How to watch fansubs with your mac.

[hhaamu]

How do I get WMV9 playback working on my macintel? I'm currently using the official build of 1.0pre8, and I'd prefer not to install Apple's X11 if I have a choice.

I take it I have to extract the files in the essential codecs pack somewhere, but where? Or do I have to recompile?

[Yuvi]

Originally Posted by hhaamu

How do I get WMV9 playback working on my macintel? I'm currently using the official build of 1.0pre8, and I'd prefer not to install Apple's X11 if I have a choice.

I take it I have to extract the files in the essential codecs pack somewhere, but where? Or do I have to recompile?

AFAIK, this won't work on Mac OS X, though I'd be interested if someone has actually gotten MPlayer to play WMV under Intel Mac OS X. I'm still on PPC myself.

As for a solution, Flip4Mac has released a public universal beta and will release 2.1 officially any day now. EDIT: It's officially out now. Unfortunately, their AVI importer still leaves much to be desired, so you might also want this.

Originally Posted by iamtetsuo

When I said they removed full screen playback from Quicktime I meant from the non-Pro version. It was a very stupid move IMO. It's like a slap in the face, removing a feature available from every media player out there.

Welcome to either 1998 or 2001 (yay Wikipedia.) Though I don't remember Real player having fullscreen playback back then on Mac OS, nor any other Mac player for that matter. The best part is that iTunes has had fullscreen video playback for over a year now.

[iamtetsuo]

AFAIK WMV9 won't playback on the mac. Micro$oft has pretty much dropped development of all mac projects... I have yet to try flip4mac yet though, I'v heard that it's buggy but I haven't had any direct experiance with it yet.

[Jekyll]

Somebody is working on VC-1 support for ffmpeg, which means WMV9/WMV3/VC-1 playback on Macs with programs that use libav* like MPlayer. I'm not sure how well it works yet, but you can try it out, if you build your MPlayer and replace the following code in libavcodec/allcodecs.c (should be about line 232):

/* Reenable when it stops crashing on every file, causing bug report spam. 
#ifdef CONFIG_WMV3_DECODER
    register_avcodec(&wmv3_decoder);
#endif //CONFIG_WMV3_DECODER
*/

With:

#ifdef CONFIG_WMV3_DECODER
    register_avcodec(&wmv3_decoder);
#endif //CONFIG_WMV3_DECODER

I'm not sure whether you need to specify -vc +ffwmv3 to make mplayer use the codec. If it doesn't seem to find a codec for a WMV3 file, try that option.

Anyway, it seems to work pretty well for me (on Linux). If you want to try it, do so at your own risk.

[NemoMac]

Guide to Compiling MPlayer for Mac OSX! This will allow you to watch stylized soft-subbed anime.

Originally Posted by thr

No ASS/SSA support with 1.0pre8. It's still under review. Maybe for the next official release in one year. :-)

@yamato2: click on the spoiler for compilation instructions.

Spoiler:

OK, here goes:

I have compiled MPlayer under Mac OS X 10.4.6 on an Intel iMac Core Duo. If your build environment differs, it may very well be that the build process fails.

If something's not clear or you get errors during the process, please ask.

Install X11

Forgot this before. You have to have X11 installed. It's also on the first disc of your Mac OS X installation media.

Install Xcode

Install Xcode from the first disc of your Mac OS X installation media.

Install DarwinPorts

There are packages for Panther and Tiger available but I recommend building DarwinPorts from source. (If you have an Intel Mac that's your only option.)

Download http://darwinports.opendarwin.org/do...s-1.2.1.tar.gz and move it to the Desktop. Unpack the file by double-clicking it. This will create a directory DarwinPorts-1.2.1.

Open the Terminal (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal).

(Commands are in bold, one per line. If you've never used the sudo command before, you'll likely be asked for your administrator password twice the first time.)

cd ~/Desktop/DarwinPorts-1.2.1

./configure

make

sudo make install

You now have to add DarwinPorts' binary directory to your PATH variable.

echo "export PATH=/opt/local/bin:$PATH" >> ~/.profile

Quit the Terminal and open it again.

Update DarwinPorts.

sudo port -d selfupdate

Install DarwinPorts packages

Install the DarwinPorts package subversion. (Note that many DarwinPorts packages have dependencies on other packages. These will be installed, too.)

sudo port install subversion

Install the DarwinPorts package pkgconfig.

sudo port install pkgconfig

Install the DarwinPorts package fontconfig. (Note that Mac OS X comes with fontconfig installed but the ASS/SSA patch requires a more recent version.)

sudo port install fontconfig

Download & compile MPlayer

Download the MPlayer source code.

cd ~/Desktop

svn co svn://svn.mplayerhq.hu/mplayer/trunk mplayer

This will create a directory mplayer on your Desktop.

For Intel Macs only: go to https://trac.videolan.org/vlc/browse...n-mactel.patch and download the patch. (Right-click on the "Original Format" link at the end of the page and save the file to your computer.) Move the patch file to the Desktop.

cd ~/Desktop/mplayer

patch -p0 < ~/Desktop/ffmpeg-svn-mactel.patch

Run the MPlayer configure script. (The last line is different for Intel Macs!)

cd ~/Desktop/mplayer

export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="/opt/local/lib/pkgconfig/"

./configure --disable-sdl --disable-x11 --with-freetype-config=/opt/local/bin/freetype-config

For Intel Macs only:

./configure --disable-mp3lib --disable-sdl --disable-x11 --with-freetype-config=/opt/local/bin/freetype-config

Finally, compile MPlayer. This can take some time.

cd ~/Desktop/mplayer

make

If there were no errors during the compilation process you should have a mplayer executable now. Try it out.

cd ~/Desktop/mplayer

./mplayer

MPlayer should output a basic help page. If this works try out the ASS/SSA support next. (If you don't know the UNIX path of a file, simply type the command as you normally would except for the filename, then drag the file from the finder and drop it in the Terminal window.)

./mplayer -ass -embeddedfonts -fontconfig /path/to/anyfile.mkv

If this works we can now embed the custom compiled MPlayer in the MPlayer OSX GUI. Download the official MPlayer build: http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/rel...CVS-060409.dmg. Copy MPlayer into Applications.

cd ~/Desktop/mplayer

cp mplayer "/Applications/MPlayer OSX.app/Contents/Resources/External_Binaries/mplayer.app/Contents/MacOS/mplayer"

cp mplayer "/Applications/MPlayer OSX.app/Contents/Resources/External_Binaries/mplayer.app/Contents/MacOS/mplayer_altivec"

Now open MPlayer OSX and bring up the Preferences window.

On the page [b]General[b] set Font to None.

On the page Miscellaneous tick the checkbox Additional parameters. Enter "-ass -embeddedfonts -fontconfig" in the textbox (without quotes).

Click OK and you should be good to go.

This guide to installing MPlayer is great so far... but the "sendspace" link for the actual ASS/SSA patch is expired. {"This will create a file mplayer-ass.patch on the Desktop."} Could you tell me where I could get that file now? Edit: Patch No Longer Needed!

I adjusted the instructions in the spoiler above so that it doesn't include the patch step, since it's no longer needed. This guide rocks!

I am excited about getting this up and running - I have never compiled a program before, but this doesn't seem too hard at all!

Edit: Just a reminder to people. Once you have MPlayer properly installed and get your video running, you press "b" on your keyboard to cycle through the subtitle tracks available.

[Juli]

Hi, I've got an a intel mac and none of this isworking. I had mplayer pre8 on my computer but it didn';t play everything (neither did vlc), including some things like my nana live action move with ac3 audio (no audio at all) and some random pvs, so I uninstalled it and tried the intel make version posted here. Now it doesn't play anything! I don' know why but that one would play anything at all. and now for some reason the us download for the offical one (that I originally got) is a broken link. I'm not sure what do do. Is there another mplayer version that's more successful playing on intel macs?

