Impress doesn't play videos in Ubuntu 10.10

[Alex Moldovan]

Binary package hint: openoffice.org

After upgrading to Ubuntu10.10, Impress doesn't play/show videos. It doesn't make a difference if I use Insert "Object" or "Movie and Sound". I have the gstreamer [1] packages installed, and I don't use compiz. I tried a few video formats (ogv, avi, mov, flv, mpg, mpeg..etc) ant none of them worked. However I am able to play all those videos in Totem or any other player. I tried the workarounds described in the bug #575237 but no luck.

[1] gstreamer0.10-plugins-base gstreamer0.10-plugins-good gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
Package: openoffice.org (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-22.34-generic 2.6.35.4
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-22-generic i686
Architecture: i386
Date: Thu Oct 14 17:11:25 2010
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100429)
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_CA.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: openoffice.org

[Alex Moldovan (alexmoldovan)]

I created a presentation file in Ubuntu 10.04 and then in Ubuntu 10.10, using the same video file. Looking in the .odp file at the content.xml there are differences in the relative path used when referring to the video:

10.04 - content.xml sample line:
<draw:plugin xlink:href="../../../../home/ubuntu/Desktop/Dramatic_Look.flv" xlink:type="simple" xlink:show="embed" xlink:actuate="onLoad" draw:mime-type="application/vnd.sun.star.media">

10.10 - content.xml sample line:
<draw:plugin xlink:href="media/Dramatic_Look.flv" xlink:type="simple" xlink:show="embed" xlink:actuate="onLoad" draw:mime-type="application/vnd.sun.star.media">

This is strange be cause the file was on the Desktop in both cases and the path to the file was "/home/ubuntu/Desktop" in both cases. As it can be seen in the 10.04 sample the path to the file is correct. In 10.10 the path is "media/Dramatic_Look.flv" which is wrong. I will attach the content.xml of both files.

[Richard (richard-njoyscience)]

I noticed that in the .odp file, there is a media folder, and the video is placed in there, as well as the original place within the Ubuntu file system. Perhaps OO is trying to include the entire video within the .ODP file and be able to view it from there. Perhaps the bug is an inability to view a compressed video file from the .ODP archive file?

[Richard (richard-njoyscience)]

You could extend this problem to all media. I just tried adding sound to a presentation and found the same problem. I include a test presentation with sound file.

An interesting test would be to get OO and install it on a Windows Virtual Box and see whether these problems are there too. My guess is that this is an Ubuntu issue?

[Stephen Williams (swilliams8)]

I am running Ubuntu 10.10, and ran into this exact problem. In editing mode, I can insert a video into a slide and Impress displays a frame from the video. Using Tools->Media Player, the video opens and plays correctly. When in presentation mode, the video is simply a gray square.

After reading the above post, I checked the href path of the inserted video file. It displays as "href=media/Video.mpg". The video is present in the media folder inside the ODP archive. Manually modifying the href path to the full path of the video file does allow the video to play in presentation mode. After opening the modified presentation, Impress asks if media paths should be updated. Selecting "yes" modifies the href path to "href=../Video.mpg". Again, the video plays correctly in presentation mode. So, it seems the issue is related to Impress not finding the video in its own archive.

On a possibly related note, deleting the video from the Impress presentation does not seem to remove it from the the Impress media folder. This causes the ODP file size to increase drastically as you modify the presentation over time.

[Richard (richard-njoyscience)]

I have made myself a script that hacks the Open Office Presentation file and removed the embedded videos, and corrects the link to them so that the presentation works. It works for me. I hope it helps you. Beware, and test it though before trusting it.

What you need to do is install the attached script into the ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts folder and mark it as an executable. Then you can right click on your buggy Presentation file (after you have closed it from Open Office). It will ask you where you want the fixed file to go, and then it lets rip. It will create a media folder alongside the presentation file.

[NoOp (glgxg)]

Same issue as comment #8 ("sing Tools->Media Player, the video opens and plays correctly. When in presentation mode, the video is simply a gray square.") on Lucid using 3.2.1 proposed:
$ apt-cache policy openoffice.org
openoffice.org:
  Installed: 1:3.2.1-6ubuntu2~10.04.1
  Candidate: 1:3.2.1-6ubuntu2~10.04.1
  Version table:
 *** 1:3.2.1-6ubuntu2~10.04.1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-proposed/universe Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:3.2.0-7ubuntu4.1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/universe Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-security/universe Packages
     1:3.2.0-7ubuntu4 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid/universe Packages

Using my standard .avi test file that I've been using since (U)OOo 2.x I checked the content.xml file and find:
<draw:plugin xlink:href="media/FlashsoKjat.avi" xlink:type="simple" xlink:show="embed"

I'll try Richards script & also back down to an earlier version of (U)OOo to test/compare.

[NoOp (glgxg)]

Richards script worked for me.

[NoOp (glgxg)]

I just backed down to (U)OOo 3.2.0 (purged all 3.2.1) on the same system:
$ apt-cache policy openoffice.org
openoffice.org:
  Installed: 1:3.2.0-7ubuntu4.1
  Candidate: 1:3.2.0-7ubuntu4.1
  Version table:
 *** 1:3.2.0-7ubuntu4.1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates/universe Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-security/universe Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:3.2.0-7ubuntu4 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid/universe Packages

Opening and playing the .avi in a new Impress presentation works w/o issue. So the problem is a regression between (U)OOo 3.2.0 and (U)OOo 3.2.1.

