VLC and Xine in openSUSE 13.1

Story: A KMail Breakthrough.Total Replies: 20
Author Content
Ridcully

May 01, 2016
6:47 AM EDT
This problem has only just emerged and if anyone knows what is happening, I'd be delighted to be informed as to how to solve the situation.

I have installed both VLC and Xine on the new laptop in openSUSE 13.1. Both programs start and each of them produces their opening screen and waits for you to indicate either a file or a dvd to play. I stress that from here on, BOTH Xine and VLC behave the same way. If you put a dvd into the drive and then tell the program to play it, both instantly shut down and the worktop is left as if they were never started. The same thing happens if you try to get them to play a video file.

I thought it might be a hardware problem, so I put in a hdd with openSUSE 11.4 (which also had working installations of VLC and Xine) into the new laptop. Both VLC and Xine worked perfectly and immediately opened a dvd and played it perfectly. This suggests to me that the problem is not anything to do with the laptop hardware, but something to do with openSUSE 13.1 and its video drivers. If anyone else has met this problem, I'd be delighted to know how to solve it.

As far as I know, this new laptop does not have a Radeon card, but uses an Intel card.

Thanks

Ridcully.
penguinist

May 01, 2016
7:18 AM EDT
One tip would be to repeat the test with both apps started from the command line in a terminal. Then you might have some diagnostic messages left in the terminal after the abnormal shutdown. The messages might shed some light on the cause.
Ridcully

May 01, 2016
9:46 AM EDT
I strongly suspect this may be a matter of getting hold of the proprietary Intel driver. There's usually a way of doing so......but the matter isn't urgent at this stage.....it's like an itch on the back you can't reach. LOL. By the way, Penguinist, I had already tried your suggestion but the results meant nothing to me and I cannot remember what they were anyway.
JaseP

May 01, 2016
10:08 AM EDT
It really doesn't sound like a video driver problem to me, per se. Rather, it seems like some sort of environment/app setting combined with a broken package. One way you can make a video player crash is to select the wrong video playback overlay setting (one that isn't supported by the driver as configured) in the app. Do what penguinist suggested and run one or more of the apps from the command line. You also want to run the commands shown here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/28033/how-to-check-the-inform... ... to get info on what driver is being run and with what configuration settings...
Ridcully

May 08, 2016
7:18 AM EDT
JaseP..........I finally got around to testing the situation out with 13.1. If you can understand what the terminal message means, I'd appreciate it. (I put lines of dots in place to try to separate the lines)



tony@linux-opzy:/usr/bin> vlc

...................

VLC media player 2.2.3 Weatherwax (revision 2.2.3) [000000000219c0b8] core libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.

.....................

WARNING: QApplication was not created in the main() thread. Segmentation fault

....................

tony@linux-opzy:/usr/bin>

Post Script.......I have managed to get a copy of Xine running......I used the rpms that were available on this site:

http://cambuca.ldhs.cetuc.puc-rio.br/xine/

You need all three of the libxine, xine-ui and libdvdcss.........once all three are installed, xine runs perfectly - with one teensy, weensy problem - no sound.
penguinist

May 08, 2016
9:23 AM EDT
That's interesting.

Could you run that test once more with verbocity turned on please, and let's drill down one level little further.

Run in a terminal as:

vlc -v

Ridcully

May 08, 2016
10:13 AM EDT
Okay penguinist, here is what I get. I do apologise for the format, but this is how it comes out in the terminal:

tony@linux-opzy:/> /usr/bin/vlc -v VLC media player 2.2.3 Weatherwax (revision 2.2.3) [000000000105c0b8] core libvlc warning: cannot load module `/usr/lib64/vlc/plugins/meta_engine/libtaglib_plugin.so' (/usr/lib64/vlc/plugins/meta_engine/libtaglib_plugin.so: undefined symbol: _ZTIN6TagLib3Ogg4Opus4FileE) [000000000105c0b8] core libvlc warning: cannot load module `/usr/lib64/vlc/plugins/codec/libgstdecode_plugin.so' (/usr/lib64/vlc/plugins/codec/libgstdecode_plugin.so: undefined symbol: _gst_fraction_type) [000000000105c0b8] core libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface. WARNING: QApplication was not created in the main() thread. Segmentation fault

Hope it means something to you.
jdixon

May 08, 2016
10:27 AM EDT
Some one else reported this problem after an upgrade and said the following: "The problem seemed to be in messed up configuration (sorry I didnt save it). I removed the /root/.config/.vlc and everything started to work"

This was back in 2008, so it may not be the same problem, but I'd give moving that directory to a backup a try.
dotmatrix

May 08, 2016
10:59 AM EDT
Just a note:

Terminal messages will appear correctly if you use the 'code' tag in your post.

Like this:

[...code...]


xyz@workstation:~$cowsay Hello Ridcully! _________________ < Hello Ridcully! > ----------------- ^__^ (oo)_______ (__) )/ ||----w | || ||

[.../code...]

Of course you will need to leave the ellipses out.

