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RudolfMDLT
November 15th, 2007, 12:19 PM
Hi,

Ever since trying to play my first DVD in Ubuntu, Totem has been the default player. I have always used it once, decided that it's junk and never looked at it again. It has never been able to even play and mp3 decently! With so many players in the repo's why is Totem the default player?

It's easy enough for me to install a new player; but the last couple of months I have been actively getting people to try Ubuntu. Totem is just one of the things that are a real embarrassment. Totem works as well as Evolution is pretty. If Ubuntu can come preloaded with CompizFusion to impress people, surly a replacement for the default media player wouldn't be too difficult.

I'm speaking from my own experience, nothing more, I've used 4 Ubuntu Distro's on about 7 computers and never really had any success with totem. Maybe you have?

Any thoughts? What would you replace it with? and if you want to keep it, why?

Thanks,

Rudolf

solar george
November 15th, 2007, 12:33 PM
Yes,

Although I'm not sure how heavily it is integrated with gnome. Maybe totem-xine rahter than totem-gstreamer

rax_m
November 15th, 2007, 12:38 PM
Yes! Totem never seems to be able to play anything on my computer.. I almost always end up opening VLC to do the job.

RudolfMDLT
November 15th, 2007, 12:49 PM
If it needs to be only one app, how about Mplayer or VLC? When ever some one has difficulty playing a DVD or any media for that matter they 99% of the time get told to install VLC or mplayer + mplayer has plugins for Firefix.

And would it be so difficult to install Banshee or Exaile as a mp3 player? I'm an Amarok fan personally but both of the above work quit well in Gnome.

I would hazard a guess that most people play more/or close to more, mp3's and music on their pc's than they type letters in Open Office Writer?

urukrama
November 15th, 2007, 02:02 PM
Totem works fine here. I use it regularly, and rarely have problems with it. I like its simplicity.

zugu
November 15th, 2007, 02:08 PM
Totem has to disappear. Mplayer and VLC are much better any day!

notwen
November 15th, 2007, 02:13 PM
Totem works fine for me, but having so many issues w/ it in previous installs, I generally install VLC first thing to handle all of my video needs.

+1 VLC

TBOL3
November 15th, 2007, 02:15 PM
I actually think Ubuntu has a very poor choice of apps.

RithmBox is horrible.
Totem never works well, although I do like the interface, for SINGLE media files.
Sound Juicer and Sound Recorder are bad.
I really don't like the way GIMP works (with all the windows against the desktop).
Evolution Never worked.
And I've had lots of other trouble.

However, at least there are good alternatives.

[Thinks about switching to Ubuntu-Studio]

chrisccoulson
November 15th, 2007, 02:19 PM
I'm sure this has been done to death already. VLC will not be default due to licensing issues with restricted formats (MP3 included).

Totem will not play restrcited formats by default for this exact same reason. You have to install the extra codecs from the repo's manually. It doesn't matter what the default media player is, this issue will still persist and you will still not be able to play restricted formats out of the box.

gorara
November 15th, 2007, 02:21 PM
Never had any problems with totem, apart from some videos not opening. I like its simple interface, although I would probably use vlc more if it had a slider bar when in fullscreen mode. I need controls when I'm in fullscreen mode!

TBOL3
November 15th, 2007, 02:21 PM
You could always take out that part of VLC, would it be too hard? Then when you get the restricted codacs, then it would put the rest back in.

rustybronco
November 15th, 2007, 02:27 PM
I say no for only one reason, only so much fits on a single cd, and i would rather see more drivers included than something i can download and install in under 5 minutes.
yes, I use vlc.

cutare
November 15th, 2007, 02:32 PM
And what about Mplayer? It doesn't come with any codecs by default, the responsability of installing them should lie with the user, just as it's the case with Totem.

firedancer
November 15th, 2007, 02:32 PM
Don't know what i did but ,with ubuntu studio and some extra's codecs

played everything ! now i changed to edubuntu and didn't do the extra's

but it's cool to me


RithmBox is horrible.
Totem never works well, although I do like the interface, for SINGLE media files.
Sound Juicer and Sound Recorder are bad.
I really don't like the way GIMP works (with all the windows against the desktop).
Evolution Never worked.

strange :-k
RithmBox is horrible. well i'm listening to music now
Sound Juicer and Sound Recorder are bad for you and good for me
I really don't like the way GIMP works (with all the windows against the desktop)I love gimp (need to get use to it) ,
Evolution Never worked for you ,but does for me



i think these are personal experiences ,just like some ppl can speak to GOD and others can't cause they don't believe :)


sorry, i'm not tripping on anyone ,ok
but it works for me , :guitar:

lettas
November 15th, 2007, 02:33 PM
sudo aptitude install ubuntu-restrictred-extras

.. and totem will play all formats except for encrypted DVD's.

