VLC suddenly stopped playing video files

[Proglamer]

Hello,

After some years of faithful work VLC just gave up: while opening any AVI or MPG file no output is shown at all - yet the "play" button indicates that the file is played. No track bar is shown. When stopping the "play", an output window temporarily appears and then disappears again

Yes, I've reset the preferences. Twice. Reinstalled. To another directory. Fiddled with prefs. Tried overlay and direct rendering. A host of output modes. Reset them again. Still no luck. Upgraded from 0.8.1 to 0.8.2. Zero impact.

No new video drivers or any other poweruser stuff were installed / played with in the last month. All video files play with all other Directshow-based players.

I've found another post where a guy had the same sympthoms:

viewtopic.php?t=11127

Yet there's no answer there

Does anyone really know what's happening with this great player?

The debug log, when starting a video file:

main debug: creating new input thread
main debug: waiting for thread completion
main warning: drive letter F: found in source
main debug: `F:\= Video\bday2.avi' gives access `' demux `' path `F:\= Video\bday2.avi'
main debug: creating demux: access='' demux='' path='F:\= Video\bday2.avi'
main debug: looking for access_demux module: 1 candidate
main debug: thread 3608 (input) created at priority 1 (src/input/input.c:230)
main debug: creating access '' path='F:\= Video\bday2.avi'
main debug: looking for access2 module: 4 candidates
vcd debug: trying .cue file: F:\= Video\bday2.cue
access_file debug: opening file `F:\= Video\bday2.avi'
main debug: using access2 module "access_file"
main debug: pre buffering
main debug: received first data for our buffer
main debug: prebuffering done 1408981 bytes in 0s - 369881 kbytes/s
main debug: creating demux: access='' demux='' path='F:\= Video\bday2.avi'
main debug: looking for demux2 module: 38 candidates
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:46464952 (RIFF) size:227479856 pos:0
avi debug: found LIST chunk: 'AVI '
avi debug: <list 'AVI '>
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:5453494c (LIST) size:8830 pos:12
avi debug: found LIST chunk: 'hdrl'
avi debug: <list 'hdrl'>
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:68697661 (avih) size:56 pos:24
avi debug: avih: streams:2 flags: HAS_INDEX IS_INTERLEAVED 320x240
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:5453494c (LIST) size:4244 pos:88
avi debug: found LIST chunk: 'strl'
avi debug: <list 'strl'>
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:68727473 (strh) size:56 pos:100
avi debug: strh: type:vids handler:0x34766964 samplesize:0 25.00fps
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:66727473 (strf) size:40 pos:164
avi debug: strf: video:DIV3 320x240 planes:1 24bpp
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:4b4e554a (JUNK) size:4120 pos:212
avi debug: </list 'strl'>
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:5453494c (LIST) size:4234 pos:4340
avi debug: found LIST chunk: 'strl'
avi debug: <list 'strl'>
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:68727473 (strh) size:56 pos:4352
avi debug: strh: type:auds handler:0x00000000 samplesize:1 31965.00fps
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:66727473 (strf) size:30 pos:4416
avi debug: strf: audio:0x0055 channels:2 44100Hz 0bits/sample 249kb/s
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:4b4e554a (JUNK) size:4120 pos:4454
avi debug: </list 'strl'>
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:5453494c (LIST) size:260 pos:8582
avi debug: found LIST chunk: 'odml'
avi debug: <list 'odml'>
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:686c6d64 (dmlh) size:248 pos:8594
avi warning: unknown chunk (not loaded)
avi debug: </list 'odml'>
avi debug: </list 'hdrl'>
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:4b4e554a (JUNK) size:1382 pos:8850
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:5453494c (LIST) size:225411256 pos:10240
avi debug: skipping movi chunk
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:31786469 (idx1) size:2058352 pos:225421504
avi debug: idx1: index entry:128647
avi debug: </list 'AVI '>
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:4b4e554a (JUNK) size:1728 pos:227479864
avi debug: * LIST-root size:227481600 pos:0
avi debug: + RIFF-AVI size:227479856 pos:0
avi debug: | + LIST-hdrl size:8830 pos:12
avi debug: | | + avih size:56 pos:24
avi debug: | | + LIST-strl size:4244 pos:88
avi debug: | | | + strh size:56 pos:100
avi debug: | | | + strf size:40 pos:164
avi debug: | | | + JUNK size:4120 pos:212
avi debug: | | + LIST-strl size:4234 pos:4340
avi debug: | | | + strh size:56 pos:4352
avi debug: | | | + strf size:30 pos:4416
avi debug: | | | + JUNK size:4120 pos:4454
avi debug: | | + LIST-odml size:260 pos:8582
avi debug: | | | + dmlh size:248 pos:8594
avi debug: | + JUNK size:1382 pos:8850
avi debug: | + LIST-movi size:225411256 pos:10240
avi debug: | + idx1 size:2058352 pos:225421504
avi debug: + JUNK size:1728 pos:227479864
avi debug: AVIH: 2 stream, flags HAS_INDEX IS_INTERLEAVED
avi debug: stream[0] rate:1000000 scale:40003 samplesize:0
avi debug: stream[0] video(DIV3) 320x240 24bpp 24.998125fps
main debug: selecting program id=0
avi debug: stream[1] rate:31965 scale:1 samplesize:1
avi debug: stream[1] audio(0x55) 2 channels 44100Hz 0bits
avi debug: stream[0] created 64329 index entries
avi debug: stream[1] created 64318 index entries
avi debug: stream[0] length:2573 (based on index)
avi debug: stream[1] length:2573 (based on index)
main debug: using demux2 module "avi"
main debug: looking for a subtitle file in F:\= Video\
main debug: found a possible subtitle: vlc-log.txt
main debug: looking for decoder module: 24 candidates
ffmpeg debug: libavcodec already initialized
ffmpeg debug: postprocessing disabled
ffmpeg debug: ffmpeg codec (MS MPEG-4 Video v3) started
main debug: using decoder module "ffmpeg"
main debug: thread 3596 (decoder) created at priority 0 (src/input/decoder.c:159)
main debug: looking for decoder module: 24 candidates
main debug: using decoder module "mpeg_audio"
main debug: thread 3544 (decoder) created at priority 2 (src/input/decoder.c:159)
main debug: meta information:
main debug: - 'Setting' = ' HAS_INDEX IS_INTERLEAVED'
main debug: `F:\= Video\bday2.avi' successfully opened
avi debug: old:0 < new 0

