Rationale
The first time you click on an MP3 file or view a page featuring Adobe Flash content, Ubuntu will offer to add software to play those closed formats. That wasn't a huge obstacle, aside from a guilt-trip dialogue box's warnings about possible copyright violations, but adding DVD playback to the Sony required repeat trips to the Linux command-line interface. |
DVD playback at the moment in Ubuntu has some serious user interface problems. When a user inserts a DVD they get asked "What do you want to open this with?"(Or something to that effect). if the user doesnt have libdvdread* run on their laptop there is no feedback to the user to say whats wrong. Totem fails and an error pops up. We should fix this.
Also in terms of opening DVDs there is a problem. Nautilus opens when the user double clicks the icon instead of the DVD. It adds not only an extra click for the user but is also unexpected functionality because the user expects the DVD to open.
Use cases
- Mary places her Avatar DVD into her Ubuntu machine's optical disc drive. Since she has already installed the DVD playback software, the DVD's main menu is opened in Totem, ready for her to press play.
- John places his Iron Man DVD into his Ubuntu machine's optical disc drive. Since he does not yet have the DVD playback software installed, the software centre appears. The software centre informs him that he needs to install appropriate DVD playback software in order to watch his movie, and offers him the choice between the libdvdread script or the DVD playback software available from the marketplace. Since John may not know very much about the issues involved, a succinct description of each option is provided.
- Steve places his Batman Begins DVD into his Ubuntu machine's optical disc drive. Since he has already installed the DVD playback software, the DVD's main menu is opened in Totem, ready for him to press play. Steve closes Totem because he is waiting for his friend to come by. Later, when Steve's friend arrives, he double-clicks the DVD's icon on the desktop and the DVD's main menu is opened in Totem, ready for him to press play.
Unresolved issues
- What should happen while the DVD is spinning up?
- In what window should the invitation to get DVD-playing software appear? (The player window itself, or a separate
alert?)
- What might that invitation say, as a first draft?
- What should appear if you choose to install or buy the software? (For example, should a transaction that didn't start in Ubuntu Software Center move there, or should it stay in its own window?)
- What should the state of the movie player window be during the installation process?
- Where should installation progress be shown?
- What should happen once installation is finished? (For example, should the window where the purchase happened be
closed to reveal the movie, or stay open to confirm the purchase?)
- At each step, what should happen to the movie player if you cancel?
Comments
One thing I left out was if the user created the DVD themselves and has other media on the disk other than the content. My use case is the store bought kind of encrypted DVDs. Although id say we would be able to cater for both use cases quite easily. --fagan