DVDs won't play though libdvdcss2 is installed

adasiak · 12-11-2007, 09:52 AM

My media players just started refusing to play encrypted DVDs, even though I have libdvdcss2 installed. Any idea why?

I'm running SimplyMEPIS 6.5. My player of choice is Kaffeine, though I've also tried this on Totem and KMPlayer. The first two give me the nonsense about not having rights for the encrypted DVD -- what I'd expect if I hadn't already installed multimedia codecs.

Kaffeine:

Quote:

The source can't be read.

Maybe you don't have enough rights for this, or source doesn't contain data (e.g.: no disc in drive). (Encrypted or faulty DVD)

Totem:

Quote:

An error occurred

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

KMPlayer, for some reason, will play the DVD, though it launches into the movie, skipping any menus. (But this is ordinary for MPlayer, I hear, so it doesn't worry me.)

I don't have the expertise to diagnose, though I'll mention the only serious thing to happen recently: some files in my /var/log directory ballooned up overnight a couple of days ago, completely filling my root partition and leaving me unable to log in to KDE. (Though the terminal worked.) Details here.

Any clues why my media players now think I lack libdvdcss2? Any suggestions how I can get them to recognize it?

--Paul

somedude · 12-11-2007, 12:36 PM

Paul,

The first thing that comes to mind is remove and re-install the library.
Not being familiar with your distro, I can't recommend anything beyond that, though.

tamtam · 12-11-2007, 01:36 PM

Can you play other DVDs or even CD's.

I think this maybe a permissions problem although I am unfamiliar with your distro. You may have to add yourself to the appropriate group. Open up a terminal. Try the following.

Quote:

/etc
/etc$ more group

You will see the groups that you have permission for. Check video and cdrom see if your login appears next to them.
Here is mine for the said groups

Quote:

man::15:
audio::17:tam
video::18:tam
cdrom::19:tam
games::20:
slocate::21:

as root (either su or sudo), open up a text editor (pico or nano or even gedit) then add yourself to these groups and save the file..

Quote:

/etc$ pico group

Then logout of your session or reboot and try again.

adasiak · 12-12-2007, 09:03 AM

A day and a half later, the problem has righted itself -- for no reason that I can see. My computer has spent some time off, but I didn't expect that to make a difference, since I'd already re-booted a couple of times in trying to get the media players to work. Maybe it just needed a good night's rest.

Thanks for your suggestions. I'm actually a little sorry I didn't get (or need) to try them out.

--Paul