How to play DVD’s in Ubuntu 11.04

Friday, 13 May 2011 21:15 Last Updated on Friday, 11 November 2011 14:52 Written by abarbaneld 31 Comments

Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal does not come out of the box playing DVD’s but with 2 simple commands you will be watching DVD’s in a flash.

Step 1. Open a Terminal Window

Step 2. Type

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Step 3. Type

sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

Step 4. Insert DVD and enjoy.

I noticed during playback of my DVD that the picture was a bit wobbly.

There is an easy fix for this.

Go to:

Edit>Preferences>Display Tab

and check the box that reads disable deinterlacing of interlaced videos.
Next close down the Movie Player and reopen it and the wobbly screen should be gone.

Another option that is worth enabling is the play video where you left off.

Go to

Edit>Preferences>General

Tab and check on Start playing files from last position.

Comments

Frankthetank 16-05-2011, 00:21

Very Useful!!

Chi 21-05-2011, 20:33

Thank you! Works perfectly, I am loving ubuntu!

Anonymous 25-05-2011, 21:04

Thanks!

Farcrow42 28-05-2011, 21:22

G’day. I am a lover of Ubuntu, but a pretty dumb one! (At age 69 it’s allowed!) I have done what was suggested and now have sound but no visuals. That is with Gnome Player. Bangarang will not read at all. Any advice will be much appreciated.

Anonymous 29-05-2011, 00:01

Hi Farcrow42,
Try usibg Totem Movie Player and make sure you have the GStreamer Libraries installed. Let me know if that works or if thats what you are already using,

Farcrow42 29-05-2011, 00:50

I have managed to get my vids to read with Movie player, but colour is not true. ie, lots of blue. Will take up your suggestion and let you know the result. Thank you.

Farcrow42 29-05-2011, 01:33

Ticked every thing in the gstreamer box, totem is now part of Movie Player, smooth as. The colour is still upta! Not unhappy tho, might try adjusting my monitor. May have to call for remote assistance. Would be most welcome. The more I learn the more I can pass on.

Anonymous 29-05-2011, 01:40

Sorry about the color issues, I will look into it more to see if I come up with anything. Glad to help.

Farcrow42 29-05-2011, 22:44

are you trying to get into this computer? Can I assist?

Farcrow42 30-05-2011, 05:06

Some body was, not now.

Anonymous 30-05-2011, 11:32

It was not I.

Callum Greig 05-06-2011, 05:09

Uhm typing the first command in terminal works, but when EULA agreements come up I cant press enter or click ‘OK’ etc. What can I do?

Callum Greig 05-06-2011, 05:12

Nevermind, I had to press ‘TAB’ so it’s highlighted in red. Then I could press enter :/

Google 09-06-2011, 02:16

Great resource…

[...]Recently added with great content[...]…

Watch DVDs in Ubuntu Linux « Linux Rants 11-06-2011, 04:26

[...] I’ve recently run into a startling number of people that think you can’t play DVDs in Linux. I’m sure this idea came about because it is true that you can’t play DVDs in Linux by default, but you can install software that gives you the capability, and it’s amazingly easy. I found 4 easy steps on dreamingisdigital.com that walked me through it with no problems. The original article can be found here. [...]

Dr Dirigible 15-06-2011, 03:53

Hi. I am brand new to ubuntu and I’m sorry but I can’t find edit>preferences>display at all. How do I get to edit?
thx

Dr Dirigible 15-06-2011, 03:56

Sorry guys I finally found it. thx anyway

Guest 17-06-2011, 20:18

thanks a lot! your tips worked and now i can watch dvd videos again!

Rick 20-06-2011, 03:53

I’m very new to Ubuntu, and was finally able to find the program “Terminal” under the Applications option from the side bar (which this step would have helped us newbies), I was able to open up a terminal window with the following prompt: ubuntu@ubuntu:~S

Then I typed in the first command option, but I get this in return: “E: Unable to locate package ubuntu-restricted-extras”

I am running Ubuntu 11.04 under a USB key, because I’m evaluating it still.

Ljb4eva 20-06-2011, 22:14

Absolutely works. I was unsure about the user agreement though.

Houba 29-06-2011, 08:07

Nahh, still does not work. All players complaining that Decryption libs are not installed. I can see the DVD drive but no luck. Natty with all updates done. Been looking for several days for a solution on web.

Bauduin Alex 30-06-2011, 17:21

After all I ve found that the problem was coming from region settings for the DVD drive. Fixed the problem by downloading regionset using packet manager.
So in a nutshell, DVD player complains that decrypyion lib might not be installed, VLC does not play but in fact it is all coming down to DVD region settings.