DVD duffup

[Calum]

i can't play dvds. any idea why?
i have a region 4, a region 2 and two region 5 dvds and i have played the region 5s in the past using this same (rh9, mplayer) setup.
the error i get when trying to play a DVD using gmplayer is:

Cannot find codec matching selected -vo and video format 0x10000002 <OK>

the current video driver i have set to X11 because it works (but i get the same error using the other two choices of video driver too) and the version of mplayer i have is from the freshrpms apt repository. as far as i know i have not changed the settings since the region 5 ones were working.
most baffling...

[Void Main]

That's strange, I can't play DVDs either. Oh wait, maybe that's because i don't have a DVD drive. :) That number appears to be the "mpeg 2" signature according to /etc/mplayer/codecs.conf and I see 3 different codecs in that config file with that number. I would have to do some digging to go any further. Hopefully someone here will be able to help...

[Calum]

well, don't go using up all your time just to sort it out for me. hopefully we will be buying a real dvd player sometime anyway however i am worried about the region codes thing. it seems inevitable that we will end up with dvds from all over the world since my girlfriend is australian, i am scottish and a lot of our friends live all round the world...

not sure how to get round that with a dedicated hardware dvd player, but time will no doubt tell.

[Linux Frank]

I have never had much luck with Mplayer for DVDs. Have you tried Ogle, I think it is fantastic in comparison to anything else currently available for DVD.

I am hearing more people moaning about DVD stability on dif. region DVDs recently, and I think it is related to the various encryption techniques used (I am actually hearing more people moaning about the inability to play DVDs on current equipment with reliability - and I think this is all related. They change their encryption system and suddenly newer DVDs cannot play in older equipment, without updates). This doesn't help I know. Thankfully my Monty Python DVDs work. And the two series of Simpsons all work perfectly. Never had a problem related to the playing of them on my computer, but then they have the correct region.

You live in the UK therefore you should be able to track down a DVD player capable of multi region playback.

I would like to know if anyone has achieved stable and reliable playback of different region DVDs. I, unlike Calum cannot buy a DVD player for a television, mainly because I don't own a television (this being a CHOICE). And I do watch DVDs of the simpsons, Monty Python, and I'd like to get my hands on the prisoner series, but I cannot justify buying any more DVDs unless I can watch them in different countries (similar situation to Calum - multi cultural relationship), we are only definately staying here for a few years, after that we have no idea where we will end up, and there is no way I am going to spend money on something that will not last me a long time. I own DVDs only of those shows I think are that good I will still be watching them in ten years. Which is why I don't own any blockbuster fillms on DVD.

Hang on, I just realised, I think I brought my copy of Monty Python and the holy grail when I was living in England, in fact I am sure I did, as it was one of the only DVDs I owned. If that is the case then I must fully recommend Ogle, because it never stopped playing it. I'll have to check on this tonight.