How do you get matroska files to play in linux?

[hulkenstrong]

Hi.

Im verry new to linux.

Currently using Mandrake 10.0 Beta2 based on kernel 2.6.2 pre patch 3 (not 100% on the name).

I have downloaded libml/libmatroska cvs. When running make/make install under the /make/linux directory and no erros displaying I thought it would be alright.

Then tried compiling mplayer 1.0 pre3, but it fails when it comes to make ands says an error in matroska demuxer. It does compile fine before I did installed libml/libmatroska.

Now I have checked at VLC, but got scared of the things it needs to work.(edit also couldnt get it to install. It complained about libdvdreader as I have installed before trying to "./configure and make" vlc without any errors.)

Also I cant install FAAD2 it stops saying "unhandeled token 2".

As i have created some own matroska video files and dont wanna boot windows Im hoping for help here.

If I get this to work there really isnt anything big forcing me to boot windows. Just some minor tweaking/learning left untill bye bye ntfs partition :).

edit:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
cc -c -O4 -march=athlon-4 -mcpu=athlon-4 -pipe -ffast-math -fomit-frame-pointer -D_REENTRANT -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -I/usr/include/gtk-1.2 -I/usr/include/glib-1.2 -I/usr/lib/glib/include -I/usr/X11R6/include -I../loader -I/usr/include/gtk-1.2 -I/usr/include/glib-1.2 -I/usr/lib/glib/include -I/usr/X11R6/include -o demux_mkv.o demux_mkv.cpp
demux_mkv.cpp: In function `void parse_cues(mkv_demuxer_t*, long long unsigned int)':
demux_mkv.cpp:1229: error: `KaxCueReference' undeclared (first use this function)
demux_mkv.cpp:1229: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once for each function it appears in.)
demux_mkv.cpp:1229: error: `cref' undeclared (first use this function)
demux_mkv.cpp:1303: error: syntax error before `*' token
make[1]: *** [demux_mkv.o] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/jaw/Downloads/MPlayer-1.0pre3/libmpdemux'
make: *** [libmpdemux/libmpdemux.a] Error 2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
a litle error code if anyone want to se it.

[ferocious]

hmm, same here ..

got undefined type when using the new libmatroska ..
have anyone compiled it with the older release ?
haven't try it using the older release yet ..

[mikeX]

i don't think there is really any need to download the cvs version of libebml & libmatroska.
I have compiled mplayer 1.0 pre3 succesfully with libebml-0.6.4 & libmatroska-0.6.3 on SuSE 8.1
You might get some more help at the New A/V formats - Containers forum

i really don't think anyone will accept a bug report though for a cvs version especially with your cflags (O4), try using O2, and then try the stable official versions too

[hulkenstrong]

forgott to mention first I tried compile using libebml-0.6.4 & libmatroska-0.6.3. That not working I decided to download latest cvs to se if that solved anything. Good that atleast someone got matroska support working.

Also how the heck do I change c flags? I am REALLY new and the mplayer 0.92 doesnt support matroska.

when runnin ./configure in mplayer 1.0pre3 it says

"Checking for Matroska support (0.6.0 or later) ... yes"

Doesnt that mean I have matroska installed and detected?

Wow just figured out how to use the urpmi installation of vlc and can now enjoy my videos. Thanks alot for all the help. Still I would like to use mplayer but for now this will be just fine.

Well aparenlty after running urpmi for vlc I could install a newer verison of mplayer (trough package manager) that can play matroska and also let me install FAAD2 trough it. Hell yeah this linux os keeps amze me all the time. Gues all I needed where the right sources in order to let the install system that comes with mandrake to handle the installations for me :)

[Joe999]

I was using an earlier pre-release of Mandrake 10, and I 'think' just adding plf's urpmi cooker source and then using rpmdrake to install his compile of mplayer gave a version able to handle matroska.

[hulkenstrong]

gonna try to reinstall add urpmi source and first install FAAD2 trough package manager then instal mplayer the same way.

As my system doesnt feel to good after installing all cind of programs/codecs/libraries/develpacks/etc just to get matroska working :).

[urk]

MPlayer from the cvs has built in matroska support. Works without any problems..

[hulkenstrong]

well gotta try the CVS then Because so far the only player playing my matroska files are VLC. Its a litle worse that all my matroska files has AAC audio so basiclly my worst problem is getting both to work. Right now I can play matroska files but not AAC audio that they have. Also I have the weirdest bug. I install xmms aac plugin then reboot installed nvidia gfx and sudenly the xmms aac plugin doesnt work?

Hope these small bugs gets fixed till stable 2.6 kernel and mandrake 10 final. Also I hope nvidia fixes the bugs in there driver.

[ferocious]

well i'm not using the CVS ver. i'm using the stable one with mplayer-1.0-pre3
just can't compile it right ..
i'll check on later ..

[ChristianHJW]

There are 4 players on Linux now with matroska support :

VLC
Gstreamer
Xine
mplayer

VLC's support is probably the best right now, although mplayer will support more formats, like RV9 and RA8. Xine's MKV support has not been released yet, you need CVS version, and seeking is not working.

Gstreamer MKV plugin should be fairly stable, if you manage to get a working version of gstreamer HEAD that is :) .. ;) ...

As for mplayer, there are 2 ways to get matroska support in it :

1. compile it against libmatroska/libebml, as described on Mosu's site (http://mkvtoolnix.matroska.org)

2. native support with the new C demuxer from Aurelien, from CVS

I didnt hear many feedback about native support, but it seems to work fairly well, and Mosu even decided to concentrate on it together with Aurelien in future ...

[hulkenstrong]

This thing is bugging me. I dont know if its related to muxing/faad2/matroska/player or anything else.

First my faad2 plugin for xmms refuses to play some aac/mp4 files. VLC plays all my aac/mp4 files but refuses to play most of my matroska files that has aac/mp4 as audio. As the video and audio files has been produced during some time both muxer and encoder have changed.

Any ideas what are the problem?

On windows all players can play all my files (all audio player supporting aac/mp4 plays all files and all video players can play all my matroska files).

Also compiling mplayer cvs/regular just doesnt work when matroska/faad2 installed.