[MPlayer-users] ffmpeg and the DLL codecs for WMV (etc)

[Vacuum Joe]

> > It looks like most video going around these days
> is either MPEG or WMV
> 
> Unfortunately, it seems that a LOT of video is being
> converted to SWF
> these days (see: YouTube, news sites, etc.), and
> thereby locked up in a
> propritary format. It's unplayable for anything
> other than
> Windows/Mac/Linux, and a really poor, crippled,
> interface even on
> supported platforms.

I have noticed that.  That is painful in fact.  The
ONLY reason why SWF format video is getting so popular
is because the Flash plugin has faster start-up times
and uses a smaller buffer than the other video
formats.  That's it.  It's not like the Flash video
format is anything different.  AFAIK, it's basically
MPEG-4 just like everything else.  And yet everyone
loves them just because the player happens to be tuned
for low buffering and fast startup.

I was hoping that everyone would just start using
MPEG-4 because it's at least as good as any other
format, and it is the best-documented with the most
player options available, and the patent constraints
aren't too painful.  But no... people started using
wMV.  Well, now we have VC-1, which is also openly
documented so we're soon going to have some good 100%
open source players.  But now people are sing SWF.

Hopefully VC-1 / WMV3 will get more popularity.  I
love MPlayer, I just hate having to use that
closed-source codec pack.  At least if it's open
source I can run it on non-386 machines, and it's
easier to link it in with JNI, etc.


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