[ubuntu-uk] DVD playing

[Alan Pope]

On Tue, Sep 05, 2006 at 02:47:00PM +0100, julian wrote:
> Hi folks
> 
> I have installed both ubuntu(with gnome) and kubuntu recently and 
> neither of them seem to play DVD "out of the box". Is there a specific 
> reason for that(copyright laws or something?)?
> 

This [0] page explains some of that.

> It strikes me as a issue that should be addressed to start to pull 
> people away from Windoze. lots of windoze user will not use linux if it 
> can't play DVD without hassle.
> 

Depends what your definition of "hassle" is to be fair.

> My installation was on sony vaio laptop which played all DVD with 
> Windoze no problem (windvd, powerdvd).
> 

Software you've paid for that has in turn paid a licence to be able to
distribute said software that can decrypt/play certain patent-encumbered
formats I'm afriad.

The page quoted above explains how to enable DVD playback on Ubuntu.

Cheers,
Al.


[0] https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats