This looks more like gstreamer problem than totem problem. In gstreamer0.8-misc package there is a lib libgstvcdsrc.so. Also the description of package says that it provides VCD support.
But in all the plugins of gstreamer0.10 there is no such library. $ gst-inspect-0.8 |grep -i vcd vcdsrc: vcdsrc: VCD Source typefindfunctions: video/x-vcd: dat cdxaparse: cdxastrip: vcd parser $ gst-inspect-0.10 |grep -i vcd cdxaparse: cdxaparse: (S)VCD parser typefindfunctions: video/x-vcd: dat So it looks like VCD support hasn't been ported from gstreamer 0.8 to 0.10. The status of plugins can be found here, http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/documentation/plugins.html -- [totem-gstreamer] wont play vcd for "unknown reason" https://launchpad.net/bugs/43589 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs