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Video Playback
Support for all types of video playback would be great. As well as a menu item just browsing videos in your library.
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Sorry for the long post. I know this topic isn't short of them, but I wanted to get out what was on my mind about this.
I don't know what to think about video support in Songbird. A number of people seem to want one program to act as a complete media player, and some of the most popular music programs such as iTunes and Winamp have video support; however, music and video never quite seem to mix perfectly for me in one application. The different types of media just seem to have different needs.
I feel like a music program is something you constantly interact with- it is running most of the time my computer is, I change songs or albums often, and sometimes I mix songs from different places together to make playlists. Videos are something I play less frequently, since they can't really be played as a background for activities like music can, and require less interaction than music, so a video library doesn't seem to need as robust of an interface as a music library. It would not bother me if video support was in the core program because I could simply choose to not use the feature, but I think it would be better to provide it as a recommended add-on in order to maintain the focus of the program. iTunes and Songbird's names are related to music, their interfaces have certain pieces like the album art pane that only relate to music, and while Songbird is trying to help people interact with music on the web, I think it would be too much if it also tried to help people interact with video on the web. Miro is doing a great job of being the Songbird of video, and I think its interface is better suited toward videos. For example, its interface contains a full screen button, a better media view for viewing video lists, and a guide to find popular videos and channels on the web. Teaming up with Mozilla would be great, but maybe it would be even better if Songbird teamed up with Miro, because they are really working on a similar goal: expanding the way people can interact with media on the web. I just think each program would feel more focused by dealing with one primary type of media by default.
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this is one of the best points
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Inappropriate?I'd also love to see this. One of the things I've always wanted iTunes to do is be able to add a whole video_ts (DVD data folder) as a movie to make it easier for things like subtitles and bonus features (oh, and be versatile in what filetypes it can play... I hate iTunes for being so picky. Thanks for all that you guys do, Songbird is pretty amazing as it is :D
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Inappropriate?Video playback unofficially works on 1.1 betas (yes, I finally got it to play something). However, its still on its way..
If you want to try though the way I got it working though was:
1) Install 1.1 beta 2
2) Ensure quicktime is installed if in windows
3) install the quicktime/recommended songbird plugins
4) Run songbird, File, open location, about:config
5) Sell your soul,
6) Search for video
7) I think you double click these, to make them into:
songbird.mediascan.enableVideoImporting: True
songbird.mediacore.gstreamer.disablevideo: False
If you wish to turn video off, right click them, reset will set them back to the default values.
Be aware you CANNOT downgrade from 1.1 though, to 1.0 though (the library gets upgraded to a new format automatically). Also, as you can see, video playback is very hackish. But 1 week ago when I tried it, it was the first time I ever managed to play a video in Songbird :) I personally can hardly wait for it to be properly integrated..
And this isn't supported of course. I'm not hired by Songbird in any way, so you can't blame them if this messes stuff up. And I can't be blamed because I am unblamable :D
I’m not chuck norris, despite our obvious similarities.
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Inappropriate?I do not think this player needs massive playback. It is a music player, not a video player. A video library with the abillity to sync to devices would be neat though.
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Inappropriate?I dislike the idea of having inbuilt video playback, what would be nice though is a video library for rating/tagging/organisation which launches the video in an external application such as Media Player Classic or VLC
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this is one of the best points
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This is one of the best points
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May I ask why exactly?
Just because it supports video doesn't mean you have to use it... -
I agree with freedoms_stain, Songbird should focus on being the best music player, and let other applications handle the video. If you want video playback I recommend VLC player or Miro.
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Inappropriate?i don't understand why you would want a media library without the playback... especially if the playback is largely implemented.
when you say songbird should focus on being the best music player what do you mean? Most of the music playing features are available and the rest will be complete by 1.2 Music playing is pretty standard stuff once its implemented and doesn't exactly require huge amounts of upkeep.
If songbird wants to add features it has two areas to go right now as I see it:
1) video playback support (makes it competitive with other media players)
2) web integration (puts it above other media players)
just my 2 cents3 Comments Add a comment
This is one of the best points
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Except, not having Video is unacceptable for many users. It prevents:
1) Car PC usage. When I had mine, I was forced to use Winamp. So some of us NEED/needed video.
2) A complete multimedia store. Itunes offers video and audio sales. Many of us like music video's, and many others may too.
3) Why have 2 applications to do something that can be done by a single one? I don't believe Songbird should focus on just music, but multimedia in general (video/music).
