I just installed ubuntu to my system and i have been tryin to play videos for example: mpg,avi.etc. and it says i dont have the correct decoders????? Where can i download these??

Any help?

Cheers,
Clarence

by default ubuntu opens movie files with totem.but the codecs for a lot of video files seem not to be installed by default.
i suggest that u install either mplayer by
sudo apt-get install mplayer
or vlc media player by
sudo apt-get install vlc
alternatively the easier way is to search for these packages in synaptics package installer(its in system/administration in the panel).if u use thius method make sure u have enabled multiverse repositories.
hope this helps

sudo apt-get install win32-codecs
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg
sudo apt-get install divx4linux

Those three should give you the ability to play mpeg and avi files. I would use mplayer.
Might also run sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.8-plugins. May also have to update your repositories list for find some of these packages.

I tried the apt-get things and it didnt work. E: couldnt find package mplayer. Do i have to upgrade something?

iget this when i try to get the codecs
E: Invalid record in the preferences file, no Package header

Update your /etc/apt/sources.list to include the universe and multiverse repositories. You can use google to find one of the many step by step tutorials. After you do this, run "sudo apt-get update", and then you can apt-get the codecs and mplayer. In general, you can apt-get any of the packages listed at http://packages.ubuntu.com/ .

how do you update the list to include the universe and multiverse repositories

which category onthat website would have the updated etc/apt/sources.list

http://packages.ubuntu.com/dapper/

Give this a try. It will auto generate you a sources.list

ok im lost wht r u sopposed to do with that link , sorry for being total newb

its just that i screwed up everythinglast time i tried this and had to reinstall

No problem, I just found it. Go through there and choose what distro you have and check the boxes that you want and it will generate a sources.list for you. Then download that and place it in /etc/apt/

im sorry but seriously lost here there is 2 different things to click on to get sources.list , and do i check both boxes in each one the packages and sources and wht about teh 2 boxes that can be checked under pickin your version , and whts the 2 letter code of yoru country i dont know what any of this is once again im sorry

If you are new to Linux, get ready to do some reading and a lot of learning of things you never imagined. This should help you. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RestrictedFormats I suggest getting totem-xine and mplayer. You will have to enable universe and multiverse repositories by editing sources.list and uncommenting (removing the #) from the two repo that's commented out, then running `sudo apt-get update` or using a that graphical front end to apt-get, Synaptic.

i removed those 2 lines now i get this error when i open synaptic or do apt-get update

E: Type 'Uncomment' is not known on line 10 in source list /etc/apt/sources.list
E: The list of sources could not be read.
Go to the repository dialog to correct the problem.

I cannot save my new sources list over the top of my other one:S. Is this right:
# Automatically generated sources.list
# http://www.ubuntulinux.nl/source-o-matic
#
# If you get errors about missing keys, lookup the key in this file
# and run these commands (replace KEY with the key number)
#
# gpg --keyserver subkeys.pgp.net --recv KEY
# gpg --export --armor KEY | sudo apt-key add -

# Ubuntu supported packages (packages, GPG key: 437D05B5)
deb http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hoary main restricted
deb http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hoary-updates main restricted

# Ubuntu supported packages (sources, GPG key: 437D05B5)
deb-src http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hoary main restricted
deb-src http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hoary-updates main restricted

# Ubuntu community supported packages (packages, GPG key: 437D05B5)
deb http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hoary universe multiverse
deb http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hoary-updates universe multiverse

# Ubuntu community supported packages (sources, GPG key: 437D05B5)
deb-src http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hoary universe multiverse
deb-src http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hoary-updates universe multiverse

It gives an error message: Could not save the file "/etc/apt/sources.list"