OK, I updated my dapper to edgy and it works now. It didn't work on the edgy liveCD. maybe the liveCD was connected to that. now Xv works, though it stops working if any other window overlays the video and going to full screen leaves part of the video gray sometimes. but it mostly works so i'll cancel this bug.
** Changed in: xorg-server (Ubuntu) Status: Unconfirmed => Rejected -- Xv does not work well with compiz https://launchpad.net/bugs/58619 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs