[Howto] Install the svn Mplayer under Intrepid Ibex

[andrew.46]

======================
Introduction
=====================

This guide intends to show how to successfully compile the subversion MPlayer under Intrepid Ibex with a full codec pack. It is intended for use by advanced users only. If this advanced guide is really not what you are after perhaps you could try the very popular: Comprehensive Multimedia & Video Howto where Nathan will look after you

========================
Some Preparation
========================

For this guide to succeed you must ensure that you have all of the major Ubuntu Repositories enabled, details of enabling the Universe, Multiverse and Restricted Repositories can be found here.

Compiling, subversion and installation tools are first required and these can be downloaded from the Repositories as follows:

$ sudo apt-get install build-essential checkinstall subversion git-core yasm

Next to install the codecs:

======================
Set up the Codecs
======================

The codecs are the heart and soul of Mplayer and we will be downloading the 'full' pack, decompressing it and placing it in the appropriate location:

$ cd $HOME
$ wget ftp://ftp.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/all-20071007.tar.bz2
$ sudo mkdir -pv /usr/local/lib/codecs
$ tar xjvf all-20071007.tar.bz2
$ sudo cp -v $HOME/all-20071007/* /usr/local/lib/codecs

I should mention at this time that it is this codec pack that has caused a bit of discussion concerning copyright, only use it if the laws in your country allow it. But now to source a font for Mplayer:

=============================
Source a Font
=============================

Mplayer needs to know the location of a TrueType Font to show movie subtitles. This can be selected from the commandline but more traditionally a symlink is created to the font of your choice:

$ sudo apt-get install ttf-bitstream-vera
$ mkdir -v ~/.mplayer
$ ln -sv /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-bitstream-vera/Vera.ttf ~/.mplayer/subfont.ttf

Feel free to choose your own font but this will certainly do to start with. I suspect this font is part of a default Ubuntu installation but I include directions for its installation anyway, just to be sure!

====================================
Install the x264 Libraries
====================================

The version of x264 in the Ubuntu Repository is too old for MPlayer so we will need to download a copy from the x264 git repository:

$ cd $HOME
$ git clone git://git.videolan.org/x264.git
$ cd x264
$ ./configure --enable-shared
$ make
$ sudo checkinstall --fstrans=no --install=yes --pakdir "$HOME/Desktop" \
--maintainer "$USER" --pkgname=x264 --pkgversion "1:0.svn`date +%Y%m%d`-0.0ubuntu1" \
--backup=no --deldoc=yes --deldesc=yes --delspec=yes --gzman --default
$ make clean

And now to install the Live555 libraries.

====================================
Install the Live555 Libraries
====================================

The version of the Live555 libraries in Ubuntu (liblivemedia-dev) seems to have trouble with some of the streaming broadcasts that I routinely listen to so I always compile MPlayer against the latest upstream libraries:

$ cd $HOME
$ wget http://www.live555.com/liveMedia/public/live555-latest.tar.gz
$ tar xvf live555-latest.tar.gz
$ cd live
$ ./genMakefiles linux
$ make
$ sudo cp -r $HOME/live /usr/lib

It is a fairly primitive installation regime but it enables me to listen to my favourite broadcasts and so I think it will make your version of MPlayer a little better as well.

And now to install the libopencore-amr libraries:


====================================
Install the libopencore-amr Libraries
====================================

These libraries enable amr playback for MPlayer:

$ cd $HOME
$ wget http://transact.dl.sourceforge.net/project/opencore-amr/opencore-amr/0.1.2/opencore-amr-0.1.2.tar.gz
$ tar xvf opencore-amr-0.1.2.tar.gz
$  cd opencore-amr-0.1.2/
$ ./configure --prefix=/usr
$ make
$ sudo checkinstall --fstrans=no --install=yes --pakdir "$HOME/Desktop" \
--maintainer "$USER" --pkgname="libopencore-amr" --pkgversion="0.1.2"  \
--backup=no --deldoc=yes --deldesc=yes --delspec=yes --gzman --default
$ make distclean

Now for all the Development files:

====================================
Download the 'Development' Files
====================================

By default Ubuntu does not offer a particularly rich development environment so we need to download the required 'dev' files which are specific to Intrepid Ibex. (These files are loosely modelled on the results of the command 'sudo apt-get build-dep mplayer-nogui', I have removed some files and added others.):