[dionoea]

Hehe ... i had the same problem yesterday when testing VLC on Windows Vista (and didn't manage to fix it yet). Any help would indeed be welcome

Btw, do you remember doing something special before it broke ? like updating windows ? directx drivers ? something else ?

[Proglamer]

Indeed.

Several days ago I updated DirectX from 9.0c to 9.0c "February, 2005" version. Killed the annoying "you need to reboot" reminder. Additionally I had to install Managed DX (also February version), yet I fail to see how M$'s .NET layer upon DX could mess up VLC.

Come to think about, my Windows Server 2003 Std wasn't rebooted for... hm... several months? DX install supossedly requires reboot, but games worked without it this time... All DXDIAG tests pass without any reboots. maybe a reboot is all that matters?

Additionally I updated Office XP via Windows Update... yet it seems totally off-topic.

While using WinGDI as output, a window sort of appears (sometimes), but is completely black. Since debug log shows that files are read in normally, this suggests video-only trouble.

Anyway, the new M$'s bloatware should have that particular 'latest' DX subversion installed, maybe that's why me and dionoea both have problems?

[Proglamer]

Rebooted.

Everything works.

Seems like DX "reboot reminder" really is... serious about it. Strange: games work, VLC - no. Oh well, go figure.

It's nice to know that VLC still tops everything at the end