how can I watch DVDs in FreeBSD

T

TroN-0074

Hello FreeBSD users.

I just did a fresh install and I installed VLC media player on my system, The thing is that when I pop in a movie to watch the system reports that it can't mount the disk. So my question is: do I need some special software to play a movie? Can somebody please point out what I need to do so I can enjoy my Chuck Norris DVD collection once again?

I will appreciate your advices, Thank you!
 
SNK said:
What do you mean by "the system reports"? And how do you try to mount the DVD?
Click to expand...
I try to mount the DVD by placing it on the DVD tray and close it with the disk inside, That is the only way I have done on other platforms. Desktop manager I have is KDE and it sends pop-ups when something doesn't work, so that is what it says, that the disk can't be mounted.

Thank you.
 
What does /var/log/messages report when you put in the DVD? Can you manually mount the DVD?
# mount -t udf -r /dev/acd0 /mnt
 
@SNK
Code: 
# /var/log/messages
/var/log/messages: Permission denied.
# mount -t udf -r /dev/acd0 /mnt
mount_udf: /dev/acd0: Input/output error

Aditionally I did this

Code: 
 > vlc
VLC media player 1.1.7 The Luggage (revision exported)
Blocked: call to unsetenv("DBUS_ACTIVATION_ADDRESS")
Blocked: call to unsetenv("DBUS_ACTIVATION_BUS_TYPE")
[0x285230fc] main libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.
Blocked: call to setlocale(0, "")
Blocked: call to dlopen("/usr/local/kde4/lib/kde4/plugins/gui_platform/libkde.so", 1)
Blocked: call to setlocale(0, "")
libdvdnav: Using dvdnav version 4.1.4
libdvdread: Encrypted DVD support unavailable.
libdvdread: Could not open input: Permission denied
libdvdread: Can't open /dev/acd0 for reading
libdvdnav: vm: failed to open/read the DVD
libdvdread: Encrypted DVD support unavailable.
libdvdread: Could not open input: Permission denied
libdvdread: Can't open /dev/acd0 for reading
[0x2ff3cefc] dvdread demux error: DVDRead cannot open source: /dev/acd0
[0x2fbeb43c] main input error: open of `dvd:///dev/acd0' failed: (null)

Thank you I will appreciate all advices.
 
Run this instead:
% tail -f /var/log/messages

And then see what happens when you put in the DVD. Just to check whether the device is indeed acd0.

Next step would be to mount the device with the correct device ID (first try as root).
# mount -t udf -r /dev/acd0 /mnt
or try
# mount -t cd9660 -r /dev/acd0 /mnt
 
The command # mount -t udf -r /dev/acd0 /mnt does mount the DVD but when I try to play the content of the disk the progress bar on the player just moves fast (it gets to the other end in like a second or two). So I am thinking that I am missing some codec.

I should mention that when I first installed FreeBSD I did a minimal installation from a FreeBSD 8.2 CD. It was not the DVD that comes with more packages. I don't know if that will make any difference.

I really appreciate your help with this matter. Thank you!
 
TroN-0074 said:
Code: 
 > vlc
...
libdvdread: Could not open input: Permission denied
libdvdread: Can't open /dev/acd0 for reading
...
Click to expand...

You don't have permission to acces the DVD drive.

Edit /etc/devfs.conf and reboot.

Code: 
perm    /dev/acd0 0666
 
LateNiteTV said:
Also, make sure that libdvdcss and libdvdcss2 are installed.
Click to expand...

How can I install these packages. I think that is what I am missing.
@ddaley. Thank you I followed that guide and still didn't play movies from DVD. I will keep working on it.
 
thank you for the solution provided, registered an account just to thank you, this page comes up first if you look for "how can I watch DVDs in FreeBSD" in Google
 
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