[MPlayer-users] Compiling in LIVE.COM Streaming Media into mplayer.

[Russell McOrmond]

On Wed, 22 Sep 2004, michael higgins wrote:

> > so I tried:
> > mplayer rtsp://a907.l961736906.c9617.g.lm.akamaistream.net/D/907/9617/v0001/reflector:36906
> > 
> 
> Why try that? '-)

  I live in a country contemplating ratifying the WIPO copyright treaties,
which will make circumventing the DRM on Microsoft files to create
compatable products illegal.  Our government may additionally make
importing software from more-free countries (like where mplayer is
created) illegal as well.  I also live in a country where the legality of
software patents is uncertain: most businesses and the patent office are
operating as if they are legal, even though the only court case on the
matter said they were not.

  Given these things I want to use mplayer in the most standards compliant
(and thus DRM/patent free) method.  This means RTSP over MMS, so I wanted
to test if our public broadcaster was in fact streaming using RTSP rather
than just MMS.  Mplayer didn't help me in testing this out as it didn't
seem to work with RTSP (or, possibly the RTSP URL doesn't work, but I have
no way of knowing for sure).

  I am actually surprised that the mplayer team depreciates the standards
in favor of Microsoft controlled formats.  I would have thought it would
be a goal of mplayer to work with existing streams, but to try to help
people migrate to open standards wherever they exist.

-- 
 Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/> 
 Get Creative: iCommons Canada Launch Party : September 30, 2004
 http://digital-copyright.ca/node/view/461  Creative Commons, 
 Open Access, Free/Libre and Open Source Software: In Canada, Eh!