i have just installed ubuntu on my computer and its been a real good experience until i found that it won't play my videos, do i have to download some sort of codec or plugin (even vlc won't play anything and it usually comes with the codecs pre-installed) i know linux can play my videos i have had them working with my pclinuxos desktop why not ubuntu

i'm using ubuntu 9.04

Hi~

In the terminal, type:

This will install all the proprietary codecs, Flash, Java, etc., etc. that are needed for your multimedia software. Ubuntu just doesn't include them by default.

Cheers

I also recommend vlc and smplayer and the various gstreamer-plugins. The default player (Totem) will do fine, I just don't like the interface all that much.

This should do all as posted before.

i see, well i'll try it as soon as its done upgrading to version 9.10 i heard that upgrading to a later version fixes this problem (but after you said that these codecs aren't included in ubuntu by default i might need to run your command in the terminal anyway)

why doesn't ubuntu have these codecs in the installation by default, are they copyrighted or something, all the other distros i played movies in work why not this one

i also want to know if doing all of this will make it play youtube videos also (for some reason it just stays a black box nothing come up wonder why

I hope your upgrade works- I've not had much luck upgrading and I hear a lot of others that have problems, as well. But yes, you'll still need to install the codecs. Some distro maintainers don't like including proprietary code in their software, and Canonical is one of them. FWIW, I'm running 8.04, and yes, YouTube videos play just fine after the codecs were installed.

Cheers

I remember,ubuntu-restricted-extras would let you play youtube videos as it installs adobe flash player.

Codecs are not installed by default because those are not free as GNU policy.

explains alot but i think i got it all working (youtube works and music works) but now i want to know how i can use orbit downloader in ubuntu is it even possible (couldn't find anything on the website

It seems only windows is supported. Don't worry, there are alternatives. For starters, you should explore the many extensions that can be used with firefox:
start up firefox
go to the Tools menu
select Add-ons
select Get Add-ons
click on Browse all add-ons
There should be plenty of download solutions.

You can also use the stand-alone d4x and jdownloader download managers (although they can integrate with firefox, too) if you use hosting sites like rapidshare, depositfiles, etc.