Mailing List Archive

MythMusic and Windows Media Audio (WMA)
How possible is it to get MythMusic to play WMA files? I know that there
is a Linux Player that will play Windows Media (mplayer? I forget) but
it is possible to integrate it into MythMusic, or would I need a
separate component like MythVideo?

I think WMAs are the smallest, best sounding compressed audio there is,
and while I have no problem switching to OGG now (much bigger, but great
sound), I don't have the time to convert 3000WMA files into OGG and
probably wouldn't be impressed with the results anyway.

I know nothing of how to do this, but would be happy to learn and
contribute if it is possible.

Thanks

Nate
RE: MythMusic and Windows Media Audio (WMA) [ In reply to ]
Well WMA is actually pretty much the worst sounding compressed audio there
is (quality/size ratio), however I like your basic idea that mythmusic use
an external player as its backend for audio, rather than doing its own
decoding. If, for instance, it just sent commands to XMMS, that, I think,
would be ideal, since it has a simple plugin arhitechture for which there
are user-installable plugins for pretty much every format playable on linux
(yes, even WMA)... that way users who don't know how to code wouldn't have
to beg someone else to add support for their format of choice, just drop in
a plugin and go. Also, any custom settings tweaks users have (lots of
people, myself included, can get really anal about getting their EQ
settings, dithering, gap-removal/crossfading settings just they way they
want) would be used automatically. XMMS has a plugin to allow it to be
controlled by, and output status to, named pipes, so it seems like this
wouldnt be too hard to implement - possibly even within the bounds of my
very limited programming skills. I was thinking of looking into the code and
possibly making something like this my first experiment in linux
programming. We'll see.

-----Original Message-----
From: mythtv-dev-admin@snowman.net
[mailto:mythtv-dev-admin@snowman.net]On Behalf Of Nathan Ziarek
Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 2:59 PM
To: mythtv-dev@snowman.net
Subject: [mythtv] MythMusic and Windows Media Audio (WMA)


How possible is it to get MythMusic to play WMA files? I know that there
is a Linux Player that will play Windows Media (mplayer? I forget) but
it is possible to integrate it into MythMusic, or would I need a
separate component like MythVideo?

I think WMAs are the smallest, best sounding compressed audio there is,
and while I have no problem switching to OGG now (much bigger, but great
sound), I don't have the time to convert 3000WMA files into OGG and
probably wouldn't be impressed with the results anyway.

I know nothing of how to do this, but would be happy to learn and
contribute if it is possible.

Thanks

Nate



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mythtv-dev@snowman.net
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Re: MythMusic and Windows Media Audio (WMA) [ In reply to ]
On Wednesday 18 December 2002 06:45 pm, Kevin Bowen wrote:
> Well WMA is actually pretty much the worst sounding compressed audio there
> is (quality/size ratio), however I like your basic idea that mythmusic use
> an external player as its backend for audio, rather than doing its own
> decoding. If, for instance, it just sent commands to XMMS, that, I think,
> would be ideal, since it has a simple plugin arhitechture for which there
> are user-installable plugins for pretty much every format playable on linux
> (yes, even WMA)... that way users who don't know how to code wouldn't have
> to beg someone else to add support for their format of choice, just drop in
> a plugin and go. Also, any custom settings tweaks users have (lots of
> people, myself included, can get really anal about getting their EQ
> settings, dithering, gap-removal/crossfading settings just they way they
> want) would be used automatically. XMMS has a plugin to allow it to be
> controlled by, and output status to, named pipes, so it seems like this
> wouldnt be too hard to implement - possibly even within the bounds of my
> very limited programming skills. I was thinking of looking into the code
> and possibly making something like this my first experiment in linux
> programming. We'll see.

Not going to happen. (the xmms stuff, that is).

Isaac
RE: MythMusic and Windows Media Audio (WMA) [ In reply to ]
>Not going to happen. (the xmms stuff, that is).

How come? you just like the idea of myth doing its own internal decoding? or
is there something I'm not forseeing that would make it infeasible?

