Hi folks.
I use MPlayerplugin to see streaming video on the internet.
However, on some sites, predominantly CNN.com, the plugin doesn't work. They seem to be absolutely adamant that you have Media Player installed and don't allow "fakes".
Does anyone know a way to circumvent this??
(By the way, what's the secret connection between CNN and Micro$oft that they insist on Media PLayer???)

Kathy

Hi kathy,
I was noticing the same thing just last week. It's not just CNN. It's just that some sites do and some sites don't.
I would like to know where the issue is really located: e.g. is it the script or java or asp that's being used on the webpage, or is there something inside the video files themselves that prevents them from playing on anything other than Win Media Player?

Hi all
For me also the CNN free videos don't start with the MPlayerplugin inside the browser. But I can play them using the Kaffeine multimedia player outside the browser.
see their website if you are interested
http://kaffeine.sourceforge.net/

So there is not a real lock to prevent seeing them in linux without Windows Media Player !

CNN streams play well for me.
I didn't see a mention of your browser,
perhaps as "spindles" said it's a java thing.

Slack 10.1
MPlayer-1.0pre7try2
mplayerplug-in-3.16
Firefox-1.5

Here is my mplayerplug-in.conf:

cachesize=512
cache-percent=25
dload-dir=/home/stinky
showtime=1
enable-wmp=1
enable-qt=1
enable-rm=1
enable-gmp=1
enable-mpeg=1
enable-mp3=1
enable-ogg=1
enable-smil=1
enable-helix=1
nomediacache=0
rtsp-use-tcp=0

Works just fine here too.

Ubuntu 5.10
MPlayer-1.0pre7cvs20050716-0.1ubuntu9
mplayerplug-in 3.17
Firefox 1.0.7

and pretty much the same config file as auditek747

Thanks guys.
My mplayerplug-in.conf was just as installed -- i.e. only default settings all hashed out.
Will make some adjustments.

Mine works fine too.

Fedora Core 4
Firefox 1.5
MPlayer-plugin 3.17

Although the warning appears regarding im not using media player 9, I simply clicked on "Continue to Video" and I was able to view it.

Finally the CNN videos run also for me with Mplayerplugin 3.17 inside Firefox 1.5, but it seems only when started by a javascript:cnnVideo(...); and not through Macromedia Flashplayer 7 as in the WATCH VIDEO frame.
Edit:
I just made another essay and now it works also in the WATCH VIDEO frame
I don't understand, at first they refused to start there.

The videos run in loop mode : when finished they start again.
Is it the same for you ? I don't see how to play them only once and stop.

Still no luck for me:
Could this be the problem?...
-mplayer plug-in 2.7
-Firefox 0.8
...I'm a bit lazy about updates.

hi spindles
Sure I think you should consider to upgrade some packages on your machine.
First install Firefox 1.5, you can find SUSE rpm packages to be installed by YaST.
Check if you have the last codecs for Mplayer :
w32codec-all-20050412-0.pm.0
and the last MPlayer release :
MPlayer-1.0pre7-pm.3

As for the MPlayer plugins I had to compile them myself to upgrade to the 3.17 version, because there is no rpm package for SUSE 9.1

If I remember well, the videos didn't work when I had older versions on my machine.
Regards.

Hi berbae and other thread visitors,
thanks for your advice,

If you have any further ideas... pardon me rambling on about this...
I updated firefox to 1.5: very nice, very quick.
I updated mplayerplug-in to 3.17.
My codecs seem to be recent.
Mplayer itself seems to be recent (and works great).

I made a few entries in mplayerplug-in.conf:
enable-wmp=1
enable-real=0
enable-wm=1
enable-qt=1
enable-mpeg=1
enable-ogg=1

I downloaded an mplayerplug-in rpm from sourceforge and choose "install with yast": but you say there is no Suse rpm: does that mean I did the wrong thing? The file was in the Redhat/fc category.
I have previously got other applications installed and working from Redhat rpms.


At present a wmv (in Firefox) will open in kaffiene for one user and Totem for another. (Which is no good because Totem doesn't actually play it and I have never fixed the apparently well-known broken-xine/suse-situation.)
Is this because of some other (more global) suse, kde or gnome settings?

What I don't understand is how to inform Firefox that an mplayer plugin is available for wmv.
I seem to remember laying a few symlinks around to get Opera to use the mozilla-related plugins.
I suspect my Firefox update is not very Suse-ish: it lives in opt/firefox -- which is not where the 0.8 version (that came with Suse) lived. Hope that is not a related problem.

Anyway, I don't particularly want to watch CNN videos. I have just taken up this browser plug-in problem as a learning exercise.
And we don't want people thinking that using linux means you have to miss out on web content.

I guess you missed this part. If so, please do this, just substitute the correct path of your firefox installation which you said is in /opt/firefox, right? After that, restart firefox. To be sure that your mplayerplugin is properly installed in firefox, you can check $USER_HOME/.mozilla/firefox/pluginreg.dat (im using FC5, just substitute for SUSE, but I think it would be the same path).

Quoted from mplayerplugin: (http://mplayerplug-in.sourceforge.net/install.php)

If you use firefox:

cp mplayerplug-in*.so /usr/lib/firefox/plugins
cp mplayerplug-in*.xpt /usr/lib/firefox/components

Hope this helps.

Encoding changes often with realplayer and WMP. These two try to stay ahead of linux, so you have to keep up with new codecs. The new codecs are actually different codecs. You still need all the codecs you currently have, so don't delete them all. Just add the new ones. MPlayer's site has the latest win32 codecs.

thanks again people,
yes, them files need to be copied to the right places.
Seems that my trying to use the rpm didn't do anything at all.
I'm just now compiling my plugin myself, step by step. (Following the instructions and everything this time!)

so far no good.
I think mplayerplug-in is actually installed just fine now, it's just that a kaffiene browser plugin is also there (I checked pluginreg.dat) and is somehow the default for playing a wmv on a web page. (But it can't, because it's broken) -- suppose i had better un-install it and get the new fixed one.