VLC won't release sound driver in Opensuse 11.2

[purevw]

If I have youtube, or any web page with sound open in a browser and then open VLC Media Player, I get a message that VLC is unable to initialize the sound card. I consider it to be normal behavior. As soon as I close the browser, the sound card is released and VLC has no problems. Now, if I close VLC and re-open it, I get the same error message as earlier. The original VLC window failed to release the sound card and now none of the applications, including VLC, can get control of it again. The only way to get sound back is to start "alsaconf" in order to force removal of the driver, then "modprobe" the driver back into the system. Everything is fine until I close VLC and try to play audio or video in another program.

[willem1940NLD]

Maybe installing and/or activating in VLC options "pulseaudio" will help; problem seems related:

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=77733

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Make sure you have libasound2 (a.k.a. alsa-lib) version 1.0.22 or later. That should fix the problem.

[purevw]

Every time I have tried to use Pulse Audio with Opensuse, I have had many headaches. The error message that I get from VLC suggests that I upgrade alsa-lib to version 1.0.24 because of a known alsa bug. The problem is that alsa 1.0.24 does not exist that I know of. Alsa 1.0.23 is the newest, which is what I run. For now I have downgraded VLC to an older version and the problem is solved. When alsa 1.0.24 is released, I'll try again. Thanks for the reply.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

alsa-lib 1.0.24 exists in the alsa-lib development tree. In your case, I assume alsa-lib 1.0.22 should be sufficient though (alsa-lib 1.0.24 fixes another bug).

[willem1940NLD]

alsa-lib 1.0.24 exists in the alsa-lib development tree. In your case, I assume alsa-lib 1.0.22 should be sufficient though (alsa-lib 1.0.24 fixes another bug).

I am afraid 1.0.22 will not .... as I already downloaded and tried 1.0.23 (from Suse Factory) without improvement.

Tried to find 1.0.24 on Web (RPM) but in vain.

[willem1940NLD]

Every time I have tried to use Pulse Audio with Opensuse, I have had many headaches. The error message that I get from VLC suggests that I upgrade alsa-lib to version 1.0.24 because of a known alsa bug. The problem is that alsa 1.0.24 does not exist that I know of. Alsa 1.0.23 is the newest, which is what I run. For now I have downgraded VLC to an older version and the problem is solved. When alsa 1.0.24 is released, I'll try again. Thanks for the reply.

Pulseaudio works for me, after I followed advice to also select that in VLC player settings.

[willem1940NLD]

Pulseaudio disappeared from setting options of my VLC player ..... several reinstalls of both without improvement.

Back to ALSA 1.0.23 again, no use.

[Michele]

Every time I have tried to use Pulse Audio with Opensuse, I have had many headaches. The error message that I get from VLC suggests that I upgrade alsa-lib to version 1.0.24 because of a known alsa bug. The problem is that alsa 1.0.24 does not exist that I know of. Alsa 1.0.23 is the newest, which is what I run. For now I have downgraded VLC to an older version and the problem is solved. When alsa 1.0.24 is released, I'll try again. Thanks for the reply.

What version did you install?

[purevw]

Sorry for the late reply. I assumed that when I open a thread, that I would automatically be subscribed to it. I wasn't.
If you were asking about Pulse audio, I tried the most recent version from the OpenSuSE repositories. It breaks other types of multimedia packages and many at the OpenSuSE forums recommend staying clear of it until it becomes more mature. When I did try it, VLC behaved better, but I use a 7.1 surround audio card and Pulse can only operate it as a stereo card. As all of my music files are saved as 7.1 files and all of my videos are saved as 5.1 surround, Pulse is not a valid option to access the full capabilities of my sound card.
If you were asking about which version of VLC I use, I was using 1.2 when the problems concerning alsa were encountered. I have since regressed to 1.1.3 and am able to use alsa as the default sound device and am able to set VLC to at least use my card as a 5.1 surround device. Alsa gives full support for my card and full 7.1 is possible. VLC in Linux seems to limit the card to 5.1. I have a separate external amplifier on each of the outputs of my sound card. 5.1 will not send a signal to my "side" amplifier, but all others work. VLC in Windows on this same machine works perfectly and I am able to have full 7.1 surround.