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@@ -1,72 +1,113 @@ Welcome to MPlayer, the Unix movie player. MPlayer can play most standard video formats out of the box and almost all others with the help of external codecs. -MPlayer currently works best from the command line, but there is a GUI with -skin support in the alpha development stage. +MPlayer currently works best from the command line, but visual feedback for +many functions is available from its onscreen status display (OSD), which is +also used for displaying subtitles. A GUI with skin support is in the alpha +development stage, but not completely finished yet. -This document is for getting you started in a few minutes. It cannot answer -all of your questions. If you have problems, please read the documentation in -DOCS/documentation.html. It is extensive and should answer most of your -questions. Also read the manpage to learn how to use MPlayer. +This document is for getting you started in a few minutes. It cannot answer all +of your questions. If you have problems, please read the documentation in +DOCS/documentation.html, which should help you solve most of your problems. +Also read the man page to learn how to use MPlayer. + + +Requirements: +- To compile MPlayer with X11 support, you need to have the XFree86 development + packages installed. +- For the GUI you need the GTK 1.2 development packages. -To compile MPlayer with X11 support, you need to have the XFree86 development -packages installed, for the GUI you also need the GTK development packages. Before you start... Unless you know what are you doing, consult DOCS/video.html to see which driver -to use with your video card to get the best video quality and performance. -Most cards require special drivers not included with standard X11, to drive -the 2-D video acceleration features (YUV, scaling etc) of your card! +to use with your video card to get the best quality and performance. Most cards +require special drivers not included with XFree86 to drive their 2-D video +acceleration features like YUV and scaling. A quick and incomplete list of recommendations: -- ATI cards: get the GATOS drivers for X11/Xv or use vidix -- Matrox G200/G4x0/G550: compile and use mga_vid for Linux, use vidix for BSD -- 3dfx Voodoo3/Banshee: get XFree86 4.2.0+ for Xv or use the tdfxfb driver -- nVidia cards: get the X11 driver from www.nvidia.com for Xv support -Without having accelerated video, even a 800MHz P3 may be slow to play DVD! +- ATI cards: Get the GATOS drivers for X11/Xv or use VIDIX. +- Matrox G200/G4x0/G550: Compile and use mga_vid for Linux, on BSD use VIDIX. +- 3dfx Voodoo3/Banshee: Get XFree86 4.2.0+ for Xv or use the tdfxfb driver. +- nVidia cards: Get the X11 driver from www.nvidia.com for Xv support. +- NeoMagic cards: Get an Xv capable driver from our homepage as described in + DOCS/video.html. + +Without accelerated video even an 800MHz P3 may be too slow to play DVDs. + + +______________________ +STEP0: Getting MPlayer +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +Official releases, prereleases and CVS snapshots, as well as fonts for the +OSD, Win32 codecs and a number of different skins for the GUI are available +from the download section of our homepage at + + http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/dload.html + +A set of fonts is necessary for the OSD and subtitles, the GUI needs at least +one skin and Win32 codecs add support for some more video and audio formats. +MPlayer does not come with any of these by default, you have to download and +install them separately. + +MPlayer is also available via anonymous CVS. Issue the following commands to +get the latest sources: + + cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@mplayerhq.hu:/cvsroot/mplayer login + cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@mplayerhq.hu:/cvsroot/mplayer co main + +When asked for a password, just hit enter. A directory named 'main' will be +created. You can later update your sources by saying + + cvs -z3 update -dPA + +from within that directory. + ___________________________________ STEP1: Installing FFmpeg libavcodec ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -If you are using an official release, skip this step, since official releases -always include libavcodec. To verify this check if the libavcodec subdirectory -is empty or contains the sources! +If you are using an official (pre)release, skip this step, since official +releases include libavcodec. CVS sources and CVS snapshots do not include +libavcodec. To verify if you do have libavcodec or not, check if the libavcodec +subdirectory in the MPlayer source tree is empty or not. + +The FFmpeg project provides libavcodec, a very portable codec collection (among +the supported formats is MPEG4/DivX) with excellent quality and speed, that is +the preferred MPEG4/DivX codec of MPlayer. You have to get libavcodec directly +from the FFmpeg CVS server. -The FFmpeg project provides libavcodec, a very portable MPEG4/DivX codec with -excellent speed and quality. It is the preferred codec of MPlayer for playing -mpeg4 and divx video. You have to get libavcodec directly from the FFmpeg CVS -server. Use the following commands in a suitable directory outside the MPlayer -source directory: +To get the FFmpeg sources, use the following commands in a suitable directory +outside the MPlayer source directory: cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ffmpeg.