Not able to play Video files despite installing Restricted Extras

[7Starphy]

I am using an Acer V5 Netbook with a AMD Dual Core processor . I am running Xubuntu 12.04. I am not able to play any video files despite installing Ubuntu Restricted Extras. Audio Files work perfectly. Parole says it is not able to initialize the Xv output. Can anyone help me out ?

[TheFu]

I find the pre-installed media players to be crap. Install VLC from the repo, be happy. If VLC can't play it, then I don't need to view it.
BTW, I've never heard of "parole" and switched away from XFCE about 3 yrs ago. Ah - a lite-weight video player ... interesting.
A comparison is here: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/09/l...otem-vs-parole
Thanks for the education.

I'd also point out that a netbook will probably have trouble playing any hidef videos. Mine can't do more than 600p without stuttering. The higher resolutions need GPU help during playback so hidef mpeg2 and h.264 content can work, but only with GPU support and the correct drivers.

[BlinkinCat]

Hi,

I installed Xubuntu Restricted Extras, which I found to work fine.

Can't say if that is the reason for your problems - others may have a point of view.

Cheers -

[7Starphy]

I find the pre-installed media players to be crap. Install VLC from the repo, be happy. If VLC can't play it, then I don't need to view it.
BTW, I've never heard of "parole" and switched away from XFCE about 3 yrs ago. Ah - a lite-weight video player ... interesting.
A comparison is here: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/09/l...otem-vs-parole
Thanks for the education.

I'd also point out that a netbook will probably have trouble playing any hidef videos. Mine can't do more than 600p without stuttering. The higher resolutions need GPU help during playback so hidef mpeg2 and h.264 content can work, but only with GPU support and the correct drivers.

It is not playing in VLC also. Any suggestions on any specific drivers I need to install ?

[howefield]

Is it all video formats or a specific one that you are having trouble with ?

[TheFu]

It is not playing in VLC also. Any suggestions on any specific drivers I need to install ?

If this happens for any video files, then I suspect a video driver issue.
If the problem is with a specific file, then I suspect a corrupt download or DRM.

[Mark Phelps]

The problem is that your video player does not have the correct video codec installed to play the video file.

VLC can play nearly everything because it comes with its own codec files.

You should Google for "fourcc" -- as this is a 4 character code embedded in the video file indicating how it was encoded, and what codec you would need in order to play it back. Once you know the codec, you can then do a search to see if it available for Linux.

[7Starphy]

Is it all video formats or a specific one that you are having trouble with ?

No video format works perfectly. Flv doesnt work at all. In mp4 only Audio works . So I don't think the main problem is "format" specific . Looks as if some major driver is not installed at all Any help ? VLC itself is not able to play

[7Starphy]

If this happens for any video files, then I suspect a video driver issue.
If the problem is with a specific file, then I suspect a corrupt download or DRM.

I get an error like XV output not initialized in Parole. Does this help in diagnosing the problem ?

[TheFu]

No video format works perfectly. Flv doesnt work at all. In mp4 only Audio works . So I don't think the main problem is "format" specific . Looks as if some major driver is not installed at all Any help ? VLC itself is not able to play

FLV, MP4, AVI, WMV - these are all containers, not audio/video formats. We need to know the codecs used. There are many different ways to ask a file which codecs it needs - VLC will show it in the file info and/or codecs menu. mplayer -identify is another.

BTW, I have a TV recording that I transcoded recently using popular tools that plays video (h.264) perfectly, but no audio (mp4a) will playback. I'm in the process of dumping the AC3 audio from the source file and merging it into the MKV container now. Even the stock version of VLC 2.0.8 wouldn't play the audio. Glad that I had the 5.1 AC3 source file still. It would suck to have to build a custom version of any player to support a specific codec. I'd rather not go through it at all. I'm a little pissed that the transcoder created a file that "sucks for me." OTOH, it was a PBS show and the PBS guys are famous for following standards, but not doing it the way everyone else does.

So, if you can figure out which specific codecs your problem files need, that really is the first step. Until that happens, we are stuck. Will you please report back on the codecs? Please? It may turn out to have NOTHING at all to do with your issue, but we aren't making any progress any other way either.

The Xv error is just a rendering method. With other player programs, you can force different rendering engines to be used. Xv is sorta .... old. It has a place, but probably should be avoided since the mid-1990s, IMHO.