One main question is which multimedia systems we want to use.
1. Do we need a music manager software on the ISO?
Music managers (Amarok, Exaile,...) are used by many users (including myself) but I think the majority of users just uses simple tools. If we chose a good multimedia player it can be enough to play audio files, too. Exaile and Amarok will be available via the repo anyway.
2. Xine, MPlayer, GStreamer, VLC
These 4 systems are well known and I guess we have to chose one of them.
Xine:
* supportet by KDE's phonon, so every KDE 4 app can use it (e.g. kaffeine as player)
* can play DVB streams
* has gtk interfaces (native, totem, gxine)
* native interface starts very fast, but doen't look integrated in the DE
MPlayer:
* not supported by phonon
* has gtk interfaces (native, gnome mplayer)
GStreamer:
* supportet by KDE's phonon, but more buggy than Xine
* has gtk interfaces (totem)
VLC:
* not supported by phonon
* has a Qt 4 interface
* don't know any gtk interface
* can play DVB streams
Multimedia
Re: Multimedia
If we finally decide to not use any gnome libraries on a standard installation, then totem is out of the picture. Also vlc has been nothing but trouble as far as I remember, the only way to make a proper build out of it, is probably to use the vlc developers PC. 
There's also whaawmp!, which is gstreamer based, I had made a package for zenwalk at some point: http://pnboy.pinguix.com/gapan/zenwalk/whaawmp/
I don't remember if it has a thumbnailer... I don't believe it has a browser plugin in any case.
So, apart from that, only real options are gxine and mplayer with a 3rd part gui. Smplayer is the best one I think, but it's qt. Gnome-mplayer is a reasonable choice after it. I really hate the default mplayer gui and if we go the mplayer way, we better make an mplayer-nogui package.
As for the music manager, I don't think it's really needed in a standard installation either.
There's also whaawmp!, which is gstreamer based, I had made a package for zenwalk at some point: http://pnboy.pinguix.com/gapan/zenwalk/whaawmp/
I don't remember if it has a thumbnailer... I don't believe it has a browser plugin in any case.
So, apart from that, only real options are gxine and mplayer with a 3rd part gui. Smplayer is the best one I think, but it's qt. Gnome-mplayer is a reasonable choice after it. I really hate the default mplayer gui and if we go the mplayer way, we better make an mplayer-nogui package.
As for the music manager, I don't think it's really needed in a standard installation either.
Re: Multimedia
VLC is now compatible with GTK.
The actual problem of VLC is a very known bug amongst distro : two windows (one for the interface, one for the video output) used.
I used xine system for a long time...but I have problems some times (artifacts on some videos). Subtitles are not displayed properly and the different interfaces of xine are ugly.
Gstreamer seems to work better and better. But the interface of all softwares that use it (and that I know) are very poor.
mplayer is always the best. But GTK interfaces (gmplayer and gnome-mplayer) are really not well done. The QT interface (SMPlayer) is a really good interface (but in QT, I dislike QT appearence) btw.
If the two windows are corrected, the latest VLC is a good choice (the new interface is definitely better than before)...but it's not enough.
For doing preview, Thunar (and others) need either mplayer or gstreamer (or maybe xine). I'm not sure VLC could do it.
[edit]
I see that you have the same feeling as me gapan
[edit 2]
For music, exaile is good, but maybe needs too many dependancies. I think the default media player choosen from the above list will be enough. It's really to difficult to choose a audio player that fits everyone.
[edit 3]
The good link for Whaawml! http://home.gna.org/whaawmp/
The actual problem of VLC is a very known bug amongst distro : two windows (one for the interface, one for the video output) used.
I used xine system for a long time...but I have problems some times (artifacts on some videos). Subtitles are not displayed properly and the different interfaces of xine are ugly.
Gstreamer seems to work better and better. But the interface of all softwares that use it (and that I know) are very poor.
mplayer is always the best. But GTK interfaces (gmplayer and gnome-mplayer) are really not well done. The QT interface (SMPlayer) is a really good interface (but in QT, I dislike QT appearence) btw.
If the two windows are corrected, the latest VLC is a good choice (the new interface is definitely better than before)...but it's not enough.
For doing preview, Thunar (and others) need either mplayer or gstreamer (or maybe xine). I'm not sure VLC could do it.
[edit]
LOL, it seems you're right ^_^the only way to make a proper build out of it, is probably to use the vlc developers PC
I see that you have the same feeling as me gapan
[edit 2]
For music, exaile is good, but maybe needs too many dependancies. I think the default media player choosen from the above list will be enough. It's really to difficult to choose a audio player that fits everyone.
[edit 3]
The good link for Whaawml! http://home.gna.org/whaawmp/
Re: Multimedia
I basically only use mplayer, the gnome-mplayer gui is not that bad IMHO, although I mostly only use mplayer from the command line.