$ sudo apt-get install em8300-headers gawk gettext html2text intltool-debian \
ladspa-sdk libaa1-dev libartsc0 libartsc0-dev libasound2-dev libatk1.0-dev libaudio-dev \
libaudio2 libaudiofile-dev libavahi-client-dev libavahi-common-dev libcaca-dev \
libcairo2-dev libcdparanoia0-dev libcucul-dev libdbus-1-dev libdbus-glib-1-dev \
libdirectfb-dev libdirectfb-extra libdts-dev libdv4-dev libenca-dev libenca0 \
libesd0-dev libexpat1-dev libfaac-dev libfaac0 libfontconfig1-dev libfreebob0 \
libfreetype6-dev libfribidi-dev libggi-target-x libggi2 libggi2-dev libggimisc2 \
libggimisc2-dev libgif-dev libgii1 libgii1-dev libgii1-target-x libgl1-mesa-dev \
libglu1-mesa-dev libglu1-xorg-dev libgtk2.0-dev libice-dev libschroedinger-dev \
libjack-dev libjack0 libjpeg62-dev liblzo-dev liblzo1 liblzo2-2 liblzo2-dev libmad0 \
libmad0-dev libmail-sendmail-perl libmp3lame-dev libmp3lame0 libmpcdec-dev libmpcdec3 \
libncurses5-dev libogg-dev libopenal-dev libopenal1 libpango1.0-dev libpixman-1-dev \
libpng12-dev libpopt-dev libpthread-stubs0 libpthread-stubs0-dev libpulse-dev \
libpulse-mainloop-glib0 libsdl1.2-dev libslang2-dev libsm-dev libsmbclient-dev \
libspeex-dev libsvga1 libsvga1-dev libsys-hostname-long-perl libsysfs-dev \
libtheora-dev libtwolame-dev libtwolame0 libvorbis-dev libx11-dev libxau-dev \
libxcb-render-util0-dev libxcb-render0-dev libxcb-xlib0-dev libxcb1-dev \
libxcomposite-dev libxcursor-dev libxdamage-dev libxdmcp-dev libxext-dev libxfixes-dev \
libxft-dev libxi-dev libxinerama-dev libxrandr-dev libxrender-dev libxt-dev libxv-dev \
libxvidcore4 libxvidcore4-dev libxvmc-dev libxvmc1 libxxf86dga-dev libxxf86vm-dev \
mesa-common-dev po-debconf sharutils x11proto-composite-dev x11proto-core-dev \
x11proto-damage-dev x11proto-fixes-dev x11proto-input-dev x11proto-kb-dev \
x11proto-randr-dev x11proto-render-dev x11proto-video-dev x11proto-xext-dev \
x11proto-xf86dga-dev x11proto-xf86vidmode-dev x11proto-xinerama-dev \
xtrans-dev zlib1g-dev libstdc++5

This will download about 35 megs of archives from the Ubuntu and Medibuntu Repositories and will give our copy of MPlayer a huge amount of functionality. Feel free to add your own dev files to customise MPlayer to your own taste! Now to download the svn Mplayer itself:

=================================
Download and Compile the svn mplayer
=================================

Finally after all of the preparation it is time to download Mplayer from the subversion repository, compile it and use checkinstall to create a package and install it:

$ cd $HOME
$ svn checkout svn://svn.mplayerhq.hu/mplayer/trunk mplayer
$ cd $HOME/mplayer
$ ./configure
$ make
$ sudo checkinstall -D --install=yes --fstrans=no --pakdir "$HOME/Desktop" \
--pkgname mplayer --backup=no --deldoc=yes --deldesc=yes --delspec=yes --default \
--pkgversion "3:1.0~svn-`grep "#define VERSION" version.h | cut -d"-" -f2`"
$ make distclean

And there you have the cutting edge MPlayer! Return here from time to time to update your copy by using the command 'svn update' and then compiling as before. But this is of course only the commandline version, next to download the best graphical front-end for MPlayer available today:

=========================================
Downloading SMPlayer
=========================================

The default gui for MPlayer is known as gmplayer and it has been out of development for some time. I personally use the amazing SMPLayer in its place and I would advise that you do the same. To download from the Ubuntu Repositories simply:

$ sudo apt-get install smplayer

Some qt dependencies are brought in with SMPlayer for a total download of about 14 megs but trust me, it is well worthwhile! If you have any trouble with SMPlayer you will find that the developer is quite active on these forums and keen to help with his product. The developer also maintains a Personal Package Archive (PPA) with a newer version of the SMPlayer, details of how to access this can be seen here.

