Using Mplayer

I have MPlayer on my system (openSuSE v10.3, KDE). When I insert a DVD movie in the drive, the "KDE Daemon" window identifies it as a DVD and gives its title. "Play DVD with MPlayer" is in the list, and the accompanying icon is a large red X. Selecting MPlayer causes MPlayer's two windows to come up, and also displays the error message: "Failed to open /home/user/system:/media/sr0". Nothing else happens. I have not found anything to help me locate the problem.

Hi. Do you have installed w32codec-all from packman repository? I really dont know if this is the solution to your problem, but I can not play dvd and avi files until I installed this package.

Hi. Do you have installed w32codec-all from packman repository? I really dont know if this is the solution to your problem, but I can not play dvd and avi files until I installed this package.
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I do.

Hi. Do you have installed w32codec-all from packman repository? I really dont know if this is the solution to your problem, but I can not play dvd and avi files until I installed this package.
[/b]

mplayer does not require w32codec-all to play AVIs or DVDs. MPlayer uses its own built-in codecs, w32codec-all is only needed as a supplement for mplayer for some exotic video codecs


@ OP

best thing is to start up mplayer, right-click for the menu and choose "Play DVD" or something. Better yet, use the SMPlayer front-end to mplayer

mplayer does not require w32codec-all to play AVIs or DVDs. MPlayer uses its own built-in codecs, w32codec-all is only needed as a supplement for mplayer for some exotic video codecs
@ OP

best thing is to start up mplayer, right-click for the menu and choose "Play DVD" or something. Better yet, use the SMPlayer front-end to mplayer
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Going the menu route is what I have been doing, and it works fine. But the problem is about the automatic start by using the apps list when I insert the DVD into the drive, as I explained in the original query.

If I have to give up the ability of automatic start, it's not a big sacrifice, but it means that something that's supposed to work is not working.

Going the menu route is what I have been doing, and it works fine. But the problem is about the automatic start by using the apps list when I insert the DVD into the drive, as I explained in the original query.

If I have to give up the ability of automatic start, it's not a big sacrifice, but it means that something that's supposed to work is not working.
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Yes, and you're smart to observe that. This is a common problem, it's just that no one complains
Solution?

1. Open Mplayer
2. Right-click on it and click Preferences


3. Click OK for the warning and click on the Misc Tab above


4. Now in the Misc tab see what your DVD device and CDROM device are marked as.

The defaults /dev/dvd and /dev/cdrom simply don't work for everybody. Now to know what to fill in here you can do the following:

Method 1 - the shell way (easy)

• Insert a DVD
• Click Alt and F2, type konsole and press ENTER
• type mount and press ENTER
• You will see come output like this

• /dev/sda9 on / type ext3 (rw,acl,user_xattr)
  proc on /proc type proc (rw)
  sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)
  debugfs on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
  udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw)
  devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,mode=0620,gid=5)
  /dev/sda10 on /home type ext3 (rw,acl,user_xattr)
  /dev/sda8 on /mnt/64bit type ext3 (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,acl)
  /dev/sda1 on /windows/c type fuseblk (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,noatime,allow_other,blksiz e=4096)
  /dev/sda5 on /windows/d type fuseblk (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,noatime,allow_other,blksiz e=4096)
  /dev/sda7 on /windows/h type fuseblk (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,noatime,allow_other,blksiz e=4096)
  none on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw,devgid=108,devmode=664)
  securityfs on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
  /dev/sr0 on /media/K3b data project type iso9660 (rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,uid=1000,utf8)
  [/b]

• See the last line /dev/sr0 on /media/K3b data project type iso9660 (rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,uid=1000,utf8)
• CDs and DVDs automatically come under /media
• So the dvd drive device node of my system is /dev/sr0 and not /dev/dvd
• If you now update that in the preferences of mplayer it will work fine

Method 2 - the GUI way (hard)

• Insert a DVD
• You will see this dialog, click ok open in new window
• 
• Close this window
• Open MyComputer on your desktop
• Your DVD will be listed under disk information, right click on it and select properties
• 
• This is what you will get. Just see the title bar, it says "sr0"
• 
• Now to be more specific click the Meta Info tab and read what's under Device node, you will find what you are looking for :-P
• 
• So the dvd drive device node of my system is /dev/sr0 and not /dev/dvd
• If you now update that in the preferences of mplayer it will work fine

Yes, and you're smart to observe that. This is a common problem, it's just that no one complains
Solution?

