DVDs not working

[T.A.C.]

I put in a DVD, it recognizes the DVD. I right click and click "Open With... Movie Player." The Totem Movie Player comes up, says "DVD Menu" and then closes. I would really like to watch DVDs. How can I?

[exploder]

Try opening the movie in MPlayer, you should be able to watch a movie.

[alun_sundry]

The pre-installed programs don't seem to cope with DVD menus in some cases, I've found. Install VLC from the Synaptic package manager, that's solved this for me.

[T.A.C.]

I got VLC, updated my video card drivers, and ran the general update for Mint. Now the DVDs play in all programs but they flicker constantly. They play, but the flickering makes them unwatchable. Solutions?

[exploder]

In MPlayer you can set the video output. I have found setting it to x11 helps. Possibly VLS has similar options?

[T.A.C.]

In MPlayer you can set the video output. I have found setting it to x11 helps. Possibly VLS has similar options?

X11 did it. Now they play fairly well. It's still a little choppy, but better than nothing. Thanks.

[alun_sundry]

Yes, it's not perfect, but I suppose it's a 'get what you pay for' thing. I don't know about Mint, but with Linux Mandriva 2009 you can get a paid-for codec instead of libdvdcss and I would hope that would entail a picture as good as when I watch a DVD in my Vista partition, which to be fair is still not perfect either, probably down to a not great graphics chip in my laptop, a factor which may be involved in your situation to, eh. I wouldn't know if Mint can use a better, paid-for codec.

You notice the choppiness most with sideways motion, don't you? Picture kind of moves in strips. Let's hope the programmers evolve this.

[T.A.C.]

Turn off Compiz and see what happens (Appearances > Visual effects tab > none)

Found this in another post. Not only did it solve the problems, but the DVD plays smoother and crisper than it ever did when this machine ran XP Pro. Mint FTW!

[exploder]

Glad you got this resolved!