new to mac, questions on running Mplayer OSX

[ElDogman]

just got myself a core i5 MBP 15". First time mac user, long time windows user.

i'm running into difficulties on doing something really basic.. which is installing and running new programs!

for my media player needs I've installed Mplayer OSX. I've set my avi, wmv, etc files to use mplayer as default yet every time I click on those videos.. they don't run! maybe if i restart and I click on the file, mplayer would come up and play the video.. but after clicking other videos, nothing happens.
Even installing it was a pain because mplayer would ask me to check for updates, and whichever answer I chose, it would crash. somehow I got past that.

Installing firefox was also confusing. On windows I just clicked an exe file and let it install away. it seems the mac version of an exe file is the dmg file? after downloading it... I installed it and moved it to the app folder, then docked it.. but it every time i click the docked icon, it keeps taking me to set up.

anyways, I'd like to make my first mac experience enjoyable and get over these set backs!

 

[Kristenn]

For the videos you can install Perian. It's a plugin for Quicktime that should play all those videos.

Also another good one is VLC player.

Links.

http://www.perian.org/

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Also for firefox.

First clicked the dmg file and then drag the Firefox icon to either Applications folder (on the dock in Snow Leopard to the left of the Documents stack) and it will install. Then eject the .dmg and then you can go into the Applications folder and drag the Firefox icon to the dock to make a shortcut. Now the program is actually installed and you won't be taken through the setup thing anymore.

I hope I helped. Also, Welcome to Macintosh!

 

[richard.mac]

Mplayer is a good player for watching videos that QuickTime cant Play. Perian adds codecs so you can use QuickTime Player, Front Row etc. to play movies.

… installing it was a pain because mplayer would ask me to check for updates, and whichever answer I chose, it would crash. somehow I got past that.

Installing firefox was also confusing. On windows I just clicked an exe file and let it install away. it seems the mac version of an exe file is the dmg file? …

http://guides.macrumors.com/Installing_Applications_in_Mac_OS_X