RudolfMDLT
November 15th, 2007, 02:34 PM
I'm sure this has been done to death already. VLC will not be default due to licensing issues with restricted formats (MP3 included).

Totem will not play restrcited formats by default for this exact same reason. You have to install the extra codecs from the repo's manually. It doesn't matter what the default media player is, this issue will still persist and you will still not be able to play restricted formats out of the box.

Point noted on VLC - Mplayer? But even with restricted codecs installed, totem's still jumpy when playing the first 2 or 3 seconds of an mp3. Even today I tried playing a WAV file and it chocked on it. Other Gnome/GTK players work well.


I like its simplicity.

I'm all for it, but Totem leans more to the Stupid that the simple. There is a lot of Hype behind Ubuntu at the moment and the past year has seen Ubuntu get a lot of press, in my country atleast. Is Totem really the best Ubuntu has to offer? Evolution is ugly, but disagreeing with TBOL3 :) , it does work well and gets along with Outlook and other mail clients. It gets the job done.

If you are coming from a windows environment, you can associate with Evolution, Totem is still where Windows Media player was before windows ME.

Ubuntu needs some patching up here and there, but I'm not saying waist the developer's time by re-invent the wheel, just replace totem with one or two apps that get the job done better instead of being a blotch against Ubuntu's name.

Yes it is my personal experience and a lot of my friends that also use Ubuntu have found this aswell.

RudolfMDLT
November 15th, 2007, 02:48 PM
And what about Mplayer? It doesn't come with any codecs by default, the responsability of installing them should lie with the user, just as it's the case with Totem.
I disagree, I live in the third world where having a telephone line is considered by a majority of the population to be a luxury - never mind ADSL. Ubuntu - was started by a South African, and means Linux for human beings. Thats great and all, but having to download hundreds of deb's to get a working system is a problem.

As of this week I started promoting Ubuntu Ultimate Edition as you don't have to download a lot of packages to get what you need. I download the latest updates, download Kyle and add that to the discs when I give them away. That way people have fully functional systems from the word "go!".

But the above is way of topic, and I apologise. It's the developers responsibility to put forward the best they can. Not the users responsibility to go hunting for something that works. The user can go looking for something they would like later, sure.

Polygon
November 15th, 2007, 02:51 PM
again:

cant play mp3s by default cause the codecs are not installed by default

totem-gstreamer will not play dvds correctly with menus and anything even if you have the correct libraries installed because the developer REFUSES To add support for it. To play dvds correctly with totem you HAVE to use totem-xine

other then that, i love totem. I love being able to have full screen controls which VLC does not have.

igknighted
November 15th, 2007, 02:52 PM
KDE does well here with Amarok and Kaffeine, both of which are stellar media players. Gnome could really use an upgrade. There are better choices out there. Banshee (yes, it is a mono app) is probably the best thing going as far as media players, and Exaile is right there too. As far as video goes, mplayer is much more fun to use than totem, and I always make that switch (never really been a VLC fan, not because I don't like it, I just prefer mplayer).

The problem with switching totem to an Xine background as the default is that the gstreamer framework is already being used, and it would be silly to include both xine and gstreamer. I don't know of any good gtk based music players using xine as the default, so I think totem is stuck w/ gstreamer (unless you change it yourself, of course).

cutare
November 15th, 2007, 02:53 PM
I disagree, I live in the third world where having a telephone line is considered by a majority of the population to be a luxury - never mind ADSL. Ubuntu - was started by a South African, and means Linux for human beings. Thats great and all, but having to download hundreds of deb's to get a working system is a problem.

As of this week I started promoting Ubuntu Ultimate Edition as you don't have to download a lot of packages to get what you need. I download the latest updates, download Kyle and add that to the discs when I give them away. That way people have fully functional systems from the word "go!".

But the above is way of topic, and I apologise. It's the developers responsibility to put forward the best they can. Not the users responsibility to go hunting for something that works. The user can go looking for something they would like later, sure.

I understand what you're saying, and I agree. I brought up the ideea of a codec-less mplayer in order to prove there is a way to get rid of the abomination that is Totem AND at the same time stay legal in certain countries, such as US - since VLC seems to be illegal there.

RudolfMDLT
November 15th, 2007, 03:43 PM
I understand what you're saying, and I agree. I brought up the ideea of a codec-less mplayer in order to prove there is a way to get rid of the abomination that is Totem AND at the same time stay legal in certain countries, such as US - since VLC seems to be illegal there.
I think VLC is illeagle everywhere except places like afganistan! ;)
Fair point - I might have miss understood you a little! :)

smartboyathome
November 15th, 2007, 03:56 PM
Never had a problem with Totem. I use it regularly, and it plays all the stuff I need it to.

Nonno Bassotto
November 15th, 2007, 04:10 PM
Totem-gstreamer has been working well for all my video files, except for RealMedia, since Edgy. And even before that Totem-xine did the trick.

