Can't Play DVD (with VLC, Totem, Xine, MPlayer), But Works in Windows

Question

I have a DVD that I can't play for the life of me in Arch. I've tried VLC, Totem, Xine, and MPlayer. And I do have libdvdcss installed. Other DVDs work fine.
With VLC the DVD menu comes up, but when I hit play I get choppy sound and no picture. And I get these errors:
[0x7f91f4000c18] main input error: ES_OUT_RESET_PCR called
[0x7f91f4000c18] main input error: ES_OUT_RESET_PCR called
[0x15c0a08] a52 decoder: A/52 channels:2 samplerate:48000 bitrate:192000
No accelerated IMDCT transform found
[0x7f91f4000c18] main input error: ES_OUT_RESET_PCR called
[0x7f91f4000c18] main input error: ES_OUT_RESET_PCR called
[0x15c0a08] libmpeg2 decoder error: invalid picture encountered
[0x12839a8] a52 decoder: A/52 channels:2 samplerate:48000 bitrate:192000
No accelerated IMDCT transform found
[0x15c0a08] libmpeg2 decoder error: invalid picture encountered
[0x15c0a08] libmpeg2 decoder error: invalid picture encountered
[0x15c0a08] libmpeg2 decoder error: invalid picture encountered
With Totem I get the DVD menu and when I hit play it just freezes.
With Gxine I just get a popup window that says "Media stream scrambled/encrypted" (but again I do have libdvdcss, libdvdread, and libdvdnav installed). In the terminal Gxine reports it's using libdvdcss to get the encryption keys and it appears to all go fine, but then I get the "Media stream scrambled/encrypted" popup window.
Mplayer plays the the DVD but the image is scrambled and the sound is a little choppy.
On the other hand, in Windows, on the same computer, the DVD plays fine with an older version of VLC (0.8.6d) and with Media Player Classic with the K-Lite Codec Pack.
I'm especially baffled that VLC does it in Windows, but not in Arch (nor in Debian).
Any thoughts? Thanks.

Answer 1

cb474 wrote:
Rasi wrote:Welcome to copyprotection hell. Many dvds are not only encrypted using css, but with several other mechanisms too. Such dvds cannot be played back on linux. It might work with one of the commercial players, but definately wont work with free tools.
That's interesting. I didn't realize it was all css. But how does that explain in this case the DVD did work with free players in Windows. As I said, both with Media Player Classic with the K-Lite codec pack and with an older version of VLC (0.8.6d)? Thanks.
That is very possible. All those players use (or can use) direct show. As soon as you have the needed filter installed by SOME software all those players will be able to make use of it. And i think Vista even had dvd filters pre-installed.
Btw. One of the more common protections on dvds is called arcos and is developed by Sony. Google for it
Last edited by Rasi (2009-08-18 21:32:56)