Totem gives the error "Can't play a text file without video" when a video file is added after one that had text subtitles

[Konstantinos Togias]

Steps to reproduce the bug:

1. Open a video file with totem on ubuntu 9.10
2. Add a text subtitles (srt, sub) file with drag-n-drop.
3. Drag-n-drop an other video file at totem.

What happens:
Totem fails to play the dropped file with the message "Can't play a text file without video".

What should happen:
Totem should play the dropped file.

Manual workarround:
1. Close totem
2. Start again totem with the new file (e.g. double clicking on the file, or drop it to the new totem instance).
Then the file is played as should.

This is a frustrating bug that degenerates Ubuntu 9.10 usage experience for users who need to play video files with text subtitles. Combined with a bug at VLC communication with gnome-screesaver that results in vlc not being able to disable screensaver when playing video (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/vlc/+bug/428884) , it brakes down the whole multimedia capabilities of ubuntu letting the user with no "it just works" option.

This bug has been reported also upstream: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=554283 : Totem doesn't like mixing file with and without subtitles. At the upstream bug is stated that it's a gstreamer bug, which is fixed upstream already and the fix will be shipped with gst-plugins-base 0.10.26. There is an ubuntu ppa repository for GStreamer developers at https://launchpad.net/~gstreamer-developers/+archive/ppa , where the provided gst-plugins-base0.10 version is 0.10.25-6~karmic1. It would be good if ubuntu gstreamer developers could pack 0.10.26 when it is released, or try to backport the fix to 0.10.25 versions.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
CheckboxSubmission: a2fa7ca5dd7d1f80f077c78cf215fc1d
CheckboxSystem: edda5d4f616ca792bf437989cb597002
Date: Fri Nov 27 10:54:58 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/totem
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
Package: libgstreamer0.10-0 0.10.25-2
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=el_GR.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-15.50-generic
SourcePackage: gstreamer0.10
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-15-generic x86_64

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

this is fixed upstream.