Mercurial > mplayer.hg

--- a/README	Fri Jul 26 03:28:07 2002 +0000
+++ b/README	Fri Jul 26 03:53:27 2002 +0000
@@ -1,72 +1,113 @@

 Welcome to MPlayer, the Unix movie player. MPlayer can play most standard video
 formats out of the box and almost all others with the help of external codecs.
-MPlayer currently works best from the command line, but there is a GUI with
-skin support in the alpha development stage.
+MPlayer currently works best from the command line, but visual feedback for
+many functions is available from its onscreen status display (OSD), which is
+also used for displaying subtitles. A GUI with skin support is in the alpha
+development stage, but not completely finished yet.

-This document is for getting you started in a few minutes.  It cannot answer
-all of your questions.  If you have problems, please read the documentation in
-DOCS/documentation.html.  It is extensive and should answer most of your
-questions. Also read the manpage to learn how to use MPlayer.
+This document is for getting you started in a few minutes. It cannot answer all
+of your questions. If you have problems, please read the documentation in
+DOCS/documentation.html, which should help you solve most of your problems.
+Also read the man page to learn how to use MPlayer.
+

-To compile MPlayer with X11 support, you need to have the XFree86 development
-packages installed, for the GUI you also need the GTK development packages.
+Requirements:
+- To compile MPlayer with X11 support, you need to have the XFree86 development
+  packages installed.
+- For the GUI you need the GTK 1.2 development packages.
+

 Before you start...
 Unless you know what are you doing, consult DOCS/video.html to see which driver
-to use with your video card to get the best video quality and performance.
-Most cards require special drivers not included with standard X11, to drive
-the 2-D video acceleration features (YUV, scaling etc) of your card!
+to use with your video card to get the best quality and performance. Most cards
+require special drivers not included with XFree86 to drive their 2-D video
+acceleration features like YUV and scaling.

 A quick and incomplete list of recommendations:
-- ATI cards: get the GATOS drivers for X11/Xv or use vidix
-- Matrox G200/G4x0/G550: compile and use mga_vid for Linux, use vidix for BSD
-- 3dfx Voodoo3/Banshee: get XFree86 4.2.0+ for Xv or use the tdfxfb driver
-- nVidia cards: get the X11 driver from www.nvidia.com for Xv support
-Without having accelerated video, even a 800MHz P3 may be slow to play DVD!
+- ATI cards: Get the GATOS drivers for X11/Xv or use VIDIX.
+- Matrox G200/G4x0/G550: Compile and use mga_vid for Linux, on BSD use VIDIX.
+- 3dfx Voodoo3/Banshee: Get XFree86 4.2.0+ for Xv or use the tdfxfb driver.
+- nVidia cards: Get the X11 driver from www.nvidia.com for Xv support.
+- NeoMagic cards: Get an Xv capable driver from our homepage as described in
+  DOCS/video.html.
+
+Without accelerated video even an 800MHz P3 may be too slow to play DVDs.
+
+
+______________________
+STEP0: Getting MPlayer
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Official releases, prereleases and CVS snapshots, as well as fonts for the
+OSD, Win32 codecs and a number of different skins for the GUI are available
+from the download section of our homepage at
+
+  http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/dload.html
+
+A set of fonts is necessary for the OSD and subtitles, the GUI needs at least
+one skin and Win32 codecs add support for some more video and audio formats.
+MPlayer does not come with any of these by default, you have to download and
+install them separately.
+
+MPlayer is also available via anonymous CVS. Issue the following commands to
+get the latest sources:
+
+  cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@mplayerhq.hu:/cvsroot/mplayer login
+  cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@mplayerhq.hu:/cvsroot/mplayer co main
+
+When asked for a password, just hit enter. A directory named 'main' will be
+created. You can later update your sources by saying
+
+  cvs -z3 update -dPA
+
+from within that directory.
+

 ___________________________________
 STEP1: Installing FFmpeg libavcodec
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-If you are using an official release, skip this step, since official releases
-always include libavcodec. To verify this check if the libavcodec subdirectory
-is empty or contains the sources!
+If you are using an official (pre)release, skip this step, since official
+releases include libavcodec. CVS sources and CVS snapshots do not include
+libavcodec. To verify if you do have libavcodec or not, check if the libavcodec
+subdirectory in the MPlayer source tree is empty or not.

