Problem with playing video after upgrade to 14.04

[Martinix]

Hi,
after installing 14.04 I cant play videos (tested MPEG4 and matroska). After opening player video starts playing with hight speed (maybe 8x faster then normal) and no sound. I also tested vlc - no window appear but it shows at task manager and after few seconds later vlc disappear. Same result without opening video (just opening vlc). I run out of ideas
My computer: HP 4710s
Intel Core2Duo
Ati mobility radeon hd 4330

Thank you for your help

[Teunis]

I also have problems but only with certain codex and certain players.
For me VLC generally works but I prefer Smplayer but at the moment it won't play mp4.
Plus for every instance I started and after shutdown part of the process stays alive.
Dragon Player usually works but it has hardly any hotkeys.

In case of for example Gwenview there is a problem with the so-called backend set in System Settings.
GStreamer used to be the backend of choice but since ffmpeg has been changed out to libav this gives problems.
Setting VLC as backend works for Gwenview, maybe it works for your videoplayer of choice.

[Martinix]

Thank you for your reply
I get VLC to work. I had to delete config file and set ALSA output. I have only GStreamer in backend settings so all players except vlc dont work. However Dragon playing with normal speed but still no sound. Any Idea?

[whatthefunk]

Are you watching the videos through HDMI?

[Teunis]

I was fed up with the media/codecs problems and decided tot do a reinstall retaining my /home.
And the result is 100% successful, I tried so many avenues to fix the problems with especially wmv and mp4 formats but nothing worked.
Over the years I compiled a simple text document with the various settings I like to change and the whole process takes 'only' around two hours.

[Martinix]

whatthefunk: nope, I dont have HDMI connected. Watching on notebook screen. VLC playcing normaly at this moment also at HDMI.

Teunis: Will you write me little how to? thank you

[Teunis]

Hi Martinix,

Well the little howto I was referring to is mainly about settings specific to a Thinkpad.
Like setting the disk shock protection and enabling Hibernation to disk, you can find the list here:
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...configurations

Enable HDD temp display in Conky by installing hddtemp followed by this command;

sudo dpkg-reconfigure hddtemp

Then I set up the Blueshell repo for the Firefox KDE add on.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:blue-shell/firefox-kde
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install firefox firefox-kde-support

echo -e 'Package: *' | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/blue-shell-firefox > /dev/null
echo -e 'Pin: release o=LP-PPA-blue-shell-firefox-kde' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/preferences.d/blue-shell-firefox > /dev/null
echo -e 'Pin-Priority: 1000' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/preferences.d/blue-shell-firefox > /dev/null

Enable the Gwenview zoom lock;

kwriteconfig --file gwenviewrc --group ImageView --key ShowLockZoomButton true

(This time it was not necessary, the lock was already there)

In Dolphin the root services will seem to be available but it is best to select Uninstall and Install again, that way the Path will be set up correctly.
You will have to install Ruby to get them to work.

And then a list of additional applications I like;
(In order of importance )
Muon.
kteatime,
kubuntu-restricted-extras.
Truecrypt.
Firefox,Thunderbird and Pan.
Gimp, showFoto, Darktable and Hugin.
iScan and Hamric's scanner software for my Epson V600.
Smplayer, VLC, kradio, Audacity, Veromix Plasma applet and pavucontrol.
Stellarium.
K4dirstat.
Conky.
KDEconnect.
A couple of plasma widgets like CWP, Luna and Solar.
Some of them require Python.

==================================

Now if you meant how do I go about it?

I downloaded the latest ISO and 'burned' it to a USB stick using the 'make boot disk option' already present in KDE.
At the moment downloading it is fastest via Ktorrent.
Then I made a note on a slip of paper(!) of the partitions I want to use, like sda6 for / and sda7 for /home, (you can use the KDE partition manager to find out)

Next I rebooted the system from the USB stick and after selecting my preffered language I commenced with 'Trying Kubuntu'.

Once the Live session of Kubuntu is up and running I click on the desktop icon to install.

There are options to include restricted drivers and do updates during the install, I am not the only one having bad experiences with this so I'll select a pure install from the USB drive and will do the updating and further software and driver selection after the install is finished.
Select 'Manual Partitioning' and point the system to the partitions noted on the slip of paper.
Also and only select to reformat the / (root) partition but DON'T do this for the /home!
Normally swap is automagically recognised and selected.

Continue installing till done.
Reboot and start the session above.

If it hadn't been for the fact my simple text ducument' is in Dutch I would only have had to paste it here.