1. Open Mplayer
2. Right-click on it and click Preferences


3. Click OK for the warning and click on the Misc Tab above


4. Now in the Misc tab see what your DVD device and CDROM device are marked as.

The defaults /dev/dvd and /dev/cdrom simply don't work for everybody. Now to know what to fill in here you can do the following:

Method 1 - the shell way (easy)

• Insert a DVD
• Click Alt and F2, type konsole and press ENTER
• type mount and press ENTER
• You will see come output like this
• See the last line /dev/sr0 on /media/K3b data project type iso9660 (rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,uid=1000,utf8)
• CDs and DVDs automatically come under /media
• So the dvd drive device node of my system is /dev/sr0 and not /dev/dvd
• If you now update that in the preferences of mplayer it will work fine

Method 2 - the GUI way (hard)

• Insert a DVD
• You will see this dialog, click ok open in new window
• 
• Close this window
• Open MyComputer on your desktop
• Your DVD will be listed under disk information, right click on it and select properties
• 
• This is what you will get. Just see the title bar, it says "sr0"
• 
• Now to be more specific click the Meta Info tab and read what's under Device node, you will find what you are looking for :-P
• 
• So the dvd drive device node of my system is /dev/sr0 and not /dev/dvd
• If you now update that in the preferences of mplayer it will work fine

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Thanks for the steer, which turned up what is really wrong -- not exactly what I expected. Here is what the mount command returned in fact:

-----
~> mount
/dev/sda6 on / type ext3 (rw,acl,user_xattr)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)
debugfs on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,mode=0620,gid=5)
/dev/sda7 on /home type ext3 (rw,acl,user_xattr)
/dev/sda9 on /mnt/tempo type hpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
/dev/sda12 on /mnt/info type jfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
/dev/sda13 on /mnt/datafiles type jfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
securityfs on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
-----

So it seems that the DVD is not mounted at all. Presumably I need only to copy the details of your last line into fstab, and fix the MPlayer preferences accordingly.

But if you have further comments about it, I'm listening.

Thanks...

Thanks for the steer, which turned up what is really wrong -- not exactly what I expected. Here is what the mount command returned in fact:

-----
~> mount
/dev/sda6 on / type ext3 (rw,acl,user_xattr)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)
debugfs on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,mode=0620,gid=5)
/dev/sda7 on /home type ext3 (rw,acl,user_xattr)
/dev/sda9 on /mnt/tempo type hpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
/dev/sda12 on /mnt/info type jfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
/dev/sda13 on /mnt/datafiles type jfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
securityfs on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
-----

So it seems that the DVD is not mounted at all. Presumably I need only to copy the details of your last line into fstab, and fix the MPlayer preferences ccordingly.

But if you have further comments about it, I'm listening.

Thanks...
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I'm sorry to reply to my own message, but I am very confused about composing the necessary line in fstab, even after a google search.

The first two colums must presumably be "/dev/sr0 /media/mplayer"..Aftert that, it is not clear to me how to account for "data project type is09660". And do I set UDF?

Have you got other DVDs to work, for example data DVDs?

What happens when you insert the DVD movie? Does a window pop up asking you what you want to do?
Have you tried following the steps within KDE? If so can you follow it through successfully or is there no trace of the DVD drive?

You are going the wrong way with adding a line to fstab. With automounting it isn't really possible to add an item manually to the fstab. You would need to turn off automounting first which would complicate things considerably.

mplayer does not require w32codec-all to play AVIs or DVDs. MPlayer uses its own built-in codecs, w32codec-all is only needed as a supplement for mplayer for some exotic video codecs
@ OP

best thing is to start up mplayer, right-click for the menu and choose "Play DVD" or something. Better yet, use the SMPlayer front-end to mplayer
[/b]

I was never aware of that, I thought in order to play DVD you needed those codecs.