vlc video freezes

[xrvjorn]

@VLC_help: on what do base your conclusion that libavcodec should be updated for this problem to be solved?

Probably because I got the same freeze problem with MPlayer Portable, which uses the same codec. I don't know for sure, though.

[VLC_help]

rjsomeone: libavcodec decoder will print error message when this happens.

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avcodec error: more than 5 seconds of late video -> dropping frame (computer too slow ?)

And also what xrvjorn said.

[rjsomeone]

Using the latest mplayer (with the smplayer front-end to be more precise), I have no problems at all. Is MPlayer using a newer (or older) libavcodec?

[VLC_help]

Official stable MPlayer uses older. SVN builds use newer.

[xrvjorn]

Which VLC version is the newest one that uses the older libavcodec? Downgrading to that version might solve the problems.

[basos]

This one is not fixed cause :
a) it's obscure ( it could be decoder, video output, and i don't know which other vlc subsytem that has a picture buffer)
b) It's not a simpe logical error and even more not a simple implementation error (no illegal exceptions ). It's a complex logical error.
c) It's dark ( some times happens (with some video sources, and i want to add on *some* VGA cards) and some-other (most of them ) not )

I have speculations on this and im going to open a topic on the vlc devel list. Also i have made imagination tests and found some possible sols but i miss some clues about vlc architecture and time to test. But i believe that this would be fixed before 1.0.0 is out.


PS: On one of the systems here running on ATI catalyst drivers x1250 VGA with dshow capture device, same things : after some video is shown ok video freezes.

PS2: Based on jqdwd's comments i want to add that :
- video lan is free software in the wide sense. It's indeed a big community of developers, translators, testers and of course users. It's fairly open for contribs
- Indeed people are busy. Many of us are free time programmers that just want to provide *quality* software to people for free.
- User feedback IS a must (especialy on problems like this). I show only complains from jqdwdj (no troll) but not a debug output.
- VLC -v2 debug msgs *are* very usefull to collect problem info (Tools->Messages verbosity set to 2). For crashes a stack trace *is* very usefull (but requires a little effort to set up a debugger, but gdb is not so difficult, TODO add a wiki how to)
- We don't have a dedicated "software department" for quality testing. People with free time are the core feedback "engine" .

[VLC_help]

Which VLC version is the newest one that uses the older libavcodec?

0.8.6i

[xrvjorn]

I downgraded to 0.8.6i but just hade the same freeze with it, so the problem exists there too. I'm using an ATi 4850 with the 8.11 drivers (all later drivers are dysfunctional and there's a six page thread about it on the ATi Catalyst forum). Has anyone had the same problem with an nVidia card?

[VLC_help]

Then your freeze isn't decoder related. Have you tried all different video and audio output modules?

[bwonderve]

I thought I should add to this. I am getting the exact set of errors on various files. Against all reasonable logic, I installed a codec pack to test, I installed CCCP. The freezing does not occur on WMP, or Media Player Classic. This seems to happen on MKV files.

Here is what I've done. None of it has worked.

Installed the Nightly (some 0.9.9 RC2 flavor)
Turned off Skip Frames
Disabled all video acceleration
I set "Skip the Loop Filter for H.264 decoding" to "all"
Selected all of the different audio and video output modules
Selected "Use System Codecs if Available" (This did nothing, it would not use system codecs)
Installed 0.8.6i, The freezing still occured, though not as frequent and for not as long (in some cases)
Reset Defaults

The video seems to use the DX50 (divx) codec, the container is MKV, and the audio is mp4a

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main warning: late picture skipped (6556) main warning: late picture skipped (10824) main warning: late picture skipped (23458) main warning: late picture skipped (37092) main warning: late picture skipped (50726) main warning: late picture skipped (41360) avcodec error: more than 5 seconds of late video -> dropping frame (computer too slow ?)

I am a long time VLC user (Many Years), and this has been a long running problem, though its somewhat rare. Probably only 7-10% of the videos I watch suffer from this issue. I always thought that maybe it was just bad encoding, but I thought I'd look into a bit more in depth, because right now my media is completely unviewable with how much it is freezing.

I discovered that if I pause it and then resume, the frames continue with no problems, while normally those frames would still be stuck on the previously frozen frame until the 5 second error kicked in.

The freezing seems to happen when there is a lot of movement and changing colors. As I understand how video compression works, this would be at parts where the bitrate would rise drastically and very suddenly.

Since WMP and Media Player Classic do not suffer from this issue using system codecs, it has become obvious to me that it is a VLC issue. I have absolutely no desire to use WMP or Media Player Classic to view these because they just suck

If you need any additional information, I am happy to provide whatever you may need. Thank You for such a wonderful program, I have come to rely on it, and Thank You for your help.

Edit (3/15 12am EST):

This is what it looks like when the frozen frame gets released and the playback continues.


The frozen frame stays on and smudges with the resumed playback. I'll continue to add information as I come across it. I really would like to see this issue resolved.

[bwonderve]

Going to Input / Codecs -> Demuxers -> and changing the "Demux Module" to "FFmpeg demuxer" stopped it from freezing. Although it is still skipping on parts that would normally cause it to freeze.

Edit: I should mention that the skipping is really bad, perhaps just as unviewable as the freezing issue.

