VLC With Phonon Back-End Is Now Ready For Use

[pingufunkybeat]

I haven't had good luck with GStreamer either, and found it laggy and far less reliable than xinelib (back when amarok implemented both backends directly).

It's possible that it has improved, and I don't doubt that it is a decent piece of engineering that does what it advertises. But it's a set of codecs, and it's still a GOOD THING that we have a choice here. It's GOOD to be able to switch between the backends in case one of them starts sucking. The KDE guys have learned from the aRts experience (which was hardcoded everywhere) and learned to design their software in a way that they don't rely on specific solutions, but can provide stable APIs and still change backends. It's a good thing.

All the people who insist that everyone MUST use PulseAudio, and MUST use GStreamer and MUST use GTK and MUST use GNOME and MUST use Ubuntu can stick it up their ass.

Linux/GNU/BSD are an ecosystem developed from below, not a product designed in a meeting room. It evolves, offers options, and technologies come and go. KDE guys are clever enough to see this and embrace this (by providing an abstraction layer), instead of forcing software on you out of religious conviction.

[TemplarGR]

Stop spreading FUD please...

Gstreamer is fine. Your problems belong to the phonon-gstreamer backend, not gstreamer itself. Have you ever used gstreamer in gnome? It just works, without problems.

KDE user here, former GNOME user, just don't like the FUD.

[TemplarGR]

Plus, i have no problem with phonon. It works for me, it just needs improvements, for example enabling equalizer in Amarok for phonon-vlc etc. But really, i would prefer it if KDE used gstreamer from version 5 instead of phonon. Less latency that way, more developers and shared resources, better cooperation between the desktop environments etc. It is cross platfrom too.

[pingufunkybeat]

Gstreamer is fine. Your problems belong to the phonon-gstreamer backend, not gstreamer itself.

It's hard to have problems with phonon if you don't use phonon. Amarok for KDE3 did not use phonon but xinelib or GStreamer directly.

So my experience is with GStreamer, and not with phonon-gstreamer.

It's quite easy to understand this if you actually read posts before replying

[pingufunkybeat]

Plus, i have no problem with phonon. It works for me, it just needs improvements, for example enabling equalizer in Amarok for phonon-vlc etc. But really, i would prefer it if KDE used gstreamer from version 5 instead of phonon. Less latency that way, more developers and shared resources, better cooperation between the desktop environments etc. It is cross platfrom too.

You can't use GStreamer instead of phonon, you can use GStreamer with phonon, or GStreamer directly.

Using GStreamer instead of phonon is like using xlib instead of GTK. Sure, you can do it, but for many people it is unneeded complexity, and having a saner, simpler API (=phonon) is really useful.

If you need all the power of GStreamer, you can always use GStreamer alone -- and lose portability and maintainability in the process. But nobody is stopping you.

[yotambien]

Stop spreading FUD please...

Gstreamer is fine. Your problems belong to the phonon-gstreamer backend, not gstreamer itself. Have you ever used gstreamer in gnome? It just works, without problems.

KDE user here, former GNOME user, just don't like the FUD.

That's funny. I didn't notice you spying on me all these years. Because that must be how you have knowledge of what worked and what didn't work in my computer, as well as what DE and/or WM I used, not to mention the compared performance of different video players. What I don't get is how on earth you managed to spy on several of us, for I would imagine we come from different countries...

That must've been pretty hard to pull off. In any case, yes, we were lying. It won't happen again: GStreamer FTW.

\o/

[next9]

Stop spreading FUD please...

Maybe you should start read more carefully. According to our experience GStreamer sucks in GNOME apps in GNOME desktop. There is no Phonon to blame!

I can not comment Phonon-GStreamer backend, because I do not use it, but I agree it sucks. it must suck since GSTreamer itself sucks

[deanjo]

Stop spreading FUD please...

FUD? You do realize that you are the only one here saying Gstreamer is fine right? Everybody here has the same issues with Gstreamer with the exception of you it seems.

[pingufunkybeat]

Why are we talking about GStreamer when the topic is phonon-vlc?

Phonon is KDE's multimedia API, and it can use several backends: xinelib, GStreamer or VLC.

It seems like phonon-vlc is what most people look forward to, and it may improve the KDE experience. In any case, the ability to CHOOSE is good. GStreamer, xinelib and VLC are all based on the FFMpeg project anyway, so I don't see why the holy inquisition from the church of GNOME is out there again spreading religion by fire :/

And yes, that last sentence was a troll. Ignore it, please

[next9]

Why are we talking about GStreamer when the topic is phonon-vlc?

Because somebody here called Phonon a bad idea and suggested GStreamer as a better solution