I also tried the latest on http://www.haque.net/software/mplaye...yerosx/builds/ and like the SAC build it won't play anything. please help

Also, the tutorial the person above me posted didn't work either.

EDIT: though, mysteriously, the vlc version I got from here is playing evvverything now. I'm sure I'll run into something it can't eventualyl though so I'd liek to know how to get mplayer ot work also.

[Jekyll]

Originally Posted by NemoMac

This guide to installing MPlayer is great so far... but the "sendspace" link for the actual ASS/SSA patch is expired. {"This will create a file mplayer-ass.patch on the Desktop."} Could you tell me where I could get that file now?

As long as you got your MPlayer sources fresh from SVN (not the 1.0pre8 release), you do not need the ASS/SSA patch any more. It has been committed to the MPlayer repository since revision 18942 (20002 is current). So just go ahead with compiling, everything should be fine.

[NemoMac]

By Jove, it works correctly! Thanks to everyone on this thread.

I hope nobody minds if I share this information with others, maybe in the FAQ/Help section of another forum I'm on. I will definitely refer everyone back to you guys as the source.

Again, thank you all so much! I can finally enjoy formatted soft-subs on my Mac.

[Discerptor]

Ah, never mind. I see the current trunk build makes the patch unnecessary. ^^;

Update: Compiled and configured as the instructions said, and the subtitles are working perfectly. Now my only gripe is the lack of CoreAVC in OS X. I want to play my H264 720p anime without dropping frames everywhere on my 1.67 GHz PowerBook. -_-*

[andiyar]

@ Discerptor

You got it to compile on a PPC mac then? How exactly did you get mplayer to include fontconfig? Whenever I try, although it can use freetype for ASS support, it won't compile using fontconfig. Which is a pain. Any suggestions?


-Andiyar

[Discerptor]

Originally Posted by andiyar

@ Discerptor

You got it to compile on a PPC mac then? How exactly did you get mplayer to include fontconfig? Whenever I try, although it can use freetype for ASS support, it won't compile using fontconfig. Which is a pain. Any suggestions?


-Andiyar

Yes, I compiled it on a January 2005 revision 17" PowerBook G4. I followed the instructions in thr's guide (quoted by nemomac on this page) to the letter, excluding the bit about the now-unnecessary patch (which has been taken out anyway) and the part that says "For Intel Macs only." I also ran the MPlayer configure script as originally noted, since that one-line bit afterwards is just what you would replace the last line of it with if you had an Intel Mac rather than a PPC one.

Now, the first thing you should check is the simplest: in your MPlayer preferences, under "Miscellaneous," make sure you have "-ass -embeddedfonts -fontconfig" (without quotes) typed into the "Additional parameters" box. Also, make sure your font on the general page is set to "none." Finally, make sure you press "B" when Mplayer starts up to cycle between subtitle tracks (to have the first subtitle track turned on by default, add " -sid 0" to the "additional parameters" box).

If you did both of those and it's still not working, my best suggestion would be to go through all the steps from the beginning of the guide again in case you omitted one (for instance, I actually already had compiled Mplayer before seeing this guide but had never installed subversion, pkgconfig, or fontconfig. Furthermore, it could be that you're not using the most recent CVS of Mplayer.). Even if you have installed it, it won't hurt to do it again. Also, the other part that vastly affects this is the MPlayer configure script. Be absolutely sure that you type those lines in character for character. Beyond that, I'm afraid I can't really offer anything. Like I said, I followed the instructions word for word and now I can watch my Higurashi, FMA movie, and .Hack//roots the way they're supposed to be (minus the H264 choppiness on the 720p roots episodes >_<).

[ichobi]

Hey, am having an issue with mplayer osx ( the latest CVS Version as you gave the link above )

Today, i deliberately closed mplayer via force quite while it was playing anime.
Thereafter, when i try to watching anime again , the playback wont start whatsoever. It started for like a millisecond and then it went idle. Like no file being open , like you just start the program.


