I am using vlc 0.8 on fedora 8.
Instln was done using yum.
I can play .dat files and .mpg files but not the other file types like .rm, .wmv, .avi etc.

do i need to download any more codecs ? any suggestions would be helpful

nishtih

Which repo did you use to install vlc. Vlc is not in the base install repos.
The above will give you the exact version # and the repo you installed it from.

yum info vlc gives following output
Installed Packages
Name : vlc
Arch : i386
Version: 0.8.6d
Release: 3.lvn8
Size : 9.4 M
Repo : installed
Summary: Multi-platform MPEG, DVD, and DivX player

and then goes onto say

Available Packages
Name : vlc
Arch : i386
Version: 0.8.6f
Release: 2.lvn8
Size : 3.7 M
Repo : livna
Summary: Multi-platform MPEG, DVD, and DivX player
Description:

IS that okay ? Why does the installed part say Repo : instaled ?
should it not say something like livna ?

thanks again
nishith

You have o.8.6d installed but F is available(you missed e).

I do not think VLC plays rm but it should play the rest: I am running Livna's copy as well and I have no issue playing avi or most other formats I throw at it. You might want to update to the newer version but that should not matter in this case.

Open up a terminal and type vlc. Then try and play one of the files you are having issues with. Cut and paste the error messages from the terminal back here.

well it plays the sound alright when I give the following command but the video is missing!

[root@localhost ~]# vlc '/movies/english/Home Alone [DVDRip][Eng][1990].avi'
VLC media player 0.8.6d Janus
starting VLC root wrapper... using UID 0 (root)
***************************************
* Running VLC as root is discouraged. *
***************************************

It is potentially dangerous, and might not even work properly.
[00000324] main decoder error: no suitable decoder module for fourcc `XVID'.
VLC probably does not support this sound or video format.

when I see the property for the file it says it is of video/x-msvideo MIME type

thanks
nishith

Well first you basically should not run anything (that you do not absolutely have to) as root. If you read the error it even says that it may not work properly if run as root.

I will take a guess that this may be a drm file. You might also install mplayer. While I do not care for mplayer's interface it will play about anything. If mplayer will not play it then there is definitely something goofy with that file.

what is a drm file ?
Okay just noticed something strange -
Under Settings->Preferences->Video->Output Modules->xVideo, the X11 display is blank should it not point to my current console / terminal ?

Just tried out mplayer it is showing the file alright but there is some problem with my mplayer installation, the video stops after some time.
Anyway the file is alright as it plays fine in windows.
thanks
nishith

Ok, if you mean blank as in the entire page is blank then look in the lower right hand corner and check advanced options. If you mean there is nothing in the little box, mine is empty too.

DRM-> Digital Rights Management. It basically screws with the file so you cannot copy it. In some cases this prevents it from being played on anything that does not agree with DRM. Most open source will not support DRM in principle. It may play fine in windows becuase it passes the DRM tests. With mplayer also having problems with this file I would be even more suspicious that DRM is evolved in some way.

ok finally got mplayer to play the file perfectly alright.
Okay, so what could be going on with vlc - do I need the codecs for the xvid format?

Fedora by default DOSE NOT come with codecs that are not open and "free".
also with 8 there is a repo that you can buy $$ them from .Just open the file with the default player ( totem) and a pop up window will open with links for the non free codecs
or
install mplayer with the all-20071007.tar.bz2 codecs , i use the smplayer front end GUI and so needed to build qt4

John

If you notice he is using the Livna repo. It does provide codecs and such in its packages. VLC also contains the codecs for most stuff(see link in post #4).

Smplayer is available from livna as well. qt4 is available in the standard Fedora repo so you should not have needed to build it.

i built qt4 4 days after 8 was released