http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/item/2686/
Create and add an 'Ambulant' package in Ubuntu. Ambulant is a SMIL player.
The SMIL standard is defined by the W3C. It's a XLM format allowing to make presentations, slideshows, to mix image, video, audio, text, it is encapsulable in the html or xhtml (for example, it's used for the MMS).

[28 votes] Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #2686


[10 votes] Solution #2: Support SMIL players and authoring tools as alternatives to Flash and Silverligh


]]> en-us Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:24:56 +0000 Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:26:52 +0000 QAPoll module http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/2686/ I second this proposal.
SMIL 3.0 just became a W3C recommendation this month and
for the first time there is a text standard.

The W3C has done their job creating the languages, SMIL and smilText, xiph.org are doing their job by creating free audio and video formats.

We just need the software to take advantage of
these new multimedia advances.

Windows Ambulant will work on Wine on Ubuntu but Ambulant
needs to be in the repositories and supported.

Using SMIL 3.0 and xiph media, schools and
small businesses can use multimedia to improve the quality of
education and the quality of their products.

I think this is another selling point for Ubuntu.

http://www.ambulantplayer.org/

Take Care,

]]> Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:20:26 +0000
Kind regards,
Lorenzo.]]> Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:58:03 +0000 This is an example of a simple training SMIL file. It's pretty straight forward. Create your areas and fill those areas with media.

Easy to write and easy to edit. When implemented, SMIL 3.0 with xiph.org's media can become essential technology to businesses, IMO.

seq = sequence containers
par = parallel containers

--------------------------------------------------------------






























Step one...















Step two...















Step three...















]]> Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:44:57 +0000 Okay I can't post actual SMIL code, as the previous comment shows. This is the code without angle brackets and usually
the elements are nested to make it easier to read.

-------------------------------------------------------------

smil xmlns="http://www.w3.org/ns/SMIL"


head

meta name="title" content="training_example" /

layout

root-layout xml:id="root_main" title="training_example" backgroundColor="white" width="1000" height="600" /

region xml:id="region_img" title="training_example" top="150" left="50" width="400" height="400" z-index="1" /

region xml:id="region_vid" title="training_example" top="150" left="550" width="400" height="300" z-index="1" /

region xml:id="region_text" title="training_example" top="30" left="50" width="900" height="120" z-index="2"
textAlign="center" textFontSize="44px" textColor="black" /

/layout

transition xml:id="fade_1" dur="1s" type="fade" /

/head


body

seq

par begin="1s" dur="33s"

audio xml:id="audio_1" src="media/audio_1.ogg" /

smilText xml:id="text_1" region="region_text" transIn="fade_1" transOut="fade_1"

Step one...

/smilText

img xml:id="image_1" src="media/pic_1.jpg" region="region_img" transIn="fade_1" transOut="fade_1" fit="fill" /

video xml:id="video_1" src="media/video_1.ogg" region="region_vid" transIn="fade_1" transOut="fade_1"fit="fill" /

/par


par begin="1s" dur="33s"

audio xml:id="audio_2" src="media/audio_2.ogg" /

smilText xml:id="text_2" region="region_text" transIn="fade_1" transOut="fade_1"

Step two...

/smilText

img xml:id="image_2" src="media/pic_2.jpg" region="region_img" transIn="fade_1" transOut="fade_1" fit="fill" /

video xml:id="video_2" src="media/video_2.ogg" region="region_vid" transIn="fade_1" transOut="fade_1"fit="fill" /

/par

par begin="1s" dur="33s"

audio xml:id="audio_3" src="media/audio_3.ogg" /

smilText xml:id="text_3" region="region_text" transIn="fade_1" transOut="fade_1"

Step three...

/smilText

img xml:id="image_3" src="media/pic_3.jpg" region="region_img" transIn="fade_1" transOut="fade_1" fit="fill" /

video xml:id="video_3" src="media/video_3.ogg" region="region_vid" transIn="fade_1" transOut="fade_1"fit="fill" /

/par
/seq
/body
/smil






]]> Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:56:54 +0000 Schools can use SMIL and Xiph multimedia to teach and make it fun.

