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Contributor thomaswm




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Codec Manager  
Written by intarwub the 29 Feb 08 at 00:32. Category: Multimedia. Related to: Nothing/Others. Already implemented
As a user I want to be able to listen to audio or watch videos with the least amount of setup. I would like to have a single interface (Codec Manager) that lists all of the most common audio and video formats and shows me if I am missing the necessary codec for playback.

Use Case: Enable MP3 playback.
Precondition: MP3s are not currently playable.
1. User logs into the system.
2. User opens the Codec Manager.
3. System displays a list of common audio/video formats.
4. User selects MP3s.
5. System displays some info about MP3s.
6. System displays a list of available codecs.
7. User selects a codec and clicks Apply.
8. System downloads and installs the selected codec.
9. System informs the user when completed.

Other possible features:
- Display a list of audio/video types that are missing codecs.
- An auto-setup function, that grabs the recommended codec for all formats.

Audio and Video formats that should be supported:

Audio:
- MP3
- OGG
- AAC
- FLAC
- Real Audio

Video:
- MP4

[....]

Developer comments
Attacks the problem from the wrong angle. I don't think many users would care about a "codec manager", that sounds very much like a geek tool. Heck, *I* wouldn't care about a codec manager. I care about watching my videos. :-)

To me this already seems solved very elegantly with the existing easy-codec-installation.

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