Resolving video play issues with Intel video cards in Ubuntu

Yet another hack to take into account when dealing with a laptop having an integrated Intel video card (e.g. Intel 945GM in my case): if you have problems playing video clips with the 3D accelerated desktop (Beryl or Compiz powered), then you may be running with a buggy driver.

There seem to exist a problem (see bug reports here, here and here) with XV support when using AIGLX so all media players using the default "xv" video output will fail or crash (including Totem and VLC). This is a big problem for the Gutsy users since Compiz Fusion is enabled by default.

The easy fix is to change the video driver from "intel" to "i810" — you can do that either manualy changing the "Device" section in /etc/X11/xorg.conf or, in Gutsy, from System / Administration / Screens and Graphics / Graphics Card / Choose driver by name.