Can't Watch Videos in Ubuntu

Micahb · 09-17-2009, 07:25 PM

Any time I try to open up a video file, it opens for about a quarter second then closes.
It does this in any player with every file.

If I try to convert a video file, I can watch it in the preview of the program I am using, but after it's done and I try to open up the new file, same thing happens.

Nate · 09-17-2009, 07:28 PM

Join the club.

Nate · 09-17-2009, 07:34 PM

On a slightly more helpful note, my first guess would be you have a wimpy driver for your video card.

Was your card automatically detected / installed when you put Ubuntu on, or did you have to do a lot of work?

Linux is notoriously atrocious with handling any kind of audio or video codecs, too. This is because most of them are proprietary.

Almost any multi-media support within Linux is just patchy workarounds rather than the kind of native support a typical computer user knows.

I'm not sure what to try. I've basically just resigned myself to the fact that video sucks in Linux and just learned to deal with it. If you want 'em, dual-boot.

tht00 · 09-18-2009, 10:36 AM

What happens when you launch the video player from the terminal and then open the file? (Looking for error output to the terminal.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate

Linux is notoriously atrocious with handling any kind of audio or video codecs, too. This is because most of them are proprietary.

I'm not sure what to try. I've basically just resigned myself to the fact that video sucks in Linux and just learned to deal with it. If you want 'em, dual-boot.

Really? I have better luck with video in Linux than Windows...

Granted, bad video drivers can throw a wrench in the works...

Cam42 · 09-18-2009, 10:55 AM

For once, I actually had a Kubuntu install that worked with all of my hardware without a hitch, video drivers, wireless drivers, and flash. I was shocked.
Slightly more on topic quesiton for the OP. Are you watching them online like youtube or viddler? or do you have the videos downloaded to your computer?

Nate · 09-18-2009, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tht00

Really? I have better luck with video in Linux than Windows...

Granted, bad video drivers can throw a wrench in the works...

I never could play .movs or .mpgs with any Linux distro.

tht00 · 09-18-2009, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate

I never could play .movs or .mpgs with any Linux distro.

Mpegs work fine for me. Not sure I've ever tried mov... so I dug around and found this: QuickTime: Sample files (Why they zipped each file is beyond me...)

I can play every video there with different levels of success in different players. Mplayer and vlc drops the audio on the first couple and totem badly distorts it (not sure if it's compressed that bad, or artifact of a bad codec), but they are more obscure formats I've never seen (3gp,3g2).

Totem is strangely dropping sound for the most common ones (mov and m4v), but it seems to be looking for the appropriate codec, but seems to be linked to an old version... Looks like a problem on my end (totem needs recompiled to be linked to the updated codec).

In any case, the most important part is having all the appropriate codecs. I think that almost everything one needs is in the gstreamer good, bad, and ugly packages. Also, a good video player is important -- and the ability to try another should one fail to detect the format properly. I love mplayer. Vlc is usually good. Totem is meh.

Micahb · 09-18-2009, 04:25 PM

[????????] x11 video output error: X11 request 132.19 failed with error code 11:
BadAlloc (insufficient resources for operation)
X Error of failed request: BadAlloc (insufficient resources for operation)
Major opcode of failed request: 132 (XVideo)
Minor opcode of failed request: 19 ()
Serial number of failed request: 81
Current serial number in output stream: 82

tht00 · 09-19-2009, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Micahb

[????????] x11 video output error: X11 request 132.19 failed with error code 11:
BadAlloc (insufficient resources for operation)
X Error of failed request: BadAlloc (insufficient resources for operation)
Major opcode of failed request: 132 (XVideo)
Minor opcode of failed request: 19 ()
Serial number of failed request: 81
Current serial number in output stream: 82

Looking at this page, it seems that the issue is likely the video driver...

Do you know what video card you have?

Micahb · 09-19-2009, 11:45 PM

I don't really know much about the computer. It's a bit of an older one from my dads office that they don't use any more.
It's just running off the motherboard, though.

And to Nate - that's weird. I've never had any troubles running any videos on any of my Linux systems. And I am by NO means a Linux guru. I'm quite the noob, actually. Ubuntuguide helped me out a lot.

Nate · 09-20-2009, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tht00

Mpegs work fine for me. Not sure I've ever tried mov... so I dug around and found this: QuickTime: Sample files (Why they zipped each file is beyond me...)

I can play every video there with different levels of success in different players. Mplayer and vlc drops the audio on the first couple and totem badly distorts it (not sure if it's compressed that bad, or artifact of a bad codec), but they are more obscure formats I've never seen (3gp,3g2).

Totem is strangely dropping sound for the most common ones (mov and m4v), but it seems to be looking for the appropriate codec, but seems to be linked to an old version... Looks like a problem on my end (totem needs recompiled to be linked to the updated codec).

In any case, the most important part is having all the appropriate codecs. I think that almost everything one needs is in the gstreamer good, bad, and ugly packages. Also, a good video player is important -- and the ability to try another should one fail to detect the format properly. I love mplayer. Vlc is usually good. Totem is meh.

I used to have time to fiddle around and try to make things in Linux work. Now, I just go with whatever works out of the box [or with very quick fixes] and bring home my work computer if my wife has videos she wants to watch that won't play.

That's just the point. You shouldn't have varying levels of success doing normal computing tasks. I like Linux a lot, but a computer user shouldn't have to put in the work to make their computer do simple tasks. That's what software developers are for.

tht00 · 09-21-2009, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Micahb

I don't really know much about the computer. It's a bit of an older one from my dads office that they don't use any more.
It's just running off the motherboard, though.

And to Nate - that's weird. I've never had any troubles running any videos on any of my Linux systems. And I am by NO means a Linux guru. I'm quite the noob, actually. Ubuntuguide helped me out a lot.

What's the output of:

Code:

lspci

?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate

That's just the point. You shouldn't have varying levels of success doing normal computing tasks. I like Linux a lot, but a computer user shouldn't have to put in the work to make their computer do simple tasks. That's what software developers are for.

I absolutely agree.

However, it is often the law that doesn't. This is why Linux distros often do not include mp3/mpeg/etc codecs -- it is "illegal"* to distribute them in countries like the US, so they are not included, and it is then the end-user (rather than the distro) who breaks these laws.

This is mostly why media can suck in Linux. Once you get the appropriate codecs installed, most media works pretty darn well, and for me, it is rare to find a file (audio/video) that doesn't work.

(In my case, it was only the obscure ones on the page who had trouble with audio. Totem (which I never use) misbehaving is my fault due to my neglect of maintaining it (Gentoo often breaks things on updates.).)

Also, I suggest trying to play mainstream DVDs on a clean install of XP. You'll run into the same sort of headache where not the OS, nor the software, but the law has crippled the user's ability to do 'simple tasks'.

*As I see it (and have seen it often suggested), if you own a copy of Windows, you've paid your dues to the media patents.