=============================
And in conclusion.....
=============================

And so you have successfully installed the svn MPlayer! You can check the options available for you with the following commands:

1. mplayer -vo help : Video output available to mplayer
2. mplayer -ao help : Audio output available to mplayer
3. mplayer -vc help : Available video codecs
4. mplayer -ac help : Available audio codecs
5. mencoder -ovc help : Available video codecs
6. mencoder-oac help : Available audio codecs

The commandline player is started with the command 'mplayer' in a Terminal window, the encoder with the command 'mencoder' while the gui SMPlayer should appear on your menu. And remember: "Have fun!".

Andrew Strong
March 28th, 2009

[abhilashm86]

hi andrew,i just love terminal apps,now just running moc,i had initially installed mplayer but was not much working in terminal,i removed it through
sudo apt-get purge-- mplayer

then i started following your guide,so i ended up with this error,i din't get how to remove locks,
svn cleanup din't work for me......

abhilash@abhi:~$ svn checkout svn://svn.mplayerhq.hu/mplayer/trunk mplayer
svn: Working copy 'mplayer' locked
svn: run 'svn cleanup' to remove locks (type 'svn help cleanup' for details)

so the next step config file,i've been stuck,so where i need to correct the error?

[abhilashm86]

hey now i completely removed mplayer and mencoder,is this package correct?
*****************************************
**** Debian package creation selected ***
*****************************************

This package will be built according to these values:

0 - Maintainer: [ abhilash ]
1 - Summary: [ Package created with checkinstall 1.6.1 ]
2 - Name: [ mplayer ]
3 - Version: [ 3:1.0~svn ]
4 - Release: [ 1 ]
5 - License: [ GPL ]
6 - Group: [ checkinstall ]
7 - Architecture: [ i386 ]
8 - Source location: [ mplayer ]
9 - Alternate source location: [ ]
10 - Requires: [ ]

Enter a number to change any of them or press ENTER to continue:

Installing with make install...

========================= Installation results ===========================
make: *** No rule to make target `install'. Stop.

**** Installation failed. Aborting package creation.
why this aborting package creation?

abhilash@abhi:/$ mplayer p /media/MUSIC/Western Classical/Richard Clayderman Piano/Tango
MPlayer 1.0rc2-4.2.3 (C) 2000-2007 MPlayer Team
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 2.66GHz (Family: 15, Model: 4, Stepping: 7)
CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1
Compiled with runtime CPU detection.
mplayer: could not connect to socket


i think m messed up things while removing older mplayer,if u can tell where original files and config files are present,i can remove those and proceed coz many files din't download and terminal was telling files exist!!!!!!!
will do after your reply.

[andrew.46]

Hi abhilashm86,

Good to hear from you again ,

Originally Posted by abhilashm86 hey now i completely removed mplayer and mencoder,is this package correct?[...] ========================= Installation results =========================== make: *** No rule to make target `install'. Stop. **** Installation failed. Aborting package creation. why this aborting package creation?

I suspect that your svn MPLayer files may not be complete, as your previous message suggested when svn was complaining of locked files:

andrew@skamandros:~$ svn help cleanup cleanup: Recursively clean up the working copy, removing locks, resuming unfinished operations, etc.

You can issue this command (svn cleanup) from $HOME/mplayer or simply delete this directory and run the original MPlayer svn command which might be the easier option. Make sure you are runnig this as an unpriviledged user, I remember this was a problem with your mutt setup .

abhilash@abhi:/$ mplayer p /media/MUSIC/Western Classical/Richard Clayderman Piano/Tango MPlayer 1.0rc2-4.2.3 (C) 2000-2007 MPlayer Team [...] i think m messed up things while removing older mplayer,

It looks like your original repository MPlayer is still there . You might be best to delete this by searching for it in the synaptic package manager.

if u can tell where original files and config files are present,i can remove those and proceed coz many files din't download and terminal was telling files exist!!!!!!!

