BL-Media Proposal: Sub smplayer/mpv for vlc

hhh · 2019-04-16 07:43:05

-edit by hhh- I'm changing the proposal from gnome-mpv to mpv with smplayer, it's the better GUI front-end on buster...

https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic … 500#p85500

/-edit-

I never use vlc. If I've needed a GUI, I've used SMplayer in the past. But mpv is just great, we already have some configs for it, and gnome-mpv is a very basic, very nice front-end for it...

https://packages.debian.org/buster/gnome-mpv

I'd like to ditch vlc and it's qt libraries and go with gnome-mpv. I think vlc is our only qt app, it's out of place.

gnome-mpv on lithium/buster...

Of course we would still offer a vlc installation via the Multimedia menu (Super>Multimedia>Install>Install vlc).

Jimbo_G · 2019-04-16 11:34:55

gnome-mpv looks good in the screenshot. I use vlc quite a lot, just for watching DVDs, but I'm not really attached to it (and I never liked the icon monkey ).

PackRat · 2019-04-16 12:23:21

I'd like to ditch vlc and it's qt libraries and go with gnome-mpv. I think vlc is our only qt app, it's out of place.

That will also cut quite a bit of the overhead on your iso, won't it?

ohnonot · 2019-04-16 18:04:17

i'm all for it.

(not that i expect my voice to count for anything, not using BL as my daily driver...)

Last edited by ohnonot (2019-04-16 18:05:15)

hathor · 2019-04-16 20:33:14

I use the mpv

brontosaurusrex · 2019-04-17 05:50:55

The main annoyance with it (last time I tested) was the window leaving gaps, that is not resizing according to the aspect of the video curently playing. Did they fix that?

hhh · 2019-04-17 06:16:08

PackRat wrote:

I'd like to ditch vlc and it's qt libraries and go with gnome-mpv. I think vlc is our only qt app, it's out of place.
That will also cut quite a bit of the overhead on your iso, won't it?

That was definitley part of my thinking, yes. The thing with vlc is it will pretty much play anything you throw at it. I've thrown a lot at mpv and never had an issue, but my primary consumption is audio, most of my video viewing is through a browser. I'd like to hear if anyone has had video issues with mpv that vlc did not have.

@bronto, I haven't seen any glitches in mpv or in my short time with gnome-mpv. I just added a "start fullscreen" option in my config, I'll remove it and keep an eye out. Is there a bug filed?

linux_user · 2019-04-17 06:23:51

I am ok with that change. It's a lighter package than vlc as well.

hhh wrote:

Of course we would still offer a vlc installation via the Multimedia menu (Super>Multimedia>Install>Install vlc).

About such menus that offer installation candidates including graphics, www, libreoffice and other bl-pipemenus, I am not sure if we have to offer such menus when users install anyway the packages of their choice (which may/may not be same with the installation candidates in the menu) though apt or alternatives.

Anyway, just a suggestion. You make the call. smile

hhh · 2019-04-17 06:24:22

Jimbo_G wrote:

(and I never liked the icon ).

No systray icon for gnome-mpv though, so 1 strike against. The (Papirus) app icon for gnome-mpv shown in the scrot is way better than vlc's though, so 1 strike removed.

hhh · 2019-04-17 06:38:23

linux_user wrote:

hhh wrote:
Of course we would still offer a vlc installation via the Multimedia menu (Super>Multimedia>Install>Install vlc).
About such menus that offer installation candidates including graphics, www, libreoffice and other bl-pipemenus, I am not sure if we have to offer such menus when users install anyway the packages of their choice (which may/may not be same with the installation candidates in the menu) though apt or alternatives.
Anyway, just a suggestion. You make the call.

The menus allow us to customize the install a bit. For example, the menu install entry for GIMP opens a terminal script that offers an extra plugin package that you wouldn't get with a basic `sudo apt install gimp`

Also, n00bs might not know what some good options for a media player, text editor, terminal, etc... could be, and this is a point-and-click solution for that.

Finally, reviewers tend to like this feature. tongue

brontosaurusrex · 2019-04-17 07:28:38

For me it's definitely a bug (that's version in stretch)

https://github.com/celluloid-player/cel … issues/302

Last edited by brontosaurusrex (2019-04-17 07:29:35)

ohnonot · 2019-04-18 04:43:36

mpv has played anything i threw at it in recent years, files, DVDs, streams, everything.
the only thing VLC does that mpv doesn't is DVD menus.

brontosaurusrex wrote:

The main annoyance with it (last time I tested) was the window leaving gaps, that is not resizing according to the aspect of the video curently playing. Did they fix that?

you're speaking specifically about gnome-mpv here.

btw, other frontends exist: https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/wiki/ … -using-mpv

hhh · 2019-04-18 05:16:47

ohnonot wrote:

mpv has played anything i threw at it in recent years, files, DVDs, streams, everything.
the only thing VLC does that mpv doesn't is DVD menus.
...
btw, other frontends exist: https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/wiki/ … -using-mpv

Funny you should mention that, I logged on to post that another option is to switch vlc for mpv with SMPlayer as the front-end. It pulls in some Qt libs but not nearly as many as vlc, and it has a bunch of settings and config options including Minimize to Systray (critical for use as an audio player, IMO) and the ability to use icons and themes that the system is using. It's what i've been using for the last 24 hours. I like it, it's pretty perfect...

Playing an *.avi...

Playing an Internet radio stream with the Information window opened...

PackRat · 2019-04-18 12:33:27

^ The Eiger Sanction - epic choice.

SMplayer also has that SMtube plugin for searching/playing YouTube directly. That's always handy.

Looks like the interface has gotten more stylish.

hhh · 2019-04-18 21:15:43

PackRat wrote:

Looks like the interface has gotten more stylish.

Like I said, many config options. This is using my system Papirus icons and Arc-Dark based GTK theme, and there is also an 'GUI style" drop down that I switched to "Mini GUI". That simplifies the controls slightly and hides the toolbar and statusbar. Like I said, pretty perfect. We would provide a config with SMPlayer that would set it up similarly (probably the basic GUI mode, though, to enable those bars).

PackRat wrote:

^ The Eiger Sanction - epic choice.

I never tire of watching it even though I know every line, facial gesture and climbing shot, and that's why over time it's risen to my Top Ten List, along with another objectively questionable choice, The Omega Man.

So now I have to list. Turns out I have several terrible choices that I will fight you over. Movies I've listed that you'll probably see on a Top Ten List, 3. Movies you might see, another 2 or 3. One's you will NEVER EVER EVER see on those lists, at least 4...

Blade Runner (Final Cut, if I have a choice, but I'll watch them all. I like the voice-overs in the original, and the tacky ending!)

Touch Of Evil ('98 re-edited issue, based on Welles' letter to the studio objecting to all their changes)

Taxi Driver

Excalibur

Ronin

The Empire Strikes Back

Aliens

Monty Python And The Holy Grail

Caddyshack or Animal House, take your pick

The Eiger Sanction

The Omega Man

You do NOT want to watch any of those movies with me in the room, I am an ass who will show off and annoy you to murder by saying every line a second before onscreen, and many of them slightly wrong so it's even more infuriating.

(other heavy-rotation contenders are Terminator: T2, The Abyss (director's cut), Goldfinger, Enter The Dragon, Drunken Master 2, Unforgiven, Gran Torino, The Shining. Yes, I'm going with The Shining as the Kubrick film that I still desire to see multiple times, much more than his others. Eastwood's later films aren't the ones I watch the most (the Dirty Harry films and the Leone films), but they are his best, he's become an incredible director at the end of his career. Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby)

/OT? Move this to the films thread? Meh. We're in the Dev forum, discussion is expected, discussion leads to OT discussion, let's not stifle the creative process.

Last edited by hhh (2019-04-18 22:40:14)

hhh · 2019-04-18 22:43:37

I'm updating the OP title to SMPlayer, it's the better front-end on buster.

PackRat · 2019-04-19 00:01:00

You do NOT want to watch any of those movies with me in the room, I am an ass who will show off and annoy you to murder by saying every line a second before onscreen, and many of them slightly wrong so it's even more infuriating.

Shades of Mystery Science 3000.

I was tinkering with SMPlayer today - first time in a couple years; pretty good. If you can get it themed the way you like to get past you original aversion to vlc being a qt based app, be a nice addition.

I've thrown a lot at mpv and never had an issue,

I actually use vlc because, for some unknown reason I can't solve, mpv insists on playing movies in Spanish.