4) Can integrate video with the web better then other players. You could pretty much obsolete applications such as Miro -
Why have 2 applications rather than one? Because a dedicated application performs better in almost all cases. All the other "all encompasing" media players have extremely shoddy video functions that can't compare to a stand alone program like VLC or MPC.
You weren't forced to use Winamp, you chose to. You could have used Media Player Classic which has advanced video options, requires no install and weighs in at a few MB.
As for a complete multimedia store, Songbird doesn't have to be able to play video in order to download or catalogue it, as I said in my previous comment it would be preferable for Songbird to manage files and launch them in a superior external application. -
What "benefits" does VLC and MPC have though. The only functions I ever see people use on their video playback programs is:
1) Basic playback controls
2) Subtitles
3) Audio selection
4) Full screen support
Which is why I am asking what mystical playback features these other players have that people actually use? And just because other players have shoddy feedback, doesn't mean Songbird has to. Many music players and browsers also have poor plugin/theming functionality. Does that mean Mozilla's platform has to?
You must also remember that video/audio playback is part of the HTML5 standard too, so video support NEEDS to be added somewhat to songbird anyway. May as well integrate it properly. Its unacceptable to keep popping up different windows whilst browsing. Without integrated video support, there is embedded players, but these have always been iffy in so many ways.
I don't personally know anyone who wouldn't be happy with the basic functions I have mentioned. But please correct me if I'm wrong. I'd personally be delighted to hear about some of the functionality so that I can post them as suggestions to bugzilla.
If there is one thing I have learnt, it's that POTI are crazy-fast coders. Furthermore, POTI only does half the work, a huge amount is done by Mozilla in the background, so you have the backing of an epic coding company.
I would not underestimate POTI. Apple makes millions of dollars off their itunes music store, and I believe Songbird has the potential to generate an enormous cash inflow too (which would allow them to hire more developers). iTunes movie playback isn't that good only because Apple profits off Quicktime Pro (so limits functionality elsewhere), and has spread its focus a bit too far now (which is why QA on recent products like OSX server was non existent). POTI are dedicated to one product. Its their lifeblood, and therefore, wont use the profits for any other reason other then making songbird better. I am confident Songbird has what it takes. Their team is really open, they will happily take blame if there is a problem (and own up to it), and not play politician constantly. Furthermore, their QA team is excellent. Bug reports I have posted in the past are often attended to quite rapidly.
PS: I needed winamp because I needed full library management, video support, and a decent touchscreen interface. Having it all in one player was a plus because it meant better integration, and a cleaner experience. Similar to how a pubs jukebox shouldn't have different applications popping up to do similar tasks, I don't believe Songbird should. -
Inappropriate?Anyway.. Each to their own. I guess poti will probably maintain the preference which allows users to disable embedded video playback.
Both of these ideas can co exist with one another, so everyone wins ;) -
Inappropriate?In all honesty, I think coexisting would be the easiest thing for songbird to do. How about a VLC plugin that opens the video file in a tab within songbird? Less development from songbird, more users for VLC. Besides, VLC is already proven to work and is one of the most diverse players when it comes to codecs.
I’m peacefully coexisting
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This is one of the best points
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BTW I just tried this out and its working pretty well I'd say for being half a year away according to the roadmap. Anyone know a hack to "always on top" the video window?
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Inappropriate?Half of my music is in audio format and the other half is in video.
I would like to mix the two together myself for playback.
Most of the time I am working around the house when I play my music.
There is hardly a video player out there that lets you tag your videos with artist, album, year, genre like this one does.
Please allow video support, not all of us just play audio.
Programs like VLC does not have any kind of playlist that you can edit and sort the way you want.
Even Windows Media player is very limited on what video types you can tag edit.
The video files drop to the bottom of the playlist and don't mix in with the audio.
I'm sure you can make ways to filer out audio or video if you want one or the other.
But please put them both in.
I'm happy to hear it is on the to do list.
I’m happy
2 Comments Add a comment
This is one of the best points
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VLC has a playlist which you can indeed edit and sort the way you want, it's the 5th option on the menu bar.
Personally I like the idea of embedding or associating VLC with Songbird unless Songbird can promise us aspect ratio control and DVD ripping like VLC does. -
VLC has a playlist which you can indeed edit and sort the way you want, it's the 5th option on the menu bar.
Personally I like the idea of embedding or associating VLC with Songbird unless Songbird can promise us aspect ratio control and DVD ripping like VLC does. -
Inappropriate?By the sounds of things though freedoms_stain, you don't want video integration anyway. And that's perfectly ok, there is no reason why you still couldn't use VLC if you want. By the sounds of things, you simply want to open your movies directly in VLC anyway (and I can't imagine why you would import your video's into Songbird)
However, calling external applications isn't for everyone.