I like its simplicity very much, it just doesn't come in your way.

tmahmood
November 15th, 2007, 04:14 PM
What would be the difference between Mplayer/VLC and Totem with no propitiatory format support??? Either way you would HAVE to download the codecs and other supports.

igknighted
November 15th, 2007, 04:34 PM
What would be the difference between Mplayer/VLC and Totem with no propitiatory format support??? Either way you would HAVE to download the codecs and other supports.

My problem with totem isn't the codecs, it's that I find it to be a poor video player in general. The interface is rather shoddy, it can't handle DVD menu's with the gstreamer back-end, and when codecs are installed, it often fails to play the formats it should. MPlayer (with codecs) just works as it should. It also has a far better browser plug-in, and has a couple great GUI's (I'm a kde guy, so I like kmplayer... but all are good).

To my knowledge, the patent-encumbered codecs are built right in to VLC, so I don't believe you can get a codec-free version. But if you could that would also be an option. The problem with VLC is that it doesn't integrate as well as totem and mplayer. It has great skinning capabilities, but as far as integrating with the rest of the OS theme, it's not too great. For these reasons I think that Mplayer is the better option to replace totem.

It's a rather academic discussion, as Ubuntu likes to follow what the gnome project uses, and as far as I know, they are fully behind totem (and rhythmbox) as the standards, so I doubt we will see a change any time soon. In fact, I think Ubuntu is moving closer to gnome's standards by switching to Epiphany once they switch to webkit (I think I saw this in the plans for Hardy... not 100% sure tho).

RudolfMDLT
November 15th, 2007, 04:37 PM
What would be the difference between Mplayer/VLC and Totem with no propitiatory format support??? Either way you would HAVE to download the codecs and other supports.

It's not about propitiatory codecs - even with them it struggles to play what I want it to play. I'm really glad that it works for you guys! As far as I'm concerned it sucks! It has never worked for me. And if you are going to replace it anyway, why not replace it from the start.

lets swing it around. If you had Mplayer by default, would you go looking for Totem?

@igknighted
+1 on your first paragraph! :)

I like kde as well due to the generally better default app's, Kopete VS Gaim, Rhythmbox VS Amarok ect... Anyway - thanks for the extra bit on Ubuntu and the gnome project. Ubuntu has always been a primarily Gnome distro which is why I'm back using gnome in 7.10, I need the VPN support which is buggy in network manager in Kubuntu. Thats what sparked this thread! I went looking for a GTK based player that works well with gnome.

tmahmood
November 15th, 2007, 04:59 PM
First as far I remember Totem is Packed with GNOME by default, its not Ubuntu specific.

When it comes down to look .. its a matter of choice. some likes it some don't, I can't remember having problem with totem. I have both Vlc and Mplayer installed though. And I don't care which player is playing .. as long it can play the file properly

I don't care which player is installed by default... I use totem by default if its fails then I go for VLC or mplayer. If mplayer was installed by default I would not go for totem, thats true.

igknighted
November 15th, 2007, 05:10 PM
First as far I remember Totem is Packed with GNOME by default, its not Ubuntu specific. mplayer/vlc are not true GTK applications, they uses wxWidgets which looks kind a out of place, maybe this is why the GNOME developers don't include them by default?

Not that it matters that much, but mplayer is just a media engine so to speak (it runs on the CLI). There are several GUIs for it. There is KMplayer and SMplayer for KDE/qt, there is mplayer-gui which is the wxWidgets version, and there is gnome-mplayer, which I believe is a GTK version which integrates better (but I am on KDE, so I don't know for sure).

You are correct that gnome's default is totem. But gnome's default is also epiphany, which Ubuntu does not currently use. It can be split off and a different application used if Ubuntu really wanted to. But as I said before, I don't think they want to and highly doubt they ever will (unless gnome decides it likes mplayer better).

hanzomon4
November 15th, 2007, 05:40 PM
I got totem-gs and totem-xine to play all of my files, only totem-xine could do dvds. I happen to like it, mplayer is buggy(it skips, audio jumps in volume and does weird stuff, plus it's ugly) vlc is good but it can't do rmvb(God I hate that format) and it's very complicated. I took time to figure out how to get totem to work after folks kept fighting over it. Now I can get it to play all I need in less then 10mins on a default install.

santiagoward2000
November 15th, 2007, 06:54 PM
I installed Totem on my Xubuntu and had no problem with it.

Medieval_Creations
November 15th, 2007, 06:57 PM
One of the first things I do after a fresh install is change the default player, by removing Totem and installing VLC.

+1 VLC

FuturePilot
November 15th, 2007, 07:01 PM
Totem is the default player because it's the official Gnome media player. Ubuntu works very closely with Gnome and tries to deviate as little as possible. I don't see Totem being removed any time soon. If you are having issues with Totem, I would recommend installing totem-xine as it seems to work better.