This is an example of Lincoln's Gettysburg address. The instructor can
have students record the audio, make an image that goes along with the text. At the end of the project the students will end up remembering a famous speech.

Plus the students become use to expressing their ideas with text, images, audio... this is the new ink and paper.

-----------------------------------------------------------


smil xmlns="http://www.w3.org/ns/SMIL"

head

meta name="title" content="school_example" /

layout

root-layout xml:id="root_main" title="school_example" backgroundColor="black" width="988" height="680" /

region xml:id="region_img" title="school_example" top="0" left="0" width="988" height="680" z-index="1" /

region xml:id="region_text" title="school_example" top="180" left="70" width="420" height="300" z-index="2"
textAlign="left" textColor="blue" textFontSize="37px" /

/layout

transition xml:id="fade_1" dur="1s" type="fade" /

/head


body

seq

par begin="1s" dur="12s"

img id="img_1" transIn="fade_1" transOut="fade_1" region="region_img" src="media/lincoln_1.jpg" /

audio xml:id="audio1" src="media/audio_1.ogg" /

smilText xml:id="t_1" region="region_text" transIn="fade_1" transOut="fade_1"

"Fourscore and seven years ago
our fathers brought forth on this
continent a new nation

/smilText
/par

par dur="12s"

img id="img_2" transIn="fade_1" transOut="fade_1" region="region_img" src="media/lincoln_2.jpg" /

audio xml:id="audio2" src="media/audio_2.ogg" /

smilText xml:id="t_2" region="region_text" transIn="fade_1" transOut="fade_1"

conceived in liberty and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal.

/smilText
/par

par dur="12s"

img id="img_3" transIn="fade_1" transOut="fade_1" region="region_img" src="media/lincoln_3.jpg" /

audio xml:id="audio3" src="media/audio_3.ogg" /

smilText xml:id="t_3" region="region_text" transIn="fade_1" transOut="fade_1"

Now we are engaged in a great civil war,
testing whether that nation or any nation so
conceived and so dedicated can long endure.

/smilText
/par


/seq
/body
/smil








]]> Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:03:25 +0000 From small screens MMS to large digital signage, SMIL is making inroads.
On the Internet it hasn't, now with smilText and xiph media it's time.

But in the other profiles Mobile and Daisy SMIL files are in containers MMS has mime-multipart and Daisy uses IDPF's ePub format.

With the disparate speeds in Internet connections, all of the separate SMIL files may not download in time, making the SMIL presentation ineffective. If Ubuntu adds Ambulant and supports it, the next step would be to standardize a container, such as the Daisy profile.

A zip file that Ambulant would open automatically and then SMIL content could be offered online or an ePub zip or maybe a combination of both. That's the next step in taking over the Web :)

IDPF's Digital Book Standards FAQs:
idpf.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22]]> Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:06:49 +0000 I hope it's going to be implemented soon...despite the few votes so far ;-)

I really look forward to a flash alternative.

Also, I'd like to find a player capable of playing easily SMIL files. I often have trouble with Helix and RealPlayer..

But I have to say that sometimes the SMIL code was not well written and that's the reason why the player can't load it.
Sometimes it seems to be a problem of connection speed, but I can't really understand it..

I'm a newbie in this technology, but I'm curious to learn and see it have success.

Vote!]]> Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:45:05 +0000 I can play swf file but not flv file.
Please help me.
]]> Mon, 03 Jan 2011 12:38:42 +0000 Wed, 13 Jul 2011 03:49:33 +0000
The rationale is "Support SMIL Player in Ubuntu". This rationale makes all kinds of sense since SMIL is a W3C standard, regardless of what solution is. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronized_Multimedia_Integration_Language and W3C Synchronized Multimedia Home page -
http://www.w3.org/AudioVideo/

A likely solution may well be to package Ambulant Player, and that should also be requested thru normal channels. But even if that doesn't make sense, Ubuntu should have a standards-compliant way to play synchronized multimedia content that people now have to develop using Flash and other proprietary and dangerous and buggy approaches.

See also: http://askubuntu.com/questions/92088/how-to-play-realmedia-smil-rtsp-audio-references-with-start-end-points]]> Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:31:43 +0000 Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:30:21 +0000