Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Ubuntu - How To Add DVD Playback Capability


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Originally uploaded by Jack Crossen
If you running Ubuntu 7.10 Linux and can't get a DVD to play, the Ubuntu Wiki has a simple solution that worked for me.


You need a working internet connection before proceeding.


Run the following script from the command line -
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/install-css.sh
If that doesn't work, run the script below, then run the script above again -
sudo apt-get install libdvdread3
If you get messages that the css key can not be found you may set the regioncode of your optical drive -
sudo apt-get install regionset
sudo regionset
Then follow the instructions...

In case you were wondering, in this context, css is an acronym for Content Scramble System an encryption system used on DVD's. It is intended to prevent you from making a copy or downloading a DVD to your hard drive.

CSS was reverse-engineered/cracked by, among other people, a young self-taught software programmer from Norway by the name of Jon Lech Johansen. He was arrested for computer hacking in 2002 after a complaint by the US DVD Copy Control Association (DVD-CCA) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA) but was later acquitted in an Oslo court. The people that defeated CSS were looking for ways to play DVD's using the Linux operating system.

Jon Lech Johansen keeps a blog at nanocr.eu.

Now I can watch the Battlestar Galactica season 2 and 3 DVD's I rented, without having to boot up Windows.