Help with XINE, MPLAYER,

[bob58]

Hello....I seem to have a problem running audio with the program XINE. I can play music cd, but the audio breaks up a bit. I have a 900MHZ laptop with 512 meg ram....Is this not enough memory to run this application? I notice if I switch from the KDE desktop to FLUXBOX the audio clears up quite a bit....but not totally...but enough to be usable. Is there a setting for buffer size???? How can I make adjustments to this program so it will play audio like its supposed to? I also notice i can play dvd's but I get an error that will pop up saying it is running too slow....the video seems OK with an occasional glitch.....My computer should be capable of running music and dvd video with no problems....it did when I had my winxp hard drive in it. And windows is notorious for sucking alot of memory for itself!

Also I cannot get MPLAYER to work....there is some kind of file missing????Why cant some of these programs come complete to run? In the install script, if a file is already on computer, it should skip it. I find it is annoying to not be able to run some of these multi media programs cause of missing files. I notice in KNOPPIX v. 3.6 most of these issues have been solved....all but KPLAYER and MPLAYER. Please offer any advice...bob58

[Matir]

Bob, are you doing this from a hdinstalled knoppix or the livecd? With livecd, it can run slower because of the memory used for uncompressing the cloop filesystem.

[bob58]

I am running from HDD install. At first I couldnt run XINE at all cause there was a file missing. I was able to install it from a link here on forum. The problem was I couldnt play DVD'S. I do notice that XINE does run better using FLUXBOX or ICEWM. I guess cause KDE uses alot more memory, but with 512MB I would think thats more than enuff! But anyway, if I run a music cd in XINE I get slightly intermittent audio...like skipping....it almost sounds like if you listen to streaming audio over a modem. Its not terribly bad, but it could use some help. Is there some kind of setting in the XINE setup? I couldnt find anything.

[CrashedAgain]

Hello....I seem to have a problem running audio with the program XINE. I can play music cd, but the audio breaks up a bit. I have a 900MHZ laptop with 512 meg ram....Is this not enough memory to run this application? I notice if I switch from the KDE desktop to FLUXBOX the audio clears up quite a bit....but not totally...but enough to be usable. Is there a setting for buffer size???? How can I make adjustments to this program so it will play audio like its supposed to? I also notice i can play dvd's but I get an error that will pop up saying it is running too slow....the video seems OK with an occasional glitch.....My computer should be capable of running music and dvd video with no problems....it did when I had my winxp hard drive in it. And windows is notorious for sucking alot of memory for itself!

Also I cannot get MPLAYER to work....there is some kind of file missing????Why cant some of these programs come complete to run? In the install script, if a file is already on computer, it should skip it. I find it is annoying to not be able to run some of these multi media programs cause of missing files. I notice in KNOPPIX v. 3.6 most of these issues have been solved....all but KPLAYER and MPLAYER. Please offer any advice...bob58
Probably this is because more than one application is trying to use the sound system. To do this you must use the sound server aRts & you will need to install the xine-arts plugin. (There is also an xmms-arts plugin).
Mplayer needs codecs to interpret the various file formats, the package 'W32codecs' should cover most of them. You will also want mplayer-mozilla to get the browser plugins, konqueror also uses these same mozilla plugins.
You will also have to 'pipe plugins through arts' in konqueror setups, I think this setting is in configure konqueror->plugins->plugins tab. (Can't check, Im not in Linux right now)

[Harry Kuhman]

Bob,

The site admin has confirmed that multiiple clicks on the submit may have caused the duplicate postings. Sorry, I had no idea that that might happen.
Now that I know, if I see it in the future I'll clean up the duplicates without comment.

Harry

[bob58]

OK Harry, you are just doing your part as moderator, no problem....The rest of this post is directed to CRASHEDAGAIN
...
I really could use some help with this......I am trying to understand....In the "control panel" I have checked off "start sound server at startup" or something similar.....So then you get these system sounds and so on....So I should UNCHECK that? Maybe thats why the audio programs play better when I dont use KDE cause in fluxbox and the others, there is no sound events. So the applications work a little better.