NJC
November 15th, 2007, 09:30 PM
I'm sure this has been done to death already. VLC will not be default due to licensing issues with restricted formats (MP3 included).

I never knew this.

BTW ... just last night I was wondering WTH Totem was the default media player. I've always had trouble with it. I recently installed VLC and I like it .. I prefer XMMS but it's apparently defunct. I know about Amarok but I tried to download it and when I saw 50megs (w/ dialup), I was frightened off..

frup
November 15th, 2007, 09:42 PM
I have noticed totem and 3 programs in particular being bashed in this thread

Totem
Rhythmbox
Gimp
Evolution.

I happen to love Gimp and Rhythmbox.

I prefer Thunderbird over Evolution but personally prefer them both to Outlook.

And I don't see what's wrong with Totem. It works for me. It has an intuitive interface and I am pretty sure I haven't had a problem playing DVD's. (Movie Player using GStreamer 0.10.14 and GNOME) Having said that about DVD's, I have only watched the movies not used extra features from the menus.

conehead77
November 15th, 2007, 09:51 PM
appen to love Gimp and Rhythmbox.
Actually i switched back from Amarok to Rythmbox as it doesnt crash so often and is faster with handling files for me.

For video i use VLC. I tried to play DVDs and followed a HOWTO somewhere and Totem didnt play them but VLC.

CarpKing
November 15th, 2007, 10:04 PM
I like Rhythmbox, Totem, and GIMP. I've tried Amarok and Banshee, but they didn't exite me enough to make me switch. As for video players, I tend to install as many as I can (currently gxine, Totem-gs, MPlayer, SMPlayer, and VLC). Most of the time I use Totem, because it's easy. With Gutsy all of them work with compositing (as long as you don't adjust the opacity or anything), which removes the main reason I stopped using Totem in Feisty. SMPlayer has the best subtitles. I admit that I use VLC for DVDs. However, DVD menu support is being worked on in Gstreamer, so sometime that will no longer be an issue (once you install the illegal bits, of course).

dca
November 15th, 2007, 10:14 PM
Boy, I'm gonna' get bashed but here it goes. Compartmentalizing things would've been better. KOffice isn't that great, Gnumeric & Abiword aren't that hot. Gnome & KDE tried too hard to be everyone to everybody. In Gnome for instance, take a look at 'applications' menu. Asides from the first entry, the games, graphics, internet, multimedia, and office areas are something the end user could've decided on what they actually want and installed instead of integrating components with the actual DE itself. What say I wanted Symphony instead of OOo. What say I don't like the multimedia players/viewers Gnome includes. There are A $^@&-load of developers writing multimedia players/viewers. Obviously a lot has to do w/ functionality and integration and use and testing. Some of the alternatives aren't that hot and at least all the components included w/ KDE & Gnome are heavily tested and scrutinized. Ah, forget it, we're doing great w/ what we got... Maybe then just having the ability to remove unwanted components w/o dependency errors and such about possibly breaking the DE would be better... I'm getting a beer...

pt123
November 16th, 2007, 02:56 AM
Totem with a xine backend should be the default.

Gstreamer has poor subs support and Xine is much more configurable.

gmplayer & xine player have an interface from the 90s.

While Totem has an up to date interface that looks the part in Gnome.

Another player that is impressive is smplayer so unless Gnome can some something equivalent to this Totem should be the default player.

Kaffeine is ugly like the rest of KDE3.

SomeGuyDude
November 16th, 2007, 03:00 AM
Totem never, ever worked for me.

MPlayer works for actual video files but can't play any DVDs right (for some reason all I get is about 3 inches out of the center). VLC is great with DVDs, but sucks with video files.

Colro
November 16th, 2007, 03:08 AM
I voted yes. I've had nothing but problems with totem. VLC works great, though.

reacocard
November 16th, 2007, 03:09 AM
there's nothing wrong with totem, its a decent player that integrates well. its only real weak spot is DVDs, but that is fixable by using totem-xine instead. I personally use VLC, but that's mainly because it uses the least CPU of any player I've tried, which is important on a laptop. If that were not an issue, I probably would use totem because of its simplicity and integration.

Bruce M.
November 16th, 2007, 03:28 AM
Personally, I don't listen to music on my PC, nor watch DVDs (but for an exercise as a new Linux user I installed gxine with the restricted drivers and can watch DVDs if I choose to).

But I'm curious, what is VLC? I looked in Synaptic for it and it doesn't come up.

BTW: Keep Totem, there is nothing wrong with the default programs in Ubuntu. It's the restricted drivers that are the problem. I like the attitude that Ubuntu has towards these. Ubuntu has made it easy to find and install them never the less.

CarpKing
November 16th, 2007, 06:17 AM
But I'm curious, what is VLC? I looked in Synaptic for it and it doesn't come up.