Then i tried changing video output module in video&audio preference to quarts/quicktime and core video (beta) then the playback works just fine. But when i changed it back to Mplayer OSX again. It went like before. Played for a millisec and went idle.

The thing is that even i tried delete mplayer + .plist +everything and reinstall with latest / difference version. The Playback wont start if i use Mplayer OSX Module , is there any component missing or something?

When i use quarts/ Core video , it really bugs me because you cant turn full screen, it just left the menubar on top and wont disappear.

Any idea what happen?

btw. am on ibookG4 12" , everything was perfectly fine until i force quit Mplayer as said above.

[andiyar]

@ Discerptor

I tried most recently a week ago - basically, when I run the configuration script, it gives me an error with fontconfig, stating that it is unavailable - I believe the exact same error as was quoted earlier in this thread: "Checking for fontconfig ... ./configure: line 1: pkg-config: command not found"

So it's not that I'm not activating it, it won't actually compile at all. Which is my problem. I'll give it another shot, and cross my fingers - otherwise... would it be possible for you to zip your build of Mplayer (I assume that you inserted the binary into the .app bundle) and upload it to rapidshare/megaupload etc?

*wanders off to try a recompile. again*


-Andiyar

[Discerptor]

Originally Posted by andiyar

@ Discerptor

I tried most recently a week ago - basically, when I run the configuration script, it gives me an error with fontconfig, stating that it is unavailable - I believe the exact same error as was quoted earlier in this thread: "Checking for fontconfig ... ./configure: line 1: pkg-config: command not found"

So it's not that I'm not activating it, it won't actually compile at all. Which is my problem. I'll give it another shot, and cross my fingers - otherwise... would it be possible for you to zip your build of Mplayer (I assume that you inserted the binary into the .app bundle) and upload it to rapidshare/megaupload etc?

*wanders off to try a recompile. again*


-Andiyar

Hm, that is strange. If it doesn't work this time, I'll find a site to host the app. Then anyone having problems with compiling on PPC can use it.

Also, @ ichobi: It honestly sounds like something in libav got corrupted if the standard video filter is just not working at all. Have you tried playing other media files with your MPlayer? Also, have you tried repairing disk permissions or restarting the computer since the problem occurred? Sometimes if things in your computer get significantly changed, it can screw those up and then cause problems. Anyway, if you still can't get it to work after a while, I'll be putting up my fontconfig build of MPlayer for PPC at some point this weekend, so you can check with that (and have pretty softsubs!).

Update: Well, of course now you could just use andiyar's installer package.

[andiyar]

@ Discerptor

Got it working. Turns out my install of pkgconfig was corrupt and/or incomplete - reinstalled that, and the rest worked quite efficiently. So finally I can watch nicely softsubbed .mkv files with the correct fonts and proper timing!

Now, as to the binary, I thought I might as well do people a favour - I fired up package builder, and put together a quick installer for the build I made last night, dropped in a quick readme and a copy of the GPL, made a disk image containing the necessary legalese... and then uploaded it. ^^

So if anyone is having trouble and just wishes to try a prebuilt binary, feel free to grab a copy of my build here:

MPlayer Custom for PPC.

CVS version 20095. Working fine on a PowerBook G4 and an iMac G5. Note all, that this is a PPC build - not an Intel build. thr already posted an Intel build in this post, which will hopefully work for the Intel Mac users amongst us.

Hope this helps a few people


-Andiyar

[Discerptor]

Originally Posted by andiyar

@ Discerptor

Got it working. Turns out my install of pkgconfig was corrupt and/or incomplete - reinstalled that, and the rest worked quite efficiently. So finally I can watch nicely softsubbed .mkv files with the correct fonts and proper timing!

Now, as to the binary, I thought I might as well do people a favour - I fired up package builder, and put together a quick installer for the build I made last night, dropped in a quick readme and a copy of the GPL, made a disk image containing the necessary legalese... and then uploaded it. ^^

So if anyone is having trouble and just wishes to try a prebuilt binary, feel free to grab a copy of my build here:

MPlayer Custom SSA/ASS Build.