Last edited by PackRat (2019-04-19 00:01:52)

hhh · 2019-04-19 04:45:59

PackRat wrote:

I actually use vlc because, for some unknown reason I can't solve, mpv insists on playing movies in Spanish.

Hasta la vista, baby.

ohnonot · 2019-04-19 05:18:00

yes, smplayer is very good if you want a full GUI option to use mpv.
i didn't it mention it because it uses qt...
but it is very very stylable.

PackRat wrote:

SMplayer also has that SMtube plugin for searching/playing YouTube directly. That's always handy.

i must warn against anything that does not use youtube-dl internally; many sites like to change the way they present the videos all the time, and a downloader script needs to keep up with these changes, and currently youtube-dl seems to be the only one whose developers do that in near-realtime.

PackRat wrote:

I actually use vlc because, for some unknown reason I can't solve, mpv insists on playing movies in Spanish.

you can change the alang, slang and vlang options to your preference - either as a command line option, e.g.:

mpv --alang=eng,en

or as a config option, in ~/.config/mpv/mpv.conf:

alang=eng,en

also read the fabulous man page. It's long but well structured.

PackRat · 2019-04-19 11:16:28

^ Done all those on command line and in mpv.conf. Still get to watch movies in Spanish. Might just be a packaging issue with the Void version. I'll have to play a movie on ArchLabs and see what happens.

cherkie · 2019-04-19 16:16:35

I have become a full convert to smplayer once I found out it can query and download from opensubtitles.org. Downloading subs has never been easier.

@hhh - I am like this with first 6 star wars movies. Lines before they are on screen, watched all quite a few times. Actually it's about time I rewatch all. big_smile (except for ... new ... films)

linux_user · 2019-04-19 18:30:22

Out of topic and yet within the topic!

What do you guys think of including some of the terminal based apps like ranger & co, cmus and mutt OOTB? Of course those who want can install them using apt, but I strongly feel that these apps go along with the aesthetics of BL.

DeepDayze · 2019-04-20 01:17:19

If mpv can play DVD's (even with libdvdcss2) well I am all for mpv becoming default and SMplayer for movies. These applications are getting better and maybe if the bugs are annoying in MPV why not backport the package in Sid even?

hhh · 2019-04-20 04:13:49

linux_user wrote:

Out of topic and yet within the topic!
What do you guys think of including some of the terminal based apps like ranger & co, cmus and mutt OOTB? Of course those who want can install them using apt, but I strongly feel that these apps go along with the aesthetics of BL.

I'm for it, we'd still leave them out of the CD image, that ISO needs only one app per purpose and we favor the GUI apps for n00b ease of use.

This is the type of tangent that needs its own thread, though. Discussion of it here just clouds the OT and search engines. Open a new proposal here in Dev & Suggestions, please! @johnraff is dealing with real life ATM, and no decisions would be made until he has offered his opinion. That goes for @damo too, and the rest of the team.

dolly · 2019-04-20 07:14:08

Yes to mpv, have tried earlier and it worked very well for me. So please, go for it. Anyway, if you can not live without vlc, it is easy enough to install it. smile

#1 2019-04-16 07:43:05

BL-Media Proposal: Sub smplayer/mpv for vlc

#2 2019-04-16 11:34:55

Re: BL-Media Proposal: Sub smplayer/mpv for vlc

#3 2019-04-16 12:23:21

Re: BL-Media Proposal: Sub smplayer/mpv for vlc

#4 2019-04-16 18:04:17

Re: BL-Media Proposal: Sub smplayer/mpv for vlc

#5 2019-04-16 20:33:14

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#6 2019-04-17 05:50:55

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#7 2019-04-17 06:16:08

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#8 2019-04-17 06:23:51

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#9 2019-04-17 06:24:22

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#10 2019-04-17 06:38:23

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#11 2019-04-17 07:28:38

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#12 2019-04-18 04:43:36

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#13 2019-04-18 05:16:47

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#14 2019-04-18 12:33:27

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#17 2019-04-19 00:01:00

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#18 2019-04-19 04:45:59

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#19 2019-04-19 05:18:00

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#20 2019-04-19 11:16:28

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#21 2019-04-19 16:16:35

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#23 2019-04-20 01:17:19

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#24 2019-04-20 04:13:49

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#25 2019-04-20 07:14:08

Re: BL-Media Proposal: Sub smplayer/mpv for vlc

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