VideoLan Client. Should be in the repos, though. Do you have Universe and Multiverse enabled?

oneadvent
November 16th, 2007, 06:33 AM
I'm sorry all that Totem has ever been for me is a headache. I usually end up installing xine as soon as I try to start a video in a new system. I do not even give it a second thought. It never plays anything right, and it is buggy trying to go to full screen when it does decide to play something.

I would rather the default be about anything else, then it would save me the time of going in and changing it to something else for each extension.

I would seriously like to hear anyone say that they use totem exclusively and do not have any problems.

phrostbyte
November 16th, 2007, 09:34 AM
Totem and RB have been getting much better in recent Gnome releases.

Circus-Killer
November 16th, 2007, 09:49 AM
i think it should be removed.
most media playing threads involve some form of suggestion to use another player.

although, i also feel that threads like these are pointless and never get taken into consideration. i think that ubuntu should have a policy that once a year (every second release) they should look at users comments and also look at the state of that package and compare it to the state of other packages. what was once sufficient a year ago may not be the case anymore.

honestly, i think they should ditch totem for mplayer. and they should ditch rhythmbox for exaile. but i spose you always do have the choice to do it yourself. but for newbies, well, the first thing newbies get told when trying to play a video is "install vlc or mplayer". surely a media player that "just works" should be default in ubuntu.

anyways, as said, nothing ive just said really matters. what was here in 5.04 is still here now.

MRiGnS
November 16th, 2007, 09:54 AM
FYI the next VLC release will drop the wxWidget interface with it's gtk wrapper and go for QT4, so many won't like it.
Another already mentioned problem with vlc is that due to the codecs it's kind of illegal to use in the US without paying license fees.

Totem-xine would be nice.

Npl
November 16th, 2007, 10:00 AM
The only problem I have with Totem is that the Version from Gutsy horribly stutters with MPeg4 AVC (and its not for performance reasons).
Cant stand VLC personally and I dint find a troublefree MPlayer Frontend yet.

MRiGnS
November 16th, 2007, 10:05 AM
The only problem I have with Totem is that the Version from Gutsy horribly stutters with MPeg4 AVC (and its not for performance reasons).
Cant stand VLC personally and I dint find a troublefree MPlayer Frontend yet.

You should try smplayer, it rocks, the one in the repos is compiled against the kdelibs but the newer versions use QT4 and they offer Ubuntu Debs.

http://smplayer.sourceforge.net/index.php?tr_lang=en

misfitpierce
November 16th, 2007, 10:53 AM
totem extension for firefox imo is way better than mplayer. I'm going to have to say for offline watching I use VLC more than anything though.

MRiGnS
November 16th, 2007, 10:56 AM
totem extension for firefox imo is way better than mplayer. I'm going to have to say for offline watching I use VLC more than anything though.

I prefer the mplayer plugin because it's the only way to be able to use the seekbar on stage6 in linux.

EDIT: Oh, and kmplayer in konqueror of course allows you to do the same.

SeanHodges
November 16th, 2007, 11:02 AM
Don't take away my Totem!!!

I used to hate it, now it's my default player and I love it, with VLC on standby if I get a corrupted video.

NotTheMessiah
November 16th, 2007, 11:12 AM
On my gutsy install totem flicks my (monitor)refresh to 50hertz-from 75 when i try to go full screen. It works ok on feisty - i don't mind its simplicity as long as it works!

frodon
November 16th, 2007, 11:46 AM
Media players and codecs are 2 different things, i installed the codecs i need through synaptic and except for sub-title support totem perfectly fit my needs.

MRiGnS
November 16th, 2007, 11:55 AM
Media players and codecs are 2 different things, i installed the codecs i need through synaptic and except for sub-title support totem perfectly fit my needs.

but vlc comes WITH the codecs, that's the "problem" with it.

frodon
November 16th, 2007, 12:05 PM
That's the VLC strategy indeed, clicking several times in synaptic to install the codecs i need is not an issue for me though.

Anyway I use 3 different media players for 3 different reasons :
1- totem for almost everything.
2- vlc for my DSL box tv feature because the VLC TV streaming list handling is really well made and intuitive.
3- mplayer when i want to play a movie with subtitles as this players is full of great options for sub-title managment.

MRiGnS
November 16th, 2007, 12:21 PM
That's the VLC strategy indeed, clicking several times in synaptic to install the codecs i need is not an issue for me though.


The Codecs are for not an issue at all, as you're in France, EU. Using the codecs would be illegal in the US and other countries, so you can't ship ubuntu with vlc (and its codecs) preinstalled without making ubuntu illegal in the US.

This would force canonical to release a EU and a US version for example.

Totem is fine, as it can be shipped without the codecs, vlc can't

Topfs
November 16th, 2007, 12:45 PM
Totem is the best, Simple and works great if you install the codecs.
I've almost never had a problem with it. sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras and it works right.

