Apple Remote Launches/Plays iTunes during VLC Playback

[griffink]

Running Snow Leopard whenever I use my remote to Pause or Play a movie in VLC my music in iTunes begins to play and if iTunes isn't open it launches the program.

I was wondering if this problem can be fixed on the VLC side or if it's an issue with Snow Leopard.

Thanks for the help.

[Queue2]

I am experiencing the same issue but for all the buttons on the remote.

Menu shows my location in the video and launches front row.
Volume up/down turns VLC's volume up and down as well as the system volume up and down.
Play/pause attempts to play music from iTunes/opens iTunes as well as playing/pausing my VLC video.

Many thanks!

[Queue2]

Also, a little--admittedly amateur--code poking seems to suggest that openInExclusiveMode is unavailable or differently implemented in Snow Leopard...

[fkuehne]

As you can see by searching the forums at apple.com or by browsing the web with google, this is a generic problem. All applications developed by 3rd parties (meaning everything which is not iTunes or QuickTime Player) is affected by the issue, even MS Powerpoint and EyeTV.

We have contacted Apple about this issue, but we didn't receive any response yet. This remained unfixed for Mac OS X 10.6.1, so we hope to have it fixed in a future Mac OS X release. There is little that could be changed in VLC, as the API's "exclusive mode" is no longer exclusive as said by Queue2.

[GT500Shlby]

I found a nifty temporary hack at the Apple Support Forums.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jsp ... 0&tstart=0 [Apple.com]

I also changed the iTunes file they created and added "VLC" to the line:

Code: Select all

apps = ["VLC"]

But you can add any app you want (case sensitive).

You also don't need curl, I'll post the code and create a file in TextEdit called iTunes and move it to /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS

Code: Select all

#!/usr/bin/env python import sys, os, subprocess launch = True blocker = "" apps = ["VLC"] ps = subprocess.Popen("/bin/ps -x", shell=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE) for line in ps.stdout.read().split("\n"): for app in apps: if app in line: launch = False blocker = app ps.stdout.close() if launch : os.spawnvp(os.P_WAIT, '/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesX', sys.argv) else : print "Not launching iTunes while %s is running." % blocker

Here are the steps you need to take:

cd /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS
sudo mv iTunes iTunesX
sudo mv /path/to/yournewiTunesFile/iTunes iTunes
sudo chmod uog+x iTunes

You only need curl if you post the file on the web.

Although, if your not *nix tech savvy then I wouldn't attempt this - but it WORKS!

[basser11]

Here are the steps you need to take:

cd /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS
sudo mv iTunes iTunesX
mv /path/to/yournewiTunesFile/iTunes
sudo chmod uog+x iTunes

You only need curl if you post the file on the web.

Although, if your not *nix tech savvy then I wouldn't attempt this - but it WORKS!

hi,
I am one of those not unix tech savvy who tried this workaround from last post...now my iTunes only starts if I use the iTunesX file from within iTunes.app. otherwise there´s a message sayin "you can´t open iTunes.app because it is not supported by this Mac". even if VLC isn´t running. also the mv command didn´t work (right path, i dragged the file into the terminal) so I moved the iTunes file created from the code above manually...
help...anyone?

edit: the iTunes file seems to work now properly (but in terminal it displays
Sun Sep 27 11:21:45 noname iTunes[1272] <Error>: doClip: empty path.)
, but only if I start it from within iTunes.app. If I start iTunes.app there is still the error message...

[GT500Shlby]

Although, if your not *nix tech savvy then I wouldn't attempt this

I am one of those not unix tech savvy who tried this workaround from last post...now my iTunes only starts if I use the iTunesX file from within iTunes.app.

I also messed the second mv command - hence the entire "if your not *nix tech savvy then I wouldn't attempt this" A tech savvy unix person would have caught this.

The error you are having is because you don't have the proper ownership and permissions on the iTunes file you modified. However I did specifically state to 'NOT' attempt this if you are not comfortable doing so.