This new version of the MPlayer guide is more closely integrated with the package management system of Ubuntu and you must have the Universe, Multiverse and Medibuntu repositories enabled for it to succeed. You will find links to the Ubuntu Community documentation describing how to do this in the first paragraph or so of the guide.

Don't worry too much if you already have some of the files. I deliberately reloaded Intrepid Ibex and installed MPlayer on a clean system so I would catch all dependencies. Some will have already been installed by many users or other purposes.

All the very best with this,

Andrew

[piemaster89]

I noticed you have libglide2 in this new guide for 8.10. Is this intentional? It was previously removed since it's no longer included in the repository, right?

[abhilashm86]

hey andrew thanks one more,i had deleted from package managers,but some hidden files were problem which i searched and removed.

i did install completely and player is working fine,but can u tell how to install additional formats of video playing options like
Untraceable.2008.DVDRip.x264.Adz-300MB.mkv

this player din't recognise.

============ Sorry, this file format is not recognized/supported =============
=== If this file is an AVI, ASF or MPEG stream, please contact the author! ===
Cannot open demuxer.


one more,do have any idea about using DOSBOX emulator,using it and mounting is hard........

[mocha]

Thanks for maintaining this guide. Can I suggest that you point users to the updated PPA repository for smplayer given here. The version in Intrepid is at 0.6.1 while the latest version is 0.6.5.

Also, can you give any examples of where the live555 libs in Ubuntu give you problems with streams? What are the symptoms of this issue? I listen to a lot of streams as well.

[andrew.46]

Hi piemaster,

Originally Posted by piemaster89 I noticed you have libglide2 in this new guide for 8.10. Is this intentional? It was previously removed since it's no longer included in the repository, right?

I was hoping to slip that one in quietly . I had a close look on a fresh install of Intrepid Ibex and I have to say that this library is in the Intrepid Ibex Universe Repository:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/intrepid/libglide2

andrew@skamandros:~$ apt-cache search libglide2 | grep library
libglide2 - graphics library for 3Dfx Voodoo based cards - shared libraries
libglide2-dev - graphics library for 3Dfx Voodoo based cards - development files

Do you have the Universe Repositories enabled?

Andrew

[andrew.46]

Hi abhilashm86,

Originally Posted by abhilashm86 i did install completely and player is working fine,but can u tell how to install additional formats of video playing options like Untraceable.2008.DVDRip.x264.Adz-300MB.mkv this player din't recognise. ============ Sorry, this file format is not recognized/supported ============= === If this file is an AVI, ASF or MPEG stream, please contact the author! === Cannot open demuxer.

An mkv file is a matroska container usually with a variety of audio, video and subtitle elements inside. It is a little unusual that MPlayer cannot play this but it depends on what is inside the container.

MPlayer can identify elements in a file with the following synyax:

$ mplayer -identify -frames 0 <filename>

ffmpeg does a better job by using:

$ ffmpeg -i  <filename>

If you can post the results of either of these there should be an answer as to why MPlayer chokes on the file.

one more,do have any idea about using DOSBOX emulator,using it and mounting is hard........

I am afraid that I have absolutely no idea about this one .... sorry!

All the best,

Andrew

[andrew.46]

Hi mocha:

Originally Posted by mocha Thanks for maintaining this guide. Can I suggest that you point users to the updated PPA repository for smplayer given here. The version in Intrepid is at 0.6.1 while the latest version is 0.6.5.

There are really 2 reasons why I have deliberately chosen to use the repository version of the wonderful smplayer. Firstly I am trying to bring the guide closer to 'mainstream' ubuntu with admittedly mixed success, but for this reason I am sticking with a straight repository download not a PPA. I acknowledge of course that this is the PPA of the developer of smplayer and unlikely to be a problem. Secondly I do not know smplayer all that closely and I am not really qualified to field questions relating to either use of a PPA or even newer versions of smplayer. I will however add a note about this archive to the guide for those bolder than myself .

Also, can you give any examples of where the live555 libs in Ubuntu give you problems with streams? What are the symptoms of this issue? I listen to a lot of streams as well.

I have found some connection issues with connections to some live streams from the ABC ClassicFM website in Australia. Once connected there was no problem but I saw improvements with compiling my own libraries and compiling MPlayer against these: connecting well almost all of the time.

The version I give in the guide is a little newer than the Intrepid version now:

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/intrepi...a/2008.07.25-2

so may be worth a try anyway?

All the best,

Andrew