media player decision

[woodsmoke]

For once...I'll keep this simple!

How about, since Kubuntu has now been "cut loose"...

We pick one completely working "music player" that will play a music cd when popped in.
We pick one completely working "video player" that will play a DVD when popped in.

The above given that there would also a simple package of codecs etc. that can be downloaded for folks who need them so that new folks don't have to go on a safari to a dark jungle to find them, beating off large reptiles and other assorted carnivora.

And if the experienced user has other preferences then he or she can obtain them from MUON or Synaptic.

When, and if, any kind of "consensus" is reached by a manual count of suggestions then the devs and "board" can comment as to yay or nay and why.

woodsmoke

[vw72]

Some countries, like the US, have a problem with DVD decryption, so I doubt the codecs could be automated. The CD playing shouldn't be a problem, though as they should play without any additional codecs installed.

[tek_heretik]

VLC and Rhythmbox, I hate Amarok. Like vw72 said, a pop-up is required on first use to install non-free codecs, etc, complete with warning about draconian laws of some countries and disclaimer.

Edit: There is something about programs that are TOO helpful, glean way too much extra info from the net, etc, kind of reminds of the hand-holding in Win-DOHs.

[rms]

music player - Clementine
video player - VLC

[SecretCode]

video player - VLC, yes

Not sure what should be the default music player

[vw72]

On all of this talk about media/mp3/cd players remember that a lot of people have ipods and other mp3 players so something that is going to work out of the box in connecting with that would be a big plus, particularly if you are looking at attracting new or inexperienced users.

[tek_heretik]

On all of this talk about media/mp3/cd players remember that a lot of people have ipods and other mp3 players so something that is going to work out of the box in connecting with that would be a big plus, particularly if you are looking at attracting new or inexperienced users.

Good point, lots of 'pod-people' out there, lol.

[whatthefunk]

Personally, I like the current defaults. Dragon player works well and is simple. Ive never tried playing DVDs with it though... I tried out half a dozen audio players and finally went back to Amarok. I like its features and its the only one that doesnt give me weird audio problems with HDMI output.

[Snowhog]

Dragon is the default DVD player, but I actually preferred (before it got replaced by Dragon) Kaffeine. As to Amarok, I still dislike it for one single reason: It still doesn't reliably recognize and auto-play music CDs, and that's what I have: lot's of music CDs.

[abalone]

Dragonplayer is attractively simple (prob good for a default) but it isn't displaying the subtitles in those of my files that have them, nor is it listing them properly (duplicate subtitle tracks, or the ones from the previous file). Kaffeine can't play the x264-encoded videos I created with Handbrake. All the mplayer frontends I've tried will forever notify me that they can't identify the installed mplayer version and ask me which it is. VLC plays almost everything I've thrown at it, except for one DVD (which worked with Kaffeine)... so I'm all for including VLC. And Clementine! It plays CDs, too, if not in the most straightforward manner.

[jovin]

VLC and Rhythmbox, I hate Amarok. Like vw72 said, a pop-up is required on first use to install non-free codecs, etc, complete with warning about draconian laws of some countries and disclaimer.

Edit: There is something about programs that are TOO helpful, glean way too much extra info from the net, etc, kind of reminds of the hand-holding in Win-DOHs.

I have nothing against VLC, but Rythmbox is just... it isn't being developed anymore and a gtk app. Please not.

Imo the defaults are okay. I can't see what's so great about Clementine, what's with dis UI?

Amarok should stay. What it lacks now doesn't mean it will never have it.

[Snowhog]

Dragon is the default DVD player, but I actually preferred (before it got replaced by Dragon) Kaffeine. As to Amarok, I still dislike it for one single reason: It still doesn't reliably recognize and auto-play music CDs, and that's what I have: lot's of music CDs.

Uninstalled Dragonplayer -- it wouldn't recognize or play my DVD's. Go figure. Installed Kaffeine instead, which I've always preferred, and it plays my DVD's just fine.

[whatthefunk]

Dragonplayer is attractively simple (prob good for a default) but it isn't displaying the subtitles in those of my files that have them, nor is it listing them properly (duplicate subtitle tracks, or the ones from the previous file). Kaffeine can't play the x264-encoded videos I created with Handbrake. All the mplayer frontends I've tried will forever notify me that they can't identify the installed mplayer version and ask me which it is. VLC plays almost everything I've thrown at it, except for one DVD (which worked with Kaffeine)... so I'm all for including VLC. And Clementine! It plays CDs, too, if not in the most straightforward manner.

Change the backend to vlc. To do this, install phonon-backend-vlc. Then go to Settings > Multimedia > Phonon > Backend Tab and move VLC up to the top. Apply changes and log out. When you log in again, subtitles should work.

[tek_heretik]

I have nothing against VLC, but Rythmbox is just... it isn't being developed anymore and a gtk app. Please not.

Imo the defaults are okay. I can't see what's so great about Clementine, what's with dis UI?

Amarok should stay. What it lacks now doesn't mean it will never have it.

I prefer Rythmbox because it is simple (Amarok likes to open too many panes, I don't care about album art, etc, I just want functionality with my main saved music list), I don't own an iPod so yeah, this is about an all around default media player for everyone, I'll stick with Rythmbox. As for VLC, it's VERY rare it can't open something, even if it doesn't I have a gazillion other players installed that might, lol.

[perspectoff]

Amarok is very modular, moreso than any other player. It is the only player I can get Shoutcast and other radio aggregators, and also automatically does RecordStream (for streamripper) though a plugin, and also has built-in volume normalisation (using ReplayGain).

No other player has all that (including the extensibility using plug-ins), least of all Clementine. I tried Clementine. It's a dud, IMO.

No, I would not substitute for Amarok (and least of all with Rhythmbox, which is not even close in functionality).

(Having said that, I use the very small and efficient Audacious, based on XMMS2, for maybe 90% of my audio needs).

I use an MP3 player (daily), but I copy music directly to the device using Dolphin. (Heck, I use Dolphin to copy stuff to my Android tablet and eBook readers, too.) I don't think I've EVER used a media player for copying music to an MP3 player. That's kind of a "Rube Goldberg" extra step, IMO. Why would I go through all those extra steps and barriers (with which I guess all those Apple users have been indoctrinated)?

VLC, however, plays not only video but also audio of every variety. With VLC, there really is no need for anything else. Plus, it has all the codecs incorporated into it already. For a while I used VLC for everything (but I just prefer Audacious and sometimes Amarok for music, since VLC doesn't have as many functions, such as Internet Radio and other plug-ins).

Yeah, I just tried X264/H.264 with Kaffeine -- you're right -- it doesn't play, even if libavcodec53 or libavcodec-extra-53 is installed! (That is a serious limitation these days.)

X264/H.264 does play with Dragonplayer, though. It's one of the few things Dragonplayer does right (it has so few settings, such as playlists, selectable window size (for doubling the display size of small videos, for example), and video looping, that I never use it.) Only recently did subtitles start working. I recognise that Dragonplayer is modular to the KDE framework (and is desirable for this reason). Heck, if it could even add the user interface capabilities of Kaffeine I'd be reasonably happy with it... For me, though, it currently is crippled compared to VLC.