Re: Audio/video file playback in org mode

[Michael Brand <michael.ch.brand@gmail.com>]

Hi Paul

Thank you very much for sharing this, I will benefit a lot and the
interactivity from within Emacs seems extremely useful. My recent
searches for how to play an Org link to an audio file didn't find any
result and I was about to work out something with mpg123. I planned to
define a new link type for this but your solution with "file:" looks
to me more like it should be and is also backwards compatible with
links already made with "file:".

And even better if "file:" could also cover my requirement to have an
optional link search part that lets the player start and stop at a
specified time. Let me define the format like this:
- start to play in file at 00:03:21, stop at 00:06:54:
  [[file:some_podcast.mp3::00:03:21-00:06:54]]
- start to play in file at 00:03:21, play until end of file:
  [[file:some_podcast.mp3::00:03:21]]
- play the whole file:
  [[file:some_podcast.mp3]]

I would like to explicitly not allow [[file:some_podcast.mp3::03:21]]
as a shorter option with MM:SS because I would like to see XX:XX being
reserved for HH:MM without exception in Org. There was a recent
discussion covering this in the context of time calculation:
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.orgmode/39487/focus=39840

Michael

On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 23:55, Paul Sexton <psexton@xnet.co.nz> wrote:
> I have spent a few hours figuring this out so I thought I would post it for
> the benefit of others.
>
> I am learning a language, and wanted to include hyperlinks to audio files
> within my org document, and be able to play each file by clicking on the
> link.
>
> I eventually discovered the variable 'org-file-apps' which allows you to
> associate particular applications with particular file types.
>
> I am using Bongo (https://github.com/dbrock/bongo) as the media player.
> EMMS is another actively developed media player, but setup looked too
> complicated at first glance.
>
> I am using MPlayer as the actual media player. This supports almost all
> audio and video file formats. Most importantly, it works on Windows as well
> as on Linux (VLC has a Windows port but it doesn't work with Bongo as the
> 'fake-tty' interface is not implemented on Windows.)
>
> My current setup means that clicking on a link such as [[file:song.mp3]]
> adds it to the active Bongo playlist (in another buffer) and immediately
> starts playing it. Playback can be paused, fast-forwarded etc using
> Bongo.
>
> When Bongo plays a file it puts some icons in the modeline that
> resemble the 'play', 'stop' etc symbols, and can be used to control
> playback using the mouse. I found these worked erratically outside
> the actual Bongo playlist buffer, so I have instead bound some
> org-mode keys (ctrl + numpad keys) to the relevant functions.
> This is optional of course.
>
> I have only tested this with mp3 files, but it ought to work with
> video as well.
>
>
> My setup follows:
> -------------------
>
> ;;; Part 1. Bongo setup
>
> (add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/bongo"))
> (autoload 'bongo "bongo"
>  "Start Bongo by switching to a Bongo buffer." t)
>
> (setq bongo-mplayer-program-name
>      (case system-type
>        ((windows-nt cygwin) "c:\\Program Files\\MPlayer for Windows\\MPlayer.exe")
>        (t "mplayer")))
>
> (setq bongo-enabled-backends '(mplayer))
>
> ;;; Part 2. Org setup
>
> (defvar av-file-regex
>  (concat "\\." (regexp-opt
>                 (append bongo-audio-file-name-extensions
>                         bongo-video-file-name-extensions)) "$"))
>
> (add-to-list 'org-file-apps
>             (cons av-file-regex '(org-play-media-file file)))
>
> (defun org-play-media-file (filename)
>  (with-bongo-buffer
>    (bongo-insert-file filename)
>    (backward-char)
>    (bongo-play)))
>
> ;;; Part 3. Keybindings to allow control of playback within Org buffer
> ;;; (optional)
>
> ;; Numpad Ctrl-0: pause/resume
> (define-key org-mode-map (kbd "<C-kp-0>") 'bongo-pause/resume)
> (define-key org-mode-map (kbd "<C-kp-insert>") 'bongo-pause/resume)
> ;; Numpad Ctrl-.: stop current track, or restart from beginning if stopped
> (define-key org-mode-map (kbd "<C-kp-decimal>") 'bongo-start/stop)
> (define-key org-mode-map (kbd "<C-kp-delete>") 'bongo-start/stop)
> ;; Numpad Ctrl-PgUp, Ctrl-PgDn: raise/lower volume
> (define-key org-mode-map (kbd "<C-kp-prior>") 'bongo-volume-raise)
> (define-key org-mode-map (kbd "<C-kp-next>") 'bongo-volume-lower)
> (define-key org-mode-map (kbd "<C-kp-9>") 'bongo-volume-raise)
> (define-key org-mode-map (kbd "<C-kp-3>") 'bongo-volume-lower)
> ;; Numpad Ctrl-left, Ctrl-right: skip back/forward 10 seconds
> (define-key org-mode-map (kbd "<C-kp-left>") 'bongo-seek-backward-10)
> (define-key org-mode-map (kbd "<C-kp-right>") 'bongo-seek-forward-10)
> (define-key org-mode-map (kbd "<C-kp-4>") 'bongo-seek-backward-10)
> (define-key org-mode-map (kbd "<C-kp-6>") 'bongo-seek-forward-10)