You've got an iBook, you've got a G5 tower, you've got an iPod too even, but how in the world do you watch all this wonderful anime?! Don't worry just because you think different doesn't mean you can't watch anime too!
First off you will need to make sure you have OS X, at least 10.2.8 You will NOT be able to watch most files in OS 9. Come on OS X has been out for years it's time to upgrade. Next you need to make sure that you have the latest version of Quicktime (at the time of this writing 7.4.1) Next you will need to download VLC and Mplayer OS X.
VLC: available for download here:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
VLC can play almost any file you throw at it. VLC is best for playing .avi and .mp4 files. VLC isn't very good with soft subbed files (most often these are .mkv files, but not always). While VLC can display softsubs, it has the annoying problem of overlapping simultaneous subtitles (such as when one character is talking in the background and one is talking in the foreground). Instead of putting one on top of the other, both are displayed at the same spot on the screen. If you still want to watch a softsubbed file with VLC in order to enable subtitles you have to select the subtitle track from the video menu while the file is playing. But I would suggest using Mplayer for soft sub files.
~edit 1/11/07: VLC 0.8.6 has been released. Playback seems to be just as good as previous versions. Soft-sub support isn't improved though so I still recommend Mplayer for soft subbed files.
Mplayer OS X: For all of your soft sub playback needs!
Board members Andiyar and Nonezumi have created a Universal version of Mplayer!
You can get it here. UPDATED 8/7/07! This version will work with both Intel and PowerPC based Macs. Please note this version under OS 10.4 requires X11 to be installed (more on that below). Please follow all the instructions in the read me on how to install this version of Mplayer properly.
If you don't like Andiyar/Nonezumi's version for whatever reason you can download one of the "official" builds here:
http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html
Before you install Mplayer on OS 10.4.x you need to install X11, available on your OS X Tiger install disc or here:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloa...formacosx.html. Make sure to download the 1.1.3 update available from software update or here:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloa...te2006113.html
For those of you running Mac OS X Leopard (OS 10.5) X11 is not necessary.
Now that you've installed X11 you can go ahead and install Mplayer. If you are using Andiyar's version of Mplayer, in order to enable softsub support please follow these instructions: Open the preferences panel. Under General select "none" as the subtitle font. Now click on the Miscellaneous tab and find the additional panels box and paste in the following:
-ass -embeddedfonts -fontconfig
If you are using a different build of Mplayer: open preferences under font select a true type font (I selected Gulim, to figure out what fonts you have that are truetype open fonts in your system library and look for fonts with the extension .ttf) Next select ISO-8859-1 for default encoding. If your computer is a couple of years old I would also enable "drop frames on slower machines" under Video and Audio. Now you are ready to play files.
To watch a .mkv file with softsubs do the following: press the "v" key to enable or disable subtitles during playback. Next press "j" to select the proper subtitle file if you are using Andiyar's version, otherwise press "b". Command/Apple F or just F (depending on what version of Mplayer you have) enables full screen viewing.
WARNING! Don't use the version of Mplayer (also called MPlayerOSX2) from Sourceforge! That is an old broken version that is no longer being updated as far as I can tell. Avoid it like the plague.
Quicktime
If you would prefer to use Quicktime player you can use the Perian Quicktime Component which adds support for .mkv's and softsubs. It is available here:
http://perian.org/ Perian is for OS 10.4 only.
Please note: in my opinion the Quicktime player is worthless. All it can play properly without Perian are .avi files. The Quicktime player won't play most .mp4 files and doesn't recognize .mkv files. Also personally I have never really cared for the look and functionality of the basic player. With Perian it is a viable alternative to mPlayer, whether you decide to use it or not is entirely up to you.
I will try and keep this post updated as new versions of quicktime VLC and Mplayer come out.
I am always open to any criticism of this walkthrough! If you find any problems or mistakes with my walkthrough please let me know!
