POLL: Got a working OSS4.2 surround system for movies?

[gavinc]

I've been trying to make surround work for videos on my recent oss4.2 install. There's precious little information about how to actually *USE* surround sound in the apps that produce it (mplayer, vlc, etc).

Now, regardless of my poll title, I'm really not trying to be contentious - I just have a burning desire to know:
- if others are using OSS4.2 for surround in movies
- *exactly* how they've made it happen

So, just asking for a show of hands (and if you wanna share the deets of your working setup, so much the better) of success that ppl have had making this happen.

Cheers for your consideration,

G

[igorzwx]

I've been trying to make surround work for videos on my recent oss4.2 install. There's precious little information about how to actually *USE* surround sound in the apps that produce it (mplayer, vlc, etc).

Now, regardless of my poll title, I'm really not trying to be contentious - I just have a burning desire to know:
- if others are using OSS4.2 for surround in movies
- *exactly* how they've made it happen

So, just asking for a show of hands (and if you wanna share the deets of your working setup, so much the better) of success that ppl have had making this happen.

Cheers for your consideration,

G

What is the ritual meaning of this poll?
On Ubuntu forums, they do perform such ceremonies about sound problems.
And nothing changes, the same problems persist and worsen.
I was always puzzled. Do they really believe in the magic power of rituals and dramatic performances?
Do they really believe that practical problems can be solved by polls or a kind of voting?
Or it is a kind of quasi-sociological research? Or the purpose of rites is to produce a feeling of solidarity and illusion of participation in decision-making? Or it is simply a comedy?

I have never tried to make surround sound work, but might be obvious that you may need a proper soundcard and a proper driver for it, and a proper sound file, of course.

[cesium]

igorzwx: Please be polite. ritual, ceremonies? fah, hyperbole!

I talked with gavinc on IRC. He's just interested in some practical information about setting up OSS in multichannel mode (e.g. which players work), and for that we need users to report their experiences (since unfortunately, neither you or I or most people use this setup). We managed to set up mplayer to work a bit, but it's not perfect (interested users can see some info here).

gavinc: I also suggest you chat up oss-devel a bit.

[igorzwx]

igorzwx: Please be polite. ritual, ceremonies? fah, hyperbole!

I talked with gavinc on IRC. He's just interested in some practical information about setting up OSS in multichannel mode (e.g. which players work), and for that we need users to report their experiences (since unfortunately, neither you or I or most people use this setup). We managed to set up mplayer to work a bit, but it's not perfect (interested users can see some info here).

gavinc: I also suggest you chat up oss-devel a bit.

Perhaps, I was misunderstood.
The notion of rituals has nothing to do with impoliteness.
Social life consists of rituals, and this is true for any society and any culture.
You may consult in anthropological handbooks.
I may provide a long list of such handbooks, if you need.

But it would be really interesting to know practical results of your experiments with surround sound.

EDIT:
Examples: marriage belongs to "transition rituals" (i.e., "rites of passage"), shaking hands is also a ritual:
"A handshake is a short ritual in which two people grasp each other's right hand, often accompanied by a brief up and down movement of the grasped hands." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handshake
There are sacred rituals and secular rituals.
What might be impolite in anthropological terms? And where is the hyperbole?

When secular rituals are correctly performed, you do not notice that they are rituals. But if a secular ritual is performed on a false occasion, it may look very strange. Right?

[igorzwx]

This may explain the phenomenon of Ubuntu polls:
"Rituals of various kinds are a feature of almost all known human societies... They include... the rites of passage of certain societies, atonement and purification rites..., coronations and presidential inaugurations, marriages..., club meetings, sports events, Halloween parties, veteran parades, Christmas shopping and more. Many activities that are ostensibly performed for concrete purposes, such as... scientific symposia, are loaded with purely symbolic actions prescribed by regulations or tradition, and thus partly ritualistic in nature. Even common actions like hand-shaking and saying hello are rituals.

In psychology, the term ritual is used in a technical sense for a repetitive behavior systematically used by a person to neutralize or prevent anxiety; it is a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual

HYPOTHESIS: The purpose of Ubuntu polls is to neutralize anxiety caused by persistent problems.