VLC jumps to beginning and sound goes off

[themusicalduck]

While playing certain videos in VLC (it's been only MKV files so far), after a few minutes the video will cut back to the beginning and the sound will go off. It seems like this happens when the titles of an episode of something come up after the initial preview bit.

I'm not sure if there's some kind of chaptering in place embedded in the mkv file, but if there is, it could be what's causing the problems. Is there a workaround or fix for this?

I have Ubuntu 9.10 and vlc 1.0.2.

[themusicalduck]

This is the output I get from the messages window when it happens:

Code: Select all

mkv debug: seek got 0 (0%) qt4 debug: Title 1 qt4 debug: Chapter: 5 qt4 debug: Title 1 qt4 debug: Chapter: 5 mkv debug: seek got 0 (0%) main warning: clock gap, unexpected stream discontinuity main warning: feeding synchro with a new reference point trying to recover from clock gap mkv debug: seek got 0 (0%) qt4 debug: Title 1 qt4 debug: Chapter: 5 qt4 debug: Title 1 qt4 debug: Chapter: 5 qt4 debug: Title 1 qt4 debug: Chapter: 5 qt4 debug: Title 1 qt4 debug: Chapter: 5 main warning: audio drift is too big (-123439), clearing out main warning: mixer start isn't output start (-54056) main debug: End of audio preroll main debug: audio output is starving (301112), playing silence main debug: End of video preroll main debug: End of audio preroll main warning: mixer start isn't output start (-57984) main debug: End of audio preroll main debug: End of audio preroll

[SeaFox]

Are these files "ordered chapter" releases? (The Opening and Ending credits of the show are separate files, and the video player is supposed to play the opening and ending videos where specified in the episode file's instructions in the MKV container).

I ask because the same thing happens to me when I play a series that uses ordered chapter releases on VLC. VLC will restart playback at the beginning of the episode when it hits the point it's supposed to change to the Opening file, only it replays with no sound. It is alos impossible to scrub or skip past the point where the Opening video was supposed to be interjected.

As far as I can tell, VLC simply doesn't know how to play Ordered Chapter files.

[themusicalduck]

It sounds like the same problem. I don't really know how the file is made, although it is definitely all contained in one .mkv file.

The funny thing is, it only happens on HD videos. I have had similar problems with non-HD videos, but usually there is a just a bit of video corruption and then the video continues as normal. This also always happens at the end of opening credits, so I'm guessing it is down to chapters again. I can actually skip the video to after the opening on HD videos, but the seeker jumps to random places in the video, or sometimes just back to the beginning.

I would just use another video player, but it seems like VLC is the only player on linux that handles subtitles properly. I've heard mplayer is a good alternative, but it doesn't even want to play the files. Everything else I've tried just doesn't display the subtitles properly.

[Johnny0079]

Just encountered the exact same problem last night when I upgraded from my old 0.8 VLC to current version. Only difference is I am on Windows. The files are 1080p MKV. The old version of VLC was choppy at times of intense graphics but atleast it would complete the file correctly. New version of VLC plays so much smoother but it gets about 2min into to the file (end of first chapter) and then kicks back to beginning with no sound. I have only used VLC for years now but will start looking for something else tonight.

[Rerednaw]

Just want to see if anyone came up with a fix for this. I just ran into the exact same issue.

Please don't make me use Windows Media Spayer!

[Tadanga]

Same problem as above in XP SP3 with VLC 1.0.5

[intocake]

I'm having the same problem on Windows 7 Ultimate. Has anybody found a fix or a work-around yet?

[assassinas]

Same here. 1080p mkv on Windows 7 skips back after a while.

[gaz090]

I experienced the same problem with VLC skipping back to the start of the video when playing certain 1080p/720p MKV files. The files work perfectly fine in other players, just not VLC. Like someone mentioned here, it appears to be a problem with VLC not knowing how to handle Ordered Chapters. When it hits a time-point where it needs to go to the next chapter, VLC freaks out and resets back to the beginning of the video.

After tinkering around with some settings, I found a work-around to the problem.
1) Preferences -> show all settings
2) Input/Codecs -> Demuxers -> Matroska
3) Untick "Ordered Chapters"

After disabling ordered chapters, VLC is now able to handle the files with no further issue. Feel free to try this out as well. This is not a proper solution by any means, as you're essentially removing a feature, and probably requires a fix in a future build. I'd say VLC's implementation of ordered chapters is either bugged or incomplete, hence disabling the option forces VLC to just ignore chapters and lessens the problem (AFAIK).

[STREALOK]

@gaz090

hi. thank you. that actually worked for me.

(just a note to other people. i had to restart (close and open up) VLC to get the effect.)

hope that works for other people

oh and anothr thing. i had the problem when running .MKV files with anime on. never experianced this issue with annything else. Ie: 1080P files or HD files. theyve run fine

ANOTHER NOTE: by the way, i have VLC 1.1.11