Totem GStreamer

Interesting ... Not like that... We cant expect every user to be at an advanced level .. So we give generally the best possible solution which works easy way...

Bhavani, thanks for early reply!

>>We cant expect every user to be at an advanced level .. So we give generally the best possible solution which works >>easy way...

Yes, i agree with you. What i am saying is that default multimedia setting is not enough usually and there is no well structured and easy help for ordinary user.
i am asking why?
am I right that the easiest solution for a newbe that will most probably just works is GStreamer multimedia framework?
if it is so - why there is no "next step guidance? or something like that?

"As far as I understand there is no package that will properly install the best free multimedia players: mplayer or vlc on every computer" && "I would like to find out K.I.S.S. rule for multimedia in ubuntu?"

apt-get install vlc

Never had a problem on any computer ive installed it on with dependencies or anything else and it plays every file ive tried.

NB: Excludes flash, best to use the actual acrobat flash player.

nope. does not work for me :(( -- never worked :) - no matter freshly installed distro or not (had to build from source - prefer mplayer/mencoder to vlc)
 i 've never had successful installation of vlc (via apt, yum, etc) on compaq/toshiba-satellite/dell-aptitude laptops :(

Play mp3 and dvd under Ubuntu install skype googleearth acroread and other stuffs using Medibuntu

First please install https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats

You need to have extra repositories enabled..

Please first enable the universe and multiverse repository:

Open System → Administration → Software sources → [ Tab Ubuntu software ]

enable "Community-maintained Open Source software ( universe )"
enable "Proprietary drivers for devices ( restricted )"
enable "Software restrictecd by copyright or legal issue ( multiverse )"

Close and confirm the repository reload.

Type the following command in a terminal (applications → accessories → terminal)

sudo aptitude install vlc smplayer mplayer

To get better dvd playback and optional packages here the medibuntu available software list http://packages.medibuntu.org/
you need to add the medibuntu http://www.medibuntu.org/ repository to your /etc/apt/sources.list file:
( here the medibuntu howto https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu but see below )

In short type or better copy and paste the rows, below one row a time then press enter:

ubu_codename=$(sudo lsb_release -c | cut -d: -f 2 | sed 's/^[ \t]*//;s/[ \t]*$//')
sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/$ubu_codename.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list
wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add - && sudo apt-get update

Now to install, type:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras libxine1-ffmpeg
sudo aptitude install libdvdread3 libdvdnav4 libdvdcss2 regionset gnome-mplayer
sudo aptitude install non-free-codecs w32codecs
sudo aptitude install gstreamer0.10-pitfdll gstreamer0.10-plugins-good
sudo aptitude install gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse

give your user password when requested, you don't see nothing when you type it, then press enter.

You can also install other Medibuntu repository provided optional software http://packages.medibuntu.org/ :

sudo apt-get install skype
sudo apt-get install googleearth
sudo apt-get install acroread

Hope this helps

If VLC or Totem doesn't work, and you want to watch dvd movies or play downloaded flv video files in Ubuntu Linux,
Google for "flv flash Totem internal data stream vlc undf"
... it's better to install everything in 32 bit, even if you have a 64 bit machine, as there are something missing in 64 bit depository like drivers, codecs,...

vlc