totem cannot play quicktime file after upgrade to oneiric

[Rocko]

Totem can't play quicktime files on a PC upgraded from natty to oneiric. On a VM with oneiric installed from scratch, however, totem can play the same files, so it seems to be a configuration error. Both the PC and VM run 64 bit oneiric, have the same kernel version, and both have ia32 libs installed

A sample file that fails to play can be found in comment 5 of bug #851481.

On the PC that fails to play the files, totem prompts to install the plugin for 'Quicktime demuxer' but then gnome-codec-install can't find a suitable plugin.

On the VM that *can* play the files, totem prompted to install the same plugin and gnome-codec-install found and installed gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg and gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad. (These are both already installed on the PC that cannot play the files.)

The output from gst-launch-0.10 uridecodebin=file:///<file in question> is:

Setting pipeline to PAUSED ...
Pipeline is PREROLLING ...
WARNING: from element /GstPipeline:pipeline0/GstURIDecodeBin:uridecodebin0: No decoder available for type 'video/quicktime, variant=(string)iso'.
Additional debug info:
gsturidecodebin.c(867): unknown_type_cb (): /GstPipeline:pipeline0/GstURIDecodeBin:uridecodebin0
ERROR: from element /GstPipeline:pipeline0/GstURIDecodeBin:uridecodebin0/GstDecodeBin2:decodebin20: Your GStreamer installation is missing a plug-in.
Additional debug info:
gstdecodebin2.c(3233): gst_decode_bin_expose (): /GstPipeline:pipeline0/GstURIDecodeBin:uridecodebin0/GstDecodeBin2:decodebin20:
no suitable plugins found
ERROR: pipeline doesn't want to preroll.
Setting pipeline to NULL ...
Freeing pipeline ...

I have tried reinstalling all the installed gstreamer packages as well totem, but to no avail.

How does gstreamer match plugins against the video type, eg 'video/quicktime, variant=(string)iso'?

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: gstreamer-tools 0.10.35-1
Uname: Linux 3.1.0-rc7-git-20110923.0546 x86_64
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri Sep 23 10:13:28 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Beta amd64 (20110330)
SourcePackage: gstreamer0.10
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-09-22 (0 days ago)

[Rocko (rockorequin)]

It looks like it is a strange configuration issue. I tried the following commands, where /natty points to my natty installation:

1) I tried my Natty plugins:

GST_PLUGIN_PATH=/natty/usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10 totem guardian-intro.mp4

and totem played the file successfully.

2) I tried the Oneiric plugins:

GST_PLUGIN_PATH=/usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10 totem guardian-intro.mp4

but totem still couldn't find the plugin.

3) I tried the Oneiric 32-bit plugins:

GST_PLUGIN_PATH=/usr/lib32/gstreamer-0.10 totem guardian-intro.mp4

and gst-plugin-scanner complained that everything was a 32-bit library, but totem DID play the file.

And after 3), totem plays the file without setting GST_PLUGIN_PATH. I'm not sure what changed, though. I guess it was a problem caused by upgrading from Natty to the new multi-architecture.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[aortega (ortegaalfredo)]

I fixed it on oneiric with:
$ rm .gstreamer-0.10;gst-inspect

[Ilya Barygin (randomaction)]

Confirming the workaround: just do
rm -r ~/.gstreamer-0.10

[deboon (debiboon)]

Worls well to me:
rm -r ~/.gstreamer-0.10

[klasiphyd (klasiphyd)]

While 'rm -r ~/.gstreamer-0.10' allows me to now view mp4 video playback, right clicking a file, selecting properties, and selecting the 'Audio/Video' tab displays no audio/video information about the file at all.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Could somebody backup their buggy .gstreamer-0.10 and add it to the bug?

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Rocko, what do you call natty and oneiric plugins? what do you have in the natty directory? Could you diff the directory between the buggy and working version?

[Rocko (rockorequin)]

The Natty plugins are the files in the /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10 directory in a Natty installation, while the Oneiric plugins are the files in the /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10 directory. A diff isn't much help, because they are binaries of different versions of gstreamer.

I unfortunately also don't have the Natty version of ~/.gstreamer-0.10, because I deleted it and it got regenerated. I imagine it would be possible to make one easily enough from a live installation disk, though.

[Stefan Löffler (st.loeffler)]

The workaround worked for me - thanks.

Old (i.e., natty) .gstreamer-0.10 directory is attached.

FWIW:
$ uname -a
Linux Herkules 3.0.0-12-generic #20-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 7 14:56:25 UTC 2011 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[Marcel Kolaja (marcel.kolaja)]

Removing ~/.gstreamer-0.10/ works around the issue. The ~/.gstreamer-0.10/ directory that prevents totem from playing Quicktime movies (i.e. before deletion) attached.

[dc (darkcharl)]

Another confirm that the workaround resolved the issue, the affected application was Banshee in my case.

[Steve Magoun (smagoun)]

One more confirmation...deleting the registry in ~/.gstreamer0.10 makes playback work again. Attached is a copy of my .gstreamer0.10 directory with 2 registries:
1) The original one that prevents quicktime movies from working
2) A rebuilt registry that allows quicktime movies to work

I can reproduce the failure to play quicktime moves at will by replacing the new registry with the old (busted) one.

[Lukáš Chmela (lukaschmela)]

Thanks, removing the ~/.gstreamer-0.10 directory did solve the issue for me too.

[Teo (teo1978)]

removing the ~/.gstreamer-0.10 directory did solve the issue for me too, but thumbnails preview and right-click/Properties still don't work in Nautilus. Is there a workaround for that too?

[Teo (teo1978)]

Imprtance "Low" is ridiculous. While there is an easy workaround, any user experiencing the issue is very unlikely to find it. And not being able to play mov files in itself is a very major issue.

[Marcel Stimberg (marcelstimberg)]

@matteo: Thumbnails and nautilus properties should work after a nautilus restart (call 'nautilus -q' or just log out and back in).

[Tobin Davis (gruemaster)]

This is not an arm issue. Unassigning the ubuntu-arm team.

[Jason Robinson (jaywink)]

This was affecting me as well after an upgrade from Oneiric to Precise.

Did:
rm -rf .gstreamer-0.10/

And now it works.

[alex (aarw2)]

me too, the bug appeared after upgrade to precise

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

The Precise Pangolin has reached end of life, so this bug will not be fixed for that release