Playing a DVD

[Jean Hollis Weber]

Jaime Davila wrote:
> Jean Hollis Weber wrote:
>> So maybe there is some problem with the hardware? It works fine under 
>> Windows. :-(  It's a CD read/write, DVD read drive; music CDs seem to 
>> work fine, but obviously that's just sound!
> 
> What machine are you using? This sounds like an xserver issue. Can you 
> see video that doesn't come from a DVD? For example, can you watch 
> videos that come from video.google.com?

I'm using a Dell Inspiron 510m laptop, with an internal 24x Max 
DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive. (That info is off the invoice for the 
machine; if more info is needed, I'm not sure how to find it.)

Yes, I can see video from video.google.com. I had some problems 
with that earlier this week but got it working (after installing 
more software), with much help from people on this list.

Here are today's adventures, in case they contain any clues.

Overnight I had turned off the machine completely, so this 
morning I rebooted into Ubuntu.

When I put in DVD#1, Totem started and played both the sound and 
video of the start of the DVD (yesterday it played sound only, no 
video), but then stopped and gave this message:

"The source seems encrypted, and can't be read. Are you trying to 
play an encrypted DVD without libdvdcss?"

Since I had installed libdvdcss yesterday, the answer to that 
question clearly was "No", but that didn't help. My only choice 
was "OK" :-) which of course did not cause anything useful to 
happen. Perhaps I should try re-installing it?

So I put in DVD#2 (one I'm fairly sure is not encrypted). With 
this one, Totem did not show any video at all -- but while 
yesterday it gave me a black screen, today it gave me a blue one! 
Sound is okay on this DVD, but stops (and loops) at what should 
be the menu screen for the DVD. Apparently it's waiting for me to 
choose what to do... but since there is no video, I can't choose.

Now when I tried to play DVD#1 again, I got no video but I did 
get the audio at what should be the menu screen; again it loops.

Next I turned to xine. Thanks to your instructions in a previous 
note, I found how to start a DVD. Result with both DVD#1 and #2: 
blue screen, opening music, which loops.

Further suggestions welcome.

--Jean