DVD playback slackware 10.0

dispare · 03-17-2005, 01:30 PM

Greetings all!

I just recently installed Slackware 10. Everything works thus far except playing dvd's. I can mount cd's in my dvd+rx (LITEON 16X DVD+RW). In fact its the drive i used to install slack with.

I don't have a data dvd to try or I would report on that but here is some info to get us going

first my fstab

Code:

dev/hda1        swap             swap        defaults         0   0
/dev/hda2        /                ext3        defaults         1   1
/dev/hda3        /home            ext3        defaults         1   2
/dev/sda1        /mnt/flash       auto        noauto,users,rw  0   0
/dev/hdd         /mnt/dvd         iso9660,udf noauto,users,ro  0   0
/dev/cdrom       /mnt/cdrom       iso9660     noauto,owner,ro  0   0
/dev/fd0         /mnt/floppy      auto        noauto,owner     0   0
devpts           /dev/pts         devpts      gid=5,mode=620   0   0
proc             /proc            proc        defaults         0   0

then here is the result of mplayer attempting to read a dvd (as root and as user):

Code:

Playing dvd://1.
libdvdread: Could not open device with libdvdcss.
libdvdread: Can't open /dev/dvd for reading
Couldn't open DVD device: /dev/dvd

the results of "file /dev/dvd"

Code:

/dev/dvd: symbolic link to `/dev/hdd'

lsmod shows udf.... modprobe udf gives no relief....

This is rather fustrating as every post I have come accross tells how easy this is to fix - libdvdcss, libdvdread, libdvdnav, and a52c are all installed as are mplayer, and its codec pack "all"

libdvdcss installed to /usr/lib and /usr/local/lib no relief -

Maybe someone can help me out?

Thanx.

WilliamS · 03-17-2005, 02:32 PM

This works for me:
ln -sf /dev/cdrom /dev/dvd

mcd · 03-17-2005, 03:50 PM

dispare · 03-17-2005, 03:59 PM

nope that actually made it worse... it doesn't even try to seek at this point....
/dev/cdrom actually points to /dev/hdc and /dev/hdd

WilliamS · 03-17-2005, 04:21 PM

code:

Playing dvd://1.
libdvdread: Could not open device with libdvdcss.
libdvdread: Can't open /dev/dvd for reading
Couldn't open DVD device: /dev/dvd

the results of "file /dev/dvd"

code:

/dev/dvd: symbolic link to `/dev/hdd'

You need a link to (/dev/cdrom in my 10.0).
This was why I had the same problem.

Um. Now that I think of it, you're doing this as user, so best to give user permissions to both /dev/dvd and /dev/cdrom.
I used chmod 777 , but IIRC it might be best chmod 660 /dev/xxx.

killerbob · 03-17-2005, 05:20 PM

You need to install libdvdcss. For legal reasons, it can't be distributed with the distro. These would be the same legal reasons that mean that Windows 2k+ comes with a perfectly capable DVD player (windows media player), but doesn't come with a DVD codec.

Without libdvdcss, you can still play DVD's, but not region coded DVD's. To give you an example of how common those are, I have a collection of more than 550 DVD's. Of that collection, exactly two are region-free. One of them is a concert of Zigeunerlieder, the other is a concert of Die Zauberflote, and both are released under a label that no longer exists.

You'll find libdvdcss here:
http://www.linuxpackages.net/pkg_details.php?id=5608

Also, you may find that DVD playback is choppy. Run xine-check in a console before playing DVD's, to make sure that everything is hunky-dory. You should get a response like this:

Code:

killerbob@whiterabbit:~$ xine-check
Please be patient, this script may take a while to run...
[ good ] you're using Linux, doing specific tests
[ good ] looks like you have a /proc filesystem mounted.
[ good ] You seem to have a reasonable kernel version (2.6.10)
[ good ] intel compatible processor, checking MTRR support
[ good ] you have MTRR support and there are some ranges set.
[ good ] found the player at /usr/bin/xine
[ good ] /usr/bin/xine is in your PATH
[ good ] found /usr/bin/xine-config in your PATH
[ good ] plugin directory /usr/lib/xine/plugins/1.0.0 exists.
[ good ] found unknown plugin: xineplug_flac.so
[ good ] found input plugins
[ good ] found demux plugins
[ good ] found decoder plugins
[ good ] found video_out plugins
[ good ] found audio_out plugins
[ good ] skin directory /usr/share/xine/skins exists.
[ good ] found logo in /usr/share/xine/skins
[ good ] I even found some skins.
[ good ] /dev/cdrom points to /dev/hdc
[ good ] /dev/dvd points to /dev/hda
[ good ] DMA is enabled for your DVD drive
[ good ] found xvinfo: X-Video Extension version 2.2
[ good ] your Xv extension supports YV12 overlays (improves MPEG performance)
[ good ] your Xv extension supports YUY2 overlays
[ good ] Xv ports:  YUY2 UYVY YV12 I420
killerbob@whiterabbit:~$

rovitotv · 03-17-2005, 08:24 PM

If you have scsi emulation turned for your DVD burner, which might be possible for a 2.4 kernel, your drive might be pointed to /dev/sr0. To find out type "dmesg | more" at a command prompt and look
for what device your dvd is attached to.

"Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0 at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0"

If this is the case change the symlink for dvd
ln -s /dev/cdrom /dev/sr0

That should do the trick. Good luck.

dispare · 03-17-2005, 08:58 PM

Well first let me say thanx for the quick responses.... but none of that helps.
I have all the correct libararies installed as I said in my original post. I get the exact same response from xine-check (except kernel version)

next /dev/cdrom is not my dvd drive it is my cdrom (I have both) /dev/hdc => /dev/cdrom I simlinked just in case - no go.

I have also run mplayer like this "mplayer -dvd-device /dev/hdd dvd://1" which results as if I didn't specify the device - dvd+rw seeking but no play....

The permissions thing has been ruled out by executing as root but just for the sake of argument I changed the permisions... no relief.

sorry to be a pain... I thought I had been clear in my initial post... is there anything I am missing?

I am not using ide-scsi emulation - is that a problem? I am using the default kernel (on dial up so kernel updating is a pain)

Should I just yank the cdrom? I don't think that would even fix it as the DVD drive seeks.... is this a udf problem?

dispare · 03-17-2005, 09:50 PM

this might help....
This particular DVD+RW did work with my ubuntu install (starting a LUG so getting real familiar with several distros) but I wanted to run slack on my machine and this is the ONLY thing giing me a problem...

killerbob · 03-17-2005, 10:06 PM

If you're getting the same response from xine-check, try playing the DVD with xine. It *should* work fine....

We've already established that it's a software problem, by demonstrating with a different distro that the hardware works fine. Now the question to ask is whether it's an mplayer problem, or a slackware problem. Assuming you've got libdvdcss installed, you should have no problem playing dvd's with xine. If libdvdcss isn't installed, xine-check will still return that everything's ok, but it won't play coded dvd's.

in other words, try xine. it should work fine. assuming you've got libdvdcss installed.

detpenguin · 03-17-2005, 10:10 PM

if you boot with LILO, add this to the end your lilo.conf file:

append="hdc=ide-scsi"

if you boot with GRUB, add this to the end of your /boot/grub/menu.lst file:

hdc=scsi

once you've added that, reboot your machine, and give it another try. the 2.4.X kernel doesn't recognize scsi...and my LITE-ON wouldn't work until i added that...

dispare · 03-17-2005, 10:11 PM

no go playing with xine - or ogle or mplayer
I have installed libdvdcss via installpkg - and compiled by hand - could it be that libdvdcss 1.2.8 is broken?

killerbob · 03-18-2005, 08:46 AM

Hmm... I'm nearing the end of what I know.

To begin with, libdvdcss, the one I linked at least, is *not* broken. I'm using it on my own desktop computer, and I downloaded it two days ago. I've since played through the Incredibles DVD without any problems, and I know that the disc is Region 1 encoded.

Only a few things come to mind at this point...

1. Are you mounting the DVD before playing it? I'm not certain about mplayer, but I do know that Xine requires that the DVD is *NOT* mounted to play. This is because it talks to /dev/dvd directly, and if /dev/dvd is mounted, the kernel won't let xine talk to the device. (same sort of thing as if you were to mke2fs /dev/fd0 when the disk is mounted)

2. I know I keep coming back to xine, and that's because it's what I use. If you start xine from a console, it gives debug code to stdout. (xine should be in the path) That debug code can be incredibly useful when you're trying to troubleshoot it. What does that error code say?

3. Are you able to mount the DVD? If you, as root, typed "mount /dev/dvd /mnt/hd", are you able to see the IFO and VOB files?

dispare · 03-18-2005, 04:11 PM

Okay attempted mounting and this is what I got:

Code:

root@psilon:/home/dispare# mount -t udf /dev/hdd /mnt/dvd
mount: block device /dev/hdd is write-protected, mounting read-only
mount: No medium found

when I run xine /dev/hdd I get these errors:

Code:

xine:input plugin cannot find input plugin for MRL [/dev/hdd]
xine:input plugin cannot open MRL [/dev/hdd]

at this point I am stumped.... the last kernel that was able to play dvd's on this machine with this LITEON DVD+RW was 2.6.8 perhaps the driver in this kernel is flaky... its the only thing I can imagine... What do you all think?

killerbob · 03-18-2005, 09:10 PM

I think that's probably a good idea... Though try the mount without using -t udf. Just "mount /dev/dvd /mnt/dvd". Let mount autodetect the disc format.

In any event, if it's saying "no medium found" and there's a disc in the drive, it means your kernel probably doesn't have support for the drive. An updated kernel (2.6.11) with the right options chosen could very well fix your problems.

The Liteon DVD+RW should work fine with straight ATAPI drivers, which are enabled by default. It might not be able to *write* with the generic drivers, but it should at least be able to *read*. Make sure that your kernel supports the IDE chipset, so that you can enable DMA. Be sure to read through the kernel options thoroughly, though, because I could be mistaken about the use of ATAPI.