Can't play DVDs w/ VLC 1.0.0 (OS X 10.5.7)

[piksel]

Hi,

I have been using Handbrake to transcode some DVDs on my MBP C2D. I was having major problems as some of the DVDs are region 2 and my drive was region 4. I have now flashed the firmware on my drive to rpc-1 and am using Region X to set the region to whatever I need - all good.

I then tried Handbrake again but the videos were coming out scrambled (green blocks everywhere). It was at this point I discovered that Handbrake uses libdvdcss from the VLC application which I had installed a while ago to watch some AVIs. I then tried to play the DVDs directly with VLC and realised that VLC was causing the scrambled video.

I saw 2 behaviours when trying to play ~any~ DVD (via File -> Open Disc -> DVD):
1) Nothing at all would happen
2) The video would open but was scrambled

The weird thing is that ~all~ of these DVDs play fine in the Mac application "DVD Player".

In behaviour 1 (no video appears) I get the following output in Message window:

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main debug: `dvdnav:///dev/rdisk1' successfully opened dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_HOP_CHANNEL main error: ES_OUT_RESET_PCR called dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_HIGHLIGHT dvdnav debug: - display=1 dvdnav debug: - buttonN=4 dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate not done b=4 t=0 dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_VTS_CHANGE dvdnav debug: - vtsN=3 dvdnav debug: - domain=8 main error: ES_OUT_RESET_PCR called dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_CELL_CHANGE dvdnav debug: - cellN=1 dvdnav debug: - pgN=1 dvdnav debug: - cell_length=43200 dvdnav debug: - pg_length=43200 dvdnav debug: - pgc_length=518400 dvdnav debug: - cell_start=0 dvdnav debug: - pg_start=0 dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_SPU_CLUT_CHANGE dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_SPU_STREAM_CHANGE dvdnav debug: - physical_wide=0 dvdnav debug: - physical_letterbox=0 dvdnav debug: - physical_pan_scan=1 dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate not done b=4 t=0 main debug: selecting program id=0 main debug: looking for decoder module: 33 candidates avcodec debug: libavcodec already initialized main debug: using decoder module "spudec" main debug: TIMER module_need() : 1.289 ms - Total 1.289 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 1.289 ms) main debug: looking for packetizer module: 21 candidates main debug: using packetizer module "spudec" main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.196 ms - Total 0.196 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.196 ms) main debug: thread (decoder) created at priority 0 (../../src/input/decoder.c:315) main debug: thread started spudec debug: invalid starting packet (size < 4 or pts <=0) spudec debug: spu size: 0, i_pts: 0 i_buffer: 128 dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_AUDIO_STREAM_CHANGE dvdnav debug: - physical=0 main debug: Buffering 0% dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate 4 dvdnav warning: cannot get next block (Error reading from DVD.) dvdnav debug: jumping to first title dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_HOP_CHANNEL main error: ES_OUT_RESET_PCR called spudec debug: invalid starting packet (size < 4 or pts <=0) spudec debug: spu size: 0, i_pts: 0 i_buffer: 128 dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_VTS_CHANGE dvdnav debug: - vtsN=1 dvdnav debug: - domain=2 main error: ES_OUT_RESET_PCR called spudec debug: invalid starting packet (size < 4 or pts <=0) spudec debug: spu size: 0, i_pts: 0 i_buffer: 128 main debug: removing module "spudec" main debug: killing decoder fourcc `spu ', 0 PES in FIFO main debug: removing module "spudec" main debug: Program doesn't contain anymore ES dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_CELL_CHANGE dvdnav debug: - cellN=1 dvdnav debug: - pgN=1 dvdnav debug: - cell_length=43200 dvdnav debug: - pg_length=129600 dvdnav debug: - pgc_length=4104000 dvdnav debug: - cell_start=0 dvdnav debug: - pg_start=0 dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_SPU_CLUT_CHANGE dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_SPU_STREAM_CHANGE dvdnav debug: - physical_wide=128 dvdnav debug: - physical_letterbox=128 dvdnav debug: - physical_pan_scan=129 dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate not done b=4 t=1 dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_AUDIO_STREAM_CHANGE dvdnav debug: - physical=-1 main debug: Buffering 0% dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate not done b=4 t=1 dvdnav warning: cannot get next block (Error reading from DVD.) main debug: finished input main debug: Program doesn't contain anymore ES main debug: removing module "dvdnav" main debug: thread ended main debug: dead input main debug: changing item without a request (current 0/1) main debug: nothing to play macosx debug: input has stopped, refreshing interface main debug: TIMER input launching for 'ALIENS' : 1469.276 ms - Total 1469.276 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 1469.276 ms)

