Problems using Mplayer on debian

[adrian_fpd]

I have just install mplayer using apt-get at first hand it seems that everything was going well, but when i try to see a video i can only hear it, but i can not see a thing at all just a blue screen.
Mplayer displays Fatal error!
Error opening/initialiazing the selected video_out (-vo) device

[devils casper]

Try setting xshm Video Driver in Mplayer's settings.

[adrian_fpd]

I have been trying to find xshm but i didnt make it could you tell more specifically what to do i'm a newbie Thanks

[newd to linux]

How are you invoking MPlayer? Are you launching it from the command line? Or are you using the GUI?

If you're using the GUI, click on 'Preferences'. Then click the 'Video' tab. Then select a video driver that works well with your video card, and click 'Ok'. You may have to quit MPlayer and restart it for the change to take effect.

Try all of the video drivers until you find the one that works best on your system. You'll find that several will work, but some will be slow. Others will not let you go fullscreen, etcetera. Play around till your happy. You won't hurt anything.

If you're invoking MPlayer from the command line, type the following command:

mplayer -vo help

That will give you a list of available video drivers on your system. Select one and type the following:

mplayer -vo [video driver] [name of video to play]

MPlayer is a really great piece of software. It's simple to use and very powerful. It just takes a year or so to read all of the documentation. I still haven't read it all.

[hardwork]

Try to install mplayer using automatix tool

[markharding557]

you are possibly missing some codecs

[stoked]

you can open a terminal and type sudo apt-get install w32codecs libdvdcss

[nirmitsu1]

mplayer -vo gl <filename>/or DVD will do
i had same problem for some wmv files
i used mplayer -vo gl filename worked for me

you can download w32codecs from mplayerhq.hu