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ffmpeg login -cvs -z9 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ffmpeg.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ffmpeg co ffmpeg/libavcodec +cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ffmpeg.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ffmpeg co ffmpeg/libavcodec When asked for a password, you can just hit enter. -Now, replace the empty libavcodec directory with the FFmpeg libavcodec source -by removing the libavcodec subdirectory in the MPlayer source tree and then -copying (symbolic linking does not suffice!) the freshly downloaded FFmpeg -libavcodec directory back into the MPlayer source tree. +Now, replace the empty libavcodec directory in the MPlayer source tree with the +FFmpeg libavcodec source by removing the libavcodec subdirectory in the MPlayer +source tree and then copying (symbolic linking does not suffice) the freshly +downloaded FFmpeg libavcodec directory back into the MPlayer source tree. ______________________________ STEP2: Installing Win32 Codecs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -While MPlayer and libavcodec has built-in support for the most common audio -and video formats, some others are playable only with the Win32 DLLs -or the XAnim binary plugins. Few examples: WMV video, Divx/WMA audio, Indeo. -This step is not mandatory, but recommended for getting MPlayer to play more -different file types! +MPlayer and libavcodec have builtin support for the most common audio and video +formats, but some others are playable only with the Win32 DLLs or the XAnim +binary plugins. Examples include WMV video, DivX with WMA audio (not normal +DivX files) and Indeo. This step is not mandatory, but recommended for getting +MPlayer to play more different file types. Note that Win32 codecs only work on +Intel compatible PCs. -Grab the win32 codecs package from the download page +Unpack the codecs archive and put the contents in a directory where MPlayer +will find them. The default directory is /usr/lib/win32/ but you can change +that to something else by using the '--with-win32libdir=DIR' option when you +run './configure'. - http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/dload.html - -unpack it and put the contents in a directory where MPlayer will find them. -The default directory is /usr/lib/win32/ but you can change that to something -else by using the '--with-win32libdir=DIR' option when you run './configure' . __________________________ STEP3: Configuring MPlayer @@ -76,9 +117,8 @@ MPlayer has a lot of options that get selected in this phase. Run ./configure -to configure MPlayer with the default options. The options you installed above -should be autodetected, except GUI support, which has to be enabled separately, -run +to configure MPlayer with the default options. The codecs you installed above +should be autodetected. GUI support has to be enabled separately, run ./configure --enable-gui @@ -90,10 +130,11 @@ If something does not work as expected, try to see the available options and select what you need. -The ./configure script prints a summary of enabled and disabled options. -If you have something installed that ./configure fails to detect, check -the file configure.log for errors and reasons for the failure. Repeat this -step until you are satisfied with the enabled feature set. +The configure script prints a summary of enabled and disabled options. If you +have something installed that configure fails to detect, check the file +configure.log for errors and reasons for the failure. Repeat this step until +you are satisfied with the enabled feature set. + ________________________ STEP4: Compiling MPlayer @@ -109,65 +150,57 @@ You can install MPlayer with provided that you have write permission in the installation directory. -If all went well, you can run MPlayer by typing 'mplayer' -You should get a summary of the most common options and keys (help screen). +If all went well, you can run MPlayer by typing 'mplayer'. A help screen with a +summary of the most common options and keyboard shortcuts should