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Kino2 - Graphical Frontend for Mplayer for C7x0
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As soon as I bought my C760 I started to look into the various multimedia applications that were available for it. After searching the Zaurus Software Index I came across an application called "Kino2", a front end for mplayer for the Zaurus C7x0 series. The version under review is Kino2 ver 0.2.

It quotes that it supports numerous optimisations for the C7x0's architecture such as CPU, graphics chip, display resolution etc. As it happens, while I am writing this review I am actually listening to an online shoutcast station (for those that know it, Digitally Imported Trance Stream).


Fig. 1

The software was natively written in Russian (as you can see in Fig. 1) but has been converted to English by it's developers and as a result there are a couple of slight grammatical errors but nothing that can't be understood.

The menu structure is easy to follow and has quick menu options to enable stretch mode and fullscreen mode, both of which you will utilise a lot of if viewing videos that aren't formatted specifically for the C7x0's display.

Kino2's Preferences (File > Preferences) menu has the following options:


Figs. 2-4

Each of these options are pretty self explainitory and users will have to tweak them and tweak some more to get their preferred performance. What I find is a good idea is the Cacko Team left the option (in Fig. 4) for users to specify a different audio decoder. This could be useful for new or unsupported codecs.


Fig. 5

Fig. 5 indicates the curse of encoding video's at low bitrate. The player is quite capable of playing 320x240 25 fps 512KBit video with 44Khz 128KBit MP3 audio (assuming the place you're watching it from can support that bandwidth) but the player will drop frames and skip a little when there's a lot of movement on the display. It's my opinion that this software is the best available at the moment, however I am keeping my fingers crossed that someone can write a even better media player for the C7x0 series.


Fig. 6

My only real gripe with the software is the Open URL dialog in the File menu. Sure it will let you open shoutcast streams (no playlist files though, you have to give it the direct IP to the stream) but it doesn't keep a history list of URL's that you've typed in. This is incredibly frustrating when you want to tune into the same shoutcast station after a reboot.

Pro's:
Compact and fast with an easy to follow layout.
Allows you to listen to Shoutcast MP3 streams.
Numerous options to shape the video display.
Simple to install (only one ipk).
Can play DIVX and SHOUTCAST.

Con's:
Video (and sometimes audio) skips if there is a lot of motion being displayed.
Open URL dialog doesn't keep a history list.
Doesn't fully enclose the mplayer display, sometimes the video uses more than the alloted window.
Small bug where installing on Sharp ROM's would create a no-icon'ed tab in Qtopia (but instructions to get around this are on the website).


Added:  Friday, November 28, 2003

Related Link:  Cacko Team C7x0 Software
hits: 2803

  

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