-----Original Message-----
From: mythtv-dev-admin@snowman.net
[mailto:mythtv-dev-admin@snowman.net]On Behalf Of Isaac Richards
Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 4:11 PM
To: mythtv-dev@snowman.net
Subject: Re: [mythtv] MythMusic and Windows Media Audio (WMA)


On Wednesday 18 December 2002 06:45 pm, Kevin Bowen wrote:
> Well WMA is actually pretty much the worst sounding compressed audio there
> is (quality/size ratio), however I like your basic idea that mythmusic use
> an external player as its backend for audio, rather than doing its own
> decoding. If, for instance, it just sent commands to XMMS, that, I think,
> would be ideal, since it has a simple plugin arhitechture for which there
> are user-installable plugins for pretty much every format playable on
linux
> (yes, even WMA)... that way users who don't know how to code wouldn't have
> to beg someone else to add support for their format of choice, just drop
in
> a plugin and go. Also, any custom settings tweaks users have (lots of
> people, myself included, can get really anal about getting their EQ
> settings, dithering, gap-removal/crossfading settings just they way they
> want) would be used automatically. XMMS has a plugin to allow it to be
> controlled by, and output status to, named pipes, so it seems like this
> wouldnt be too hard to implement - possibly even within the bounds of my
> very limited programming skills. I was thinking of looking into the code
> and possibly making something like this my first experiment in linux
> programming. We'll see.

Not going to happen. (the xmms stuff, that is).

Isaac
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RE: MythMusic and Windows Media Audio (WMA) [ In reply to ]
Isaac -- is the ability to play WMAs (using mPlayer or something) a
possibility (not asking you to do it, just wondering if I should even
dive in) or is it completely incompatible with the current setup?

Nate
Re: MythMusic and Windows Media Audio (WMA) [ In reply to ]
On Wednesday 18 December 2002 10:07 pm, Nathan Ziarek wrote:
> Isaac -- is the ability to play WMAs (using mPlayer or something) a
> possibility (not asking you to do it, just wondering if I should even
> dive in) or is it completely incompatible with the current setup?

Well, since libavcodec is the library that has the native wma decoder, and
there's already a fairly current copy of libavcodec in the mythtv source, it
really wouldn't be all that difficult to do. Just have to write some wrapper
code connecting a mythmusic decoder plugin to the existing library. I don't
really see the point, is all. I don't like to listen to overcompressed music
=)

Isaac
Re: MythMusic and Windows Media Audio (WMA) [ In reply to ]
>I don't like to listen to overcompressed music =)

Nor do I, which is why I'm interested in adding support for MPC (highest
quality lossy codec) and APE (lossless like FLAC, but better compression
ratio and better meta data)... my XMMS idea would kill all those birds
with one stone, and provide several other side benefits... benefits
which would only be appreciated by audiogeeks like me, so I understand
if you're not enthusiastic about making a structural change like this
for something that most people would never care about, and would make
setup more complex (require people to have XMMS installed/configured).
Like I said though, it seems like it would be easy enough to do that
even I should be able to figure it out after spending some time poking
around the code, so I'll probably look into it, and if nobody else likes
it, I'll just keep it to myself (yay opensource!)

On Wed, 2002-12-18 at 19:35, Isaac Richards wrote:
> On Wednesday 18 December 2002 10:07 pm, Nathan Ziarek wrote:
> > Isaac -- is the ability to play WMAs (using mPlayer or something) a
> > possibility (not asking you to do it, just wondering if I should even
> > dive in) or is it completely incompatible with the current setup?
>
> Well, since libavcodec is the library that has the native wma decoder, and
> there's already a fairly current copy of libavcodec in the mythtv source, it
> really wouldn't be all that difficult to do. Just have to write some wrapper
> code connecting a mythmusic decoder plugin to the existing library. I don't
> really see the point, is all. I don't like to listen to overcompressed music
> =)
>
> Isaac
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-dev mailing list
> mythtv-dev@snowman.net
> http://www.snowman.net/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-dev
Re: MythMusic and Windows Media Audio (WMA) [ In reply to ]
On Wednesday 18 December 2002 11:04 pm, Kevin Bowen wrote:
> >I don't like to listen to overcompressed music =)
>
> Nor do I, which is why I'm interested in adding support for MPC (highest
> quality lossy codec) and APE (lossless like FLAC, but better compression
> ratio and better meta data)... my XMMS idea would kill all those birds
> with one stone, and provide several other side benefits... benefits
> which would only be appreciated by audiogeeks like me, so I understand
> if you're not enthusiastic about making a structural change like this
> for something that most people would never care about, and would make
> setup more complex (require people to have XMMS installed/configured).
> Like I said though, it seems like it would be easy enough to do that
> even I should be able to figure it out after spending some time poking
> around the code, so I'll probably look into it, and if nobody else likes
> it, I'll just keep it to myself (yay opensource!)

