VLC doesn't play videos anymore

thebudget721 · January 28, 2022, 12:29am

When I open a video in VLC, the video doesn’t start.

The log says:

dbus_screensaver debug: found service org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver
main debug: using inhibit module "dbus_screensaver"
main debug: Opening vout display wrapper
main debug: looking for vout display module matching "wl_shm": 13 candidates
main debug: no vout display modules matched
main error: video output creation failed
main debug: resized to 1920x800

dbus_screensaver debug: got cookie 849051984
main debug: removing module “dbus_screensaver”
qt debug: releasing video…
qt debug: Video is not needed anymore
qt warning: orphaned video window
main debug: removing module “freetype”
main debug: removing module “yuvp”
main debug: removing module “swscale”
main error: failed to create video output
main debug: looking for text renderer module matching “any”: 3 candidates
freetype debug: Building font databases.
freetype debug: Took -6258 microseconds
main debug: using text renderer module “freetype”
main debug: looking for video converter module matching “any”: 23 candidates
swscale debug: 32x32 (32x32) chroma: YUVA → 16x16 (16x16) chroma: RGBA with scaling using Bicubic (good quality)
main debug: using video converter module “swscale”
main debug: looking for video converter module matching “any”: 23 candidates
yuvp debug: YUVP to YUVA converter
main debug: using video converter module “yuvp”
main debug: Deinterlacing available
main debug: deinterlace -1, mode auto, is_needed 0
main debug: looking for vout window module matching “qt,any”: 6 candidates
qt debug: requesting video window…
main debug: using vout window module “qt”
main debug: looking for inhibit module matching “any”: 2 candidates
dbus_screensaver debug: found service org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver
main debug: using inhibit module “dbus_screensaver”
main debug: Opening vout display wrapper
main debug: resized to 1920x800
main debug: looking for vout display module matching “wl_shm”: 13 candidates
main debug: no vout display modules matched

bluishhumility · January 28, 2022, 3:00am

What type of file is the video?

thebudget721 · January 28, 2022, 5:28am

Here you are:

General
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 4
File size                                : 5.11 GiB
Duration                                 : 
Overall bit rate                         : 5 011 kb/s
Encoded date                             : 
Writing application                      : mkvmerge v9.1.0 ('Little Earthquakes') 64bit
Writing library                          : libebml v1.3.3 + libmatroska v1.4.4

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4.1
Format settings                          : CABAC / 5 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 5 frames
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 2 h 26 min
Bit rate                                 : 3 500 kb/s
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 804 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 2.40:1
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.095
Stream size                              : 3.57 GiB (70%)
Writing library                          : x264 core 148 r2638 7599210
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:-2:-2 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=11 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.25 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=32 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-4 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=4 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=60 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=3500 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : DTS
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID                                 : A_DTS
Duration                                 
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 1 509 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel layout                           : C L R Ls Rs LFE
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 93.750 FPS (512 SPF)
Bit depth                                : 24 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 1.54 GiB (30%)
Title                                    : Surround Sound
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

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bluishhumility · January 28, 2022, 12:03pm

What type of file is it? MPEG, AVI, MP4…?

oprizal · January 28, 2022, 12:36pm

Maybe you also want to check VLC configuration in Tools → Preferences → Video tab. Then find Output. Change from Automatic to other than YUV. If you’re using Nvidia driver most likely you can select VDPAU output or you can trial and error with other list available there.

thebudget721 · January 28, 2022, 1:00pm

It’s MKV. It’s the first row of the mediainfo output I posted

thebudget721 · January 28, 2022, 1:01pm

I tried changing the video output but it doesn’t fix it.

I don’t have NVIDIA drivers right now, I uninstalled it to try to fix this but it’s not due to NVIDIA drivers apparently.

thebudget721 · January 28, 2022, 1:02pm

I just tried and it works again…

Sometimes “reboot” is a good suggestion actually (I guess).

oprizal · January 28, 2022, 1:27pm

Btw there also local conf inside user home dir. ~/.config/vlc and ~/.local/share/vlc. May be if there any problem come again, we can try to reset the configs by deleting both directories.