Red Hat Linux 8.0: The Official Red Hat Linux Getting Started Guide
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# Playing Digital Videos

It has become more and more popular to play digital movie files, such as Video Compact Discs (VCDs), Digital Versatile (or Video) disks (DVD), and streaming video from the Web. Red Hat Linux offers a tool called Xine that can play several digital video file formats on your graphical desktop. Xine uses a panel that lets you open files and media, control volume, create playlists, take screenshots of the video stills, and more. Figure 9-4 shows the Xine panel playing a file.

Figure 9-4. The Xine Panel

To start Xine, click Main Menu => Extras => Sound & Video => Video Player; or, you can start it by typing `xine` at a shell prompt.

To play a movie on disc, choose either VCD or DVD on the bottom of the panel. This should automatically mount and load your video disk for viewing by pressing the Play button.

To play a video file that you have downloaded from the Internet, choose the MRL browser on the left side of the panel. This will pop up a file browser that allows you to choose the video from a listing of your home directory. Choose the file and press the Play button. You can close the MRL browser by clicking Dismiss.

By default, Xine will play a file in a window on your desktop. To play a file full screen (where the video fills your desktop screen), click the Fullscreen/Window Mode button next to the Quit button at the top-right side of the panel. Right-click anywhere on the screen to hide the panel. When you are finished viewing the video, right-click again to show the panel and press the Quit button to quit Xine.

For more information on Xine, type `man xine` at a shell prompt or visit the Xine home page at the following URL:

http://xine.sourceforge.net

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