I am trying to play a MKV file with Totem and on some files I get the following message:
Unable to play the file
PGS subtitles decoder is required to play the file, but it is not installed
Cancel / Find in Ubuntu Software
- Selecting the "Find in Ubuntu Software" button reveals nothing.
apt search pgs
finds nothing that I can identify that would help resolve the issue.- "Cancel" allows the file to play, but obviously without subtitles.
- Google and AskUbuntu have been no help.
This is a new install of 19.04 (but an old $HOME directory). I was playing these files just fine with 18.10.
(And to preempt a common refrain for problems like this, I don't want to "just use VLC". I want Totem to work.)
Best Answer
The Totem installation on Ubuntu 19.04 Disco Dingo is missing a couple of decent gstreamer plugins by default. To get a better experience with this media player (and get PGS subtitle support) you will need to also install the following 'recommended' and 'suggested' packages which are not installed by default:
It is the gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad package that contains the plugin for PGS subtitles and certainly on my system with this installed PGS subtitles roared into life. A single command will install all of these extras:
And then all should be well :)
References: