I have just installed the latest version of MPlayer and Win32 codecs but can't work out what to do next.

I followed the "Readme" in the MPlayer package itself, and got to the end of the installation where it says: "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." That's exactly what happened.

But I can't work out what the next step is. The next instructions are:

STEP5: Installing the onscreen display fonts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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').
____________________________
STEP6: Installing a GUI skin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unpack the archive and put the contents in /usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/ or
~/.mplayer/Skin/. MPlayer will use the skin in the subdirectory named default
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.

Are these two steps mandatory or optional? (I don't even know what a skin is.) If they are mandatory, what is meant in each case by "Unpack the archive"? Which archive, where do I find it and how do I unpack it?

If, on the other hand, the player is ready for use, how do I do that? Does it require a terminal command? Surely not?

I already have Kaffeine on the computer as part of the Suse 9.2 package. Does that work as the front-end of MPlayer? It looks rather different now than the last time I played it, so maybe it does. However, it still won't play the extra formats that the Win32 codecs supply - only .mpg, I believe.

Sorry for so many questions, but I really don't know what needs attending to in order to get MPlayer to work.


Tom

It's alright. You can use mplayer from the command line, the skin is required for GUI only. You need fonts to get subtitles but it's not mandatory. To watch a video (say video.avi) just type: mplayer video.avi
Look at the man page (type man mplayer), there are tons of options. For example:
mplayer -fs -loop 0 -speed 0.5 video.avi
This will play video.avi in infinite loop (0 means infinite), in full-screen (-fs) and at half the speed

what did you expect? MPlayer is a command line player by default but it does have a gui.

from the command line:



will play the file. note that -vo means "video out" and -ao means "audio out"

to find out your options:

will list the available video out drivers and -ao help will list the audio ones. get skins from www.mplayerhq.hu->downloads ( they are at the botton ), download them, open 'em up with the archive manager of your choice (file-roller, ark, use the command line, whatever you have handy) and move the folder inside to either /usr/share/mplayer/Skin or $HOME/.mplayer/Skin. ( yours may be /usr/local/share/mplayer depending on where mplayer is installed). to run the gui version:

keep in mind everthing's case sensitive (QuickSilver and Quicksilver are not the same).

if it complains about "font path blah blah. cannot find subfont.ttf" just do:

( its a backup font, so we're just copying this one so you don't have to deal with the annoying popup.

also, try reading the documentation and these couple a articles (down the page a little, before the comments section):
http://freshmeat.net/projects/mplayer/

My attention has been drawn to http://forums.suselinuxsupport.de/in...opic=7482&st=0 and 33_hertz's excellent instructions for expanding Yast and quickly downloading programs like MPlayer. I have just done that on Suse 9.2. As a way to get a copy of MPlayer quickly up and running, it was superb.

However, I find it still has the same failing as I had with Kaffeine previously: it will only play .mpg videos. Worse than that, when I try to play another format the MPlayer freezes, and I can only get out of it by turning off the computer. Can anyone help me to overcome this?

I can think of a couple of possible reasons. When I downloaded Mplayer, I was asked for a small file to take off the Suse 9.2 CD 2. But that CD made a sort of creaking sort of sound in the computer and the file clearly wasn't being downloaded. After several attempts I decided to abandon it by pressing "Ignore". Unfortunately I didn't note the name of what had to be taken from the CD, but it was about 180 KB in size.

I just went back into Yast and on "Install and Remove Software" I found that MPlayer did not have a tick against it, like other installed programs, but a padlock. Could that be the source of the trouble? If so, what can I do about it?

As with so many things with Linux in the week or two I've had it, I find that, with a great deal of help from forums like this, I've nearly got to where I want to be - but not quite. Can anyone please give me the final push???

Tom