Can't play a DVD

[lite_user]

Hi,

I have installed linux lite onto a relative's laptop at their request.

It is a circa-2008 Sony Vaio VGN-NS230D with 3 GB RAM. It was running Windows Vista previously.

After the install, most things work. I have wireless internet, the keyboard is fine (Even though this is a European model and we are now in Canada), the trackpad works, sound and Youtube work.

But I can't get it to play a DVD. Before you ask, I installed the 'restricted extras,' and also instructed it to load codecs during the install.

When I put a commercially-purchased DVD video in the tray, it automatically reads the DVD and says "DVD has automatically been mounted."

So I can see the DVD, and it mounts on the desktop. But when I try to play it, nothing happens.

I have tried to play both the disc and individual VOB files via VLC media player, but nothing works.

VLC actually pops up automatically when I first insert the DVD. But when I tell it to play the disc, video length numbers appear as if it is about to play a video, and this lasts for about one second, but then it halts inexplicably.

Can anyone help me with this problem?

[lite_user]

Okay, check this out. I chose "no disc menus" when loading the DVD, and it actually went a step farther. It tried to play the DVD, then gave me an error message:

Your input can't be opened:
VLC is unable to open the MRL 'dvdsimple:///media/antonia'. Check the log for details.
Playback failure:
DVDRead could not read block 21.

Do you think this has something to do with region codes? I think the PC is originally from Germany.

[lite_user]

So it WAS a region issue. The DVD player didn't have a region set. I downloaded regionset and set it to "1."

Now, VLC actually plays the DVD...but it is choppy, pixelated, and blurry. Is it a video issue now? Did I install the wrong codecs?

[Valtam]

That's good to know. I'll include this in 3.8

[TheDead]

From Google it seems your laptop has Intel Graphics inside.
I'm pretty sure a default Linux Lite installation has the proper graphics so, yes, it seems that codecs could be the problem. Maybe try to boot a Live Linux-Lite DVD and see if it does the same.
Another way would be to try another known-working DVD.
Also, VLC is utltra configurable so changing the video playback codec is a third option.

Cheers!