Also I wouldn't dream of using VLC as the number one player as it cannot hide the controlls in windowed mode, making it take to much space when I want to surf and watch a movie at the same time.

No, VLC is good but it is just not suitable to ship with ubuntu for already discussed reasons (Codecs) also, how the heck can't it have a "leave fullscreen" button when you move your mouse in fullscreen. It is not intuitive :)

Also for the mplayer, it is xine. Wich won't be shipped with gnome either. it isn't std as with gstreamer. So that would probably never gonna happen either.
Correct me if im wrong but xine also incorpares all the codecs in the lib? thus making it equally impossible to use as a backend to ship with ubuntu

bluenova
November 16th, 2007, 12:48 PM
I use amarok for audio and kaffine for video, so it doesn't really matter to me, as both apps are KDE so will never be default in Ubuntu.

undine
November 16th, 2007, 12:55 PM
Don't take away my Totem!!!

I used to hate it, now it's my default player and I love it, with VLC on standby if I get a corrupted video.

Likewise. It has improved significantly over time, and now I find that it can pretty much play anything without any hassle -- plus it integrates perfectly with the Gnome environment, which is very important for me.

MRiGnS
November 16th, 2007, 12:57 PM
Also for the mplayer, it is xine. Wich won't be shipped with gnome either. it isn't std as with gstreamer. So that would probably never gonna happen either.
Correct me if im wrong but xine also incorpares all the codecs in the lib? thus making it equally impossible to use as a backend to ship with ubuntu

mplayer isn't xine, mplayer is it's own, award winning player.

both mplayer and xine can be shipped without the codecs.

kubuntu uses xine for example as the backend for amarok and kaffeine.

totem-xine has the advantage that it can show dvd menues which totem-gstreamer can't.

well mplayer, mplayer can do anything. it's probably the most powerful backend. but the only gtk-frontend (gnome-mplayer) sucks, so it won't replace totem.

frodon
November 16th, 2007, 01:04 PM
The Codecs are for not an issue at all, as you're in France, EU. Using the codecs would be illegal in the US and other countries, so you can't ship ubuntu with vlc (and its codecs) preinstalled without making ubuntu illegal in the US.You are too vague saying this, this is true for libdvdcss and w32codecs (which are not in the repositories) but other codecs does not suffer any legal issues.
And you still have solutions for this (CNR for example).

@Topfs, there's a totem-xine package in the repositories, it just makes your totem player use the xine backend instead of gstreamer (i use this since i use ubuntu :) )

MRiGnS
November 16th, 2007, 01:26 PM
You are too vague saying this, this is true for libdvdcss and w32codecs (which are not in the repositories) but other codecs does not suffer any legal issues.

vlc has these codecs incorporated it does not use external ones at all.

frodon
November 16th, 2007, 01:35 PM
I was talking about codecs found in synaptic which totem use as you were giving me an answer about this part of my post :

clicking several times in synaptic to install the codecs i need is not an issue for me though.and you answered :

The Codecs are for not an issue at all, as you're in France, EU. Using the codecs would be illegal in the US and other countriesSo i answered to this :

You are too vague saying this, this is true for libdvdcss and w32codecs (which are not in the repositories) but other codecs does not suffer any legal issues.So yes you won't have legal issues installing the codecs present in the repositories (i'm talking about the codecs and nothing else) as libdvdcss and w32codecs are not included in the repositories.

S3Indiana
November 16th, 2007, 03:46 PM
You are too vague saying this, this is true for libdvdcss and w32codecs (which are not in the repositories) but other codecs does not suffer any legal issues.
And you still have solutions for this (CNR for example).CNR.com (http://www.cnr.com) ensures the proper agreements are in place to avoid any legal issues (FYI this involves even some free packages that have redistribution requirements)...

Meomix
November 16th, 2007, 03:53 PM
like omg dude totem should be BANNED FROM PRODUCTION! that player is just crap!
i was trying to play a flv file. totem crashed. crashed. and CRASHED! it had to download like 10 freaking codecs before it even showed signs of life i threw it away and went to fetch VLC player.

chrisccoulson
November 16th, 2007, 04:17 PM
like omg dude totem should be BANNED FROM PRODUCTION! that player is just crap!
i was trying to play a flv file. totem crashed. crashed. and CRASHED! it had to download like 10 freaking codecs before it even showed signs of life i threw it away and went to fetch VLC player.

Why not help make Totem better by filing bug reports about your problems

RudolfMDLT
November 16th, 2007, 04:19 PM
It seems that after reading through all the posts that only about 10%-15% of people are really HAPPY with totem, some use it because it works but have other players, but, even though the vote is close to 50/50, most of the comments and arguments are against totem, from the lightly annoyed to the "like omg dude totem should be BANNED FROM PRODUCTION! ". ;) :lolflag:

Interesting for me to see personally are the couple of people that have installed all the codecs and still had problems with totem.

forodon got the point across clearly:

Media players and codecs are 2 different things, i installed the codecs i need through synaptic and except for sub-title support totem perfectly fit my needs.

