is xine-lib, with perhaps
> > half a dozen different interfaces built on top of it, if not more
> > (including xine-ui, the "official" GUI).

xine-ui is junk, but xine-lib seems to be fairly portable and useful.

> Just look into kde. - xine is used.

And, as it turned out, of the various video libraries out there, only 
xine-lib had someone willing and able to follow through and write a 
playobject.  We're not tied to xine-lib at all, though.  Anyone could use 
any library they want (or their own code) and write their own 
VideoPlayObject-implementing aRts PlayObject.  xine_artsplugin is simply 
the only one that's been written.

> Just look into kdemultimedia: They are having a lot of trouble because
> of the xine-lib not beeing BC in its releases.

Well, some people are having trouble when they try to install CVS, alpha, 
and beta versions.  It should work with 0.9.13.

Also, one trouble with the xine_artsplugin so far is its limited connection 
with other aRts services.  But, until someone else is willing and able to 
write a competitor, xine_artsplugin is all we have.

> For me Xine is like aRts: Some like it, some do not. I like aRts and not
> Xine, its not that beautiful thing you call it. mplayer, ogle and
> aviplay are my favourites. All called with artsdsp before it command;-)

I've found that usually the people who bash aRts and KDE are those who like 
Microsoft, Apple, and Real proprietary systems, those who want players 
tied to x86 or XFree86, and those who don't care about KDE UI standards. 
:-)

That said, I like ogle, too.  As soon as the ogle core gets a couple more 
features, work on a UI for it will continue.  But I'm opposed to the idea 
that UIs for specialized hardware players should be integrated all into 
one monster UI, so that ogle support will not be in kaboodle.

- -- 
Neil Stevens - neil at qualityassistant.com
"The nearest I can make it out, 'Love your Enemies' means, 'Hate your
Friends'." - Benjamin Franklin
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