In behaviour 2 (I play the DVD in DVD Player and then in VLC immediately afterwards I get video but it's scrambled) I get the following output in Message window:

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main debug: `dvdnav:///dev/rdisk1' successfully opened dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_HOP_CHANNEL main error: ES_OUT_RESET_PCR called dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_HIGHLIGHT dvdnav debug: - display=1 dvdnav debug: - buttonN=4 dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate not done b=4 t=0 dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_VTS_CHANGE dvdnav debug: - vtsN=3 dvdnav debug: - domain=8 main error: ES_OUT_RESET_PCR called dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_CELL_CHANGE dvdnav debug: - cellN=1 dvdnav debug: - pgN=1 dvdnav debug: - cell_length=43200 dvdnav debug: - pg_length=43200 dvdnav debug: - pgc_length=518400 dvdnav debug: - cell_start=0 dvdnav debug: - pg_start=0 dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_SPU_CLUT_CHANGE dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_SPU_STREAM_CHANGE dvdnav debug: - physical_wide=0 dvdnav debug: - physical_letterbox=0 dvdnav debug: - physical_pan_scan=1 dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate not done b=4 t=0 main debug: selecting program id=0 main debug: looking for decoder module: 33 candidates avcodec debug: libavcodec already initialized main debug: using decoder module "spudec" main debug: TIMER module_need() : 1.592 ms - Total 1.592 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 1.592 ms) main debug: looking for packetizer module: 21 candidates main debug: using packetizer module "spudec" main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.240 ms - Total 0.240 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.240 ms) main debug: thread (decoder) created at priority 0 (../../src/input/decoder.c:315) main debug: thread started spudec debug: invalid starting packet (size < 4 or pts <=0) spudec debug: spu size: 0, i_pts: 0 i_buffer: 128 dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_AUDIO_STREAM_CHANGE dvdnav debug: - physical=0 main debug: Buffering 0% dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate 4 main debug: Buffering 0% main debug: looking for decoder module: 33 candidates main debug: using decoder module "libmpeg2" main debug: TIMER module_need() : 13.683 ms - Total 13.683 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 13.683 ms) main debug: thread (decoder) created at priority 0 (../../src/input/decoder.c:315) main debug: thread started dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate 4 libmpeg2 debug: 720x576 (display 540,576), aspect 768000, sar 0:0, 25.000 fps main debug: no usable vout present, spawning one main debug: looking for text renderer module: 3 candidates main debug: using text renderer module "quartztext" main debug: TIMER module_need() : 1.228 ms - Total 1.228 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 1.228 ms) main debug: looking for video filter2 module: 17 candidates swscale debug: 32x32 chroma: YUVA -> 16x16 chroma: YUVA with scaling using Bicubic (good quality) main debug: using video filter2 module "swscale" main debug: TIMER module_need() : 3.774 ms - Total 3.774 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 3.774 ms) main debug: looking for video filter2 module: 17 candidates main debug: Buffering 1% yuvp debug: YUVP to YUVA converter main debug: using video filter2 module "yuvp" main debug: TIMER module_need() : 6.825 ms - Total 6.825 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 6.825 ms) main debug: crop: 332,222,237,25, palette forced: 1 main debug: window size: 1024x576 main debug: looking for video output module: 4 candidates opengl debug: Texture size: 720x576 main debug: looking for opengl provider module: 2 candidates macosx debug: display is Quartz Extreme accelerated main debug: Buffering 1% main debug: Buffering 2% main debug: Buffering 2% main debug: Buffering 3% main debug: Buffering 3% main debug: Buffering 4% main debug: Buffering 4% main debug: Buffering 5% main debug: Buffering 5% main debug: Buffering 6% main debug: Buffering 7% main debug: Buffering 7% main debug: Buffering 8% main debug: Buffering 8% main debug: Buffering 9% main debug: Buffering 9% main debug: Buffering 10% main debug: Buffering 10% main debug: Buffering 11% main debug: Buffering 11% main debug: Buffering 12% main debug: Buffering 13% main debug: Buffering 13% main debug: Buffering 14% main debug: Buffering 14% main debug: Buffering 15% main debug: Buffering 15% main debug: Buffering 16% main debug: Buffering 16% main debug: Buffering 17% main debug: Buffering 17% main debug: Buffering 18% main debug: Buffering 18% main debug: Buffering 19% main debug: Buffering 20% main debug: Buffering 20% main debug: Buffering 21% main debug: Buffering 21% main debug: Buffering 22% main debug: Buffering 22% main debug: Buffering 23% main debug: Buffering 23% main debug: Buffering 24% main debug: Buffering 24% main debug: Buffering 25% main debug: Buffering 26% main debug: Buffering 26% main debug: Buffering 27% main debug: Buffering 27% main debug: Buffering 40% main debug: idx1=-1(??) idx2=-1(??) main debug: Buffering 40% dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_NOP dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_WAIT main debug: Stream buffering done (121 ms in 38 ms) main debug: using opengl provider module "macosx" main debug: TIMER module_need() : 305.496 ms - Total 305.496 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 305.496 ms) main debug: using video output module "opengl" main debug: TIMER module_need() : 306.884 ms - Total 306.884 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 306.884 ms) main debug: Deinterlacing available main debug: got 1 direct buffer(s) main debug: pic render sz 720x576, of (0,0), vsz 720x576, 4cc I420, ar 16:9, sar 64:45, msk r0x0 g0x0 b0x0 main debug: pic in sz 720x576, of (0,0), vsz 720x576, 4cc I420, ar 16:9, sar 64:45, msk r0x0 g0x0 b0x0 main debug: pic out sz 720x576, of (0,0), vsz 720x576, 4cc UYVY, ar 16:9, sar 64:45, msk r0x0 g0x0 b0x0 main debug: looking for video filter2 module: 17 candidates main debug: using video filter2 module "i420_yuy2_mmx" main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.203 ms - Total 0.203 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.203 ms) main debug: indirect render, mapping render pictures 0-15 to system pictures 1-16 main warning: dts != current_pts (-88387) main debug: End of video preroll main debug: Received first picture main debug: looking for video blending module: 1 candidate blend debug: chroma: YUVA -> UYVY main debug: using video blending module "blend" main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.772 ms - Total 0.772 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.772 ms) main debug: Decoder buffering done in 319 ms dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_STILL_FRAME dvdnav debug: - length=0xff dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_HIGHLIGHT dvdnav debug: - display=1 dvdnav debug: - buttonN=10 main debug: crop: 332,381,237,25, palette forced: 1 dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate 10 dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_HIGHLIGHT dvdnav debug: - display=1 dvdnav debug: - buttonN=6 main debug: crop: 332,276,237,25, palette forced: 1 dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate 6 dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_HIGHLIGHT dvdnav debug: - display=1 dvdnav debug: - buttonN=8 main debug: crop: 332,328,237,25, palette forced: 1 dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate 8