I agree, but as i've said that even playing wave files or ogg format files, Totem chokes, maybe it's my hardware, but then, everything else in the repo's does work for me, even XMMS doesn't blink when I throw a 700mb wav file at it. And I'm not saying ditch gnome and move to KDE, there are plenty of GTK app's that can hold hands with Amarok.

If Totem works for you, great. but I put the question to everybody, especially those whom support totem: If Mplayer or something similar was installed by default would you go to the repo's and install Totem?

rsambuca
November 16th, 2007, 04:25 PM
It seems that after reading through all the posts that only about 10%-15% of people are really HAPPY with totem, some use it because it works but have other players, but, even though the vote is close to 50/50, most of the comments and arguments are against totem, from the lightly annoyed to the "like omg dude totem should be BANNED FROM PRODUCTION! ". ;) :lolflag:


Keep in mind that people who are unhappy with something are much more motivated to comment and participate in these types of things. Your polling sample is biased to begin with.

boast
November 16th, 2007, 04:28 PM
IMO

SMplayer
Exaile
Thunderbird

should come by default

:)

RudolfMDLT
November 16th, 2007, 04:57 PM
Keep in mind that people who are unhappy with something are much more motivated to comment and participate in these types of things. Your polling sample is biased to begin with.

True, people are more likely to be negative than positive, but the point I'm trying to make is that people feel stronger against than the people that are feeling for. SO inorder to try and clear it up I have asked this:


If Mplayer or something similar was installed by default would you go to the repo's and install Totem?

TWICE. I only use mplayer as example though.


but biased? Yes or No, how can that be 1 sided?

oneadvent
November 16th, 2007, 05:04 PM
All I know is that if it weren't installed by default, and I went in to look for something new, and downloaded that, I would get so frustrated I would mark it as a bad program that is obviously only half finished or in major development stages.

I would never keep that on my system just in case I may accidentally click it.

Meomix
November 16th, 2007, 05:09 PM
hahaha, if totem was not the default player i'd make sure i never cross it again the person who made it failed, oh boy did he fail

ahaslam
November 16th, 2007, 06:08 PM
If there were no default media player, I'd install both MPlayer & VLC, certainly not Totem-gstreamer. That'd be no skin of my nose ;)

hanzomon4
November 16th, 2007, 06:20 PM
I would seriously like to hear anyone say that they use totem exclusively and do not have any problems.

*Raises hand high*

I use totem-xine exclusively and have no problems. I can play every format I've come across, rmvb and flv included, as well as dvds with menus. It does everything with a pretty and simple interface. So to answer RudolfMDLT's question: Yes I would go looking for totem if mplayer or vlc came by default. Mplayer is a buggy, ugly mess while vlc can't do rmvb.

To all of you that bash totem, I fear for your immortal souls! :lolflag:

RudolfMDLT
November 16th, 2007, 06:38 PM
*Raises hand high*

I use totem-xine exclusively and have no problems.

What god do you pray to? Maybe I should try it too! ;) LOL

[please lets not have any religion flaming]

tech9
November 16th, 2007, 06:43 PM
If it needs to be only one app, how about Mplayer or VLC? When ever some one has difficulty playing a DVD or any media for that matter they 99% of the time get told to install VLC or mplayer + mplayer has plugins for Firefix.

And would it be so difficult to install Banshee or Exaile as a mp3 player? I'm an Amarok fan personally but both of the above work quit well in Gnome.

I would hazard a guess that most people play more/or close to more, mp3's and music on their pc's than they type letters in Open Office Writer?

I agree... make a player that can play MP3s off the bat... it most likely will not happen though- due to legalities

oneadvent
November 16th, 2007, 06:47 PM
*Raises hand high*

I use totem-xine exclusively and have no problems. I can play every format I've come across, rmvb and flv included, as well as dvds with menus. It does everything with a pretty and simple interface. So to answer RudolfMDLT's question: Yes I would go looking for totem if mplayer or vlc came by default. Mplayer is a buggy, ugly mess while vlc can't do rmvb.

To all of you that bash totem, I fear for your immortal souls! :lolflag:

Ya, speaking of which what are your secrets, and furthermore, what is your specs?

I want to know what I am missing.

hanzomon4
November 16th, 2007, 08:15 PM
What god do you pray to? Maybe I should try it too! ;) LOL

[please lets not have any religion flaming]

Just look to the Gnome my lost child....
God please forgive me, I'm just joking


Ya, speaking of which what are your secrets, and furthermore, what is your specs?

I want to know what I am missing.

