i downloaded the file from freshRPM, install it with

rpm -ivh mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr.i386.rpm

and the error message is :

warning: mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr.i386.rpm: V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID e42d5
47b
error: Failed dependencies:
aalib is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr
alsa-lib is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr
faad2 is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr
lame is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr
libaa.so.1 is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr
libasound.so.2 is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr
libasound.so.2(ALSA_0.9) is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr
libdv is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr
libdv.so.2 is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr
libdvdread is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr
libdvdread.so.3 is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr
libfame is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr
liblirc_client.so.0 is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr
liblzo.so.1 is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr
libmad.so.0 is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr
libmp3lame.so.0 is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr
libpostproc = 1.0-0.2.pre2.fr is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr
libpostproc.so.0 is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr
lirc is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr
lzo is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr
mplayer-fonts is needed by mplayer-1.0-0.2.pre2.fr


What have i missed

Well, you need most of those dependencies listed as it states. Hunt them down, install them and then install mplayer..

i have just installed Red Hat 9, how come these stuff are not packed with the installation?

because most of them are potentially illegal, and redhat have been playing it super safe the last few releases and not had any of this software included. other dependencies are not installed because there is only so much hard disk space in the world.... you can't install everything ever!

try my suggestion... get the SOURCE for mplayer and compile it, it should not require any other installations at all.

ok, maybe i will try to compile. thanks

If you get stuck compiling it, then install APT4RPM and install it via apt, it will get all the deps for you and install mplayer.