One stop reference for enabling multimedia in Linux

[rohandhruva]

This post is meant to be a reference for anyone who wants to enable mp3 and video playback in most linux distributions. Think of this as a 'cheat sheet' mainly with links to other sites, having copy paste commands ready for you

Ubuntu:
NEVER EVER SUGGEST AUTOMATIX. It is untested software, poorly written, and is known to severly break many many ubuntu installs.
The best ever guide for multimedia on ubuntu is this wiki page - http://wiki.ubuntu.com/RestrictedFormats
Also, ubuntu 7.04 onwards, in the gnome variant, the user is prompted automatically when he/she tries to play a MP3 or other non-free file Though note that this still does not install w32codecs or libdvdcss - you need to refer to the wiki page for instruction !

Fedora:
Refer to FedoraSolved for all issues related to Fedora - http://fedorasolved.org/
FedoraFAQ is available, but it was advised to use it with caution - the yum config provided at that site is dubious - http://fedorafaq.org
Also note that Fedora 8 onwards fedora prompts you to install paid codecs, which is not necessary

Suse:
For multimedia and other restricted format (MP3,Encrypted DVD, DiVX,etc) issues, see
http://opensuse-community.org/Restricted_Formats

I hope this is made a sticky, so that new users can refer to it. Thanks ! Also, if you can think of any more distros which specifically disable multimedia support due to legal issues, please inform me, so that I can add them in the list. Any further additions,comments,suggestions welcome !

Rohan.

[kalpik]

^^ This should definately be a sticky!

[gary4gar]

good work man keep it up.also can u tell me which is a best robust player in linux

[JGuru]

Great work man. Thank for the information. Yes, it should be made sticky.

[vignesh]

Originally Posted by gary4gar

good work man keep it up.also can u tell me which is a best robust player in linux

Amarok or BMP/XMMS

[mehulved]

Originally Posted by vignesh

Amarok or BMP/XMMS

Well it actually differs from situation to situation.
I havent' been able to run Amarok or Kaffeine in any of the distros I hav run so far. I have tried a lot to make them work but both of them just hang, even after adding 512MB or RAM to previous 256MB of RAM. But, any other player plays fine with me.
I, on the other hand find VLC as a very versatile multimedia player.
It just changes from person to person.

[vignesh]

I have used both and have had no problems at all..Amarok even works well with Gnome as well..

[rohandhruva]

Still not made a sticky I know its bad to demand a sticky, however what more changes do I make, so that this thread becomes a sticky ?

[kalpik]

^^ Too bad mehul cuz really, AmaroK ROCKS!

[QwertyManiac]

VLC media player opens and closes at the same instant for me when I try to open audio or mpg files. I tried a re-install too, via Yum. On the other hand, amaroK is the best audio player I have seen yet and Totem-Xine and Mplayer for videos

[gary4gar]

i have AmaroK in digit cd. how to install it from there??
i use ubuntu 5.10

[mehulved]

Originally Posted by kalpik

^^ Too bad mehul cuz really, AmaroK ROCKS!

Got it working finally.

[drsethi]

I have installed SuSe Linux 10.1. Though very good in other areas, it totally disappointed me in playing video files. No player is able to run video/audio files.Amarok only runs audio files.I downloaded codecs from Packman but they just cannot be installed due to dependency problems.Can anyone tell me if I would be able to watch movies under SuSe?
Please tell me right way.

[QwertyManiac]

Install VLC thro some auto d/l method like Yum/apt-get or whatever. and see if that works?

[drsethi]

I have solved my problem of multimedia video files by taking advice from Linux forums
Now SuSE is looking superior to Windows.

[JGuru]

Good work @Dr Sethi , anyday Suse is better than Windows!!. There is no doubt
about that.

[mediator]

Install xine,mplayer,xmms,vlc & win32codecs ...... -> entertainment unlimited!

[Satissh S]

Good work! guys, i'am glad that this is helping a lot of ppl.
However I would personally like to extend this discussion to other distros too, especially the source based ones, like slackware, gentoo etc.

Gentoo and Slackware:
1. If you're using slackware, u have two choices, first is of-course compile stuff (see below) your self or go and get one of the .tgz packages which u can use pkgtool to install the bianries, anyways the first place for u to look at is http://www.linuxpackages.net/. Search for a package say vlc and download the .tgz package, and goto its directory and exec,

# pkgtool <package_name>.tgz

or simply pkgtool and specify the package.