Actually, I just thought of a VERY good reason for me not to call an external application. I have plenty of music video's, and it would be laggy and slow to keep opening them in a different application. As they are music video's, I would also like to see crossfading eventually.. -
Inappropriate?freedoms_stain there is a playlist in VLC player but like most video players you CAN NOT edit video tags to sort by Artist, Album, Year, Genre ect like the audio files do. I know you can not with MPG and FLV since most of my music videos are in those file types.
Find me a program that lets you edit many kinds of video tags in that way.
There is not one that I can find BUT Songbird.
The main reason I am looking at this program is because it can sort my music videos with my music audio.
There is one other called Jaangle but it only supports a few video formats. That means I would have to convert everything.
I think the main problem is not with the video players as much as it is the tags that go along with the video.
I don't understand why they made audio files to be easily recognized while video files only go by the file description.
Video files should have all kinds of tags for movies, music, documentaries, funny clips, speeches, church sermons, ect.
Even audio files should support those same tags.
The best media program will let you sort the files the way you want to.
Tags for Movies, Music, Documentaries, ect (filter options for playback).
And many ways to sort your playlists.2 Comments Add a comment
This is one of the best points
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Today I prefer to organize & play my videos & music with separate applications.
But 2 years ago, I also loved to organize all the media files with one App. And I found one program, that was doing really good, but is pretty unknown: JRiver Media Center. http://www.jrmediacenter.com/
It has a 30days free trial (and a free version without video support).
As it probably might take month or more likely years, until songbird will cover your requirements, you might want to take a look at it. I can recommend it a lot, it's much better than everything else i tried. -
Today I prefer to organize & play my videos & music with separate applications.
But 2 years ago, I also loved to organize all the media files with one App. And I found one program, that was doing really good, but is pretty unknown: JRiver Media Center. http://www.jrmediacenter.com/
It has a 30days free trial (and a free version without video support).
As it probably might take month or years, until songbird will cover your requirements, you might want to take a look at it. I can recommend it a lot, it's much better than everything else i tried. -
Inappropriate?Thanks arteiu for posting that.
I have tried that one before, If I remember right it was great for recognizing your audio or video (I think pictures to) by the thumbnail.
But it was still one that you could not sort both audio and video together by Artist, Album ect in list type format.
What I am looking for the most is lots of tags to sort your media by.
There is one that I just found that I hope is ok to post since it has so many great features.
http://audials.com/en/audio_video_med...
No money right now for me to buy it but here what I like about it:
1. Only supports WMV files for tag editing but what is cool is it automatically converts your video files to wmv once downloaded or drag n drop from folder.
2. You do searches for downloads that come from many audio and video sites like youtube and myspace.
3. Tag Names, Album art, Lyrics can all be made.
4. Remove DRM copy protection
5. Record and listen to many online radio stations.
More:
Burn cd's, create ringtone ,and some podcast features. -
Inappropriate?Sorry for the long post. I know this topic isn't short of them, but I wanted to get out what was on my mind about this.
I don't know what to think about video support in Songbird. A number of people seem to want one program to act as a complete media player, and some of the most popular music programs such as iTunes and Winamp have video support; however, music and video never quite seem to mix perfectly for me in one application. The different types of media just seem to have different needs.
I feel like a music program is something you constantly interact with- it is running most of the time my computer is, I change songs or albums often, and sometimes I mix songs from different places together to make playlists. Videos are something I play less frequently, since they can't really be played as a background for activities like music can, and require less interaction than music, so a video library doesn't seem to need as robust of an interface as a music library. It would not bother me if video support was in the core program because I could simply choose to not use the feature, but I think it would be better to provide it as a recommended add-on in order to maintain the focus of the program. iTunes and Songbird's names are related to music, their interfaces have certain pieces like the album art pane that only relate to music, and while Songbird is trying to help people interact with music on the web, I think it would be too much if it also tried to help people interact with video on the web. Miro is doing a great job of being the Songbird of video, and I think its interface is better suited toward videos. For example, its interface contains a full screen button, a better media view for viewing video lists, and a guide to find popular videos and channels on the web. Teaming up with Mozilla would be great, but maybe it would be even better if Songbird teamed up with Miro, because they are really working on a similar goal: expanding the way people can interact with media on the web. I just think each program would feel more focused by dealing with one primary type of media by default.
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