How to set up a Debian/KDE system to play videos in 3GPP format.

These kind of videos are commonly used with MMS services.
They get used for example if a message from a mobile phone
with movie recording capabilites gets sent as Email attachment
or to a web server where the movie can be downloaded from.


1. Install required player:

Add these 2 lines to your /etc/apt/sources.list file:

   deb http://marillat.free.fr/ unstable main
   deb-src http://perso.wanadoo.fr/debian/ unstable main

Then execute:

   apt-get update
   apt-get install mplayer 

to find the appropriate version.  Assume, you have a PentiumIII
compatible system:

   apt-get install mplayer-386 qt6codecs


2. Make the 3GPP format known to mplayer

Necessary at least for mplayer version <= 0.90-02.
Edit /etc/mplayer/codecs.conf and add 

   format 0x33363273

to the "videocodev ffh263" section below line "driver ffmpeg",
which roughly should be located near line 626. In addition,
change date to the current date in the release section near line 6,
or mplayer will not recognize that the file has been updated.


3. Make the 3GPP Video MIME type known to KDE

Start Konqueror.

Add file (and MIME type) association:

Open Settings->Configure Konqueror Window.
Klick on icon "File Associations".
Klick on button "Add...".

The "Create New File Type" window appears.
Select Group: "video".
Type Name: "3gpp".
Click button "OK".
Expand "+video" tree in Known Types window.

Add Application to use:
In Application Preference Order section, click "Add.."
button. Choose window appears, type "mplayer"
and click OK button.
Highlight "mplayer" and click "Edit".
Properies window appears, select "Execute" tab.
Add this command:
  mplayer -double -vop scale=256:-2 video.mp4a -loop 10
and click "OK" button.

Add filename patterns: Select "3gpp", and select the
"General" tab on the right.  Add: 
  *.3gp
  *.3gpp
Add Description:
  3GPP Video

Fine tune:
Click the icon, the SelectIcon window appears.
Click System icons, select "Mimetypes" and click
the video icon.

Save the modifications:
Click button "Apply".	<- important step
Click button "OK".

Note: According to 3GPP recommendation, the file
extension is .3gp, but  sometimes 
.3gpp gets used as well.

Have fun.
Stefan Katerkamp