How can I play videos in a framebuffer?

• Make sure your console starts in framebuffer mode.
• Add your user to 'video' group:
• Install mplayer sudo apt-get install mplayer
• Run mplayer -vo fbdev video.avi

I was able to run a videofile in framebuffer with a default installation if Ubuntu 11.10

I use VLC (ncurses edition) via sudo apt-get install vlc-nox.

I also installed Alsa utilities, to control the volume sudo apt-get install alsa-utils.

You'll be downloading a lot of multimedia libraries, without the X windows stuff.

Make sure your userID is a member of video and audio groups.

You can kick off a DVD via vlc dvd:///dev/dvd.

Or as a local file vlc "~Videos/Fraggle Rock - Live By The Rule of the Rock.avi".

HDMI audio at the framebuffer level has been problematic for me.

Good luck!