I'm suffering from problem that video-thumbnails do not appear in nautilus for some video files. I just found this bug typefinding: some mpeg files are not identified as mpeg files which seems to address the problem. I don't understand the specifics as reported in this bug report, but it sounds like it's a problem with Totem's interaction with Gstreamer.
Since all my videos play fine with VLC (and they don't all play with Totem), I don't use Totem very much. Is there a way to make VLC generate the video-thumbnails instead of having to rely on the buggy gstreamer/totem? I made VLC my default video player but this had no effect on the display of video-thumbnails. If Totem can't play the video file, then I get no thumbnail. But VLC can play the videos fine, so why can't VLC create a video-thumbnail for it?
Best Answer
First, make sure all the ffmpeg (the back of vlc) components you need are installed:
Clear the thumbnail cache, with bleachbit, ubuntu tweak, or this command:
Now we need to tell Ubuntu not to use totem, but to use ffmpeg instead.
sudo nano /usr/share/thumbnailers/totem.thumbnailer
and replace all the ext intotem.thumbnailer
with the following:And exit nautilus:
Go to you video and see the thumbnail preview appear for all videos.