simplevp SimpleVP

Overview

SimpleVP (SVP) is a video player, that also plays audio media. SVP is a simple GUI frontend for CLI (commandline) media players, such as VLC, FFplay and Omxplayer.
SVP is written in Bash shell script, and uses GTKDialog to achieve the graphical windows (requiring GTK+2), and utilities xdotool, wmctrl, xwininfo and xprop to interact with the CLI player.

SVP is intended to be very easy to use, with a fairly minimal user interface. There is a simple main window, and when a video or audio file is played, there is an On-Screen Controls (OSC) window with buttons for play, pause, stop, etc.

The GUI

When launched, this is the main window:

main-window

history
History list
This brings up a list of previous selections, so can quickly choose a file that was played before.
streaming
Stream
Not yet implemented.
optical
Optical
Automatically determines type of optical media and creates appropriate entry in edit-box. Handles audio-CD, video-DVD, or CD/DVD with individual audio/video files.
file
File
Choose a file or folder, which will be placed in the edit-box. If a folder is chosen, then all audio and video files in that folder will play.
play
Play
Play whatever is specified in the edit-box.
loop
Play-loop
Play in an endless loop. For a folder, will play all media files in the folder, then repeat, endlessly.

The Setup section is self-explanatory. Options are automatically configured to suit the CLI player chosen and the Xorg, audio and hardware setup. For example, if the Omxplayer is chosen in the Raspberry Pi, only "OpenMAX" (hardware accelerated video output) is offered for the "Video out" drop-down list, and only "Analog" and "HDMI" offered for the "Audio output".

Similarly, the "Size" drop-down list only offers options appropriate for the chosen CLI player and video Xorg-driver and hardware.

OSC

This will vary, but basically looks like this when a video is playing:

osc

The OSC window displays when a video is playing in a window, not when playing fullscreen. In the latter case, keyboard hot-keys can be used, such as the space-bar to pause and "q" to quit.

Raspberry Pi

Quirky Linux 8.1+ runs on the Pi2 and Pi3, and includes SimpleVP, with the CLI players FFplay, VLC and Omxplayer.

VLC has been compiled especially for the Pi, with hardware acceleration using OpenMAX, as well as software rendering with X11 and SDL output modes.
OpenMAX video output mode is fullscreen only and there is no OSC, and the hot-keys do not work.

Omxplayer uses OpenMAX only. OpenMAX renders direct to the screen, bypassing Xorg, so is normally used for fullscreen playing. However, Omxplayer can render in a portion of the screen, giving a window-like effect and allowing the OSC.

For low-resolution videos, up to about 480p, software rendering works OK with VLC. Omxplayer will play up to 1080p smoothly, whereas VLC (with OpenMAX) experiences some stuttering at 1080p and should be limited to 720p. This is testing on the Pi2.