CVS version 20095. Working fine on a PowerBook G4 and an iMac G5. Note all, that this is a PPC build - not an Intel build. thr already posted an Intel build in this post, which will hopefully work for the Intel Mac users amongst us.

Hope this helps a few people


-Andiyar

Awesome! ^_^

I have high hopes for the near future of media playback solutions on OS X. With stuff like this and the Perian project, it may not be long before it's as easy to do as it is on Windows.

[ichobi]

Originally Posted by Discerptor

Hm, that is strange. If it doesn't work this time, I'll find a site to host the app. Then anyone having problems with compiling on PPC can use it.

Also, @ ichobi: It honestly sounds like something in libav got corrupted if the standard video filter is just not working at all. Have you tried playing other media files with your MPlayer? Also, have you tried repairing disk permissions or restarting the computer since the problem occurred? Sometimes if things in your computer get significantly changed, it can screw those up and then cause problems. Anyway, if you still can't get it to work after a while, I'll be putting up my fontconfig build of MPlayer for PPC at some point this weekend, so you can check with that (and have pretty softsubs!).

Update: Well, of course now you could just use andiyar's installer package.

Hey, Thanks LOADSSS . Now that i restarted , everything works just fine! Probably when i forcequit it , that corrupted some files/ permission. Silly me really, eversince i moved to mac i restart machine like once a month. The machine also operated 24/7 ( leeching and seeding of course ) for nearly a year and a half. And only once in a while that i have to restart it.
Silly me..

Perian is quite promising. For now it cannot beat Mplayer performance wise. But atleast front row is now useful.
But hope we can have something similar to CCCP on OS X. Not able to use CCCP on a mac is the only thing i regret after i moved from windows.

@Andiyar , what's difference between CVS Mplayer and CVS Mplayer SSA/ASS ? This may sounds stupid.. But is it about subtitle support or something ?

After i tried out your build , it said internal playback error or something like that. I deleted previous Mplayer including .plist thing and got your packaged install and that's what i got / any idea what's wrong ? .

I have an error log here > www.snowtune.com/Error%20log.rtf

[andiyar]

@ ichobi

Hrm. I've found the problem - several of the libraries that are required for MPlayer to run (the custom version) are installed in a rather esoteric location on the hard drive - specifically in the middle of the darwinports section. Now, that said, I've put together an installer that does install them, in the correct location, and works perfectly well - the two machines I had been testing on had actually both been used in my compiling stages, so both had the support. I deleted the relevant files off one, tested my new package, and both the binary and the libs install and function correctly. The new package unfortunately has to create a new directory on the root level of your hard drive (/opt/), but that appears to be unavoidable - and it can be made invisible easily enough, if it's an irritant.

Anyway, I'll upload the new build as soon as I can - my server's currently being a pain in regards to FTP access, and is therefore... not currently working. Which is irritating. That said, as soon as it's done I'll post here. Won't be too long


-Andiyar

[Niji]

Originally Posted by hhaamu

How do I get WMV9 playback working on my macintel? I'm currently using the official build of 1.0pre8, and I'd prefer not to install Apple's X11 if I have a choice.

I take it I have to extract the files in the essential codecs pack somewhere, but where? Or do I have to recompile?

I am playing WMV9 and WMV3 on Cellulo, it works great. I am on a PPC though. Dunno if it works on IntelMacs, but on PPS it is awesome.

www.cellulo.info

[Discerptor]

Originally Posted by hhaamu

How do I get WMV9 playback working on my macintel? I'm currently using the official build of 1.0pre8, and I'd prefer not to install Apple's X11 if I have a choice.

I take it I have to extract the files in the essential codecs pack somewhere, but where? Or do I have to recompile?

Download Perian from http://www.perian.org for the improved AviImporter, and download Flip4mac from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...omponents.mspx for the ability to play back WMV3/9.