Question #73384 “playing mp4 file” : Questions : Ubuntu

Revision history for this message

Derek White (d-man97) said on 2009-06-06:

#1

How did you "save a link"?
You either save a web-page file (text/html), or you save a .mp4 file.

For example, above the "playing mp4 file" title your name is a link, if I right-click on it, and select "Save Link As...", I am saving a web page, specifically '~lioganach.htm' (which is a text/html mimetype).

If you opened a *.mp4 file in movie player and it needs a text/html decoder, then you didn't download a real mp4 file, even if you named it something.mp4.

Can you provide more info, and maybe a link to the webpage you are trying to d/l the mp4 from?

Revision history for this message

Derek White (d-man97) said on 2009-06-06:

#2

By the way, if you are sure you have a real mp4 file, try going to:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats

and click on the link under the "Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope)" header (or follow the instructions for your version of Ubuntu). That will install support for some additional formats, and may fix your problem.

Source: https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/totem/+question/5765
NOTE: 'Applications' > 'Sound & Video' > 'Movie Player' is really Totem Movie Player, or Totem.

Revision history for this message

John Kelly (lioganach) said on 2009-06-06:

#3

Hello Derek,
thanks for your interest.
The web site in question is amazing facts.org.
I selected podcasts and right clicked on a desired file and selected save link as
I was presented with a message which says.....
Search for suitable plugins?
The required software to play the file is not installed. You need to install suitable plugins to play media files. Do you want to search for a plugin that supports the selected file
Search
The search will include software which is not officially supported
response of search ....text/html decoder required

The good news this morning is having found a different way I selected the TELEVISION TAB I wasthen able to download the desired file that I wanted to watch later.
I have the access that I need but I would like to find a way through the above if possible if only to learn a little bit more!?
thank you
John

Revision history for this message

Derek White (d-man97) said on 2009-06-06:

#4

I went to amazingfacts.org, and in the 'Current Broadcasts' section and clicked Podcasts under the Bible Answers tab. This brought up http://www.amazingfacts.org/Television/Podcasts/tabid/173/Default.aspx which was a listing of Podcast subscription links. I clicked on Subscribe next to 'Amazing Facts Presents' under the Video Podcasts heading. This brings up the RSS feed page.

What you need to do is copy the URL located in the text box titled: "...with something else (copy this address):" then open Rhythmbox (default music player for 9.04) by going to Applications > Sound & Video > Rhythmbox Music Player. Once open, click on Podcasts on the left side under Library. Then, on the toolbar, you should see an Icon called "New", click on that and the 'New Podcast Feed' window will open. Paste in the RSS feed URL you copied earlier, hit OK and give it a second to load.

You should see a listing of the articles in the feed show up in Rhythmbox. Right click on one of them and select 'Download Episode'. Wait for it to download. Once it finishes, it might say it Failed - it really didn't, rhythmbox just can't handle the mp4 file and thinks it's corrupt or something. Do not try to re-download it. Instead, right click on it again and bring up the properties dialog and click the Details tab to see where the file was saved to on your computer.

As far as I know, there is no All-In-One video podcast feed program in Ubuntu that can add a feed, d/l the articles, and play them. So, once Rythmbox downloads them, go to it's location on your harddrive and open them from there. I like using Rhythmbox because you can queue the downloads, walk away, come back and they are ready. Then, keep the feed updated as you see fit [read on for more about that].

The download location can also be customized. In Rythmbox click on Edit > Preferences and select the Podcasts tab. You can change the d/l location and how often it checks for new episodes. If you select Manually, then you have to double click on a file to start it downloading, or do the right-click > Download Episode I told you about earlier. [Additionally, there was a bug for a while when downloading more than one podcast, gvfsd-http (or something) would freak out and freeze the downloads. This has been fixed in the most recent release, so be sure your system is up to date.]

Your earlier troubles were because Movie Player does not know what to do with a RSS feed, and was trying to find a decoder to play the feed as a video - which is obviously incorrect. If you want, you can submit a bug report/wishlist request to add RSS functionality to Totem; however, Totem is a basic basic movie player and it probably will not happen.

For further exploration, do some searches on Ubuntu RSS or Ubuntu video podcast and see what other options you may have. I am positive there are other media players that support RSS, but Rhythmbox seems to be the default for now.

Yet another way, would be to just use Firefox as your RSS program. Load up the RSS page (e.g. http://feeds2.feedburner.com/AmazingFactsPresents), scroll down, and click the Play link to load the .mp4 directly from your browser. Just be sure to bookmark any frequently used feeds! This might be easier if you only want to watch a few mp4's and don't care about downloading them all automatically.

Hope this helps. And yes, RSS support in Ubuntu is way behind the curve...let's hope that changes in the near future.