codecs for Linux

[anonymez]

I don't know. how can I find that out?

Not my forte, but the region of the disc is usually on the back of the cover. The region your drive is set to is usually the same as the country you are residing in.

Do the discs play in VLC or Totem? I don't think I've ever found a DVD that mplayer couldn't play.

[O-pos]

If mlpayer cannot play something, totem cannot do that as well. I don't have VLC so I can't tell you about it.

[anonymez]

If mlpayer cannot play something, totem cannot do that as well

If that was the case, I wouldn't have asked you to check.

Try

mplayer dvd://2

and

mplayer dvd://3

and so on.

[O-pos]

As expected, Totem couldn't play thad mysterious DVD either:

"Totem cannot play this type of media because you do not have the appropriate plugins to handle it"

mplayer dvd://2 mplayer dvd://3 etc.. works but it shows only other movie trailers and not the movie itself. I went up to mplayer dvd://13 and it's the same, when one cycle ends, it starts to show the same trailers again. So I opened directly the DVD with file manageres and tried to play one of the movie vob files with mplayer. I got very ugly and unpleasantly sounding audio and no video at all. So I even couldn't swicth it off, because there was no video window to close (how dos one in this case switchs the mplayer off? let's say if I opened an mp3 file with mplayer and don't want to listen it to the end).

[anonymez]

Run:

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.8-dvd gstreamer0.8-a52dec gstreamer0.8-mpeg2dec

And try again. Could be a poorly authored disc, or copy protection.

how dos one in this case switchs the mplayer off? let's say if I opened an mp3 file with mplayer and don't want to listen it to the end

Hit Escape.

[O-pos]

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.8-dvd gstreamer0.8-a52dec gstreamer0.8-mpeg2dec

I installed them but it didn't change anything. Then I used vobcopy and copied DVD as vob files on my HD. then it worked.

[O-pos]

I downloaded now the latest libdvdcss2 and other codecs and it still doesn't work. I also downloaded mplayer from ubuntu repositories and the problem persisted, however i got back again this flv problems regarding audio - video dissociation and I reinstalled mplayer-CSV.

So, mplayer cannot play some DVDs but can play copied VOBs. I have the latest libdvdcss2 and other codecs.. What should be the problem? very complicated issue, isn't it?

[anonymez]

Not an issue, AFAIK, on my end though. You could try compiling it. Applications with frequently updated components/libs like mplayer/mencoder and ffmpeg are best compiled by the user.

sudo apt-get install subversion build-essential

sudo apt-get build-dep mplayer

Head over to the mplayer home page for the latest source, I think you know the rest.

[O-pos]

I compiled new mplayer. It was my first time. It was challenging, but I did it

however, unfortunately, id didn't change that above mentioned problem with DVDs. when I try to open it, like before, a window appears (however in 4:3 proportions, which is not proper for that movie) and dissapears, and I get following in terminal:

 $ mplayer dvd://
MPlayer 1.0rc1-4.1.2 (C) 2000-2006 MPlayer Team
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.50GHz (Family: 6, Model: 13, Stepping: 6)
CPUflags:  MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1
Compiled for x86 CPU with extensions: MMX MMX2 SSE SSE2
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

Playing dvd://.
There are 13 titles on this DVD.
There are 1 chapters in this DVD title.
There are 1 angles in this DVD title.
audio stream: 0 format: ac3 (stereo) language: unknown aid: 128.
number of audio channels on disk: 1.
number of subtitles on disk: 0
MPEG-PS file format detected.
VIDEO:  MPEG2  720x576  (aspect 2)  25.000 fps  8000.0 kbps (1000.0 kbyte/s)
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [mpegpes] MPEG 1/2 Video passthrough
VDec: vo config request - 720 x 576 (preferred colorspace: Mpeg PES)
Could not find matching colorspace - retrying with -vf scale...
Opening video filter: [scale]
The selected video_out device is incompatible with this codec.
Try adding the scale filter, e.g. -vf spp,scale instead of -vf spp.
VDecoder init failed :(
Opening video decoder: [libmpeg2] MPEG 1/2 Video decoder libmpeg2-v0.4.0b
Selected video codec: [mpeg12] vfm: libmpeg2 (MPEG-1 or 2 (libmpeg2))
==========================================================================
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [liba52] AC3 decoding with liba52
Using SSE optimized IMDCT transform
Using MMX optimized resampler
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 224.0 kbit/14.58% (ratio: 28000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [a52] afm: liba52 (AC3-liba52)
==========================================================================
AO: [oss] 48000Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)
Starting playback...
VDec: vo config request - 720 x 576 (preferred colorspace: Planar YV12)
VDec: using Planar YV12 as output csp (no 0)
Movie-Aspect is 1.33:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
VO: [xv] 720x576 => 768x576 Planar YV12 
A:   0.4 V:   0.0 A-V:  0.378 ct:  0.004   1/  1 ??% ??% ??,?% 0 0 

Exiting... (End of file)

[anonymez]

I compiled new mplayer. It was my first time. It was challenging, but I did it

A few more like that (next step: ffmpeg, pidgin then a kernel ) and compiling anything will be a piece of cake

when I try to open it, like before, a window appears (however in 4:3 proportions, which is not proper for that movie) and dissapears, and I get following in terminal:

That might be because it's playing the wrong title. Try dvd://2, etc. If all else fails, the mplayer mailing lists are the best way to get in touch with the devs, it may be a known issue.

[O-pos]

A few more like that (next step: ffmpeg, pidgin then a kernel ) and compiling anything will be a piece of cake

I think I should directly start with kernel

That might be because it's playing the wrong title. Try dvd://2, etc. If all else fails, the mplayer mailing lists are the best way to get in touch with the devs, it may be a known issue.

Yes, dvd://2 worked in this case, and the movie started normally. But, frankly, I am not quite happy about that, because before I was very proud of mplayer's minimalistic feature to start directly to show movie and skip garbage of advertisements and short videos "illegan download is crime" and stuff.. I was telling my friends that mplayer was able to do that, but as it turns out this feature is not perfect

[O-pos]

I've got mencoder question regarding mp3lame. I checked whole documentation in mplayerhq.hu, but couldn't find exact answer:

While using libavcodec for two-pass mpeg encoding (vpass=1/vpass=2), how could one apply that same thing to audio using mp3lame? I use abr (average bitrate) instead of cbr, but this also works in single pass. so what's the mystery of two-pass code?

[anonymez]

The vpass parameter is to set the video encoder's pass. Generally, audio encoders do not have multi-pass encoding (Nero's AAC encoder does, and I think I remember mencoder's mp3 encoder did too, but it was problematic). You can encode without audio with (IIRC):

-of rawvideo

or

-nosound

I use abr (average bitrate) instead of cbr, but this also works in single pass. so what's the mystery of two-pass code?

ABR is a single-pass method that requires you to set an average bitrate. It increases/decreases bitrate as necessary, allocating more bits to where they are needed, and file size is predictable.

[O-pos]

I have a problem playing 4 different DVDs of the same show series. gxine and media player classic play it without problems, but mplayer first starts sound and then after significantly long delay - video. and if I try to skip forward, it freezes. I tried the older cvs version - exactly the same problem. copied first 10 MB with mencoder - the same delay.

Is it possible to somehow fix it?

[anonymez]

Is it possible to somehow fix it?

The best method might be to contact the devs, either on the mailing lists or on IRC, #mplayer on freenode. Playback of encrypted DVDs (and menus) is one area of mplayer that needs attention.