VLC fails to open after playing once (does not close properly)

Technical Issues and Assistance Applications
#1

Hi guys

When using VLC if I open and close a few video files VLC will get stuck open and can't be re-launched

I can replicate this issue opening an mp4 file episode 1 then closing it and opening episode 2, episode 2 will not open and I have to go into task manager and kill vlc

To narrow down the issue, if I change video output to one of the XCB ones the problem stops... but playing a high quality video the video will stutter on XCB!!

Seeing this thread on reddit prompted me to post this up as it's putting off new users.. please help!

Manjaro 18.1.5
WM: XFCE
Kernel: 5.4.6-2-MANJARO
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600
GPU: AMD RX580
Driver: Mesa 19.3 ACO
VLC Version 3.0.8-7 from Manjaro store

kwin problems ?
#2

This has been a problem with vlc for a long time now. I gave up with it and installed smplayer.

#3

Just recently started having this problem myself but with MKV files. Looks like it last updated just before new years. I will dig into the update and see if i can find any thing.

#4

Looks like a know issue that VLC are looking into.
See thread on their forum here

Hopefully we will see a patch for it shortly , work arounds are;

  1. stop the video before you exit
  2. Launch VLC from the terminal then open the files you want from VLC
  3. Kill the broken process after you finish watching your videos ps -aux | grep vlc then sudo kill <PID>

I haven't tested any of them except killing the PID post viewing.

1 Like
#5

thanks for the info, its annoying in that thread one of the main dev's says "no bug" I'll try get some traction on the issue

#6

I seem to remember that the problem did not occur if you use the menu (File/Quit) or the hot key (CTRL + q?), but the bug do occur when you close the program using the upper right X. I might be wrong about that though, but it might be worth checking out.

A while ago I did what @twifty did and dumped VLC for smplayer.

#7

in vlc settings
disable status icon/system tray
to stop this from happening

1 Like
#8

Hi guys I am still pushing to try and get this issue fixed but I'm a bit out of my depth..

Can someone please send this unhelpful dev a proper stack trace or teach me how

Also he's adamant that its a video driver issue, do you think he is correct or just doesnt want to deal with the issue? how do I go about reporting this to the mesa team?

thread in question:
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=149762&p=500758#p500758

#9

Hi;
about two years ago, a topic explained that VLC could not find the right path to relaunch after it was interrupted during playback ...
the solution was found by firmly writing (once and for all) the launching command in the tab "property" / Application / Command ... of VLC.

If that can helps ...
philline0

#10

Was looking for a solution for the same when i decided to install the snap version. For some reason, the issue has not appeared in the snap version so far. Opened video -> pressed cross without pausing -> opened same or another video and it still worked.

1 Like
#11

Here is the issue posted in the Mesa bug tracker but no one is looking at it really

as for the snap version I think it doesn't freeze but has it's own set of issues, with the external storage snap option I still cant play videos off anything except my OS disk.

#12

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