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First off, I'm not just a newbie, I'm clueless! So your answers will need to be in complete idiot language (let's say I'm computer saavy, and I can follow directions,but I've never programmed anything and assume I don't understand any abbreviations. So why am I running linux? b/c windows was driving me nuts!! and my friend convinced me. day-to-day operations, we're doing fine, but when it comes to problems, I've got no clue what I'm doing!)

So here's what's going on, my machine is an HP pavilion dv6, my optical drive is a standard cd/dvdrw, when i load an audio cd of any type (burned, official, etc,..) I have no problems, when I pop in a dvd - i get nothing. the dvd icon comes up in my launch tray, when I open VLC player I can find the dvd in the folder... but it won't play. I can watch movies I've downloaded with no problem, I can also watch movies off an external hard drive.

The only thing I've tried is removing vlc and reinstalling, and I tried installing a different player (gnome maybe? I don't remember). none of that worked.

Again, i can follow directions, but you need to be very specific and don't assume I know anything going in. (I mean, I know basic stuff, but nothing too technical.) PLEASE HELP!!! MY KIDS ARE DRIVING ME CRAZY!!! Thanks!!

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Possible duplicate of: askubuntu.com/questions/500/how-can-i-play-encrypted-dvd-movies – david6 Dec 16 '12 at 10:12

2 Answers

Try pointing VLC to /dev/sr0 instead of /dev/dvd when you open a DVD (CTRL+D). Also, did you install libdvdcss? https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats/PlayingDVDs

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A reason for this could be that you have not installed the codecs for reading encrypted DVD's. Go to the Ubuntu Software Center and look for 'libdvdcss' and 'libdvdread4' and install them. As far as I know they are not installed by default, since it is based on closed source and therefore not in the philosophy of open-source software.

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