I have tried:
a) Deleting preference files (~/.dvdcss, ~/Library/Preferences/VLC) and reinstalled many times
b) Tried previous versions - 0.9.6, 0.8.6i
c) Spent 4 hours last night Googling, searching forums for the errors above to no avail
d) I did discover that opening the VIDEO_TS folder via File -> Open Disc -> VIDEO_TS option works (e.g. dvdnav:///Volumes/MY_VIDEO/VIDEO_TS)

Does anyone have any idea why this is happening? Is it related to the rpc-1 drive? I can't confirm if it was happening before I flashed the drive. The fact they play fine in DVD PLayer rules out a ruined DVD drive.

To use Handbrake, I have to rename VLC so that Handbrake cannot find it to use the libdvdcss file. Handbrake shows a warning to say that libdvdcss could not be found, I chose ignore and it transcodes fine.

So I guess there's not really an issue as far as transcoding the DVDs?? I'm guessing the DVDs aren't encrypted... but still weird I can't play them at all with VLC.

Any help would be much appreciated. I hate a problem I can't find a solution for and very rarely post questions in forums


Thanks.

[nikola23]

Does it work using dvd nomenu?

As far handbrake is concerned it only uses VLC to remove encryption so if its missing it shouldn't matter.

Also it may be the dvds since theyre unencrypted. I had some shotty anime dvds that weren't protected that wouldn't play in vlc. I kind of came to the conclusion that since they didn't take the time to encrypt them they didn't make the menus properly.