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main warning: late picture skipped (56000) main warning: late picture skipped (15000) main warning: late picture skipped (56000) main warning: late picture skipped (14000) main warning: late picture skipped (56000) main warning: late picture skipped (14000) main warning: late picture skipped (55000) main warning: late picture skipped (14000) main warning: late picture skipped (55000) main warning: late picture skipped (13000) main warning: late picture skipped (58000) main warning: late picture skipped (17000) main warning: late picture skipped (58000) main warning: late picture skipped (16000) main warning: late picture skipped (34000) main warning: late picture skipped (16000) main warning: late picture skipped (33000) main warning: late picture skipped (16000) main warning: late picture skipped (33000) main warning: late picture skipped (56000) main warning: late picture skipped (15000) main warning: late picture skipped (56000) main warning: late picture skipped (14000) main warning: late picture skipped (32000) main warning: late picture skipped (14000) main warning: late picture skipped (81000) main warning: late picture skipped (39000) main warning: late picture skipped (81000) main warning: late picture skipped (39000) main warning: late picture skipped (34000) main warning: late picture skipped (17000) main warning: late picture skipped (34000) main warning: late picture skipped (79000) main warning: late picture skipped (38000) main warning: late picture skipped (79000) main warning: late picture skipped (37000) main warning: late picture skipped (79000) main warning: late picture skipped (37000) main warning: late picture skipped (32000) main warning: late picture skipped (78000) main warning: late picture skipped (36000) main warning: late picture skipped (81000) main warning: late picture skipped (40000) main warning: late picture skipped (58000) main warning: late picture skipped (39000)

The default uses the "Motroska Stream Demuxer" I believe, and it seems to cause the freezing. Although I have no idea what is causing the frame skipping.

If I could get VLC to actually use the CCCP I installed, I'd be pretty happy just using that for now.

Edit: Adding to the previous post. Check that for some additional information. (3/15 12am EST)

[lwhite2002]

I continually experience the exact problem upon trying to play any Dvd movie the video freezes yet you can still hear the audio completely VLC just will not play,does this company know ogf this very important issue as this is a video player right?Please send help now....

[bwonderve]

Doing lots of research on VLC's MKV support. It seems to be extremely buggy at best, and there has been no updates on it for several months. Am I correct to assume that VLC is no longer going to update MKV support?

I love VLC, I have become reliant on various features such as the custom hot keys, source aspect ratio and all around usefulness. I am hoping that the "frame-by-frame playback" on 1.0.0 will help resolve the issue. If the issue isn't solved or at least improved by 1.0.0 I may give up on VLC. I am more than willing to give as much information and time as I can to fix it. Unfortunately I do not have any real programming skills, otherwise I would try to fix it myself.

[VLC_help]

Am I correct to assume that VLC is no longer going to update MKV support?

Nope. MKV does get fixes. MKV files (specially ones which have build-in subtitles) should work better in upcoming 1.0.0 release.

avcodec error: more than 5 seconds of late video -> dropping frame (computer too slow ?)

That is a libavcodec error which is already trac ticketed. http://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/2093

[bwonderve]

Good to know then. I did actually find that trac ticket, along with a few others which had similar issues. I must of done 10 hours of research on this stupid problem .

[Jack De Pancake]

Hello I Just recently Upgraded to latest version of VLC and since then I have been able to watch a full length video. Now it does not have any video file type association but after each video ends the video unloads and then about 5 seconds after that my whole computer freezes. I cannot do anything after that the only way to get back to a normal state is to hard reboot.

[VLC_help]

my whole computer freezes

You have either broken hardware or buggy device drivers in your system. VLC cannot freeze or crash your OS. Buggy drivers or broken hardware can.

[wewek]

I got similar problem with video freezing and avcodec error in Linux (Kubuntu 9.04) too.
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=59420&start=0

[VLC_help]

Yep. It is libavcodec issue. Same issue can come up on any platform where libavcodec is used with VLC.

[wewek]

Yep. It is libavcodec issue. Same issue can come up on any platform where libavcodec is used with VLC.

I stoped using libavcodec and vlc until bugs will be fixed. Mplayer works fine.

[Roofel]

As of now the best way to do it is to downgrade to 0.8.6i however you can also just reinstall 0.8.6i, rename that Program files folder(%Programfiles%\VLC\) to something like "VLC-Old" then install the newest version, that way you can change between the 2 just that the newest VLC will be set as default. You can always do it the other way aswell, then you will have 0.8.6i as default. Just make 2 shortcuts on your desktop, 1 pointing to the old one and 1 pointing to the new one. Works for me and I can still keep on checking if any new versions fix the issue with it..

Quiet wierd that 0.8.6i works perfectly fine without any freezes at all(for me atleast) while the newest version uses like 12 seconds of video just to display the video when launching even with the "Skip frames" option unchecked...

[VLC_help]

0.8.6i uses older libavcodec.

[Roofel]

Yet it works, is it any "major" changes in the new libavcodec that messes up AVI files and such? If it isnt, why not just implement the old libavcodec? Cant see any problems in that....

[VLC_help]

why not just implement the old libavcodec? Cant see any problems in that....

It has other issues. And it doesn't support so many codecs, as new one.

[ngebe]

for what its worth:
i followed advice in some other similar thread and increased the file cache from 300 to 1000 (tools>preferences>all settings>input codecs>access modules>file) and at teh first glance the problem seems to be gone (using vlc 0.9.4).