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GStreamer as another media player core in XBMC? - Printable Version

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GStreamer as another media player core in XBMC? - funkytown - 2008-09-01

I have never been satisfied how mplayer handles video playback on xbmc - i find it particulary slow (especially when parsing subtitles), it crashes often (especially when streaming from the net), doesnt support seeking in streaming videos and supports flv files VERY poorly.

Recently, the Devs of Songird (the Mozilla media player) decided to use the Gstreamer framework as their core for media playing.

Gstreamer plays all major media formats/codecs and has prooved to be very reliable. in addition to that it supports 100% MMS-streaming with seeking. It has also been alreay ported to Windows and OS-X.
And there are Python-Bindings available!

You may wonder (i dont btw) why Songbird devs didnt choose mplayer for that. Have a look at this blog entry.

Having a reliable media core build on GStreamer would also eliminate the need to have a seperate media core for dvd handling (dvdplayer) in XBMC (a concept i never really understood).

Whats your opinion on that?


- jmarshall - 2008-09-01

We don't use mplayer.


- funkytown - 2008-09-01

jmarshall Wrote:We don't use mplayer.

i am sorry then - i must have misread this line in my debug log.

Code:
02:37:02 M: 27734016 DEBUG: msg: MPlayer XBMC-SVN-r10070-4.1.2 (C) 2000-2004 MPlayer Team



- Gamester17 - 2008-09-01

gstreamer pulls in too many dependencies


- funkytown - 2008-09-01

That may depend on the defenition of "too many dependendies".

If ones argue that the heart of xbmc lies in the ability to play the major media formats used these days in a faultless and reliable manner, then those are probably not too many dependencies.

But just having looked at the dependencies myself, i get your point.

Still, nothing undoable though - songbird devs may proove it.

regards


- jmarshall - 2008-09-01

mplayer is only used on xbox, and porting gstreamer to it would not be much fun...

And yeah, the dependencies is the main problem, other than the fact that we have a functioning player or two already.

We ofcourse encourage any developer wishing to investigate using gstreamer - it's just unlikely to be one of our guys.

Cheers,
Jonathan


- Gamester17 - 2008-09-01

You could maybe be able to convince Team Boxee to implement it as media player core (in Boxee) because of this feature:
Quote:Support for monolithic plugins. Allows for a plugin to encapsulate many operations such as reading a file, decoding it and sending the output to a sound card. This is particularly useful for DRM implementations.
IIRC someone at Boxee mentioned that in the long term (future) they will be looking to also supporting DRM video/audio streams if it can be done via plugins without violating the GPL. If Boxee implements it then we can backport it to XBMC, or maybe they could even add it to XBMC directly themselves.


- funkytown - 2008-09-01

Thanks for you answers,

i didnt know that mplayer is only being used on xbox.

I will contact the boxee team about this then - thanks for the tip!


- Gamester17 - 2008-09-01

funkytown Wrote:i didnt know that mplayer is only being used on xbox.
For more information about XBMC different players see the XBMC Online Manual:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Video_Players
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Audio_Players
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Basic_overview_of_the_XBMC_source_code

Wink


- Emulashun - 2008-09-09

I can offer a very good reason to support gstreamer:

http://www.fluendo.com/products.php?product=plugins

One thing that I think turns people away from trying Linux for HTPC, is the "scary" copyright/DRM issues that make the average person wonder whether or not they have the right to play something they legally own. M$ and @pple are what most people use, partially because they've already obtained and integrated licenses (for the most part anyway). The other issues, are simply (well, maybe not "simply") configuring and tuning systems - which you can leave to whomever is clever and imaginative enough to create a market - TiVO anyone?

Anyway, I'm not trying to preach too much about Linux, but I'm just saying that with companies like Fluendo, it could eventually eliminate FUD surrounding whether or not an end-user can legally play media they own with no/minimal fuss.

I understand GStreamer can be a pain, but it looks like a good supported standard, in an era of content-fascists.


- topfs2 - 2008-09-09

The big downside with GStreamer is that it is linux specific, (no it does not work at all good on Windows I've tried to compile it and it's a complete nightmare to even make it run)

That will hinder development to new plattforms If anyone want's to, XBMC's DVDPlayer uses ffmpeg which is atleast 90% of what GStreamer uses but the big upside to DVDPlayer is that it's way easier to port to new plattforms, as it has less dependencies.

Also if we have one engine more we have alot more code to maintain (which by all means is good if anyone is willing to maintain it Big Grin ).

So all in all, the upside with GStreamer might be some, the question is if it's worth the trouble. Although if anyone wants to code up something and maintain it I'm very sure we would accept and include it Wink


- arkay - 2008-09-10

I think it should be a goal of any opensource player to intentionally not provide the ability to play any DRM content.

M$ and @pple are far too busy ruining end user enjoyment of any and all media through DRM that exists only to aid in anti-competitive licensing, format lock in and the MPAA/RIAA buddy system.

As an end user wanting to watch my store bought DVD's I personally don't give a damn how illegal THEY think it is.

XBMC remembers that it's about the users experience, as it should be.

If I can't watch DRM content that's fine. I'd rather boycott it altogether until the powers that be come up with a solution to THEIR problem that doesn't cost me my $$$$ or functionality.

Just my ,02c Wink

Cheers,

Arkay.


- spiff - 2008-09-10

well said, couldnt agree more


Register an account on http://forum.boxee.tv and post a feature request there... - Gamester17 - 2008-09-10

Emulashun Wrote:I can offer a very good reason to support gstreamer:

http://www.fluendo.com/products.php?product=plugins

One thing that I think turns people away from trying Linux for HTPC, is the "scary" copyright/DRM issues that make the average person wonder whether or not they have the right to play something they legally own. M$ and @pple are what most people use, partially because they've already obtained and integrated licenses (for the most part anyway).

Again, I do not think that GStreamer is something that the current developers on Team-XBMC would have a personal interest to integrate themselves but you could maybe be able to convince Team Boxee to implement it as media player core (in Boxee) because of this feature:
Quote:Support for monolithic plugins. Allows for a plugin to encapsulate many operations such as reading a file, decoding it and sending the output to a sound card. This is particularly useful for DRM implementations.
IIRC someone at Boxee mentioned that in the long term (future) they will be looking to also supporting DRM video/audio streams if it can be done via plugins without violating the GPL. If Boxee implements it then we can backport it to XBMC, or maybe they could even add it to XBMC directly themselves.


- DGMurdockIII - 2008-11-25

gstreamer works on windows and mac now