I’m trying to get my DVDs playing in Ubuntu. I’ve installed VLC player and this won’t play them, I’ve installed Ogle and this won’t play them and I’ve installed Movie Player (totem-gstreamer) and this won’t play them. The only program that gives me an error is Movie Player, which tells me I don’t have the necessary plugins (does Totem actually come with any plugins?).
VLC and Ogle refuse to do anything. They just sit there when I press play.
I thought it may have been a problem with my disc, so I tried two different ones, one quite old and the other new. This doesn’t seem to have any effect.
Does anyone know how to get DVDs playing, then?
Thanks.
If these are commercial DVD’s, the issue is probably that you don’t have a CSS decoder. Most Linux DVD players ship without them, and you have to add the capability by plugin. To be sure, try playing a DVD you burned yourself – they won’t have CSS (usually), and will probably play just fine.
Why don’t they include such a critical component (most people want to play commercial DVDs)? Because it’s illegal in the US (nobody’s paid the license fees to decrypt CSS, and the DMCA makes it illegal to do so without paying, even though it’s technically trivial.). You’re not in the US, and I don’t know your local laws, but you’re getting splashed by our mess. It may very well be legal for you to install the CSS decoder (a google for the name of your player + CSS will find it for you.).