Also I have checked off "use external player" which I chose "ARTSPLAY" because that seemed to be the only way I could get sound events to work.

You have in your reply to use "the sound server aRts....is that the same thing as ARTSPLAY?????

And how do I go about installing the "xine-arts" plugin? Also the xmms-arts plugin....I also have trouble getting xmms to work in KDE....it works great in fluxbox and the others. The only sound program I can use that works well in KDE is KAFFEINE....how come that program works OK in KDE?

I am totally lost with MPLAYER and the CODECS.... :roll:

can you help me with these issues??? If you get a chance....I am not very good getting these sound applications working. I am just trying to get an application that will be able to play music and video well. I can use KAFFEINE to listen to streaming audio with no problem. REAL PLAYER works in most instances.

One more thing, I really do not understand why these programs dont work "out of the box". It seems you have to install other files to get them to work. Why are these "other files" not included with the programs? Then when you install them they work! And for example with MPLAYER, I have to jump thru hoops to get it to work, only to get an error!

Well If you can help me one thing at a time I would really be grateful :lol:

bob58

[probono]

You could install kplayer from http://klik.berlios.de and then simply copy the win32 codecs there - all without the need for HD install.

[bob58]

Hi Probono.....I have been having trouble running KPLAYER....I download it from the 'KLIK' website and when its done, a message box pops up saying:

"error running /home/bob/kplayer/wrapper kplayer. You could try to edit manually"

I have no clue to what this means. Is there a problem with the file? I also notice that it isnt in my KMENU under programs installed by KLIK. Any help would be appreciated...bob

[bob58]

Heres what I found on a search for "xine-arts plugin:


This information is for KDE-3.1 users who wish to update their version of the xine aRts plugin. You can use both versions for KDE-3.1, but only the 'unified' version supports older versions of xine-lib (0.9.x).
1. Download one of the tarballs (see About)

2. Extract the tarball into your kdemultimedia build directory

cd ~/build/kdemultimedia-3.1/
tar xjf ~/download/xine_artsplugin-20030114.tar.bz2

3. Generate the Makefile templates (.in)

make -f Makefile.cvs

or

make -f admin/Makefile.common

4. Run configure (add your options)
./configure

5. Rebuild the xine aRts plugin
cd xine_artsplugin/
make

However I cannot find the right directory to untar this file into.....any ideas? ? ??

[Markus]

I'd recommend apt for this one:

markus@fujibox:~$ apt-cache search xine arts
amarok - versatile and easy to use audio player for KDE
amarok-gstreamer - GStreamer engine for the amaroK audio player
libarts1-xine - xine plugin for arts

markus@fujibox:~$ apt-cache policy libarts1-xine
libarts1-xine:
Installed: 4:3.3.0-1
Candidate: 4:3.3.0-1
Version Table:
*** 4:3.3.0-1 0
990 ftp://ftp.fi.debian.org unstable/main Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

markus@fujibox:~$ apt-cache search xmms arts
amarok - versatile and easy to use audio player for KDE
xmms-arts - aRts Output plugin for xmms

markus@fujibox:~$ apt-cache policy xmms-arts
xmms-arts:
Installed: 0.7.1-2
Candidate: 0.7.1-2
Version Table:
*** 0.7.1-2 0
990 ftp://ftp.fi.debian.org unstable/main Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

[probono]

Hi bob58,
hmm, that's strange. What version of Knoppix are you using? Did you get an error that some parts could not be downloaded?
Greetings,
probono

[CrashedAgain]

OK Harry, you are just doing your part as moderator, no problem....The rest of this post is directed to CRASHEDAGAIN
...
I really could use some help with this......I am trying to understand....In the "control panel" I have checked off "start sound server at startup" or something similar.....So then you get these system sounds and so on....So I should UNCHECK that? Maybe thats why the audio programs play better when I dont use KDE cause in fluxbox and the others, there is no sound events. So the applications work a little better.

