I am running mplayer-nogui from ubuntu 8.10 and I can get the audio from an avi file, but not the video.

Here is what I get when I run the command.

MPlayer 1.0rc2-4.3.2 (C) 2000-2007 MPlayer Team
CPU: Mobile Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 1.80GHz (Family: 15, Model: 2, Stepping: 9)
CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1
Compiled with runtime CPU detection.
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

Playing Wanted[2008]DvDrip-aXXo.avi.
AVI file format detected.
[aviheader] Video stream found, -vid 0
[aviheader] Audio stream found, -aid 1
VIDEO: [DX50] 668x278 12bpp 25.000 fps 809.0 kbps (98.8 kbyte/s)
Clip info:
Software: VirtualDubMod 1.5.10.1 (build 2366/release)
xscreensaver_disable: Could not find XScreenSaver window.
GNOME screensaver disabled
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffodivx] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG-4)
==========================================================================
==========================================================================
Forced audio codec: mad
Opening audio decoder: [libmad] libmad mpeg audio decoder
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 112.0 kbit/7.29% (ratio: 14000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [mad] afm: libmad (libMAD MPEG layer 1-2-3)
==========================================================================
AO: [pulse] 48000Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)
Starting playback...
VDec: vo config request - 668 x 278 (preferred colorspace: Planar YV12)
VDec: using Planar YV12 as output csp (no 0)
Movie-Aspect is 2.40:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
VO: [xv] 668x278 => 668x278 Planar YV12
A: 29.7 V: 29.7 A-V: 0.000 ct: 0.000 743/743 7% 0% 2.7% 5 0

Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated to fix this problem.

How did you install it? Through apt-get/synaptic? Because I suppose that would install the codecs (which I guess is what you are missing).

Anyway, try this on a terminal:

and try to play the file again.

Regards!

I installed the codecs and I still have the same problem. Here is what comes up after I installed the codecs when I run the command:

MPlayer 1.0rc2-4.3.2 (C) 2000-2007 MPlayer Team
CPU: Mobile Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 1.80GHz (Family: 15, Model: 2, Stepping: 9)
CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1
Compiled with runtime CPU detection.
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

Playing Forgetting.Sarah.Marshall[2008][Unrated.Edition]DvDrip-aXXo.avi.
AVI file format detected.
[aviheader] Video stream found, -vid 0
[aviheader] Audio stream found, -aid 1
VIDEO: [DX50] 612x320 12bpp 25.000 fps 745.7 kbps (91.0 kbyte/s)
Clip info:
Software: VirtualDubMod 1.5.10.1 (build 2366/release)
xscreensaver_disable: Could not find XScreenSaver window.
GNOME screensaver disabled
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffodivx] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG-4)
==========================================================================
==========================================================================
Forced audio codec: mad
Opening audio decoder: [libmad] libmad mpeg audio decoder
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 112.0 kbit/7.29% (ratio: 14000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [mad] afm: libmad (libMAD MPEG layer 1-2-3)
==========================================================================
AO: [pulse] 48000Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)
Starting playback...
VDec: vo config request - 612 x 320 (preferred colorspace: Planar YV12)
VDec: using Planar YV12 as output csp (no 0)
Movie-Aspect is 1.91:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
VO: [xv] 612x320 => 612x320 Planar YV12
A: 31.0 V: 31.0 A-V: 0.001 ct: 0.000 776/776 7% 0% 2.8% 5 0
===== PAUSE =====

Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated.

try adding the option "-demuxer mov"

Have you successfully played anything else with mplayer?

I assume you're running it from a terminal window on the desktop. Is it just that no new window opens up to show the video?

Are you running any fancy special-effects stuff like compiz?

You can try different video-out drivers. Run

mplayer -vo help

for a list. Then 'mplayer -vo <driver-name> <movie-file>' to try them out. Most likely choices for desktop use would be xv, x11, gl or gl2. I don't use Ubuntu but am guessing what you call 'mplayer-nogui' is what other distros just call 'mplayer'