Re: Multimedia
I personally love smplayer as a simple mediaplayer, had problem with it playing dvds using a menu, but e.g. the software volume control, which gives you the possibility to amplify unlimited is really great if a loud speaker isn't load enough. At the other hand there's that qt thing ... 
Whaawmp looked comparable to g-mplayer loooking at the screenshot and would be a solution if we want to use gstreamer.
g-mplayer is OK imho. It doesn't have a nice gui, but it provides the stuff you need the most and plays DVDs with menu properly (at least most of the time).
Whaawmp looked comparable to g-mplayer loooking at the screenshot and would be a solution if we want to use gstreamer.
g-mplayer is OK imho. It doesn't have a nice gui, but it provides the stuff you need the most and plays DVDs with menu properly (at least most of the time).
Re: Multimedia
I vote for Xine + gxine because:
* it's the most stable base of phonon
* using gstreamer + totem is a mess IMHO
* gstreamer + totem needs many deps
* gxine it provides a browser plugin
* it's just xine-lib + gxine packages
* it's the most stable base of phonon
* using gstreamer + totem is a mess IMHO
* gstreamer + totem needs many deps
* gxine it provides a browser plugin
* it's just xine-lib + gxine packages
Re: Multimedia
I would sell everyone MPD and a nice frontend, but then again - that's just me 
I barely play movies on my laptop. I have mplayer and VLC handy for when I need to, though.
An extra argument for the video player might be integration with firefox. I know mplayer has a plugin for that and there are some scripts to have mplayer play back flash content - which imho is very interesting, but I'm not convinced it's very stable: but then again, nor is that POS called Flash. Mplayer's GUI frontend, on the other hand, is as unimpressive as it can get. I don't like it for one bit.
How about integrating a multiple choice menu in the installer for the multimedia software, and asking the user to pick its audio player, video player, etc? And install then what he selected?
That would solve the issue of 'default' software (you can still leave something pre-selected for the newbies or the indecisive people) and wouldn't lock down people too much, while still providing an out of the box solution. It would require some tinkering with the installation scripts, of course.
I would suggest brasero as a burner, it's possible to build it with most if not all Gnome dependencies thrown out (except for gconf but firefox wants that too). Combined with gstreamer brasero can be a powerful tool - making music cd's from your MP3's, AAC's, Ogg Vorbis files, FLACs, etc...
I barely play movies on my laptop. I have mplayer and VLC handy for when I need to, though.
An extra argument for the video player might be integration with firefox. I know mplayer has a plugin for that and there are some scripts to have mplayer play back flash content - which imho is very interesting, but I'm not convinced it's very stable: but then again, nor is that POS called Flash. Mplayer's GUI frontend, on the other hand, is as unimpressive as it can get. I don't like it for one bit.
How about integrating a multiple choice menu in the installer for the multimedia software, and asking the user to pick its audio player, video player, etc? And install then what he selected?
That would solve the issue of 'default' software (you can still leave something pre-selected for the newbies or the indecisive people) and wouldn't lock down people too much, while still providing an out of the box solution. It would require some tinkering with the installation scripts, of course.
I would suggest brasero as a burner, it's possible to build it with most if not all Gnome dependencies thrown out (except for gconf but firefox wants that too). Combined with gstreamer brasero can be a powerful tool - making music cd's from your MP3's, AAC's, Ogg Vorbis files, FLACs, etc...
Re: Multimedia
Firefox doesn't need gconf!.:B:. wrote: (except for gconf but firefox wants that too)
Re: Multimedia
I think this only makes thing more complicated and harder to maintain..:B:. wrote:How about integrating a multiple choice menu in the installer for the multimedia software, and asking the user to pick its audio player, video player, etc? And install then what he selected?
So multimedia cd writing is only possible with gstreamer in gtk GUIs?.:B:. wrote:Combined with gstreamer brasero can be a powerful tool - making music cd's from your MP3's, AAC's, Ogg Vorbis files, FLACs, etc...
Re: Multimedia
It may complicate setup (and implementation), but this is a one-time thing. I think a lot of users will still appreciate the possibility to choose. But that's for all of you to fight about . I'm just tossing in ideas.
As for burning tools: I think you misunderstand me. I'm merely pointing out what brasero can do. Personally I've seen few burning programs convert all kind of non-wave stuff on the fly to wave to burn an audio cd from it. That is what brasero can do if it is built on gstreamer.
. I'm just tossing in ideas.As for burning tools: I think you misunderstand me. I'm merely pointing out what brasero can do. Personally I've seen few burning programs convert all kind of non-wave stuff on the fly to wave to burn an audio cd from it. That is what brasero can do if it is built on gstreamer.