m2v files (sometimes suffix=.mp2, mpeg, etc.) are the mpeg files"of today!?"
of type "MPEG-2", and cannot usually be played with "standard
players" -  I found "powerDVD.exe" can do it, on a pc etc.

My question is:  can these type files be played not only on
pc's with windows, but on MACs, Linux boxes, UNIX machines
                       ^^ ^^^^  ^^^^^        ^^^^^
such as SGI, HP, and Suns(solaris)?  I was told MPEGTV player
on a sun can do it, but I have had no success,
MPEGTV, too, for SGI machines, seems to have abandoned any
upgrades for playing anything but the "MPEG-1" mpeg files.

Also, it appears something called "showmetv" can maybe play
the MPEG-2's, on a SUN (solaris), but Im skeptical if m2v's
with BOTH audio+video if one will "see not hear" or "hear not see"
the movie.

And, I recently read somewhere, that if a Mac person wants to play
a MPEG-2 on his macintosh, he has to CONVERT THE M2V TO A MOV (quick-
time) first!

What in the world is happening!?  more and better mpeg's (.m2v)
are abounding, and it looks like only "new PC people" will be able
to see them!  Mackers, UNIXers, even Linux-folk: to be dead in the
water!?

Baab,

The short answer is yes they can... at least most platforms can.

A bit more detail 

While a quick view of http://www.vcdhelp.com/tools will convince you
that most of the tools for viewing and editing mp2 files are PC based,
a scroll down to the bottom will show you that there are more than a
few programs written for Macs, Linux and Unix.

The main piece of software for non-windows systems is Videolan -
available from :
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

According to their website it has ports for :

BeOS
BSD
iPAQ Familiar Linux
Linux
MacOS X
QNX RTOS
Solaris
Windows

While I cannot vouch directly for the success of this program on
Solaris (the site says that it does not have native audio support and
they don't mention a HP-UX or SGI port) I am informed by a friend who
uses a max exclusively for DVD and SVCD editing that it does indeed
work on a mac.

There are other programs such as mplayer for linux that boast mpeg2
support... The latest version of quicktime on the Mac will play some
flavors of mpeg2 (depends on exactly how they are encoded).

So in summary, viewing m2v files isn't solely a PC based gig. But
you're right in noticing that for some strange reason, the PC
community has a lot more programs available. Most likely, Mac owners
would say that what they lack in quantity, they make up for in quality
and *nix users would claim that their programs are more efficient -
but there's something in there for everybody these days.

Hope this helps - be sure to check out the links at the bottom of the
page for more info.

Regards

calebu2-ga

Search strategy :
Started at vcd helper
http://www.vcdhelp.com - everything you need to know about VCDs, DVDs,
MPEG1, MPEG2 and related hardware/software.

Player sites :
VideoLAN
http://www.videolan.org/
mplayer
http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/
Quicktime
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/

Also of note :
Rip help - information on "ripping" DVDs and converting video files.
http://riphelp.com

Your pointer to http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/   looks like the
best bet (reference) so far!  the MPlayer, there, boasts of playing 
.m2v files (audio + video tracks) on just about ANY pc, workstation,
linux, mac, etc.  Time and tests will tell!  I give you 4 1/2 stars!