be displayed. -If you get 'unable to load shared library' or similar errors, then run +If you get 'unable to load shared library' or similar errors, run 'ldd ./mplayer' to check which libraries fail and go back to STEP 3 to fix it. -Sometimes just running 'ldconfig' is enough. +Sometimes running 'ldconfig' is enough to fix the problem. -NOTE: If you run Debian you can configure, compile and build a proper deb -package with only one command: +NOTE: If you run Debian you can configure, compile and build a proper Debian +.deb package with only one command: fakeroot debian/rules binary + ____________________________________________ STEP5: Installing the onscreen display fonts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -To enable OSD (onscreen status display) and ASCII/TEXT subtitles you need some -fonts. Get them from our homepage: - -http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/dload.html +Unpack the archive and choose one of the available font sizes. Then copy the +font files of the corresponding size into /usr/local/share/mplayer/font/ or +~/.mplayer/font/ (or whatever you set with './configure --datadir=DIR'). -Unpack the archive and choose one of the available font sizes. Then copy the -font files of the corresponding size into /usr/local/share/mplayer/font/ -(or whatever you set with './configure --datadir=DIR'). ____________________________ STEP6: Installing a GUI skin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -Please remember that the GUI is still in the alpha development stage and not -completely finished yet. Features like playlist, preferences and equalizer -do not work at all. Expect them for the 1.0 release -Basic stuff like file selection and seeking works, though. - -If you want to use the GUI you need to download a skin, since MPlayer does not -come with a skin by default. Choose one from the download page +Unpack the archive and put the contents in /usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/ or +~/.mplayer/Skin/. MPlayer will use the skin in the default/ subdirectory of +/usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/ or ~/.mplayer/Skin/ unless told otherwise via +the '-skin' switch. You should therefore rename your skin subdirectory or make +a suitable symbolic link. - http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/dload.html - -unpack it in /usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/. MPlayer will use the skin in -the default/ subdirectory (/usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/default/*) unless -told otherwise via the '-skin' switch. You should therefore rename your -skin subdirectory, make a suitable symbolic link or set the skin name in -the file mplayer.conf by 'skin=skinname'. __________________ STEP7: Let's play! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -That's it for the moment. To start playing movies, open a command line and try +That's it for the moment. To start playing movies, open a command line and try mplayer <moviefile> -or for the GUI: +or for the GUI + mplayer -gui <moviefile> gmplayer <moviefile> - (just 'gmplayer' is enough to use the GUI fileselector) -To play VCD track or DVD title, try: +gmplayer is a symbolic link to mplayer created by 'make install'. +Without <moviefile>, MPlayer will come up and you will be able to use the GUI +filepicker. + +To play a VCD track or a DVD title, try: mplayer -vcd 2 -cdrom-device /dev/hdc mplayer -dvd 1 -alang en -slang hu -dvd-device /dev/hdd @@ -175,11 +208,14 @@ To play VCD track or DVD title, try: See 'mplayer -help' and 'man mplayer' for further options. 'mplayer -vo help' will show you the available video output drivers. Experiment -with the '-vo' switch to see which one gives you the best performance! -If you get very jerky playback or no sound, experiment with -ao (see -ao help) -Note that jerky playback is caused by buggy audio drivers or too slow cpu/vga. -With a good audio and video driver combination, one can play DVDs and 720x576 -DivX files smoothly on a Celeron 366. For slower systems, you need -framedrop. +with the '-vo' switch to see which one gives you the best performance. +If you get jerky playback or no sound, experiment with the '-ao' switch (see +'-ao help') to choose between different audio drivers. Note that jerky playback +is caused by buggy audio drivers or a slow processor and video card. With a +good audio and video driver combination, one can play DVDs and 720x576 DivX +files smoothly on a Celeron 366. Slower systems may need the '-framedrop' +option. Questions you may have are probably answered in the rest of the documentation. -The place to start reading is DOCS/faq.html and DOCS/documentation.html. +The places to start reading are the man page, DOCS/documentation.html and +DOCS/faq.html. |