My space web page - 296 CHAPTER 19 MOVIES AND MULTIMEDIA Watching
296 CHAPTER 19 MOVIES AND MULTIMEDIA Watching DVDs DVD movie discs are protected by a form of Digital Rights Management (DRM) called Content Scrambling System (CSS). This forces anyone who would like to create DVD playback software or hardware to pay a fee to the DVD Copy Control Association, an industry organization set up to protect DVD movie technology. Nearly all Linux advocates are scornful of any kind of DRM system. It isn t possible to buy licensed DVD playback software for Linux but, even if it were, few would be willing to support what they see as prohibitive software technology. Some open-source advocates reverse-engineered DVD and came up with the DeCSS software. This bypasses the CSS system and allows the playback of DVD movies under practically any operating system. Sadly, DeCSS is caught in a legal quagmire. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has attempted to stop its distribution within the United States but has failed. Some experts suggest that distributing DeCSS breaks copyright laws, but there has yet to be a case anywhere in the world that categorically proves this. Nor has there been a case proving or even suggesting that using DeCSS is in any way illegal. Ubuntu doesn t come with DeCSS installed by default, but you can download and install the software by issuing a simple command. Here is the procedure: 1. Select System . Administration . Synaptic Package Manager. 2. Click Search and search for libdvdread. If the package isn t already installed, click its check box and mark it for installation. Then click Apply. Close Synaptic Package Manager. 3. Open a GNOME Terminal window (Applications . Accessories . Terminal). Type the following in the terminal window to download and install the DeCSS component: sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/examples/install-css.sh After you ve installed DeCSS, just insert a DVD, and Totem will automatically start playing it. Alternatively, if Totem is already open, you can play the DVD by clicking its entry on the File menu. Playing a DVD is not dissimilar to watching movie files on your hard disk. The only difference is that you can now navigate from chapter to chapter on the DVD by clicking the relevant entry under the Go menu, as shown in Figure 19-3. You can also return to the DVD s main menu this way. You can use your mouse to click entries in DVD menus.