lack of multimedia support

[brianthelion]

I installed Kubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 and the install went very smooth.
I had a usable operating system, immediate internet access through my network router without having to do any configuring and immediate network access to the rest of my lan via samba share. The system runs fairly well on an 800 Mhz P3 with 512 MB SDram, a 32 MB AGP4 Nvidia card, an old 120 Gb Samsung IDE Hard disk all running on an old Asus motherboard with a Via chipset.

I am having problems getting any multimedia content to play. I've checked out all the relevant forum help and while I did manage to get another machine with Gutsy Gibbon to play DVD's following snowhog's instructions

(http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3086749.0)

with Hardy Heron those same instructions have not worked....I've only managed to get VCD playback after installing all possible codecs..... Just can't get a sense of what I'm doing wrong. Now, when I attempt to play an avi file for example, Kaffeine tries to go online to download a codec, then reports that the codec is already installed, then repeats this attempt to install codec repeatedly.....until I kill the program...

I'm a video professional. I need to be able to play Divx, Xvid, H264, VOB, mp4 files.

Can anyone help me.....

[Rog131]

Re: lack of multimedia support

Maybe this topic: "DVD playback fails even with all codecs etc installed" helps to get more info. (start mediaplayer in the konsole with the verbose option...)

[brianthelion]

Re: lack of multimedia support

Thanks for your help...

I decided to go with Gutsy Gibbon instead of Hardy Heron, because I know for sure that Gibbon works.

in addition to snowhog's tips, which really worked for me at least as far as Gutsy Gibbon goes, I also used adept to search for 'codec' and installed all the resulting codecs which that search threw up....

I am now able to play divx and xvid, also mp4 and a Canopus DV codec avi.....

I understand that the Ubuntu/Kubuntu community cannot include DVD playback in the downloadable iso for proprietary reasons, but surely that doesn't apply to divx, xvid and other mpeg4 codecs which are available free for decoding anyway....couldn't they be included in the downloadable iso...?

Also, is there any reason why I cannot have mplayer, kaffeine and vlc coexisting ?

I gave up trying to install mplayer and vlc because adept gave me 'break' flags to indicate some kind of conflict with existing software....p...

[Snowhog]

Re: lack of multimedia support

As to "adept gave me 'break' flags to indicate some kind of conflict with existing software..."

Given that you've gone back to GG, ensure that you have the repositories in Adept setup 'correctly' as in:

For Gutsy Installations:

Open Adept Manager (K Menu | System | Adept Manger) and click on Adept | Manage Repositories. On the first tab, check all items (you don't need the last item checked unless you intend to download source files for compiling). On the Third-Party Software tab uncheck/delete the cdrom repository entry. Close the window. If Adept doesn't automatically fetch updates, click on Fetch Updates. You will now have access to the thousands of available packages. If you still have problems, open a console and type:

sudo dpkg --configure -a

[brianthelion]

Re: lack of multimedia support

Thanks Snowhog...

actually, I did a new GG install, not a roll-back from HH to GG....and I also did the 'manage repositories requisites' which you point out - I had found that tip on another forum entry....

So I do have a good working GG install (my third machine with GG)....

haven't tried to install mplayer or vlc on this one....will get back to you with results of my toddler efforts...!!

Gotta Walk Before They Make Me Run....

Brian..

[marshallbanana]

Re: lack of multimedia support

It should definitely be possible to at least have both kaffiene & vlc. I've had that on a previous install.