Playing a dvd

[Linux Frank]

Well after a couple of years of having isues with DVDs. It seems mplayer is finally working out for me. Just as ogle craps out.

But let us not worry about Ogle for the moment. Another time another thread.

I am having trouble playing a DVD. This one is homemade by a friend I know it works, and I have seen it working on a system that had a piece of fancy editing software on it (However WiMP only partially worked). When I try to mount the drive I get:

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[root@localhost root]# mount /dev/cdrom1 /mnt/cdrom1
/dev/cdrom1: Input/output error
mount: block device /dev/cdrom1 is write-protected, mounting read-only
/dev/cdrom1: Input/output error
mount: /dev/cdrom1: can't read superblock



Using FC2 Disk management I get the following error.

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mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/cdrom1,
       or too many mounted file systems




And when trying to open the DVD with mplayer I get the follwing, everything up to the not being able to use the remote appears fine and dandy:

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[root@localhost root]# export DVDCSS_VERBOSE=2
[root@localhost root]# gmplayer
MPlayer 1.0pre6-3.3.3 (C) 2000-2004 MPlayer Team
CPU: Advanced Micro Devices Athlon MP/XP/XP-M Barton (Family: 6, Stepping: 0)
Detected cache-line size is 64 bytes
CPUflags:  MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 1 3DNow2: 1 SSE: 1 SSE2: 0
 
 
vo: X11 running at 1024x768 with depth 24 and 32 bpp (":0.0" => local display)
Opening joystick device /dev/input/js0
Can't open joystick device /dev/input/js0 : No such device
Can't init input joystick
Setting up LIRC support...
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 dvd://1.
libdvdread: Using libdvdcss version 1.2.8 for DVD access
libdvdcss debug: opening target `/dev/cdrom1'
libdvdcss debug: using libc for access
libdvdcss error: css error: ioctl_ReadCopyright failed, make sure there is a DVD in the drive, and that you have used the correct device node.
libdvdcss debug: could not check whether the disc was scrambled
libdvdcss error: read error
Reading disc structure, please wait...
libdvdcss error: read error
libdvdcss error: read error
libdvdread: Can't open file VIDEO_TS.IFO.
Can't open VMG info!
 
 
Exiting... (Quit)
[root@localhost root]#



I suspect the problem lies with the read/write issue.

Normal DVDs work (Well Holy Grail starts up just fine) I can test with some others if need be.

TIA and hoping this might mean something to someone as this is kind of important.

-Frank.

[Void Main]

A few thoughts some of them you may or may not know.

1) You don't have to mount a DVD to play it (you probably know this)
2) You normally mount CDs and DVDs with the "ro" as you can't mount a CD or DVD for write (not without a packet driver).
3) The unknown filesystem error message indicates a screwed up disk. It's very common for a flaky (or improperly burned) disk to work on the device on which it was burned but may not work on some other drives (depending on their capabilities). Burn speed also seems to have some effect on this, at least I believe this to be true but I may be falsely attributing other problems to this. If what I have just said is true then you should have no problem mounting any of the disks that you CAN play (Holy Grail):

# mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom -o ro

Of course the best thing to do is to just add an entry for your CD/DVD in your /etc/fstab so you only have to do:

# mount /mnt/cdrom

Here's the one that was set up by the system for me:
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom udf,iso9660 noauto,owner,kudzu,ro 0 0

Regarding ogle. It's funny that I just noticed it not working last night for the first time. I am guessing that I must have never used it under FC3 as google tells me this has always been an issue with FC3. You *can* play DVDs with ogle without the gui using this:

ogle -u cli

Part of the problem appears to be that there has been no development on ogle in quite some time. It's a shame too because ogle has been the best working DVD player I have used. When the other players have a problem ogle has always worked, and the menus/chapters always worked the best. There is another GUI wrapper for ogle out there that looks pretty cool but I couldn't get it built the other night when I tried. It was late though. Would be nice to fix up the ogle client a little more and wrap it up with this other GUI and make a nice FC3 RPM out of it.

Goggles:
http://www.fifthplanet.net/goggles.html

EDIT: I'm an idiot. Goggles comes with a spec file to build as an RPM and it built just fine using it:

1) wget downloadhttp://www.fifthplanet.net/file ... 10.tar.bz2
2) rpmbuild -ta goggles-0.7.10.tar.bz2

You probably still have to install Fox as mentioned. I downloaded this:
http://www.fox-toolkit.org/ftp/fox-1.2.3.tar.gz

And did:

./configure
make
make install

I see 1.2.22 is the latest but I just went with the version mentioned on the Goggles page. I assume the newer fox versions would work too. I am going to build the fox and the goggles RPMS and make them available in my RPMS section. I might also try and fix some hanging issues with ogle and build a custom version of it. I'm not going to try and fix the GUI, just the hanging issue that I also get using the "-u cli" option.

EDIT2: I'm a bigger idiot. I now realize you said you were using FC2 not FC3 so I'm not sure about the ogle issue (the other points still apply). I'm in the process of building 'goggles' and 'fox' RPMS for FC3. They might work in FC2 as well. I still would like to fix ogle so it doesn't hang on exit in FC3.

[ZiaTioN]

I really doubt this could be an issues but it could be a problem with an incompatible DVD video standard. Possibly the DVD was burned using PAL aspect ratios and your player is looking for NTSC aspect rations, or vise versa?

[Void Main]

Actually no because he can't even mount it. If he gets an error trying to mount it and can't see the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS directories then the disk is bad or the drive is bad. If he can mount other disks then it would indicate something went wrong in the burn process.

