Mark Shuttleworth has unusually good timing..

[LaRoza]

That's strange, because many common media files are in formats derived from MPEG, which Windows supports out of the box.

Yes, but that is not what I use.

Ubuntu supports as many formats as it can, and doesn't work to restrict users, unlike those formats that are not included.

[sicofante]

Yeesh, this thread is not turning out like I thought it would.

Well, the guy is clever, he has a lot to do with the success of Linux, he "sees" things coming probably because he himself is deciding what comes next, etc., etc., etc. It's just surprising that he's putting a lot of press on "we'll be better than Mac in two years" (and he's hiring professional designers and usability experts finally!!!) while at the same time he doesn't seem to be able to do vertical sync right... (which is just sooo basic).

[sicofante]

Yes, but that is not what I use.

Oh, then let's forget about the most standard video format there is. I don't know what these video developers were thinking...

[Changturkey]

Maybe next time he tells us there is going to be a interface change, he should schedule it for GNOME 3.0.

[Sand Lee]

Maybe next time he tells us there is going to be a interface change, he should schedule it for GNOME 3.0.

[wolfen69]

Besides, my point was really about multimedia in general. Ubuntu by default is rubbish for anything media related.

i am a multimedia junkie and have no problems doing anything.

and if you are saying that just because it doesn't have most codecs installed by default that it is no good, you would be mistaken. it takes me all of 5 minutes to get every codec i need. i do ripping, encoding and burning, without fail. besides, most os's don't come with codecs anyway, so i don't see what the big deal is.

[DrMega]

When you try to play a .wmv file, a dialog box appears asking if you'd like to find the appropriate codecs needed to play the file. Click on search and the recommended/required codec packages appear in an add/remove style app. Check off the boxes, click install, and the codecs you need to play the file are installed. I can't how this process can be made simpler while still keeping the balance against legality. If you can improve this process though, I'm confident a bug report to launchpad would be enough to fix this problem(?).

What happens if you put an encrypted movie DVD in a fresh Ubuntu install?

As for the apps not being configured to use installed codecs, was the SoundJuicer example an actual problem or was it hypothetical? I haven't heard of or experienced this problem before.

It's a real situation, not hypothetical.

And from your comment I get the impression that you're still using Gutsy [and of course, every new release ships with new features/bug-fixes]

Yep, I'm still using Gutsy. I'm one of the many people who posted on this forum to report that Hardy freezes so often it was unusable for me. There are recent posts that suggest this is a kernel issue that is still happening, so I'm not going to try it again yet. For those who were lucky with Hardy, it sounds great, but if you happy to be in the significant minority who found it unusable, then claims that everything is fixed in Hardy won't help.

Yes, but that is not what I use.

Ubuntu supports as many formats as it can, and doesn't work to restrict users, unlike those formats that are not included.

And Ubuntu is great in its support for multimedia that uses open standards, but that doesn't help much if all the media you've accumulated over the years is in MPEG variants, and you can't find a car stereo to buy that supports OGG.

i am a multimedia junkie and have no problems doing anything.

and if you are saying that just because it doesn't have most codecs installed by default that it is no good, you would be mistaken. it takes me all of 5 minutes to get every codec i need. i do ripping, encoding and burning, without fail. besides, most os's don't come with codecs anyway, so i don't see what the big deal is.

Did you solve the video tearing issue? If so could you explain how please because it is one of my biggest frustrations (it happens in everything video related - games, movies, even the screensaver). It has happened with both ATI and nVidia graphics cards on machines running Dapper and Gutsy.

[forrestcupp]

Multimedia is not hard or time consuming. If you type:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

it automatically sets you up with all your codecs (including Windows Media), DVD support, Java, and I think Flash.

As for the tearing, I use nvidia, and I never have that problem even with Compiz running. What drivers are you using? And, you're not trying to run it in Xgl, are you?

As for Oggs in Windows. It's almost as easy to set Windows up to play Oggs as it is to set Ubuntu up to play mp3's. The codecs are easy to download and install in Windows.

This seems more like a support thread than a thread discussing Mark Shuttleworth's clairvoyance.

[Polygon]

What happens if you put an encrypted movie DVD in a fresh Ubuntu install?

it is >>ILLEGAL<< to include dvd playback support in ubuntu without paying some organization mass amounts of money. Did you never hear the lawsuit storm that came across the guy who wrote libdvdcss library? since ubuntu is free, this cant be done legally.

And Ubuntu is great in its support for multimedia that uses open standards, but that doesn't help much if all the media you've accumulated over the years is in MPEG variants, and you can't find a car stereo to buy that supports OGG.

either install vlc, which can play like any format under the sun, or install ubuntu restricted extras and all the gstreamer codec packages, takes like 5 minutes. And of course, we run into again, it is most likely illegal to include these codecs on a default install since ubuntu is free, and you most likely have to pay to use these codecs. which is also why vlc is not installed by default

Did you solve the video tearing issue? If so could you explain how please because it is one of my biggest frustrations (it happens in everything video related - games, movies, even the screensaver). It has happened with both ATI and nVidia graphics cards on machines running Dapper and Gutsy.

it has never happened to me, and ive run ubuntu on both ati and nvidia cards. it might be a problem with a certain driver version or card model. report a bug, and hope for the best.

[UbuWu]

it is >>ILLEGAL<< to include dvd playback support in ubuntu without paying some organization mass amounts of money.

Only in certain (one?) countries. But aside of that, Ubuntu could definitely handle that situation better than it currently does.