Windows Mplayer build

[Griniaris]

Can Mplayer play an XCD containing a Matroska file including HE-AAC sound, RV10 video, .sub/.idx subs and chapter structure? Furthermore is there somewhere a windows build available that does what I ask?

[echo]

Geia soy Griniari!

I think that you can't play RV10 video in mplayer for windows. The codecs that work for linux don't work for windows as it is stated crearly in mplayer download page. Everything else is supported just fine. I don't know if there is a workaround for this and I am not aware of a build that supports RV10.

regards
echo

[Griniaris]

Ofcourse you can play rv10 with Mplayer!
The codecs you mention does not work as stated in the site but that does not mean that using the win32 codecs does not work!
I can successfully play a .rmvb file containing rv10 even a matroska one... I am having trouble playing mp4 files with nero HE-AAC at the meantime as well as XCD's
All the above using the 1.0pre3 build for windows I have found

[echo-kk]

Originally posted by Griniaris
Can Mplayer play an XCD containing a Matroska file including HE-AAC sound, RV10 video, .sub/.idx subs and chapter structure? Furthermore is there somewhere a windows build available that does what I ask?

No problem playing XCD's in mplayer (linux version) or MoviX/GeeXboX. Just treat your XCD as a normal VCD, e.g. start playback with 'mplayer vcd://2' or just choose XCD/VCD playback in MoviX/GeeXboX. MoviX and GeeXboX let you switch audio/subtitle streams on the fly BTW.
MoviX and GeeXboX don't play matroska files yet but AFAIK there is a CVS GeeXboX version that can handle them.

AFAIK there is no chapter support in mplayer but (embedded) subs work. Check the mplayer docs for 'sid' or 'vobsubid'. I haven't tried vobsubs embedded in matroska files yet though. Let me know if this works please.

The Win32 version of mplayer cannot access XCD's AFAIK. For this to work mplayer has to access your cd-drive in 'track', not in file mode. Because you have to call your XCD with 'vcd://2' you have to let mplayer know which drive to access, which doesn't seem to work in Windows. See 'cdrom-device' in mplayers docs.

I tried mp4 audio files with HE-AAC and believe they worked, although I can't really remember.

[Griniaris]

I found and tried this version "mplayer-win32-mingw-dev-cvs20040203" and got the following results:

- RV10 plays fine either as rmvb or as mkv
- mp4 containing nero's HE-AAC does not play
- mp4 muxed in matroska does not play
- mp4 muxed in matroska along with the rv10 video plays fine!
(Don't ask me why but it works in matroska with the video but not in matroska alone or as mp4)
- .sub/.idx subs muxed in matroska are displayed when loaded with -slang or -sid switch
- .sub/.idx subs named same as the movie are not displayed
- Burnt XCD does not work
- XCD's Image Cue or Bin playback does not work

I had tried GeexBox Christmas edition IIRC and could not playback those files. I will look for the cvs version you say and see if this works...

Thanks for the info!
ChrisK

[echo-kk]

.sub/.idx subs named same as the movie are not displayedTry changing the 'sub-fuzziness' option.

Burnt XCD does not workNot all XCDs made with 'Mode2CDMaker' are compatible with linux/mplayer!

If you use this tool then check out this old post of mine about the do's and dont's of creating XCDs for GeeXBox/Movix etc.
http://sourceforge.net/forum/message.php?msg_id=2048523

XCD's Image Cue or Bin playback does not workYou did use the vcd://2 option when calling the cuefile? (e.g. 'mplayer vcd://2 -cuefile file.cue') Maybe it's a problem with the way you made your XCD (see above).

I will look for the cvs versionYou can get it here if you havn't found it yet: http://www.geexbox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=544

.sub/.idx subs muxed in matroska are displayed when loaded with -slang or -sid switchGood to know! You could do me a favour and test if GeeXboX's on the fly subtitle switching works with .sub/.idx embedded in matroska if you should give the cvs version a try.

Thank YOU for the info! You saved me some testing time.

[Griniaris]

As you said with the windows build I have not been able to playback XCDS,bins or cues since I cannot specify the drive and track to load in windows...
I have downloaded and tested the latest geexbox cvs and it seems to be greatly improved since the last official release!
I cannot test the onthefly change you say since I do not have any multilanguage vobsubs but I believe it should be working.

Right now I only have two problems left:
1)In geexbox xcds are played ok! If the dat file is a matroska containing embedded vobsubs then they are correctly displayed (I would like however to be able to change their position on the screen and the opacity). My problem is with XCDS containing the movie in a .dat file and vobsubs named same as the movie. If the cd is not XCD the subs are ok displayed but if it is an XCD the dat file is played but the subs are not! Is there a way to overcome this?

2)If the movie contains 2 channel sound then it is correctly played. If however the sound is a 5.1 HE-AAC track I only hear some squicky sounds. Is there a way to properly downmix the sound to 2 channels?

Any help with the above is greatly appreciated! BTW the mplayer 1.0pre4 will be released in a few days and a new geexbox cvs release too so maybe then some progress will be made!

Thanks,
Chris

[echo-kk]

To be honest, I've never tried playing bin/cue images from hdd with the Win32 version of mplayer. It actually should work because you don't have to specify a cd-drive.
Did you try loading your image with: 'mplayer.exe vcd://2 -cuefile file.cue'?
I think I'm going to try it myself and post my results tomorrow.

:( The bad news first! All your problems could be solved if MoviX developers would add matroska support. It doesn't seem to be very high on their todo list though (:devil: go bug them!!!). If you give MoviX a try you'll have to stick to OGM/(AVI) for your XCD. This means no RV10 and no muxed vobsubs, but you could keep your AAC (in AVI with AVI-Mux GUI). Maybe you should give XviD a try ;).
So everything said below actually assumes you've changed your codecs/container OR MoviX finally supports matroska, sorry!

... I would like however to be able to change their position on the screen and the opacity ...I already contacted GeexboX developers about not being able to change some mplayer options and they adnmitted that they had disabled MOST of them to minimize the size of the distro! You will either have to compile GeeXboX with enabled options yourself or try MoviX. MoviX lets you edit mplayer options from within the console so you'll be able to change the sub positions with '-subpos' or display them in the black bar under the movie with a '-expand' & 'scale' combination. I can't help with changing the opacity, sorry.
... but if it is an XCD the dat file is played but the subs are not! Is there a way to overcome this? ...XCD's are accessed in 'track' not in 'file' mode. Each mode2form2 media file resides in its own track on your XCD, all mode2form1 (normal) data in track1. So, when playing track2 (vcd://2) there actually is no external sub mplayer can detect and autolaod within this track.
The good news, MoviX should still be able to display your external subs for a XCD if you call them with '-sub path\subfile1,path\subfile2' etc. Never tried this, though.
... Is there a way to properly downmix the sound to 2 channels?GeeXboX doesn't support 5.1 sound output and automatically downmixes AC3 to 2 channels. It must be related to your file being a 5.1 AAC file. Again try playback or downmixing in Movix with the '-channels 2' option.

[avih]

welcome to the board echo-kk ;)
enjoy your time here, and thx for your informative replies.

cheers,
avih