Problems with DVDs and other media

[Trilby]

I am using Ubuntu 9.10 64Bit and cannot play DVDs.
I put in the disk and select play with Movie Player.
I then get the message:

Could not read from resource.

If I then go Movie >> Play Disk 'DVD NAME' I get the message:

Totem cannot play this type of media (DVD) because it does not have the appropriate plugins to be able to read from the disc.

Please install the necessary plugins and restart Totem to be able to play this media.

This is followed by a link to http://www.gnome.org/projects/totem/#codecs where I cannot see any means to download the plugin I need.

Also, I have some .dvr-ms files, which are recordings of TV programs made on my old Xp media centre edition computer (which had a TV tuner and an aerial port). These play with Movie Player but there is no audio.

Hope someone can help.
Thanks,

Trilby

Note: In case it is of any relevance, I am a UK user

[wojox]

To play a dvd:

sudo apt-get install libdvdread4

sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

[Trilby]

To play a dvd:

sudo apt-get install libdvdread4

sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

When I enter the first command, I get:

E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?

I assume this is not supposed to happen.
I've gotten this message with every solution I've tried that involves terminal.

Likewise with the second, I get:

--2010-03-27 16:48:56-- http://packages.medibuntu.org/pool/f...ntu1_amd64.deb
Resolving packages.medibuntu.org... 88.191.82.11
Connecting to packages.medibuntu.org|88.191.82.11|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 37252 (36K) [application/x-debian-package]
Saving to: `/tmp/dvdcss-xiWCRg/libdvdcss.deb'

100%[======================================>] 37,252 161K/s in 0.2s

2010-03-27 16:48:56 (161 KB/s) - `/tmp/dvdcss-xiWCRg/libdvdcss.deb' saved [37252/37252]

dpkg: status database area is locked by another proces

[wojox]

You need to shut down Synaptic Package Manager or Ubuntu Software Center. You can only have only package manager open at a time.

[Trilby]

You need to shut down Synaptic Package Manager or Ubuntu Software Center. You can only have only package manager open at a time.

I didn't have either open when I tried it. However, I restarted my laptop and tried again. The process apparently worked, but when I tried a DVD, I got the message:

The required software to play this file is not installed. You need to install suitable plugins to play media files. Do you want to search for a plugin that supports the selected file?

The search will also include software which is not officially supported.

The computer then searched for the plugin and didn't find anything. To my surprise it then proceeded to play the dvd, but only the director's commentary.

I then tried to play the dvd with a program I had downloaded in an earlier (failed) attempt, VLC media player. This worked without any noticeable problems.

Problem solved.
Thank-you very much,

Trilby