Ubuntu

I cannot play most DVDs in Ubuntu 8.10

Asked by Darrell Mattheis

I have loaded Ubuntu 8.10 on two computers in the last two weeks, one will play DVDs, and the other will not. I have installed the same packages on both: libdvdnav4, libdvdread3 & gstreamer0.10-plugins=ugly and sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/install-css.sh and have also installed libdvdcss2. On the first system, this resulted in a working DVD when I placed a DVD in the player. On the second, I have found only (1) DVD that will play.

  I have installed Movie player, Mplayer movie player, and Gxine and I have checked to see that they are up-to-date. The first two start, show a dark screen and the busy loading wheel, then the loading wheel blinks out, and nothing happens. I have down-loaded all up-dates. Xine appears to start, then stops and gives the message "The xine engine failed to start" "No input plugin was found" "Read error from /dev/dvd.

  I am currently at a loss about how to proceed from here, and am considering just wiping the disk and starting over. Any assistance you can give me would be appreciated.

Darrell Mattheis

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Jim Hutchinson (jphutch) said : 		#1

You might want to read https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats

In order play DVDs you need both a player and the decoding software as most DVDs are encrypted. Ubuntu cannot include the decoding software due to legal issues so you will have to install it yourself. The above link includes steps to do that. Actually, it sounds like you did once already on one system. Just do the same on the other (mainly installing libdvdcss2). There is a projected called medibuntu that helps with this and other "restricted" issues. You might check into that as well http://medibuntu.org/.

One thing to note is there are two "engines" for playing video content and they are not compatible with each other. One is gstreamer and the other xine. Ubuntu uses gstreamer by default. If you install xine it will ask to remove gstreamer. I don't know what benefits are accorded by using xine but in my experience I think gstreamer works best. I always open the add/remove tool and install all gstreamer plugins. Those plus libdvdcss2 ensure that just about everything plays.

Revision history for this message
Jim Hutchinson (jphutch) said : 		#2

Correction. It seems that Synaptic no longer prompts to remove gstreamer if you elect to install xine (these are the two backends available with Totem). I don't know what has changed or how that affects playback. I've never really messed with xine. However, I do know that DVDs play fine without installing anything xine related as long as you have libdvdcss2 installed as well. Sorry for any confusion. Should have checked that before replying.

Revision history for this message
Guillermo Belli (glock24) said : 		#3

As Jim stated, you need the libdvdcss2 package, available in the medibuntu repositories. I would also recommend the VLC media player.

Revision history for this message
Darrell Mattheis (mattheis1) said : 		#4

Hi Jim:
Thanks for your suggestions, they are appreciated; I will give them a
try and let you know what happens.

Darrell Mattheis

Jim Hutchinson wrote:
> Your question #55781 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/55781
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Jim Hutchinson proposed the following answer:
> You might want to read
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats
>
> In order play DVDs you need both a player and the decoding software as
> most DVDs are encrypted. Ubuntu cannot include the decoding software due
> to legal issues so you will have to install it yourself. The above link
> includes steps to do that. Actually, it sounds like you did once already
> on one system. Just do the same on the other (mainly installing
> libdvdcss2). There is a projected called medibuntu that helps with this
> and other "restricted" issues. You might check into that as well
> http://medibuntu.org/.
>
> One thing to note is there are two "engines" for playing video content
> and they are not compatible with each other. One is gstreamer and the
> other xine. Ubuntu uses gstreamer by default. If you install xine it
> will ask to remove gstreamer. I don't know what benefits are accorded by
> using xine but in my experience I think gstreamer works best. I always
> open the add/remove tool and install all gstreamer plugins. Those plus
> libdvdcss2 ensure that just about everything plays.
>
>

Revision history for this message
d1bro (d1bro) said : 		#5

install totem-xine after that open nautilus goto "Edit-Preferences" go to the last tab and there change the entry for dvd-video to totem(xine).

hope this is a apropiate solution.

Revision history for this message
d1bro (d1bro) said : 		#6

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