This is what I do. I start by enabling the mediabuntu repos. Then I grab the win32codecs, the packages needed to play dvds, totem-xine, and all of the libxine1* packages. Last I edit the totem xine-config file to use the win32codecs for wmv and not ffmpeg(it distorts my wmv files for some reason). And that's it, I got it all...

I can get totem-gs to play everything but dvds. Just grab all of the gst-plugins especially gstreamer0.10-pitfdll and the win32codecs. The pitdll plugin has been a hit and miss for me so I tend to go with totem-xine.

Frak
November 16th, 2007, 09:18 PM
I like totem.

Luggy
November 16th, 2007, 09:52 PM
I would vote 'do not remove'.

I don't have too much of a problem with Totem, when I need a GUI movie player I'll always stick with Totem.

My personal favorite is the non-gui mplayer but I understand why that would not be the default player.

I've been using Ubuntu since Breezy and the only other movie player I have ever used was gXine when there was no mouse click support for DVDs in Totem. Now that Totem has that it works fine for me.

RudolfMDLT
November 16th, 2007, 10:47 PM
Just look to the Gnome my lost child....
God please forgive me, I'm just joking



This is what I do. I start by enabling the mediabuntu repos. Then I grab the win32codecs, the packages needed to play dvds, totem-xine, and all of the libxine1* packages. Last I edit the totem xine-config file to use the win32codecs for wmv and not ffmpeg(it distorts my wmv files for some reason). And that's it, I got it all...

I can get totem-gs to play everything but dvds. Just grab all of the gst-plugins especially gstreamer0.10-pitfdll and the win32codecs. The pitdll plugin has been a hit and miss for me so I tend to go with totem-xine.

How about just grabbing the restricted packages + mplayer? Or having mplayer/something similar installed by default and just grabbing the "bad" deb's and be done with it. l have no problem editing config files to get appache2 to work or even samba, but having to edit config files to get mp3's or movies to play... that would really tick me off, almost as much as blasphemy. It's just no right. Sort of my point though? You had to get out the old spanner and wrench to get it to work on par with other apps?

Though, totem-ridicule aside for a minute, thanks for that, I'll make a note having to edit the xine config file to use win32 instead of ffmpeg. Might be handy.

hanzomon4
November 17th, 2007, 04:32 AM
The same could be said of including all the things I stated to get a "do all totem" by default, it's basically the same thing you just swapped in mplayer. But yeah I agree we shouldn't be doing anything like installing different stuff and editing files to get multimedia, we should only be clicking ok to get any and all media that can't come by default working.

Oh and about that edit, this is all you got to do.
gedit .gnome2/Totem/xine_configAnd change one number
# priority for win32v decoder
# numeric, default: 0
engine.decoder_priorities.win32v:0

# priority for win32v decoder
# numeric, default: 0
engine.decoder_priorities.win32v:5

And that's it, it should fix the wmv bug. However you may not need to do this only a few people, like me, have this problem with wmv files.

riven0
November 17th, 2007, 04:38 AM
Yes, remove Totem. It's worthless! Even after downloading all the restricted codec's, I can't play dvd's on it. :mad:

Frak
November 17th, 2007, 04:40 AM
Yes, remove Totem. It's worthless! Even after downloading all the restricted codec's, I can't play dvd's on it. :mad:
do you have libdvdcss installed also?

Nano Geek
November 17th, 2007, 04:56 AM
Yes, remove Totem. It's worthless! Even after downloading all the restricted codec's, I can't play dvd's on it. :mad:Or did you not see this?

Playing DVDs (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats/PlayingDVDs#head-4358a6af06301016427e652b21423518b863b480)

David Ostrom
November 17th, 2007, 05:32 AM
I just installed VLC player and it works better than Totem. Great thread! Thanks!
David

Polygon
November 17th, 2007, 05:36 AM
Yes, remove Totem. It's worthless! Even after downloading all the restricted codec's, I can't play dvd's on it. :mad:

because totem-gstreamer WILL NEVER PLAY DVDS CORRECTLY because the developer does not want to add support for it cause of legal issues

totem-xine works perfectly fine for playing dvds.

greatwhitemonkey
November 17th, 2007, 05:40 AM
vlc

RudolfMDLT
November 17th, 2007, 07:45 AM
Oh and about that edit, this is all you got to do. [

I wouldn't have figured that out- Thanks!

Npl
November 21st, 2007, 09:16 PM
You should try smplayer, it rocks, the one in the repos is compiled against the kdelibs but the newer versions use QT4 and they offer Ubuntu Debs.

http://smplayer.sourceforge.net/index.php?tr_lang=enI tried that Frontend now - unfortunatly the version I got (QT4) cant switch audiostreams (the option is there, it just wont do anything). Add it to the other frontends which are broken in various ways ](*,)

Linux & Multimedia is a eternal constructionyard it seems.