Also I have checked off "use external player" which I chose "ARTSPLAY" because that seemed to be the only way I could get sound events to work.

You have in your reply to use "the sound server aRts....is that the same thing as ARTSPLAY?????

And how do I go about installing the "xine-arts" plugin? Also the xmms-arts plugin....I also have trouble getting xmms to work in KDE....it works great in fluxbox and the others. The only sound program I can use that works well in KDE is KAFFEINE....how come that program works OK in KDE?

I am totally lost with MPLAYER and the CODECS.... :roll:

can you help me with these issues??? If you get a chance....I am not very good getting these sound applications working. I am just trying to get an application that will be able to play music and video well. I can use KAFFEINE to listen to streaming audio with no problem. REAL PLAYER works in most instances.

One more thing, I really do not understand why these programs dont work "out of the box". It seems you have to install other files to get them to work. Why are these "other files" not included with the programs? Then when you install them they work! And for example with MPLAYER, I have to jump thru hoops to get it to work, only to get an error!

Well If you can help me one thing at a time I would really be grateful :lol:

bob58
Most of these applications are available as .deb packages.

Whenever possible, use .deb packages & apt-get or dpkg to install packages instead of compiling with make & make install. You can use kpackage to find what packages are available(and also to install them, but sometimes apt-get will work better). If the package is not listed in kpackage, it usually means that you do not have a source for it in your sources.list. There are .deb packages for almost every application, you can often track down package sources from google, do a search first for the package name then search within results for '.deb'. Then add the source to /etc/apt/sources.list & do apt-get update or dselect update.

Klik will work on a HD installed system but there is no advantage to using it so just use apt-get.

If you can find an rpm but not a .deb you can convert the rpm to a .deb with 'alien -d <rpm package>.

For mplayer, add this line to your apt sources.list:

deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ unstable main

then

apt-get update
apt-get install mplayer w32codecs mplayer-mozilla mplayer-fonts

Xine-arts & xmms-arts should be available from existing sources so just
apt-get install xine-arts xmms-arts

Artsplayer is just another audio player (part of kde's 'juk' player, I think). Arts is part of kde and kde will start it automatically but you will have to tell xmms to use it. Right click in xmms, select properties or options or configure (don't remember the exact terminology & I'm not in Linux right now, sorry) find the output device setting & change to arts. You may have to do the same for xine.

To get your sounds working, enable sounds in kde control center (which you hav already done), then enable all system notification sounds. Then you have to edit the hidden file /home/(username)/.kde/share/config/knotifyrc & change all three settings to 'yes'. Why kde doesn't do this automatically is a mystery to me since the user is obviously trying to enable system sounds but it doesn't.

For konqueror plugins to play streaming audio you have to check the configure konqueror->plugins->plugin tab 'pipe plugins through arts' check box.

You can also play audio cd's from konqueror. You need the 'audiocd' protocol which you can get by apt-get install kde-multimedia-kio-plugins.
Then if you type 'audiocd://' in konqueror's address bar you can play music using the services in the 'services' sidebar tab. (There may be more navigating needed, I forget exactly) It's a bit awkward to use at this point but it looks like kde is working on some kind of integrated konqueror media player which may eventually be yet another reason to use konqueror. At this point xmms is probably easier.

Choosing external or embedded player just sets whether the application runs as a separate entity or within kde...sort of like when you open a text file do you wnat it to open in the external editor kwrite or just view it with the embedded text viewer.

[CrashedAgain]

Late news: It appears the xine-arts plugins may no longer be available or necessary. For more information about xine: http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:WbR1B7kCcEcJ:dvd.sourceforge.net/xine-howto/en_GB/howto.sgml+xine+arts+deb&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
I'm currently checking on Mplayer & aRts. It seems aRts support may need to be compiled into Mplayer, not sure if the currently available .deb packages from marillat have it.