VLC not playing DVDs

[mpw]

I have three Macs, a year old iMac, a 13" MacBook from late 2008 and a Mac Mini maybe from about the same time.

I just recently update all of these computers to Lion. At some point I decided to try VLC to watch a DVD. At first I thought I was having problems with the region code but further testing showed that two of these three computers are unable to watch any kind of DVD. The iMac works fine but neither the MacBook nor the Mac Mini are able to view DVDs. When I add the DVD to the play list and hit play it looks like it's starting at first but it becomes inactive after a few seconds before the video window opens.

Here is the VLC Debug Log:

main debug: Activated
main debug: rebuilding array of current - root Playlist
main debug: rebuild done - 0 items, index -1
main debug: looking for services probe module: 5 candidates
main debug: no services probe module matching "any" could be loaded
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 63.652 ms - Total 63.652 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 63.652 ms)
macosx debug: using future cookies
main debug: looking for services probe module: 5 candidates
main debug: no services probe module matching "any" could be loaded
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.398 ms - Total 0.398 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.398 ms)
main debug: adding item `TAKING_WOODSTOCK' ( dvdnav:///dev/rdisk1 )
main debug: rebuilding array of current - root Playlist
main debug: Creating an input for 'TAKING_WOODSTOCK'
main debug: rebuild done - 1 items, index -1
main debug: processing request item TAKING_WOODSTOCK node Playlist skip 0
main debug: resyncing on TAKING_WOODSTOCK
main debug: TAKING_WOODSTOCK is at 0
main debug: no fetch required for (null) (art currently (null))
main debug: starting new item
main debug: creating new input thread
main debug: Creating an input for 'TAKING_WOODSTOCK'
main debug: thread (input) created at priority 22 (../../src/input/input.c:220)
main debug: thread started
main debug: using timeshift granularity of 50 MiB
main debug: using timeshift path '/tmp'
main debug: `dvdnav:///dev/rdisk1' gives access `dvdnav' demux `' path `/dev/rdisk1'
main debug: creating demux: access='dvdnav' demux='' path='/dev/rdisk1'
main debug: looking for access_demux module: 1 candidate
macosx debug: input has changed, refreshing interface
dvdnav debug: trying to go to dvd menu
main debug: using access_demux module "dvdnav"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 1136.026 ms - Total 1136.026 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 1136.026 ms)
main debug: looking for meta reader module: 2 candidates
lua debug: Trying Lua scripts in /Users/mpw/Library/Application Support/org.videolan.vlc/lua/meta/reader
lua debug: Trying Lua scripts in /Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/share/lua/meta/reader
lua debug: Trying Lua scripts in /Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/share/share/lua/meta/reader
main debug: no meta reader module matching "any" could be loaded
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.736 ms - Total 0.736 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.736 ms)
main debug: `dvdnav:///dev/rdisk1' successfully opened
dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_HOP_CHANNEL
main debug: ES_OUT_RESET_PCR called
dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_VTS_CHANGE
dvdnav debug: - vtsN=1
dvdnav debug: - domain=8
main debug: ES_OUT_RESET_PCR called
dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_CELL_CHANGE
dvdnav debug: - cellN=1
dvdnav debug: - pgN=1
dvdnav debug: - cell_length=5785200
dvdnav debug: - pg_length=5785200
dvdnav debug: - pgc_length=5785200
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=1
dvdnav debug: - physical_pan_scan=0
dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate not done b=1 t=0
main debug: selecting program id=0
main debug: looking for decoder module: 32 candidates
avcodec debug: libavcodec initialized (interface 0x350500)
avcodec warning: refusing to decode non validated subtitle codec
main debug: using decoder module "spudec"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 163.639 ms - Total 163.639 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 163.639 ms)
main debug: looking for packetizer module: 21 candidates
main debug: using packetizer module "spudec"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 3.626 ms - Total 3.626 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 3.626 ms)
main debug: thread (decoder) created at priority 0 (../../src/input/decoder.c:301)
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 not done b=1 t=0
main debug: Buffering 1%
main debug: looking for decoder module: 32 candidates
avcodec debug: libavcodec already initialized
avcodec debug: trying to use direct rendering
avcodec debug: ffmpeg codec (MPEG-1/2 Video) started
main debug: using decoder module "avcodec"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 1.601 ms - Total 1.601 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 1.601 ms)
main debug: looking for packetizer module: 21 candidates
main debug: using packetizer module "packetizer_mpegvideo"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 1.400 ms - Total 1.400 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 1.400 ms)
main debug: thread (decoder) created at priority 0 (../../src/input/decoder.c:301)
main debug: thread started
dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate not done b=1 t=0
main debug: Buffering 1%
dvdnav warning: cannot get next block (Error reading from DVD.)
dvdnav debug: jumping to first title
dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_HOP_CHANNEL
main debug: 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 debug: 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
avcodec debug: ffmpeg codec (MPEG-1/2 Video) stopped
main debug: removing module "avcodec"
main debug: killing decoder fourcc `mpgv', 0 PES in FIFO
main debug: removing module "packetizer_mpegvideo"
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=432000
dvdnav debug: - pg_length=35143200
dvdnav debug: - pgc_length=624060000
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=128
dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate not done b=1 t=1
dvdnav debug: DVDNAV_AUDIO_STREAM_CHANGE
dvdnav debug: - physical=0
main debug: Buffering 0%
dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate not done b=1 t=1
main debug: Buffering 1%
main debug: looking for decoder module: 32 candidates
avcodec debug: libavcodec already initialized
avcodec debug: trying to use direct rendering
avcodec debug: ffmpeg codec (MPEG-1/2 Video) started
main debug: using decoder module "avcodec"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 1.431 ms - Total 1.431 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 1.431 ms)
main debug: looking for packetizer module: 21 candidates
main debug: using packetizer module "packetizer_mpegvideo"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.225 ms - Total 0.225 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.225 ms)
main debug: thread (decoder) created at priority 0 (../../src/input/decoder.c:301)
main debug: thread started
dvdnav debug: buttonUpdate not done b=1 t=1
main debug: Buffering 1%
dvdnav warning: cannot get next block (Error reading from DVD.)
main debug: finished input
avcodec debug: ffmpeg codec (MPEG-1/2 Video) stopped
main debug: removing module "avcodec"
main debug: killing decoder fourcc `mpgv', 0 PES in FIFO
main debug: removing module "packetizer_mpegvideo"
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 'TAKING_WOODSTOCK' : 1140.192 ms - Total 1140.192 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 1140.192 ms)

[ajmas]

Have you changed the firmware on the DVD player? Have you tried seeing if you have the same issue with the official Apple DVD player application? Is this only happening with certain DVDs?

[mpw]

No, I have not changed the firmware. The official Apple DVD player application works as expected. I've tried it with at least three or four different DVDs, some from the US, some from Germany and some from the UK. They all exhibit the same behavior, although I didn't check the log for all of them so I don't know whether they all have the same messages.

[koppkr]

Excellent - this did the trick!!