But like I said, if you’re using anything other than Windows, Mac or GNU/Linux you’re probably capable of solving the problem yourself. The problem is that Des suggested that Codec installation on Windows ain’t that easy, which sucks, but there’s not much I can do.

But, it will only play if you manually set video output to x11, otherwise mplayer crashes. This doesn’t happen with any of my other codecs. I suggest you take another look at xvid. If you insist on capturing to this theora format, you could at least facilitate your readers by re-encoding to something more sensible using mencoder.

The basic thing is that media is a problem. If I were to give you a document to read I could give you a text file, an RTF file, a HTML file or a PDF and everyone* could read those.

If I want to give you a video file my options are MPEG2, which is patented up the ying-yang; XviD, which I know little about but it’s usage seems to be restricted in certain countries; or Ogg Theora. I could use WMV or MOV, but they’re even less supported than MPEG2, however they’ve a higher usage base than Ogg Theora.

So the question is: Should I
a) constrain my possible users by forcing them to buy a patent licence to view the video eg: MPEG4,
b) constrain my users by publishing in a format that they’ve already purchased with their OS (if they’re Windows or OSX users) and not distribute beyond that market eg: WMV,
c) constrain my users by requiring them to download a free codec that’s available on most platforms eg: Ogg Theora.

Furthemore given that (c) was the easiest for me…well guess what I chose. Problem is that it’s a mess any way that you look at it.

Lastly, I do give a shit about the majority of my audience. The majority of my audience is repeat visitors from MiNDS>, ILUG and (hopefully soon) my students. The ILUG people are likely to be using Linux, so it plays fine there. The MiNDS> people can install Ogg Theora if they want to see videos from this blog, not ideal…However, I’ve ensured that Ogg Theora and Vorbis are supported in the labs here at Brighton Uni. If there’s anything more I could do without restricting viewers (other than to download a Free Software codec) I’d like to know.

* Where everyone dosn’t include C64 or Amiga users.

Needs VLC to play on the Mac, and Des tried to get it working on Windows Media Player but he gave up when the first set of instructions didn’t work. I can’t blame him.

So, let’s look at who can actually play this clip:
1) People on Linux with VLC or Mplayer.
2) People on OSX with VLC.
3) People on Windows with Mplayer or a recent copy of Real Player.

Which means you don’t give a shit about the majority of your likely audience. You call it “your” media file… thing is, if you decide the codec to use based soley on what YOU like, you spit in the face of your end-users.

I’m a bit horrified you’re suggesting Real Player… it’s a horrible, spyware-ridden piece of crap.

XviD may be under the GPL, but the program I used to generate the video exports Ogg Theora. I’m happy with Ogg Theora and I won’t be spending the time to convert it to XviD.

However, it’s more like me giving you a PDF file and telling you where to find a free software PDF viewer.

It’ll play with Real on Windows, or in Media Player with the codecs installed from http://www.illiminable.com/ogg/oggcodecs_0.69.8924.exe or with Mplayer

On Linux it’ll play in Totem, MPlayer, Video Lan Client or Real (Real is only on x86 though).

On Mac it should play through MPlayer or VLC though Dave says his MPlayer is hobbled.

All jokes aside Aidan, using ogg theora is crazy, its like me send you a Word doc and telling you OOo will read it, except its far worse. Surely there must be a more accepted mpeg based codec you can use.