Comprehensive Multimedia & Video Howto

[ubuntu-freak]

I had a poorly working, but working flash install and ran (from the guide)

sudo apt-get purge flashplugin-nonfree gnash gnash-common libflashsupport mozilla-plugin-gnash nspluginwrapper swfdec-mozilla && sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree

Now I have no flash at all.

Previously to get flash I did:

149 sudo cp libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/
151 sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/firefox-addons/plugins/
152 sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/xulrunner-addons/plugins/

why no more Flash?

This is with a (mostly) new install of 8.10

Purge flashplugin-nonfree and try the Deb package from Adobe's site.

[ubuntu-freak]

Hi,
Thanks for the detailed Howto. I have a 32bit Hardy 8.04. Am trying to install Gecko and get the following message:

david@david-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get install gnome-mplayer gecko-mediaplayer
[sudo] password for david:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
gnome-mplayer: Depends: mplayer (>= 1.0) or
mplayer-nogui (>= 1.0) but it is not going to be installed
E: Broken packages
david@david-desktop:~$

Would appreciate some help...Thanks

Execute the following command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

That usually fixes it.

[Roger Allott]

LAPTOP TOUCHPAD:

Using a laptop? If your cursor shoots off all over the place when you type, you might want to (carefully) do the following:

gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Now find the section concerning your touchpad and copy the bold text below into your conf file, so it looks similar to the example below:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizEdgeScroll" "0"
Option "SHMConfig" "true"
EndSection

Make sure it all looks okay and that the "EndSection" text is in the right place, then close and save. Now, navigate to "System > Preferences > Sessions" and click on "Add". Name it something like "Touchpad Syndaemon", the description can be "Disables touchpad while typing", and the all important command you need is "syndaemon -i 1 -d -t -K". For it to take effect, either logout or reboot. Why isn't it default for laptop users? Well, apparently it's insecure. If you share your laptop with others, technically they could disable your touchpad.

The touchpad on my laptop is a right pain in the butt, so I'd really like to do what you suggest here. However, the contents of my xorg.conf file look nothing like what you've suggested should be there! Other than the commented out bits at the top, this is all it says:

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier	"Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier	"Default Screen"
	Monitor		"Configured Monitor"
	Device		"Configured Video Device"
EndSection

[andrew.46]

Hi persistentstubborn,

Many thanks for the update. I wonder if you could help me regarding conversion of .flv from youtube to my son's sonyericsson w610i on Ubuntu 8.10 (never managed on 8.04 either).

There may be an easy way to do this but I am not aware of it . I have converted such files but you must have a copy of ffmpeg that has been compiled against the amr libraries:

andrew@skamandros~$ ffmpeg -formats | grep amr
FFmpeg version SVN-r16307, Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/man --disable-debug 
--enable-shared --disable-static --enable-postproc --enable-avfilter 
--enable-pthreads --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-swscale 
--enable-x11grab --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libxvid --enable-libx264 
--enable-libschroedinger --enable-libfaac --enable-libamr-wb -
-enable-libamr-nb --enable-nonfree --enable-gpl
  libavutil     49.12. 0 / 49.12. 0
  libavcodec    52. 8. 0 / 52. 8. 0
  libavformat   52.23. 1 / 52.23. 1
  libavdevice   52. 1. 0 / 52. 1. 0
  libavfilter    0. 1. 0 /  0. 1. 0
  libswscale     0. 6. 1 /  0. 6. 1
  libpostproc   51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
  built on Dec 25 2008 13:07:47, gcc: 4.2.4
 DE amr             3GPP AMR file format
 DEA    libamr_nb       libamr-nb Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) Narrow-Band
 DEA    libamr_wb       libamr-wb Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) Wide-Band

I usually run the following command, demonstrating here with a downloaded youtube flv:

andrew@skamandros~/Desktop$ ffmpeg -i kbDs2XNmZos.flv -r 15 -b 200kbit/s -s 176x144 \
> -vcodec h263 -ar 8000 -ab 10.2k -acodec libamr_nb test.3gp
FFmpeg version SVN-r16307, Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/man --disable-debug 
--enable-shared --disable-static --enable-postproc --enable-avfilter 
--enable-pthreads --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-swscale 
--enable-x11grab --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libxvid --enable-libx264 
--enable-libschroedinger --enable-libfaac --enable-libamr-wb 
--enable-libamr-nb --enable-nonfree --enable-gpl
  libavutil     49.12. 0 / 49.12. 0
  libavcodec    52. 8. 0 / 52. 8. 0
  libavformat   52.23. 1 / 52.23. 1
  libavdevice   52. 1. 0 / 52. 1. 0
  libavfilter    0. 1. 0 /  0. 1. 0
  libswscale     0. 6. 1 /  0. 6. 1
  libpostproc   51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
  built on Dec 25 2008 13:07:47, gcc: 4.2.4

Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 1000.00 (1000/1) -> 57.92 (695/12)
Input #0, flv, from 'kbDs2XNmZos.flv':
  Duration: 00:03:15.79, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 64 kb/s
    Stream #0.0: Video: flv, yuv420p, 320x240, 57.92 tb(r)
    Stream #0.1: Audio: mp3, 22050 Hz, mono, s16, 64 kb/s
Output #0, 3gp, to 'test.3gp':
    Stream #0.0: Video: h263, yuv420p, 176x144, q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 15.00 tb(c)
    Stream #0.1: Audio: libamr_nb, 8000 Hz, mono, s16, 10 kb/s
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0.0 -> #0.0
  Stream #0.1 -> #0.1
Press [q] to stop encoding
frame= 2938 fps=205 q=4.4 Lsize=    5224kB time=195.68 bitrate= 218.7kbits/s    
video:4903kB audio:258kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead 1.224137%
andrew@skamandros~/Desktop$

This is a bit rough and ready as I am no ffmpeg expert, and in fact pillaged most of the settings from a blog, but it looks and sounds fine on a mobile phone. So I believe you need to compile your own ffmpeg after also compile and install amr wide and narrow band.

I believe you were after an easier way to do this and perhaps Nathan might have some thoughts here?

All the best,

Andrew

[ubuntu-freak]

FFmpeg doesn't need compiling in Ubuntu and AMR support isn't needed to make mobile phone vids, just needed to make crap sounding mobile vids.

[ubuntu-freak]

The touchpad on my laptop is a right pain in the butt, so I'd really like to do what you suggest here. However, the contents of my xorg.conf file look nothing like what you've suggested should be there! Other than the commented out bits at the top, this is all it says:

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier	"Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier	"Default Screen"
	Monitor		"Configured Monitor"
	Device		"Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Follow the instructions under "Enabling SHMConfig" from the following link:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticsTouchpad

Then you can follow the rest of my instructions afterward.

I'll update my howto later.

[hellomoto]

heya, a great article but im having a few problems.

I followed your tutorial exactly on a freshly installed Ubuntu 8.04 PC.
I had no errors in installing all the packages you recomended.


However the problems I am having are as follows. I am unable to play DVDs in totem. I have tried a number of different films and get the following error.

An error occurred:
Could not open location; you might not have permission to open the file.

OR

Totem could not play this media (DVD) although a plugin is present to handle it.
You might want to check that a disc is present in the drive and that it is correctly configured.

Also in totem (again) I am unable to play youtube videos via the plugin. O get the following error:

ffdemux_swf: Element doesn't implement handling of this stream. Please file a bug.

I am however able to play:
MP3
DivX
Flash via firefox

So I know it seams to be a problem with totem but I like it and I am able to play DVDs on my other PC with it? -- although get the same error for youtube plugin. PLease advise me on what to do!

[ubuntu-freak]

Did you install anything extra for Totem that may be causing a conflict? Or just the packages I recommend?

Regarding DVD playback, does VLC play them okay? I realise you prefer Totem, but it's useful to know. Also, did you install totem-xine by mistake? That back-end caused me problems when I installed it in Hardy.

[andrew.46]

Hi ubuntu-freak,

FFmpeg doesn't need compiling in Ubuntu and AMR support isn't needed to make mobile phone vids, just needed to make crap sounding mobile vids.

My apologies. I have read the section in your excellent guide that deals with conversion to 3gp, which I guess was not clear from my post. I still feel that amr_nb has a place as a universal common denominator in such conversion although I acknowledge phones seem to have aac support more commonly these days in the 3gp container.

Again my apologies for treading on your toes .

Andrew

[ubuntu-freak]

Hi ubuntu-freak,



My apologies. I have read the section in your excellent guide that deals with conversion to 3gp, which I guess was not clear from my post. I still feel that amr_nb has a place as a universal common denominator in such conversion although I acknowledge phones seem to have aac support more commonly these days in the 3gp container.

Again my apologies for treading on your toes .

Andrew

You weren't treading on my toes.

I like people replying to posts in my thread, as I don't know all there is to know, plus I'm not around to reply quickly sometimes. Perhaps I was letting my personal views get in the way, as I don't think it's worth compiling FFmpeg to enable/fix AMR support.

The person you quoted had installed the locked version of FFmpeg first, then the unlocked Medibuntu version afterward. That's why he/she was having problems. Hopefully my advice on purging and reinstalling FFmpeg fixed that, as purging removes configuration files, folders etc, but I don't think the poster got back to me with results.

Sorry for being blunt in my other post.