unable to play a dvd

[réjean]

Hi all! The same question can be asked about Windows 10. Here it goes! I have a new computer with Windows 10 and Ubuntu 20.10 installed. Almost everything works well except that I cannot play a .vob file. In Ubuntu I installed VLC and something else but I cannot play the DVD ( which we borrowed from the local library and it's about Henry VIII and Cromwell. It works well on our DVD player downstair but I would like to be able to watch it on the computer with headphones when my wife goes to bed).
So I am now in Windows 10 and it still doesn't want to play. I am being asked to look for an app but I don't know what to look for. I used to brague and say that Linux can figure out everything but it cannot play a simple .vob file. What is wrong?

 

[réjean]

ok. back in Linux. The other software I installed is SMPlayer. Here is what I get if I try VLC media player.

[réjean]

and if I try it with SMPlayer:

[securitybreach]

What does the VLC log say?

[réjean]

How can I find out?

 

[securitybreach]

You may need some dvd encoders installed: libdvdnav, libdvdread and possible libdvdcss for encrypted dvds.

[securitybreach]

libdvdcss is probably the issue.

[securitybreach]

Windows also requires software to play encrypted dvds.

[securitybreach]

libdvdnav is required to get menus on linux+vlc

 

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/VLC_media_player#Cannot_navigate_DVD_menus

[réjean]

I went into synaptic and couldn't find a libdvdcss but I saw a kubuntu-restricted-extras which I installed which came with a whole bunch of lib files but still the same result. And libdvdnav  was already installed.

 

 

Edited May 8, 2022 by réjean

[sunrat]

Don't know about *buntus but in Debian just install the package libdvd-pkg. It will download and install the required libraries etc. to play encrypted commercial DVDs.

[striker]

How to Play DVD in Ubuntu 20.04, 18.04 and 16.04
https://itsfoss.com/play-dvd-ubuntu-1310/

 

If after all this it still won't play it could eventually be a region problem. How to solve that one (second part down on the screen):

https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/playing-digitally-restricted-dvds-gnulinux

[securitybreach]

I do not know why they make things so difficult on Ubuntu. So on Ubuntu, the libdvd-pkg provides those utilities after adding another repo. Thanks Striker

[striker]

To make matters worse, better also read the comments on the 'itsfoss' link regarding the different libdvdread versions. Somehow as Josh already mentioned they somehow love making things more difficult than it should be.

[striker]

Just moments ago while perusing ATL I thought what the heck, let's check my Mint machine: Mint 20.3 Una, kernel 5.4.0.109-generic x86_64 with Cinnamon 5.2.7 (base Ubuntu 20.04 focal);

Fired up a home burned DVD with music and videos, worked perfectly.

Next I loaded a commercial DVD, it also worked perfectly. 

However I'm using MPV Media Player and not vlc, never had that loaded.

After inserting such DVD's Mint asks what to do with it (in my case, the way I set it to do so), I select MPV Media Player, hit the OK button and off it goes, inc. full screen options. So all I can say is it should work like one wants it. And with that I mean video and sound. Hope it helps .