As noted in the "recent encodings and VLC" thread, there isn't always a player available that can handle recent encodings. Is it reasonable to expect all of our Mac users to upgrade their operating systems just so they can use a newer version of VLC?
Isn't libavcodec cross platform?
Avi is dead, let's face it, and it should have been dead a long time ago. Even MPEG4 ASP, aka DivX/XviD doesn't work properly in AVI without hacks!
The new native formats supports these encodings properly.
But I'm beginning to wonder if people are actually complaining about the use of the compression codec, rather than the actual container.
We're in a transistion period now. Don't resist it, go with it. Solve the problems and help people overcome their problems instead, because regardless of what anyone says, we're not going back to avi (I'm not talking about TasVideos here; I'm talking about the trend). It's sort of like saying, don't put it on DVDs, put it on CDs/diskettes. Old technology comes and goes, and the new technology replaces it. It just takes some time to adjust to the change in the beginning, that's all.
And if you'd been paying attention to what I was saying, I haven't been complaining about AVI, or MKV. I know enough about encodings to know that I'm having difficulties with the video stream, not with the container. Granted, a lot of people don't look further than the file extension; those are the people complaining about the new MKVs not working. I can play MKVs just fine, but something about the encodings made in the last month or so makes VLC generate visual garbage.
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That's why there should always be an avi alternative.
While we are at it, many people still have trouble playing any h264 material, so for them we should also offer a regular old mpeg4-encoded alternative. Preferably in a WMV file so that Windows Media Player will be directly able to show it without problems.
But of course there are people who don't have Windows nor WMP, and thus may be unable to play WMV files, not to talk about mpeg4 videos in the first place. For them we should also offer, as an alternative, an mpeg1-encoded version of the video. Those will surely play everywhere.
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Warp wrote:
But of course there are people who don't have Windows nor WMP, and thus may be unable to play WMV files, not to talk about mpeg4 videos in the first place. For them we should also offer, as an alternative, an mpeg1-encoded version of the video. Those will surely play everywhere.
I got a better plan. How about we offer a file that can be used by anyone. Like perhaps a file with the input presses only that could possibly be played by a program such as an emulator.
Actually, H.263 is a low bitrate video standard designed for video conferencing and the like, and isn't even part of the MPEG standard.
Also, if people use an "older version of VLC", then they have MKV support. It's slightly broken (something to do with seeking), but I don't think it's even been fixed in recent versions anyway (or maybe it has; I haven't bothered checking).
Warp wrote:
While we are at it, many people still have trouble playing any h264 material, so for them we should also offer a regular old mpeg4-encoded alternative. Preferably in a WMV file so that Windows Media Player will be directly able to show it without problems.
Windows Media Video is its own (proprietary) codec, as is Windows Media Audio.
I got a better plan. How about we offer a file that can be used by anyone. Like perhaps a file with the input presses only that could possibly be played by a program such as an emulator.
Last I checked, you either need Windows or a fair amount of work to use the right emulator versions to play back the input movies. I know I had to compilie FCEU by hand, for example, and even then I never did manage to get it to play sound back without lots of popping.
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There are people who will have problems with everything, no matter what you do. How are we going to cater for the people who don't have computers for example.
What I'm saying is that when someone says they have a problem, most likely the problem can be fixed but they just don't know how. So, the problem isn't really with the container or format I would imagine.
Derakon, have you tried compiling your own mplayer? Given that you know a tad about encoding stuff I guess that you're technical enough to at least give it a shot. If it works out for you on 10.4, why not try and build a static binary for other Mac users to use? Similarly, are there really this few Mac users out there that only one has complained about it without trying themselves? Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming you, just curious.
I could probably manage to compile a commandline version, but I don't actually know anything about making standard OSX apps with proper menubars. So it'd probably be an X11 version, which means it'd depend on having X installed, which IIRC requires installing the OSX devkit. Which is a free download, mind you, but still not very useful for the non-technical user, which is the person I'm worried about here. Still, I'll take a stab at it at some point.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if we didn't have many Mac users who participate on these forums; after all, the main tools for players are only conveniently available on Windows. I don't know how many "lurking viewers" (i.e. people who stop by from time to time to check out new publications) are Mac users, though, and they're honestly the people I'm worried about. A quick check of the server logs should tell us those demographics.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
