OK, so I've now tried twice to configure and install mplayer. mplayer works, but I get error messages concerning not being able to find codecs and that default codecs are being loaded.

Reading config file /usr/local/etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf: No such file or directory
Reading config file /home/tim/.mplayer/config
[cfg] read config file: /home/tim/.mplayer/gui.conf
Reading config file /home/tim/.mplayer/gui.conf: No such file or directory
vo: X11 running at 1280x1024 with depth 24 and 32 bpp (":0.0" => local display)
Reading /home/tim/.mplayer/codecs.conf: Can't open '/home/tim/.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.
font: can't open file: /home/tim/.mplayer/font/font.desc
Font /usr/local/share/mplayer/font/font.desc loaded successfully! (206 chars)
Linux RTC init error in ioctl (rtc_irqp_set 1024): Permission denied
Try adding "echo 1024 > /proc/sys/dev/rtc/max-user-freq" to your system startup scripts.
Using usleep() timing
Can't open input config file /home/tim/.mplayer/input.conf: No such file or directory
Can't open input config file /usr/local/etc/mplayer/input.conf: No such file or directory
Falling back on default (hardcoded) input config
SKIN dir 1: '/home/tim/.mplayer/Skin'
SKIN dir 2: '/usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin'
[skin] file ( /usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/default/skin ) not found.
Skin not found (default).

First question, when are the *.conf files that cannot be found supposed to be created? I'd guess during ./configure, but don't know.
Second, it is suggested that I add information to my startup scripts, but don't know what scripts it is referring to.
I just fixed my skin problem, so no need to comment on that.

thanks

wich system are u using?

maybe this helps (for FC):

http://www.mjmwired.net/resources/mplayer-fedora.shtml

Those messages are nothing to worry about. Those files are only an option if you need them. As long as everything works then you don't need the files.

so would mplayer not work at all if the codecs tarball had not been incorporated on installation? What type of file can I play that would not play if the "essential" codecs were not being used? I'd like to try something just to prove to myself that all's well.

Also, I don't know what your asking as far as what system I'm using goes....

It would work but not with full functionality. Things like real media and quicktime files would not play. Basically, only libavcodec is built in.

Where should I install the all codecs package downloaded from the maker's site. All tutorials assume only win32 or quicktime and I haven't been able to find anything about this in the tutorial after reading for hours in it. Only thing I came across was /usr/lib/local/codecs which doesn't work. Thanks for the help!

edit: fixed I accidentily mixed lib and local

well, just played a quicktime file, so apparently those error messages are bogus. why are they playing with my poor little head like that

oh well, I suppose I'll just be happy it is working. thanks all

darkleaf, you put them in /usr/local/lib/codecs. You have to put them in there BEFORE compiling, though. Why did you say it didn't work?

timsch75, they're not bogus. THose files really don't exist. However, you don't NEED them. They can be used if you want to tweak mplayer's performance.

It only installed the windows media format drivers and not all drivers but I suspect/expect I need to do something more to get these working.

Can mplayer actually play .pls files (with the right codecs of course)?

Well I'm sure you're expecting this next question: Which ones don't work?

It can play plain text playlists. I don't know if it can play specifically .pls files. You may need to use the "-playlist" option.

Well atm I have a very annoying problem with all window managers. KDE would lock on 'Initializing system services" I couldn't get gnome to work either. Deleted both completely now and I'll try again so I don't know exactly which it were but I remember when I did ./configure I got a whole list of no's there so I supposed a lot of codecs were left out or are they installed anyway? I'll tell which one once I got kde running (has a bit higher priority.

Quote:

It can play plain text playlists. I don't know if it can play specifically .pls files. You may need to use the "-playlist" option.

It's for streaming a online radio station. Is that option possible in the gui as well or should I run on the command line and will the gui show up automatically?

The gmplayer command takes all the same arguments as mplayer. So yes.

I don't know. There are a lot of options there not all relating to codecs. Have a look at config.log in the mplayer directory and that will tell you.