Video Thumbnails / Audio Previews in Nautilus 2.26.2?

[Moebius]

Right. My problem is solved. In Synaptic, install the following;
gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mpegdemux
mpegdemux
Once done, delete the '.thumbnails' folder again, then refresh your video folder.

[Cell]

Did you change your folder view before you downloaded the extra apps?I don't see what the problem is.All I do is this,and I get a "view" of the file(different types of files work).I haven't installed any codecs other than whats from altimatix.

[Moebius]

Hi Cell,
What I noticed was that the video files which weren't coming up as thumbnails were fairly old - mpeg 1 and 2 even though they use the same 'container' as the new files ie .mpg. The 'demux-ers' I installed are specific for older 1 and 2 files (explanation provided by Synaptic) so took the plunge and it worked. Also installed the fluendo ugly set and I believe that fixed a couple of .flv thumbnails as well. Didn't have to do anything else other than delete the .thumbnails folder to refresh.

Cheers.

[Driver]

Cell,

Yes, it's 2.4. And yes, Nautilus' preferences are set to show Icon View. The part in that that was confusing me was "Also set up my folders for icon view....which apparently changes from an normal icon to a "view"." - I was somehow thinking that meant that there was a different "icon switch" because to see "normal icons," I'd have already had to have it set for icon view - so I was looking for a hidden switch to make my normal icons go to "view" icons, that is to say, ones that showed me thumbnails of my videos; that's what I thought it meant. [My brain seems to "helpfully" over-think everything . But I've noticed (I like music) that it also is considerate enough to provide me with random tunes, seemingly played from the background at mid-level volume, whenever I don't have an actual audio source playing. (They've told me that they can make it go away... But, you know, I was like, "Why?" )]

I've been more than halfway thinking it was a codec issue. I'd even tried a few (see below). But when I noticed that right-clicking on any multimedia file and selecting Properties would immediately pooch Nautilus as if it'd never been ran, well... I started worrying that I had some kind of major malfunction or something. Guess even a newbie can have good instincts; our problem is in knowing when to trust them.

In Synaptic, install the following;
gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mpegdemux

At this point, Synaptic informed me that it was going to remove gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad. I got that myself when I started to try installing (fluendo), saw that it was going to take something away, panicked and forgot about it. I should have used that information to ask, "I have (bad) installed, if I remove it and install (fluendo), will it cure my issue of..." My apologies. Learning Linux requires learning to think, it seems.

mpegdemux
Once done, delete the '.thumbnails' folder again, then refresh your video folder.

Moebius...

You. Are. The. MAN!!!

Either the one I had installed was interfering with the whole process or I simply needed the specific one that you mentioned. It fixed all three problems! Thank you.

Hmm. As there are multiple choices for codecs, like in all things Linux, maybe a list of the generally accepted correct combination (to cover the majority or at least all the common formats) would make a good faq/sticky? Or there might already be one, lol. I'm still reading (slowly)...

In retrospect, perhaps Cell hadn't loaded the (bad) file that I loaded, so his thumbnails/etc. were fine. Moebius hadn't either, so most of his were as well. Luckily he found some that weren't displaying and hunted down the codec for them - or who knows how long it would have taken me to learn that I needed to remove (bad) for "mostly" working (in addition to adding (fluendo) to pick up the odd others).

Is that how they come up with new vaccines, multiple people chipping away at a problem with different approaches so that when the solution is found, they also know why it is the solution?

[Cell]

Thank Gawd this is solved....lol.



who the heck still has mpeg 1,and 2 files?....lol.


Cool man,

Have fun.

[Moebius]

Thank Gawd this is solved....lol.



who the heck still has mpeg 1,and 2 files?....lol.


Cool man,

Have fun.

Ummm... me.

Cheers.