DVDs will not play (self recorded or commercial)

[Mel_P]

Hello. I am new to Linux (Mandrake 9.2) and thought I would install VLC player.

I followed the instructions on the web site and everything seemed to install - but it doesn't play my home DVDs or Commercial DVDs (e.g. LOTRings).

NOTE the "Totem" player did not play DVDs before the install BUT afterwards it does play LOTR so I have obviously installed the dss file OK.

The window starts off just showing the command buttons. When I press play and select DVD the window momentarly drops down and shows that the correct drive is being selected but then returns to its original size and does nothing.

Is there some way of checking the installation please ?

Thanks, Mel P

**********
PS - VLC will play AVI files (added as edit)

[zorglub]

Hello,

Could you try, from a console:

export DVDCSS_VERBOSE=2

and then, run vlc with -vvv

and tell us what happens in the logs.

[Mel_P]

Hello Zorglub, thanks for the help - I have carried out what you suggested and here is the output from "Konsole" -
There is abviously an error early in the 00000193 lines re "No such file or directory"? But as I said totem works in exactly the same setup?

Any help on this will be welcome. Mel


[mel@localhost mel]$ export DVDCSS_VERBOSE=2
[mel@localhost mel]$ vlc -vvv
VLC media player 0.7.1 Bond
[00000000] main root debug: VLC media player - version 0.7.1 Bond - (c) 1996-2003 VideoLAN
[00000000] main root debug: libvlc was configured with ./configure --build=i586-mandrake-linux-gnu --prefix=/usr --exec-prefix=/usr --bindir=/usr/bin --sbindir=/usr/sbin --sysconfdir=/etc --datadir=/usr/share --includedir=/usr/include --libdir=/usr/lib --libexecdir=/usr/lib --localstatedir=/var/lib --sharedstatedir=/usr/com --mandir=/usr/share/man --infodir=/usr/share/info --enable-release --enable-dvd --without-dvdcss --enable-dvdplay --enable-mozilla --enable-gtk --enable-gnome --enable-kde --enable-ncurses --enable-lirc --enable-wxwindows --enable-x11 --enable-xvideo --enable-fb --disable-mga --enable-aa --enable-sdl --enable-ggi --enable-xosd --enable-mad --enable-pp --enable-ffmpeg --with-ffmpeg-tree=ffmpeg-20040222 --with-ffmpeg-mp3lame --enable-vorbis --enable-ogg --enable-speex --enable-flac --enable-mkv --disable-dv --enable-dvbpsi --enable-dvb --enable-esd --enable-alsa --enable-arts --enable-libmpeg2 --enable-faad --enable-dts --disable-skins2 --enable-livedotcom --with-livedotcom-tree=/usr/lib/live
[00000001] main vlc debug: translation test: code is "en_GB"
[00000001] main vlc debug: opening config file /home/mel/.vlc/vlcrc
[00000001] main vlc warning: config file /home/mel/.vlc/vlcrc does not exist yet
[00000001] main vlc debug: checking builtin modules
[00000001] main vlc debug: checking plugin modules
[00000001] main vlc debug: recursively browsing `modules'
[00000001] main vlc debug: recursively browsing `/usr/lib/vlc'
[00000001] main vlc debug: recursively browsing `plugins'
[00000001] main vlc debug: module bank initialized, found 154 modules
[00000001] main vlc debug: opening config file /home/mel/.vlc/vlcrc
[00000001] main vlc warning: config file /home/mel/.vlc/vlcrc does not exist yet
[00000001] main vlc debug: CPU has capabilities 486 586 MMX MMXEXT SSE SSE2 FPU
[00000001] main vlc debug: looking for memcpy module
[00000001] main vlc debug: probing 3 candidates
[00000010] main module debug: using memcpy module "memcpymmxext"
[00000190] main playlist debug: creating group Normal with id 1 at position 0
[00000190] main playlist debug: waiting for thread completion
[00000190] main playlist debug: thread 16386 (playlist) created at priority 0 (src/playlist/playlist.c:109)
[00000191] main interface debug: looking for interface module
[00000191] main interface debug: probing 1 candidate
[00000098] main module debug: using interface module "hotkeys"
[00000191] main interface debug: interface initialized
[00000191] main interface debug: thread 32771 (interface) created at priority 0 (src/interface/interface.c:161)
[00000192] main interface debug: looking for interface module
[00000192] main interface debug: probing 2 candidates
[00000020] main module debug: using interface module "wxwindows"
[00000192] main interface debug: interface initialized
[00000192] main interface debug: thread 49156 (manager) created at priority 0 (src/interface/interface.c:145)
[00000192] wxwindows interface debug: accelerator table loaded
[00000190] main playlist debug: adding playlist item `dvd:///dev/dvd@0:1' ( dvd:///dev/dvd@0:1 )
[00000190] main playlist debug: creating new input thread
[00000193] main input: playlist item `dvd:///dev/dvd@0:1'
[00000193] main input debug: waiting for thread completion
[00000193] main input debug: thread 65541 (input) created at priority 0 (src/input/input.c:254)
[00000193] main input debug: access `dvd', demux `', name `/dev/dvd@0:1'
[00000193] main input debug: looking for access module
[00000193] main input debug: probing 7 candidates
[00000193] dvdplay input warning: cannot stat() source `/dev/dvd' (No such file or directory)
[00000193] dvd input warning: cannot stat() device `/dev/dvd' (No such file or directory)
[00000193] dvdread input warning: cannot stat() source `/dev/dvd' (No such file or directory)
[00000193] vcd input warning: could not open /dev/dvd
[00000193] cdda input warning: could not open /dev/dvd
[00000193] access_file input warning: cannot stat() file `/dev/dvd@0:1' (No such file or directory)
[00000193] main input warning: no access module matching "dvd" could be loaded
[00000193] main input debug: looking for access module
[00000193] main input debug: probing 7 candidates
[00000193] dvdplay input warning: cannot stat() source `dvd:///dev/dvd' (No such file or directory)
[00000193] dvdread input warning: cannot stat() source `dvd:///dev/dvd' (No such file or directory)
[00000193] dvd input warning: cannot stat() device `dvd:///dev/dvd' (No such file or directory)
[00000193] vcd input warning: could not open dvd:///dev/dvd
[00000193] cdda input warning: could not open dvd:///dev/dvd
[00000193] access_file input warning: cannot stat() file `dvd:///dev/dvd@0:1' (No such file or directory)
[00000193] main input error: no suitable access module for `/://dvd:///dev/dvd@0:1'
[00000193] main input debug: pes: 0 packets
[00000193] main input debug: data: 0 packets
[00000193] main input debug: buffers: 0 packets
[00000193] main input debug: thread 65541 joined (src/input/input.c:289)

[Mel_P]

SOLVED !!!! - Thanks to Zorglub. Looking at the code above it looks like VLC is looking for the wrong directory.

The VLC player seems to assume the DVD player is found at //dev/dvd. Also it adds things like "@0.1" for menus.

I need to change the default directory to;

dvd:///dev/cdroms

AND also delete any "@0.1" etc as this seems to cause an error. I can't seem to stop it doing this without manually deleting it.

It then plays. THANKS for guidance Zorglub.