Arch Linux

val1008

Member

Registered: 2008-11-03

Posts: 2

Arch linux and videos

Hello all. I'm not an Arch Linux user yet. I've been using Ubuntu for about two years now and I'm pretty happy with it. However, I just discovered Arch very much by accident and I like what I've seen of it. I especially like the idea of a rolling distro and I'm a big fan of keeping things simple. (It seems like Ubuntu is needlessly complex sometimes.) I'm thinking about giving it a shot and seeing if I like it better than Ubuntu.

However, I watch a lot of video files on my computer and my one major problem with Ubuntu has been trouble playing videos. Sound trouble, codex trouble...not fun.

So, I was hoping to get some opinions from people who currently use this distro. Does Arch play nice with videos? Assume I'm talking about a lot of different formats, but mainly .avi and .wmv files.

mrunion

Member

From: Jonesborough, TN

Registered: 2007-01-26

Posts: 1,239

Website

Re: Arch linux and videos

I've had no trouble playing those.

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Matt

alias f='rm -rf $1'
f /windows

Andy Mack

Member

Registered: 2008-06-16

Posts: 132

Re: Arch linux and videos

I do Pacman -S mplayer mplayer-plugin codecs......never had a problem with any video file and I have tried a lot.

Concerning sound trouble, video sound or sound in general?

Ghost1227

Forum Fellow

From: Omaha, NE, USA

Registered: 2008-04-21

Posts: 1,418

Website

Re: Arch linux and videos

Never had any problems here. I usually use vlc, occasionally mplayer. If you have any problems let us know... someone will be able to help solve them!

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.:[My Blog] || [My GitHub] || [Workshop] || [Geeks Anonymous] || [Rolling Release]:.

netmanny

Member

Registered: 2008-05-13

Posts: 39

Re: Arch linux and videos

VLC works perfect for me. plus download all the codecs you can.
http://www.archlinux.org/packages/searc … c&limit=50
http://www.archlinux.org/packages/searc … s&limit=50
http://www.archlinux.org/packages/searc … h&limit=50
etc you get the point.;)

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,880

Re: Arch linux and videos

There's only Real Media stuff left in the codecs package. Mplayer, VLC, Xine, and just about everything else use FFmpeg to play back all Windows Media stuff. FFmpeg works great with these, and just about every other codec commonly in use.

val1008

Member

Registered: 2008-11-03

Posts: 2

Re: Arch linux and videos

Concerning sound trouble, video sound or sound in general?

Both. I had problems where all the sound would disappear and I wouldn't be able to play music or videos. I had problems when I wouldn't be able to get sound in Totem, but other players like Dragon Player would work. And I would have times when the sound would work when I played videos from my hard drive, but not when I tried to get streaming videos on You Tube and vice versa.

ETA: And thanks for all the replies.

Last edited by val1008 (2008-11-03 14:44:32)