The 'code' tag is fairly equivalent to the html 'pre' tag... and allows one to display monospace text as intended preserving correct spacing as well as carriage returns.
dotmatrix

May 08, 2016
11:05 AM EDT
Oh well... it seems that some of the spacing does in fact get screwed up... The spacing is apparently mostly preserved. However, the submitted post does not appear identical to the 'preview' post.
penguinist

May 08, 2016
1:39 PM EDT
Quoting: I removed the /root/.config/.vlc and everything started to work"


Actually Ridcully is probably not running vlc as root, so his configuration is probably in

/home/tony/.config/.vlc


Deleting (or renaming) that and restarting vlc is probably a good idea. vlc will recreate it, this time possibly correctly.
Ridcully

May 08, 2016
5:05 PM EDT
Thanks penguinist.......I'll give it a go later on today and report back.
Ridcully

May 08, 2016
7:18 PM EDT
Hi Penguinist......at this point I do not know whether to laugh or to cry - I'll try both.......The location of the config file is quite correct - I checked on the web and it should be in .config......but of course, it isn't. VLC has never started and therefore it has never created its config file........and so, I can take no further action down that path.

Y'know.........I could quite easily throw this whole openSUSE 13.1 into the trash can and try Linux Mint for the first time. I shall meditate on it. But this is getting to the ridiculous stage. VLC and Xine both run perfectly in openSUSE 11.4 in 32bit mode on that 64bit laptop.........Perhaps the other alternative is to "bite the bullet" and run the older OS.....but I am reluctant, even though it works perfectly on this older 32bit computer on which I am . One feels one is wasting available computing power. Whoever said computers save time ? On the other hand, they do provide rather nice puzzles for you to work out.

jdixon

May 09, 2016
6:20 AM EDT
> Actually Ridcully is probably not running vlc as root, so his configuration is probably in

Duh. Correct.

> but of course, it isn't. VLC has never started and therefore it has never created its config file

Sigh. Oh well, it was worth checking. I wonder what vlc gets it's initial config from?

The only thing I can think of that might still be worth trying is running strace vlc from the command line. That might show what's causing the segfault.
Ridcully

May 09, 2016
8:15 AM EDT
I am not certain yet, but the problem appears to be conflicts of where you get the packages from and also a major conflict with libdvdcss..........My latest attempt to get a working installation of VLC is that I have installed VLC using openSUSE's repository and it will open, and does NOT instantly crash and disppear "off the workplace" when you ask it to run a dvd......Then, when you introduce a copy of libdvdcss, it does exactly that........libdvdcss2 has not so far proven to be acceptable. I am looking at some files which deal with KDE-codecs, etc. etc and given that this is KDE based, it may solve the problem.

This problem of software conflicts is (in my humble opinion) largely due to the fact that openSUSE will NOT package a working copy of VLC plus libdvdcss in its distribution, due to USA laws, but at least I think I am beginning to narrow the field down.......Wait for the next exciting episode of............wait for it, wait for it......... VLC and openSUSE 13.1.....LOL.
jdixon

May 09, 2016
9:20 AM EDT
Hmm, I thought VLC included it's own version of libdvdcss. I know the Windows version can read DVD's and Windows doesn't have anything equivalent to libdvdcss. This sounds like something that needs research.
JaseP

May 09, 2016
10:30 AM EDT
It's normal to receive the following message running vlc from command line from a KDE konsole:

main libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.


I think you're probably on the right track about it being a problem that openSuSE doesn't package vlc with it's main distro. You might want to try obtaining an SRPM and building your own RPM package from that... Either that or use a "civilized" distribution,... ;)
jdixon

May 09, 2016
1:25 PM EDT
> I am not certain yet, but the problem appears to be conflicts of where you get the packages from and also a major conflict with libdvdcss.

Are you using this guide?: http://opensuse-guide.org/codecs.php This one also has more information: http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/opensuse-pimp.html
Ridcully

May 09, 2016
4:32 PM EDT
For jdixon.......Quote: I know the Windows version can read DVD's and Windows doesn't have anything equivalent to libdvdcss.

Interestingly, I believe the opposite.......I know I had to search and find at one stage, a file called "libdvdcss-2.dll" while playing with VLC on a Win7 computer. Once installed in the appropriate directory, VLC ran, but there was NO way it would run without that .dll file, and it's still on this Linux computer in an archive file.

Whaddya mean "civilized" distribution, JaseP......? This means war. I demand a duel: loaded bananas at 20 paces. However, seriously, I have "flirted" with the idea as well....What do you use or would recommend ? I have never used a distribution based on ".deb" and all my files and backups of software are all ".rpm" based.
dotmatrix

May 09, 2016
8:03 PM EDT
BTW:

To check if libdvdcss is installed correctly with a searchable path:

$sudo ldconfig -p |grep libdvdcss

EDIT:

Oh yeah... you'll be able to see what libraries vlc is linked with by:

$ldd /usr/bin/vlc

jdixon

May 10, 2016
9:56 AM EDT
> Interestingly, I believe the opposite

I looked last night and found that I didn't have VLC installed on my current Windows 7 machine (which just goes to show how little I use it). I installed it and confirmed I could watch my Serenity DVD with no additional software installed. So I'm not sure why you had to install additional software.

The VLC directory on my Windows machine contains a folder access which contains the libdvdread and libdvdnav libraries. So I can't say for certain if vlc has it built in on Linux or not. So time for that research...

OK, from the VLC FAQ

I cannot read DVDs! ... If you are on Linux/Unix, did you install the '''''libdvdcss''''' package?

So yes, the Linux version of vlc requires libdvdcss. The howto's I linked to above give a procedure for installing it. Maybe you're using the wrong version?

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