libvlc settings

[pchristy65]

OK, this is a strange one, and this may not be the right place to ask, but I have to start somewhere!

Hardware: Raspberry Pi400 OS Slackwareaarch64-current (Slackware for arm64 devices) VLC version 3.0.20

Although VLC worked fine for a while on the Pi, about 6 months ago it stopped working for anything over 720 resolution. This isn't a ffmpeg problem, as ffplay (and mpv) play 1080 files perfectly - as did vlc until recently. It seems to be something to do with the graphics drivers, but that is not strictly relevant here.

I've just built VLC-3.0.20, and have got that playing 1080 videos fine by setting the Video Output to "XVideo output (XCB)". The systems tries to default to OpenGL, which simply doesn't work at the moment. Forcing the output to XVideo gets it working again.

So far so good! One problem solved!

Next issue: I use Kaffeine - which uses libvlc - for off-air TV viewing and recording. This has the ability to pass options to libvlc. Unfortunately, libvlc appears to be defaulting to opengl output, which doesn't work for HD broadcasts. I can watch standard definition fine, but not high definition, which exhibits the same freezing and stuttering issues that VLC does when using opengl.

I have not been able to find the syntax to force libvlc to use Xvideo (XCB) as the output. I'm sure it must be there somewhere, but nothing I've tried has worked so far. I'm guessing that it should be something like "--vout=xcb_xv", but I've been unable to locate any documentation to help.

Can anyone here offer a solution to force libvlc to use the right output?

TIA,

--
Pete

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

There is no support for passing options to LibVLC as that would fall foul of API stability rules.

If you don't want to use GL, don't install the GL plugin.

[pchristy65]

Er, OK - thanks for the response!

However, I can manage to make things worse by passing a vout option that I know won't work! That implies a partial response at least! I did that whilst experimenting with the syntax!

Looks like I'll have to recompile without opengl. Time to go look at the configure options, I guess...!

--
Pete

[pchristy65]

Well, according to configure --help, there doesn't seem to be any way of compiling without GL!

So how do I stop it installing the GL plugin?

Cheers,

--
Pete

[pchristy65]

OK, finally got it working using the "sledgehammer" technique!

I went into the /usr/lib64/vlc/plugins/video_output folder, and moved everything that had libgl in the filename to a temporary location elsewhere! (12 files altogether)

Now the dropdown folder in VLC no longer offers any GL options, and can be reset to automatic. Also Kaffeine now plays HD and SD TV, and 1080 files without any further issue. Haven't tried any HEVC (X265) stuff, but I wouldn't expect that to work anyway at present. The main thing is that I can now watch and record HD TV again! (Actually, I could record it before! I just couldn't watch it or play it back on the Pi...)

All cores are running at around 35%, so a bit of headroom there.

Next step might be to get X265 working, but that maybe beyond my abilities!

--
Pete