.mkv & .flv videos don't play in Totem Ubuntu 11.10

[Amr Ibrahim]

In Ubuntu 11.10, I can't play .mkv and some .flv videos in Totem (some other .flv videos do work). I don't get any messages, they just don't play. I see only the first frame of the .mkv or .flv video freezing on Totem where it says "Playing" at the left-bottom, the time stays 0:00 / 0:00 and the audio is automatically muted every time I play any .mkv or .flv video.

When I right click in Nautilus to see the properties of these not-playing files I get a popup window saying "Creating Properties window. You can stop this operation by clicking cancel." -- and that is all I get. From the files that do play, I do get a properties window.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: libgstreamer0.10-0 0.10.35-1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.20-generic 3.0.4
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-12-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu4
Architecture: amd64
Date: Thu Nov 3 19:21:35 2011
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/totem
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111011)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: gstreamer0.10
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Helmut (debesh)]

I can play .mkv videos (Totem Movie Player 3.0.1 Movie Player using GStreamer 0.10.35), but cannot play SOME .flv files with the symptoms as explained above. Some .flv videos I can play, however.

When I right click in Nautilus to see the properties of these not-playing files I get a popup window saying "Creating Properties window. You can stop this operation by clicking cancel." -- and that is all I get. From the files that do play, I do get a properties window.

Looking at the not-playing files with `ls -l` or `stat` does not reveal anything interesting.

I can play all these files with VLC player though.

[Alba Mendez (jmendeth)]

Hi, I know this bug is old but still shows.
The problem seems to be that certain CODECS are incompatible with FLV and MKV.
If I reencode in another codec (ffmpeg) it plays correctly.
This may be the reason why @debesh can play [SOME] mkv videos.

[madbiologist (me-again)]

Is this issue still occurring on Ubuntu 16.10 "Yakkety Yak?"?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for gstreamer0.10 (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]