[MPlayer-users] MMS streaming

[Derek J Witt]

Good morning, everyone.  I am experimenting with mms streams.  I do know
that audio-only MMS is not yet supported. But, I found that I can get
some audio mms streams to work by using aviplay.  If I'm trying to use
an ASFL-type file, I just look at the file. It almost always has an URL. 

For example, for my local National Public Radio station's feed, I have
this file: 56klive.asxl. In it, I have this:

[Reference]
Ref1=http://rklive:80/56klive
Ref2=http://216.90.76.254:80/56klive


Now, I know that sometimes the first URL will not resolve. Why such URLs
are put into the file I'll never know. Anyway, I just use the first URL
that will work.  Now, I just type this command:

aviplay http://216.90.76.254:80/56klive

And voila! I got my local radio station streaming perfectly.  

As for video mms streams, I have tried using ASFRecorder with fifos as
recommended in an older email from the developers list
(http://www.MPlayerHQ.hu/pipermail/mplayer-dev-eng/2001-June/000610.html).
The problem I have found with that is that I cannot play the stream from
mplayer. I, too, get "unrecognized file." But, if I just let asfr (A
better version of ASFRecorder) save the stream (I use "asfr -T 
mms://mslive.net-36.net:1755/panamsatedge117"). I cannot play the stream
until I hit Control-C. If I try using aviplay while it's streaming,
aviplay will complain with "video EOF" and "audio EOF". But, when I end
the stream via asfr, I can then play the stream via mplayer. But, about
half the time, mplayer has a hiccup with the counter stuck at 5 seconds
into the ASF file.

Also, with some versions of ASFRecorder, it defaults to port 80, which
is quite lame IMO. I had to reboot into Windows 2000 and try a typical
mms stream. I found it uses port 1755 (gotta love the netstat command).
So, I  rebooted into Linux. I then tried the above MMS stream. I was
able to at least download the stream.

Anyway, just my personal experience with mms. What is the current status
of MMS support in mplayer? I am really liking this software. I can now
play my ASF files lying around on my Windows drive without resorting to
reboot into Windows. ;-)

-- 
**  Derek J Witt                                              **
*   Email: mailto:djw at flinthills.com                           *
*   Home Page: http://www.flinthills.com/~djw/                 *
*** "...and on the eighth day, God met Bill Gates." - Unknown **