Multimedia in Linux

I've noticed poor performance from some players using Mpeg codecs in linux.
You should try xmps which performes very well on my box and also has support
for Divx:-) Mpeg-4 codecs.

http://www-eleves.enst-bretagne.fr/~chavarri/xmps/

Regards,
Mike Cantrell

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Myers" <pamarq@home.com>
To: <plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us>
Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2000 4:39 PM
Subject: Multimedia in Linux


I am curious, why is multimedia in preemptive multitasking OSes so bad?
I have noticed this both in Linux and Windows NT & 2000.
For example, playing a streaming video using RealPlayer.
On Linux, even using a 256Kbs stream, I get a tiny window with moderately
jerky video in Linux.
In Win2K, small video is smooth. Zooming by 2X in Win2K, video is very
jerky. Full screen mode is horrible.
The same video, on Win98SE, video is smooth at all zoom levels.
Same with playing back an .mpg movie.
On Linux, even with OSS sound drivers, the sound is good, but the video
(the scene from Titanic that sweeps from an oncoming shot with the girl
on the bow with her hands out, to the very stern of the ship moving away)
is jerky.
Same in Win2K. In Win98, video is smooth.
Is it because seeing the multimedia is processor intensive, a cooperative
multitasking environment is better than a preemptive one?
The machine running Win2K & Linux has an AMD K6-2 450MHz, 192MB RAM, ATI
All-In-Wonder Pro 8MB AGP, and a SoundBlaster AWE64 card.
The Win98 machine is AMD K6-2 300MHz, 128MB RAM, ATI Rage Fury 128 16MB
AGP (used to have the All-In-Wonder Pro when tests were run), Ensoniq PCI
audio card.
I have some home movies that I would like to edit using the computer so
that I can burn them onto CDROM and share them with family, but I am
afraid that I might be stuck using MS Me to do it.
Is there a way that I can boost multimedia performance in Linux?
Thanks!
Mark