Direct3D output window

[SteveS801]

You may have noticed that I first posted this 3 years ago. I would be dead by now if I had been.

[Lightlabyrinth]

Isn't this problem solved by not allowing hardware YUV-RGB conversions or accelerated video output? You can find them under the Video settings. I've had this issue for ages in libvlc and I'm forced to always run it using :no-overlay so that end users don't have random windows popping open.

[SteveS801]

I'll try it and hopefully, I remember to update this after a reasonable test period.

[BobJewett]

I have been having the same problem that SteveS801 has been having. I'm on Windows 7 with 2.2.4 Weatherwax Media Player.

Problem restatement: If I choose multiple video files in the windows browser and either click on (cone)play at the top or right click on "Play with VLC media player" I sometimes get a separate window titled "VLC (Direct3D output)" that has only the video playing in it along with a second window with the usual controls and the cone on a black background. It is not possible to close the video window by clicking on its X frame button. The video window can be resized and minimized with the standard upper-right frame buttons. The normal behavior is to come up with just a single window with both video and controls.

The problem comes and goes. Right now it happens every time. At other times it may happen 50% of the time. At other times it never happens. I suspect the use of an uninitialized variable or some such. Does Windows clear memory for new processes prior to use?

I have tried nearly all the suggestions above without useful result.

[BobJewett]

I just powered-down my desktop and restarted. The extra Direct3D window is still present.

But I have a work-around: I select the files in a browser window and drag them to a MediaPlayer icon that's on my desktop. No extra window! It has the additional benefit that the files are played in the order that they appear in the browser window. The normal "Play" path (browser play button or right click) does not preserve file order.

[SteveS801]

Another workaround is to open a single media file and then drag either one or more files to the playlist. But workarounds are not what I am looking for (I don't know about the rest of you).

By the way, I have had the error occur after removing the settings indicated in the last post. So, we are at square one again.

[MMOSimca]

Yep, I have the same issues documented in this thread, and the same workaround works.

Also, curiously, the same problem mentioned earlier in this thread (if opening many videos in VLC by hitting 'play' without VLC being open, then the order of the files is randomized instead of alphabetical) is ALSO solved by opening VLC first, then doing the action in Windows Explorer (selecting them all and clicking play).

The code path for launching VLC via actions in Windows Explorer must be slightly different than the code path for an action in Windows Explorer to take an already open window of VLC and add/play videos in it.

The latter works perfectly, but the former is bugged heavily. It's easy enough to workaround for now, but I really hope this GUI bug does not continue to plague VLC moving forwards. I'd put up with it for years before finally coming here and figuring out what is wrong.

However, as end users of a free product, we should make sure that tickets exist in VLC's ticket system for these two issues and/or try to replicate the problem on the VLC 3.0.0 nightlies. That, plus the recent deductions in this thread about how to reliably produce the bug and (more importantly) how to reliably avoid it, should greatly assist the developers in finding and resolving the issue.