21.3. Sound and Video Problems

If you're met with silence when you try to watch a movie or play a song, either you've rented a Charlie Chaplin film or you're having issues with your sound card. Assuming it's the latter, you'll find that most sound-related problems in Ubuntu are caused by using incorrect sound card settings. Unfortunately, the number of these settings tends to be overwhelming, and it's rarely obvious which ones you should change to get things working. Trial and error is the order of the day when it comes to sound problems, I'm afraid, although I've tried to explain as many of the relevant options as possible in this section to help you out.

If the problem has more to do with what you're not seeing than what you're not hearing, then you're possibly in for an easier ride. Video problems tend to be easier to fix—most of the time, all you'll need to do is find the right piece of software to install and then, erm, install it. Skip to the end of the section for more on video issues.