In gentoo however we can use the excellant and extensive portage system to install the package, simply specify the USe flage while emerging stuff, like

# USE="faac faad libdvdcss wxwidgets mp3 oggvorbis" emerge -av vlc

Compiling From source:
Lets assume we want vlc to get going here as its the most hardest
Get the .tar.gz or .tar.bz2 source code from here, http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-sources.html and also do remember to download each of the required libraries, they are critical to installing vlc, well.
Untar each of them, using tar -xzf package_name for .tar.gz or -xvjpf package_name for .tar.bz2
Go to each of their folders and run ./configure && make && make install [1]
Then goto the vlc source directory, now, carefully study the output of

./configure --help

Now, use the following command to optimally configure vlc,

./configure --enable-x11 --enable-xvideo --disable-gtk --enable-sdl --enable-ffmpeg --with-ffmpeg-mp3lame --enable-mad --enable-libdvbpsi --enable-a52 --enable-dts --enable-libmpeg2 --enable-dvdnav --enable-faad --enable-vorbis --enable-ogg --enable-theora --enable-faac --enable-mkv --enable-freetype --enable-fribidi --enable-speex --enable-flac --enable-livedotcom --with-livedotcom-tree=/usr/lib/live --enable-caca --enable-skins --enable-skins2 --enable-alsa --disable-kde --disable-qt --enable-wxwindows --enable-ncurses --enable-release

Note that while compiling myself i had several of them disabled which i dont want like faac, faad etc, dont mind to install those deps as well.

Exhaustive documentation can be found at the vlc developers' website,
http://developers.videolan.org/vlc/

[1]
If possible we can make some kind of script for each application like mplayer, xine etc., to automate the process for a new users. We can discuss below.

[dabster]

Hey Ubuntu users help me...
I have installed ffmpeg package but hv sysnchonising problem between video and audio....
using totem player based on gstreamer....

[rohandhruva]

Originally Posted by dabster

Hey Ubuntu users help me...
I have installed ffmpeg package but hv sysnchonising problem between video and audio....
using totem player based on gstreamer....

I request you to start a new thread for this issue in the "Open Source" section of the forum..

[gary4gar]

can any body give a link where 'VP70' codec can be found. i have tried to play file on vlc,totem,mplayer & real. all say the codec is missing. the file is in avi format.i have installed all win32 codecs.

[rohandhruva]

Please DO NOT turn this thread to a question answer thread ! Open new threads for support queries.

[gary4gar]

hey the title u created os of "One stop reference for enabling multimedia in Linux" so i am tring solve my probs. if u don't want it i'll delete my post.also if u can that no one post in ur post.request the mods to lock it.

regards,
gary

[Satissh S]

@rohan: Why u want to do that?? this is intended to be a sticky because it helps people and queries can be placed on one place. If queries have to be posted in some other place/thread, why sticky this thread??

Besides ppl also learn from the problems others face, so this is the rightful place for all queries related to multimedia in Linux.

[JGuru]

That's a nice idea @Satissh. Yes we should add info about other distros like Gentoo,
Mandriva Linux etc., That would definitely help all the guys using Linux.

[mediator]

@rohandhruva be kind yaar......neways @gary4gar......u may google for that codec . There's another codec pack names something like "essential or all -codecs".
I can play all the formats. I think u havent installed win32codec pack properly! check that out first!

[gary4gar]

i have installed win 32 codecs using easy ubuntu. aslo i found links for windows(.exe) but not for linux what to do??

[rohandhruva]

I am not being rude or anything - fact is, when people would read the topic, and first post, they would not really bother to read further, basically in a sticky people dont.. So, if you start a new thread for the same purpose, it can be easily discussed further in the post. This is a reference to enable multimedia ..

Anyway, I am not gonna request lock or anything .. if my reasoning given above is not correct, then I am wrong ofcourse

[mediator]

@rohandhruva.....thats better......but i give u a simple reason for not openeing separate threads!! U see a thread which is being responded extensively remains on top of others.....U must have observed that!!...havnt u??
So if u use different threads then some may dissappear in the long list of queue this forum has. I hope u got my point. So its better to have one thread !!
No multithreading here....hehe!

@gary4gar......u installed the win32codec rpm na?? neways install essentialcodec rpm too! If still things dont go ur way....google for that ugly codec!!

[prashanthnbhat]

http://www.overclock.net/faqs/104037...o-support.html




The best link I could find to enable multimedia in my suse 10.1.
I could manage to use all types of multimedia after following the procedure here. It'll be of help