APE's compression ratio is just very slightly better than FLAC, it doesn't
really matter once you've accepted an ~2:1 compression ratio. FLAC uses
ogg's metadata system, which is completely flexible, so I doubt there's any
advantage there. And finally, APE's nowhere close to open source, so the
whole comparison's pretty much moot.

And if you're using xmms as an equalizer, then you're not an audiogeek in the
first place =) xmms doesn't have a general purpose equalizer, they just take
the easy (and generally fairly bad sounding) way out and fiddle with stuff in
the MP3 decoder, so it doesn't work in any other audio format.

Anyway, making mythmusic a frontend to xmms is just halfassed, IMHO. The
decoder architecture in mythmusic is extremely simple, and adding support for
whatever other formats would be easy. It already plays back everything
gaplessly, and it really wouldn't be difficult to add crossfading, but I tend
to really dislike crossfading so I haven't bothered.

Isaac
Re: MythMusic and Windows Media Audio (WMA) [ In reply to ]
Just as a sidetrack, can XMMS play internetstreams. I guess it does. This
has been a feature request too.

And can it use the FM-tuner? Might clash with TV-recordings though(!),
since it probably uses the same chip, and most of the time the same
audio-out (line-in loopback, or digital).

I think I understand Isaac's point.

Henk Poley <><
RE: MythMusic and Windows Media Audio (WMA) [ In reply to ]
Yeah, I would never use the builtin EQ, I'm talking about separate DSP
plugins - if I were going to do EQ in software, which I don't, but I was
just giving it as an example.

-----Original Message-----
From: mythtv-dev-admin@snowman.net
[mailto:mythtv-dev-admin@snowman.net]On Behalf Of Isaac Richards
Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 8:50 PM
To: mythtv-dev@snowman.net
Subject: Re: [mythtv] MythMusic and Windows Media Audio (WMA)


On Wednesday 18 December 2002 11:04 pm, Kevin Bowen wrote:
> >I don't like to listen to overcompressed music =)
>
> Nor do I, which is why I'm interested in adding support for MPC (highest
> quality lossy codec) and APE (lossless like FLAC, but better compression
> ratio and better meta data)... my XMMS idea would kill all those birds
> with one stone, and provide several other side benefits... benefits
> which would only be appreciated by audiogeeks like me, so I understand
> if you're not enthusiastic about making a structural change like this
> for something that most people would never care about, and would make
> setup more complex (require people to have XMMS installed/configured).
> Like I said though, it seems like it would be easy enough to do that
> even I should be able to figure it out after spending some time poking
> around the code, so I'll probably look into it, and if nobody else likes
> it, I'll just keep it to myself (yay opensource!)

APE's compression ratio is just very slightly better than FLAC, it doesn't
really matter once you've accepted an ~2:1 compression ratio. FLAC uses
ogg's metadata system, which is completely flexible, so I doubt there's any
advantage there. And finally, APE's nowhere close to open source, so the
whole comparison's pretty much moot.

And if you're using xmms as an equalizer, then you're not an audiogeek in
the
first place =) xmms doesn't have a general purpose equalizer, they just
take
the easy (and generally fairly bad sounding) way out and fiddle with stuff
in
the MP3 decoder, so it doesn't work in any other audio format.

Anyway, making mythmusic a frontend to xmms is just halfassed, IMHO. The
decoder architecture in mythmusic is extremely simple, and adding support
for
whatever other formats would be easy. It already plays back everything
gaplessly, and it really wouldn't be difficult to add crossfading, but I
tend
to really dislike crossfading so I haven't bothered.

Isaac
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