Watching a DVD in Xubuntu 9.04

After the previous reinstall two months ago, DVDs stopped working.

Here's how I got it to work:

1. Add the medibuntu repository, if you haven't already
   

   sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list~   # Backup the sources.list file
   sudo mousepad /etc/apt/sources.list &                  # Open the sources.list file in an editing window
   
     ## In sources.list, append the following two lines at the bottom, then save (don't close it)
     ## Medibuntu
     deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ jaunty free non-free
     ## If you use debtorrent, use: deb debtorrent://localhost:9988/packages.medibuntu.org/ jaunty free non-free
   
   sudo apt-get update
   sudo sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring
   sudo apt-get update
   

2. Use these two terminal commands to add the correct software (source):
   

   sudo apt-get install totem-xine libxine1-ffmpeg libdvdread4
   sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh
   # Note - this installs the libdvdcss2 package, which is *not* in the repositories.
   # If you use this list of packages to rebuild your system, for example by using a 
   # Jablicator metapackage, it will fail due to this missing dependency.
   

3. I installed ubuntu-restricted-extras for unrelated reasons. So I don't *think* it's necessary.
   

   sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras
   

4. Finally, I got an error message when I put in a dvd:
   "Could not open location; you might not have permission to open the file." This is indeed a permission issue. Fix it with:
   

   sudo chmod 755 /media/cdrom0

   And then try opening the DVD from within your player application (Totem).

DVD ISO to AVI file

I have an old DVD ISO image (I make DVDs of my kids), and I want to make an AVI copy to upload the funniest bits to YouTube. This is on an Ubuntu 8.04 system, your mileage may vary.

1. Install dvd::rip using Synaptic
2. Mount the .iso image (source):
   
   1. Create a mount point with sudo mkdir /mnt/iso
   2. Mount the image with sudo mount -o loop /path/and/file.iso /mnt/iso
      Alternate: Somewhere along the line, my Thunar magically gained this ability when I right-click on the .iso icon, but I cannot remember which package made this possible...
3. Rip the DVD. Open dvd::rip.
   
   1. Preferences: I created no special folder for ripped projects; just saved to the home directory. I checked the dependencies, and had to download a mountain of them (xine, mplayer, etc) using Synaptic.
   2. Storage: Click 'Choose DVD image directory', and select /mnt/iso. Select the button for 'Encode DVD on the fly' since it's already on the hard drive.
   3. Rip Title: Click 'Read DVD table of contents' and the chapters appear. I highlighted (CTRL + Click) the chapters I wanted to convert.
   4. Clip and Zoom: Click the preset menu, select 'Autoadjust - Medium Frame Size, HQ Resize'.
   5. Transcode: Video bitrate calculation is the size of the final file, so I can keep it small (~10 MB per minute, or ~200 MB per half hour). Finally, click 'Transcode' and wait an hour or two or five for the machine to work.
   6. Test the finished file to ensure it's really what you want. I had to do it a couple times, twiddling with various controls.
4. Cleanup.
   
   1. Unmount the iso: sudo umount /mnt/iso
   2. Remove the empty mount point: sudo rmdir /mnt/iso
   3. Delete the .iso file (optional, obviously)
   4. Open Synaptic and get rid of all the packages you won't use again. Or use:
      

      sudo apt-get remove dvdrip mplayer xine
      sudo apt-get autoremove
      sudo apt-get autoclean
      

The package ripmake didn't work - tcprobe failure.

DVD copying

Needed to backup a DVD. On Linux, Brasero failed to finish reading the disk, and never said why. The MacBook Disk Utility errored out with -39. Back to Linux dvdcopy - error reading Title VOB at block 159. No luck - giving up.