-The FFmpeg project provides libavcodec, a very portable MPEG4/DivX codec with
-excellent speed and quality.  It is the preferred codec of MPlayer for playing
-mpeg4 and divx video.  You have to get libavcodec directly from the FFmpeg CVS
-server. Use the following commands in a suitable directory outside the MPlayer
-source directory:
+The FFmpeg project provides libavcodec, a very portable codec collection (among
+the supported formats is MPEG4/DivX) with excellent quality and speed, that is
+the preferred MPEG4/DivX codec of MPlayer. You have to get libavcodec directly
+from the FFmpeg CVS server.
+
+To get the FFmpeg sources, use the following commands in a suitable directory
+outside the MPlayer source directory:

 cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ffmpeg.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ffmpeg login
-cvs -z9 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ffmpeg.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ffmpeg co ffmpeg/libavcodec
+cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ffmpeg.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ffmpeg co ffmpeg/libavcodec

 When asked for a password, you can just hit enter.

-Now, replace the empty libavcodec directory with the FFmpeg libavcodec source
-by removing the libavcodec subdirectory in the MPlayer source tree and then
-copying (symbolic linking does not suffice!) the freshly downloaded FFmpeg
-libavcodec directory back into the MPlayer source tree.
+Now, replace the empty libavcodec directory in the MPlayer source tree with the
+FFmpeg libavcodec source by removing the libavcodec subdirectory in the MPlayer
+source tree and then copying (symbolic linking does not suffice) the freshly
+downloaded FFmpeg libavcodec directory back into the MPlayer source tree.


 ______________________________
 STEP2: Installing Win32 Codecs
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-While MPlayer and libavcodec has built-in support for the most common audio
-and video formats, some others are playable only with the Win32 DLLs
-or the XAnim binary plugins. Few examples: WMV video, Divx/WMA audio, Indeo.
-This step is not mandatory, but recommended for getting MPlayer to play more
-different file types!
+MPlayer and libavcodec have builtin support for the most common audio and video
+formats, but some others are playable only with the Win32 DLLs or the XAnim
+binary plugins. Examples include WMV video, DivX with WMA audio (not normal
+DivX files) and Indeo. This step is not mandatory, but recommended for getting
+MPlayer to play more different file types. Note that Win32 codecs only work on
+Intel compatible PCs.

-Grab the win32 codecs package from the download page
-
-  http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/dload.html
+Unpack the codecs archive and put the contents in a directory where MPlayer
+will find them. The default directory is /usr/lib/win32/ but you can change
+that to something else by using the '--with-win32libdir=DIR' option when you
+run './configure'.

-unpack it and put the contents in a directory where MPlayer will find them.
-The default directory is /usr/lib/win32/ but you can change that to something
-else by using the '--with-win32libdir=DIR' option when you run './configure' .

 __________________________
 STEP3: Configuring MPlayer
@@ -76,9 +117,8 @@

   ./configure

-to configure MPlayer with the default options.  The options you installed above
-should be autodetected, except GUI support, which has to be enabled separately,
-run
+to configure MPlayer with the default options. The codecs you installed above
+should be autodetected. GUI support has to be enabled separately, run

   ./configure --enable-gui

@@ -90,10 +130,11 @@

 to see the available options and select what you need.

-The ./configure script prints a summary of enabled and disabled options.
-If you have something installed that ./configure fails to detect, check
-the file configure.log for errors and reasons for the failure. Repeat this
-step until you are satisfied with the enabled feature set.
+The configure script prints a summary of enabled and disabled options. If you
+have something installed that configure fails to detect, check the file
+configure.log for errors and reasons for the failure. Repeat this step until
+you are satisfied with the enabled feature set.
+

 ________________________
 STEP4: Compiling MPlayer
@@ -109,65 +150,57 @@

 provided that you have write permission in the installation directory.

-If all went well, you can run MPlayer by typing 'mplayer'
-You should get a summary of the most common options and keys (help screen).
+If all went well, you can run MPlayer by typing 'mplayer'. A help screen with a
+summary of the most common options and keyboard shortcuts should be displayed.