[NoOp (glgxg)]

On 02/02/2011 09:57 AM, Christopher M. Penalver wrote:
> *** This bug is a duplicate of bug 172262 ***
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/172262
>
> ** This bug has been marked a duplicate of bug 172262 Impress
> inserted video does not play * You can subscribe to bug 172262 by
> following this link:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/openoffice.org/+bug/172262/+subscribe
>

@Christopher: why did you open a 2 1/2 year old bug (172262) that had
been marked as fixed on 2008-07-23, modify the description of that bug
substantially:
<https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/openoffice.org/+bug/172262/+activity>
and then mark this bug as a dupe?

[penalvch (penalvch)]

NoOp, thank you for responding to this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Regarding your comments:

> why did you open a 2 1/2 year old bug (172262) that had been marked as fixed on 2008-07-23...

I did not re-open this bug, tuharsky (original reporter) did. As well, tuharsky's re-opening issue is confirmed by everyone in this bug, bug 172262, & bug 660247.

> ...modify the description of that bug substantially: <https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/openoffice.org/+bug/172262/+activity> and then mark this bug as a dupe?

The issues described in bug 172262 & 660247 are exactly those described in this bug, hence the duplicate marking.

[NoOp (glgxg)]

On 02/02/2011 08:52 PM, Christopher M. Penalver wrote:
> *** This bug is a duplicate of bug 172262 ***
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/172262
>
> NoOp, thank you for responding to this bug and helping to make Ubuntu
> better. Regarding your comments:
>
>> why did you open a 2 1/2 year old bug (172262) that had been marked as
> fixed on 2008-07-23...
>
> I did not re-open this bug, tuharsky (original reporter) did. As well,
> tuharsky's re-opening issue is confirmed by everyone in this bug, bug
> 172262, & bug 660247.
...
Mea Culpa, I should have notice that.

[cement_head (andorjkiss)]

@NoOp

Can LO 3.3 be patched to deal with this issue?

@NoOp & @Richard

Also, (unrelated) - is there anyway to suppress the sound in the presenter console? It generates an echo (duplicate sound) and renders the presenter-console useless.

See Bug Report here (its NOT fixed for me): http://qa.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=98806

And my forum post (maybe better to continue this on the forum): http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1683374

Thanks,
CH

[NoOp (glgxg)]

@CH: I'm sure that LO (Ubuntu version) can be patched to fix the issue. I just tested (using an .avi) on LO 3.3.0 installed from the .deb packages from http://www.libreoffice.org/download & adding the .avi works w/o issue on Ubuntu 10.10 (32 and 64bit). The resulting .odp does not incorrectly embed the .avi into the .odp file.

I then brought up a natty 10.04 alpha test system and tried the vanilla LO 3.3.0 on that system. It exhibits the exact same behaviour; embeds the video into the .odp. I then followed the instructions for Richard's script (comment #9) and ran the script against the same. The result is that it worked; it unlinks the embeded video & the video now runs in the natty LO version.

I reckon that the real question would be: what code between openoffice.org (1:3.2.0-7ubuntu4.2) and openoffice.org (1:3.2.1-7ubuntu1) is responsible for the change? There was some discussion on the Sun/Oracle OOo lists awhile back (I was involved) to provide an 'pack & go' type impress file whereby the video/audio files would be embeded based upon a user option. To my knowledge this 'pack & go' was never implemented in standard Sun/Oracle OOo. It appears that someone on the Ubuntu/debian? side has decided to give this a try in the current versions of Ubuntu OOo and LO & it hasn't worked. Two issues (as I see it) need to be looked at/changed:

1. The code that is causing the embedding of the audio/video files in Impress (U)OOo or (U)LO needs to be identified and fixed.

2. Embeded video/audio, while a good option, should be a *user* option on save/save as. Otherwise every user will have multimeg files for their .odp's. For example, on the impress files with the .ogg I tested on https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/openoffice.org/+bug/172262 resulted in an 18.4Mb .odp. That's not much of an issue with a small presentation, but imagine if the presentation contained many video/audio files. Again, it should be the user choice to embed or not & I'll see if I can get a better picture/clarification of the issue in the next few days.

[cement_head (andorjkiss)]

@NoOp

Thanks - I've dropped back to 3.2.0 until this is solved for LO; even though there is a workaround.

Any ideas on the presenter-console sound bug issue, or whom I can contact to get that one squished?

- CH

[ptitmain (ptitmain)]

Richard's script works fine for me too.

[Björn Michaelsen (bjoern-michaelsen)]

[This is an automated message.]
There are no new official OpenOffice.org releases in Ubuntu packaging anymore => Won't Fix

If the problem persists, please mark this bug as "also affects project Libreoffice" or "also affects distribution Libreoffice (Ubuntu)" if that has not happened already.

Please leave references to upstream OpenOffice.org bugs in place to allow cross pollination.