MPlaunch - Graphical Launcher Frontend for MPlayer

Users Guide
v0.2.4
(last update: 20.05.2006.)

Introduction

MPlaunch (referenced further as MPl) is a simple GUI to set up MPlayer command line arguments and then launch it. It supports a lot of Mplayer's options and more are added continously.

Features

Playback

* Support for DVD/(S)VCD playback
* Support for network playback
* Support for single file/playlist based playback

General

* Support for seek in file to a given time
* Support for en-/disabling framedropping
* Support for sound muting
* Support for postprocessing
* Support for fullscreen/windowed playback
* Support for direct rendering and double buffering
* Support for user defined size of cache usage
* Support for changing video and audio output drivers and # of audio channels

DVD/(S)VCD options

* Support for selecting chapter to play
* Support for audio and subtitle language change

Network playback options

* Support for the most common network protocols like http, ftp, mmst, rtsp
* Support for user authentication on servers that require it

Installing MPl

Windows

Compilation from source:

Prerequirements

- A fully functional Windows system (The build host is a WinXP SP2-current)
- A preinstalled, working MPlayer (Windows version can be obtained from http://www.mplayerhq.hu )
- A fully functional version of the Qt 3.x toolkit (include files and tools - you can get a Qt v3.2.1 if you buy the book "C++ GUI Programming with Qt3" by Mark Summerfield and Jasmin Blanchette @ amazon.com)
- Dev-C++ or MinGW preinstalled and configured.

Installing

1. - Get the latest source tarball from http://ferenc.stelcz.hu/projects/mpl
2. - Unpack it into an empty dir
3. - Go to the file called src.pro (can be found in ..\mplaunch\src\)
4. - Open up a command prompt (Start->Run->cmd.exe) and type in following
„qmake -o Makefile src.pro” (make sure that Qt is in your $PATH!)
5. - After a successful project file generation you should start Dev-C++, create a new empty project and add the source and header files. Then go to Project->Project settings and choose the makefile tab. Check in „Use custom makefile” and set it to your Makefile in the root of the source tree. Press CTRL+F5 to compile MPLaunch.

Using the prebuilt installer (this is the recommended method for NON-developer users!!!)

1. - Get the latest installer from http://ferenc.stelcz.hu/projects/mpl - look for mpl-install.exe
2. - Execute the installer and follow the steps as the installer says.

Linux

Prerequirements

- A fully functional Linux box with a running X server
- A preinstalled, working MPlayer (if you don't have already one go to http://mplayerinstaller.uw.hu there you can find a great tool to install MPlayer on Linux)
- A fully functional version of the Qt 3.3.x library
- The most common linux development tools (as g++, make, etc.)

Installing

1. - Get the latest source pack from http://ferenc.stelcz.hu/projects/mpl
2. - Unpack it into an empty dir
3. - Go to the file called src.pro
4. - # qmake -o Makefile src.pro
5. - # make

Usage

MPl was designed to be as user friendly as possible so you don't have to be a genius to be able to use it. :)

Note:
The first time you start MPl, you have to set the path and filename of your MPlayer binary and CD/DVD device. Once set MPl will save this in its config file and use it every time.

a.) Playing a single file / from playlist

Start up MPl. Then press the Browse... button beside the "File to play" line and select the file you want to watch. If you want to use a subtitle file then enable it in the next line and select a subtitle file to use. After set up, you may choose one or more options below on the General tab (on the image at the top I'm playing the file test_bigavi.avi. The playback will start in fullscreen mode and at the time position 3hours 4minutes and 5secons.) Now you only have to press the Play! button and enjoy the movie! ;) Same goes on if you want to play from a playlist the only difference is, you have to set the playlist file, not a single file.
MPl tries to be failsafe and intelligent as possible. If you want to play a file AND from playlist at the same time you'll get an error message regarding of two inputs at the same time. If you get this message you should leave one of the fields empty.

b.) Playing a DVD

Start up MPl. Switch to the "DVD/(S)VCD playback" tab and enable DVD playback. Select the disk tipe and chapter you want to start from, set the Audio and Subtitle languages (with your two letter country code) and press "Play!". If you want to fine tune the playback switch back to the General tab, before pressing Play and set your preferred options!

c.) Playing from Network

Start up MPl. Switch to "Network playback" tab and enable network playback. Choose a protocol from the combobox or type in your own one then fill in the complete URL. If the server you want to play from needs authentication then turn that on below and fill in your username and password. If you want to fine tune your playback switch back to the "General" tab and set your options then press "Play!".

Credits

Programming/GUI design/Documentation by Ferenc Stelcz
Contact: ferenc DOT stelcz AT gmail DOT com

Additional credits go to the developers at Trolltech and the members of the qt-interest@ mailing list.

Feedback/Bugreports

If you want to send a feature request or a bugreport write an email to ferenc DOT stelcz AT gmail DOT com in the following format:

Feature request:
$SUBJECT$ = [MPlaunch - Feature]
$BODY$ = Write your request

Bugreport:
$SUBJECT$ = [MPlaunch - Bug]
$BODY$ =
1. your system specifications (OS type, version, kernel version, X version, Qt version, g++ version)
2. the description of the bug (if reproducible then how to reproduce it)
3. a GDB backtrace log
4. a valid contact address where I can reach you (email of course)

License

MPlaunch - Graphical Launcher Frontend for MPlayer
Copyright (C) 2005-2006  Ferenc Stelcz

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA

For full license information see the file COPYING!