-If you get 'unable to load shared library' or similar errors, then run
+If you get 'unable to load shared library' or similar errors, run
 'ldd ./mplayer' to check which libraries fail and go back to STEP 3 to fix it.
-Sometimes just running 'ldconfig' is enough.
+Sometimes running 'ldconfig' is enough to fix the problem.

-NOTE: If you run Debian you can configure, compile and build a proper deb
-package with only one command:
+NOTE: If you run Debian you can configure, compile and build a proper Debian
+.deb package with only one command:

   fakeroot debian/rules binary

+
 ____________________________________________
 STEP5: Installing the onscreen display fonts
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-To enable OSD (onscreen status display) and ASCII/TEXT subtitles you need some
-fonts. Get them from our homepage:
+Unpack the archive and choose one of the available font sizes. Then copy the
+font files of the corresponding size into /usr/local/share/mplayer/font/ or
+~/.mplayer/font/ (or whatever you set with './configure --datadir=DIR').

-http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/dload.html
-
-Unpack the archive and choose one of the available font sizes.  Then copy the
-font files of the corresponding size into /usr/local/share/mplayer/font/
-(or whatever you set with './configure --datadir=DIR').

 ____________________________
 STEP6: Installing a GUI skin
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-Please remember that the GUI is still in the alpha development stage and not
-completely finished yet. Features like playlist, preferences and equalizer
-do not work at all. Expect them for the 1.0 release
-Basic stuff like file selection and seeking works, though.
-
-If you want to use the GUI you need to download a skin, since MPlayer does not
-come with a skin by default. Choose one from the download page
+Unpack the archive and put the contents in /usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/ or
+~/.mplayer/Skin/. MPlayer will use the skin in the default/ subdirectory of
+/usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/ or ~/.mplayer/Skin/ unless told otherwise via
+the '-skin' switch. You should therefore rename your skin subdirectory or make
+a suitable symbolic link.

-  http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/dload.html
-
-unpack it in /usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/. MPlayer will use the skin in
-the default/ subdirectory (/usr/local/share/mplayer/Skin/default/*) unless
-told otherwise via the '-skin' switch. You should therefore rename your
-skin subdirectory, make a suitable symbolic link or set the skin name in
-the file mplayer.conf by 'skin=skinname'.

 __________________
 STEP7: Let's play!
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-That's it for the moment.  To start playing movies, open a command line and try
+That's it for the moment. To start playing movies, open a command line and try

   mplayer <moviefile>

-or for the GUI:
+or for the GUI

+  mplayer -gui <moviefile>
   gmplayer <moviefile>
-  (just 'gmplayer' is enough to use the GUI fileselector)

-To play VCD track or DVD title, try:
+gmplayer is a symbolic link to mplayer created by 'make install'.
+Without <moviefile>, MPlayer will come up and you will be able to use the GUI
+filepicker.
+
+To play a VCD track or a DVD title, try:

   mplayer -vcd 2 -cdrom-device /dev/hdc
   mplayer -dvd 1 -alang en -slang hu -dvd-device /dev/hdd
@@ -175,11 +208,14 @@
 See 'mplayer -help' and 'man mplayer' for further options.

 'mplayer -vo help' will show you the available video output drivers. Experiment
-with the '-vo' switch to see which one gives you the best performance!
-If you get very jerky playback or no sound, experiment with -ao (see -ao help)
-Note that jerky playback is caused by buggy audio drivers or too slow cpu/vga.
-With a good audio and video driver combination, one can play DVDs and 720x576
-DivX files smoothly on a Celeron 366. For slower systems, you need -framedrop.
+with the '-vo' switch to see which one gives you the best performance.
+If you get jerky playback or no sound, experiment with the '-ao' switch (see
+'-ao help') to choose between different audio drivers. Note that jerky playback
+is caused by buggy audio drivers or a slow processor and video card. With a
+good audio and video driver combination, one can play DVDs and 720x576 DivX
+files smoothly on a Celeron 366. Slower systems may need the '-framedrop'
+option.

 Questions you may have are probably answered in the rest of the documentation.
-The place to start reading is DOCS/faq.html and DOCS/documentation.html.
+The places to start reading are the man page, DOCS/documentation.html and
+DOCS/faq.html.