[Void Main]

I realized I was running a rather outdated kernel on my desktop and I just upgraded to the new kernel that came out yesterday in the updates section (kernel-2.6.10-1.741_FC3) and I no longer have the Ogle hang issue. The ogle_gui still doesn't work but that's ok because goggles is a much better ogle GUI:

viewtopic.php?t=1326&highlight=

Whoever hasn't updated their kernels since before yesterday will want to do that now (on any distro). The new Fedora kernels that came out yesterday have the latest serious security issue fixed.

[Linux Frank]

Ha Ha.

Well my DVD player is probably PAL as I brought it in the UK, but I did not think this was an issue as my DVDs are all US brought and paid (and monitors are not country specific in terms of their output I thought). and work just fine on this here PC. But it is possible that my DVD is old and this might be the problem. I know it needs replacing but I have not gotten around to it yet. We have not yet managed to play it on a proper DVD and TV set up. We finally obtained a TV, but it is not possible to connect a DVD player to it, and we don't actually own one, so that in itself is a problem.

But onwards and upwards, we shall be testing it on a proper DVD player soon, and if that gives problems too then it is back to the burning board. I am going to have to get a new DVD burner as I will need to get this DVD burnt into PAL format (I know it is HTFS). So that may solve all. And I can get the original files just burnt from the camera to a CD if necessary.

FYI the reason this is so important is that this is our wedding DVD, and if I can't get it working properly I'm in it up to my neck.

Lots to consider. I am leaning to a problem with the particular DVD and my DVD player (a hunch but I'm very good with these hunches). I expect it to work when we watch it on the tv.

Thanks and I'll let you know. I don't think this is a Linux specifc problem.

[Void Main]

Again, whether it is PAL or NTSC would have no bearing on you being able to mount it. The actual disk format is the same (iso9660). Not being able to mount it indicates a bad burn or bad drive as I said but I doubt it is your drive since you can mount and play other DVDs. If the disk only mounts on some drives and not others, that's what I consider a "bad burn".

[worker201]

Considering all the disparate formats out there, the lasers in dvd players have to be pretty generic. Reading DVD9, DVD18, cd-rom, cd-rw, and etc require different reflections, and logically not all players can read all discs. I've noticed that my Xbox is extremely good at reading Xbox games (DVD18), but CeNsOrEd poor at reading dvds, and incapable of reading audio cds. I have an old low-quality music cd that plays in some cdplayers, but not others. Discs I burn at home do not always play at work.

The best solution to this problem would be to have a number of optical drives. One for cd, one for cd-rw, one for dvd, and one for dvd-rw. Then the laser would be perfectly suited to the media. However, this is impractical for most users. So the next best solution is to go to the store and buy 5-packs of 4 or 5 different brands of blank disc and test them. As soon as you find one that seems to be compatible between your different players (home, office, portable, etc), stick with it. I have found that Maxell and TDK are excellent, Imation is okay, and Memorex is shady. For the benefit of total compatibility, it is worth the few extra bucks to get really good quality discs.

[Void Main]

Does burn speed have anything to do with whether some players will have a hard time reading disks? As I mentioned earlier I have had times when I burn a disk at 4 or 8 speed and try to play it in another reader it won't read it but if I burn at a low speed (1x) the old player can read it fine.

[ZiaTioN]

Yes burn speed has a lot more to do wtih burning issues then people realize. As far as CD's go I know once you get above the 32x arena you are pushing old lazers ability to read your disk. For DVD's I am not sure where the breaking poiint is at yet. I have only had a 1x dvd burner in the past on my iMac so there was not much slower then that. I recently purchased a dual layer 8x burner and have not had issues with the 8x burn speed yet but I also have mostly newer readers.

The burn speed matters because on todays blank CDR's and DVDR's the lazer actually changes the color of the dye on the disk as it imprints data onto it. The faster it goes the "lighter" the dye change or coloration is and therefore some older readers will not recognize that there is actually burnt data there because it is too faint to read.

[Tux]

After 8x (for CDR) there are diminishing returns in speed terms, so I usually don't burn above 20 unless i'm in a real hurry, and slower when I have time. The slower you burn the longer the disc lives, so they say.

[Linux Frank]

I know speed plays an issue in older optical drives. I know this only from experience with CDs, I have assumed DVDs have the same issue. I believe that is a main part of this issue. The drive it was burnt on is super fast in comparison to my aging Matsui (or whatever it is).

So I need to buy a burner, but the hardware compatability lists at RH and MDK are not really that helpful.

I was thinking of getting a Plexor, but would like the advice of others. I don't want to buy rebranded, and would prefer to buy from a company that explicitly supports Linux. So any reviews out there?

Other requirements, Must be able to deal with multiple regions, as I have to be able to record in either non-region or more then one region type. Buying from certain other countries is a possibility if necessary (US, UK or Germany for preference).

[Tux]

I'd highly reccomed NEC's +/-R(W) drives. They have worked flawlessly in linux for me without any fuss or firmware flashing, etc.

As to playing your wedding DVD, have you consider using dvdbackup to make a local copy and trying to play that with xine/mplayer/VLC/whatever?

[Void Main]

I might have to look at those drives too. I currently have a DVDRW IDE1008 that I can't say that I would recommend nor do I know if it fills all of his requirements (probably not). I have only burned a few disks with it and I got a 30 pack of blank disks and it only recognizes half of the disks for some reason. It's very possible that it's just a bad batch of disks but I do know it's not a Linux problem. I also would suggest you try and play the disk on a regular home DVD player (if you don't have one find someone with one). If it doesn't play on a regular DVD player I would ask for another copy.

[worker201]

Not that this helps you much, but the DVD writer that came in my Dell box has written flawlessly every time. It's probably a Toshiba, haven't got any idea. I burn Fedora DVDs with Fedora. But this drive cannot stand Memorex "Cool Colors" CD-R discs, blank or burned. You really can't win. For home players, Toshibas are economical and reliable.