I recently compiled mplayer.91. I downloaded the package called extralite(from mplayers home page) which contained windows and quicktime codecs, and some others.When I play .wmv files I get this error(but it still plays)

Opening video decoder: [dshow] DirectShow video codecs
Win32 LoadLibrary failed to load: wmv8ds32.ax, /usr/local/lib/codecs/wmv8ds32.ax, /usr/lib/win32/wmv8ds32.ax, /usr/local/lib/win32/wmv8ds32.ax
Warning: DS_Filter() could not open DirectShow DLL. (DLL=wmv8ds32.ax, r=0x85af39c)
Failed to create DirectShow filter
ERROR: Could not open required DirectShow codec wmv8ds32.ax.

how come this codec was not included, I can not seem to find it anywhere. Is this just a simple problem of adding it and recompiling? And where do I find it.

Did you extract the extralite package to /usr/lib/win32?

I packed them in /user/local/lib/codecs/. here is part of the README file below.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unpack the codecs archives and put the contents in a directory where MPlayer
will find them. The default directory is /usr/local/lib/codecs/ (it used to be
/usr/local/lib/win32 in the past, this also works)
-----------------------------------------------------------------

I am able to watch quicktime movies and wmvs, so I think most must be installed

I made a bad assumption that exralite contained all of the needed windows codecs. I found a bunch more on google, and installed them. I am not getting the error about missing codecs anymore. The wmv'a seem to be playing with the same quality, I am not sure how these new codecs helped.

can I copy these codecs off my windows computer?
if so which ones do I need to put in my /usr/lib/win32 file?????

I dought you can copy them of your windows computer, but not sure. I would find as many as possible before you compile. They need to be in that directory so it will compile with them properly. Goto the mplayer homepage and get a packgage of them. Then do a search on google to get more. the more complete the better.

shanenin just extract extralite.tar.bz2 into /usr/local/lib/codecs/ and it'll work. It works just fine for me. You can also check http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/ for aditional Win32, Quicktime and RealMedia codecs.
Hope you make it

The first time I compiled mplayer I used the codecs found in th extalite pack. It gave me an error saying I was missing a windows codec, but still played it anyway(was it really needed?) I found the missing codec with google, then recompiled with it. It did not give me the error of missing it anymore. Still it did not seem to help play my windows movies better, just stopped giving me the error

Weird! I've read the docs, compiled the binaries and works just fine. I had no problem with codecs and stuff, the gui is great, what can i say... a real masterpiece

How did you install your codecs? I placed the codecs in the extralite.tar.bz2 file into /usr/local/lib/codecs (as per the documentation). I then ran the commands configure, make, and make install. During the make install, I got an error about not being able to locate ldconfig so I added /sbin to my path.

Every time I use mplayer or mencoder I get these type of messages:

Reading config file /usr/local/etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf: No such file or directory
Reading config file /home/andrewstr/.mplayer/config
Reading /home/andrewstr/.mplayer/codecs.conf: can't open '/home/andrewstr/.mplayer/codecs.conf': No such file or directory
Reading /usr/local/etc/mplayer/codecs.conf: can't open '/usr/local/etc/mplayer/codecs.conf': No such file or directory
Using built-in default codecs.conf

How can I correct this?

I don't think those errors cause the program to run incorrectly. You can simply find the existing files(i.e. mplayer.conf, codecs.conf, etc.) and copy them to the place that mplayer wants them. Then it won't complain anymore because the files are there.

OK. I found codecs.conf in the etc directory of the mplayer installation. As for mplayer.conf, "find" says it doesn't exist. Is that file required?

In /home/user/.mplayer you'll find codecs.conf. You can now add (or remove) codecs. The extra codecs that i added were those for quicktime and real media, .mov doesn't work tough...

Can you play Real Audio from the web? I installed the codecs from the MPlayer website (which included Real Media) but when I give mplayer an http address to Real Audio it merely returns and error and stalls.