[Isaac_K]

Same problem here, Mac OS X 10.5.7, VLC 1.0.0 (tried using older versions too)

VLC reads the file fine, it looks like VLC just can't process the video fast enough to display the DVD or VOB files; dark frames have a better chance of making it to the screen, but overall the video is unwatchable.

[SOLUTION]

Delete the ~/.dvdcss directory, this fixed the issue for me.

Do this by running Terminal.app, and typing the following command, and executing it by pressing enter:

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rm -r ~/.dvdcss

[piksel]

Thanks for the responses guys...

...
[SOLUTION]
Delete the ~/.dvdcss directory, this fixed the issue for me...[/code]

@Isaac_K - thanks. As I said in my original post, I had also removed that directory. It made no difference for me so this is not the solution. My video (when it appears) looks scrambled, not dark.

@nikola23 - these are mainstream, original DVD's - Matrix, Aliens, Crouching Tiger... I don't think it's a case of shotty DVDs

[egglet]

I just had the same problem a couple of days ago on both windows xp (vlc 0.9.9) and vista (vlc 1.0.0) on two different computers and it's now gone today when I tried a DVD again.

All I can think of what I did was do a cold boot, ie shut down (not standby), wait a minute and then turn it on again as I did no setting changes. I'm guessing you may not have tried this as macs generally turn off to standby and not shut down. Simple and hopefully it will work for you.

[Isaac_K]

Thanks for the responses guys...

@Isaac_K - thanks. As I said in my original post, I had also removed that directory.

Whoops, I apologize. I should have read more carefully.

[piksel]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!

@egglet - yes, I had tried a full shut down as well - no difference.

It has just got a whole lot weirder though and I've figured out how to get VLC to play DVD's ...

These steps work:
1) Play DVD that's never previously been played in VLC with Leopard's DVD Player application (plays fine)
2) Then play DVD with VLC (plays fine using standard File -> Open Disc -> DVD)

These steps don't work:
1) Play DVD with VLC (no video window opens)
2) Then play DVD with Leopard's DVD Player (plays fine)
3) Then play DVD with VLC (video opens but is scrambled)

I can see that whenever a movie is played in VLC, a folder is created in ~/.dvdcss/ named after movie title and date. If I delete that folder and then play in Leopard's DVD Player and then in VLC it works fine... go figure!?

So basically, before using Handbrake, I need to play the DVD in DVD Player first - which I usually do anyway to get the title that I want to transcode.

All I can say is "weird"

[maehara]

Having the same problem as original poster described in Behaviour 1 - ie, nothing appears to happen when playing a disc. Message window gives similar output:

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main debug: `dvdnav:///dev/rdisk2' successfully opened dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_VTS_CHANGE dvdnav debug: - vtsN=1 dvdnav debug: - domain=2 main error: ES_OUT_RESET_PCR called dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_CELL_CHANGE dvdnav debug: - cellN=1 dvdnav debug: - pgN=1 dvdnav debug: - cell_length=567000 dvdnav debug: - pg_length=567000 dvdnav debug: - pgc_length=2226000 dvdnav debug: - cell_start=0 dvdnav debug: - pg_start=0 dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_SPU_CLUT_CHANGE dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_SPU_STREAM_CHANGE dvdnav debug: - physical_wide=0 dvdnav debug: - physical_letterbox=0 dvdnav debug: - physical_pan_scan=0 dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate not done b=1 t=2 dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_AUDIO_STREAM_CHANGE dvdnav debug: - physical=0 main debug: selecting program id=0 main debug: Buffering 0% dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate not done b=1 t=2 dvdnav warning: cannot get next block (Error reading from DVD.) main debug: removing module "dvdnav" main debug: finished input main debug: thread ended main debug: dead input main debug: changing item without a request (current 0/1) main debug: nothing to play macosx debug: input has stopped, refreshing interface main debug: TIMER input launching for 'MAGICAL_PROJECT_S_VOL1' : 354.365 ms - Total 354.365 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 354.365 ms)

Getting this with both R1 and R2 DVDs (drive is R2 with RPC1 firmware). Have discovered that ripping the DVD with Mac the Ripper & playing the resulting rip works - can only assume that since MTR removes CSS when ripping that there's something awry with VLC 1.0.*'s CSS handling? First had the problem with 1.0.0, have downloaded 1.0.1 but the issue is still present. Have tried the other possible solutions mentioned in the thread, but no joy.

Any other ideas?