VLC Web Plugin bug with some file paths

[coquiss]

Hi,

I'm using the VLC Web Plugin with Windows 7, VLC 2.2.4, and Chrome 41 (the last version of Chrome to fully support NPAPI)

There is a weird, relevant issue, hope you can help please. For many file paths the plugin simply does not work (in Chrome). I have not been able to find the pattern, but I have many examples, here is one of them:

(B.mp4 and Fone.mp4 are just 2 copies of the same file, in the same location. To reproduce the problem, you can use any mp4 file, copy and rename appropiately. [I would not believe the file type is relevant, but it is just a guess])

This does NOT work:

var playerLocalProto = document.getElementById('playerLocalProto');
playerLocalProto.playlist.add('file:///E:/B.mp4');
playerLocalProto.playlist.play();

This works:
var playerLocalProto = document.getElementById('playerLocalProto');
playerLocalProto.playlist.add('file:///E:/Fone.mp4');
playerLocalProto.playlist.play();

(please remember that B.mp4 and Fone.mp4 are simply 2 copies of the same video file in the same location.)


[EDIT 1: 22ND JUNE: The problem is happening in VLC 2.2.2, 2.2.3, 2.2.4. It is working fine in VLC 2.2.1]

[EDIT 2: 22ND JUNE: For many many file paths, the file plays well the first time playback is attempted using javascript code as above (changing of course the URL of the file appropiately), but then if you clear the playlist using javascript and add the same file to the playlist again using javascript code like above, then playback fails to start this time.
-what I explained about file:///E:/B.mp4 failing on first playback attempt is still valid]

[please remember all this post applies to Chrome 41, last chrome version to fully support npapi]


Could you please be able to fix the bug, if possible for you? Thank you very much for your help

[da2424]

Yes, it seems there is a bug. The MRL will be corrupted with randomly characters at the end of the MRL, therefore it will not play.
I have created a ticket for this issue: https://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/17097

[coquiss]

Hi da2424,

Thanks so much for your help. I have important additional information (enclosed below) on the problem. Could you please be able to add it to the ticket you raised, so that the fix could address all issues, if possible for you?

Additional details:

The problem is not restricted to short MRLs. It does not seem to be related to the length of the MRL. Further examples are as follows:
(I thoroughly checked that the MRLs were pointing to the right file locations)(MRLs are always added to the playlist using javascript, for example player.playlist.add('file:///E:/MyFolder/MyVideoFile.mp4')

1.1 This MRL does NOT work at all:
file:///E:/CML3/Multimedia/MEBOHD/MEBOHDVIDEO/LENGTHYS/HDOtherVideo/HDOtherVideo000002/A.mp4

, however this very similar MRL works fine:
file:///E:/CML3/Multimedia/MEBOHD/MEBOHDVIDEO/LENGTHYS/HDOtherVideo/HDOtherVideo000002/Ant.mp4

1.2. This MRL works ONLY on first playback attempt, but stops working when (using javascript) playback is stopped, playlist is cleared, then playlist item added again, and playback is run for the second time
file:///F:/CML3/Multimedia/F1/F12016/1GPAUSTRALIA/02RaceSessionSD.mp4

1.3 MRLs containing special characters ('_', '-', [space], '(', etc) may also be problematic,
(but I'm not 100% sure if this one is a problem by itself, or simply part of the broader above problem)

da2424, could you please be able to add the above information to the ticket, if possible for you? Thanks so much for your work and help.

[da2424]

You're right, I also see the problems with the MRL file:///E:/CML3/Multimedia/MEBOHD/MEBOHDVIDEO/LENGTHYS/HDOtherVideo/HDOtherVideo000002/A.mp4.
It seems that it's a problem with specific lengths.
And it occurs very randomly, somtimes one length works fine, sometimes not. It makes no difference for me, if the playlist was cleared or not, before further MRLs were added.

[coquiss]

Thanks so much for your work, da2424. I'm glad to see that you have been able to reproduce the problem with the MRLs I sent you. Please feel free to include those MRLs in the ticket, if they may help the developers when they fix the issue.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

We need logs. Really.

[coquiss]

Thanks so much for your help Jean-Baptiste and da2424. If there is anything I can do to help solve the issue please let me know. I have plenty of examples of MRLs that do not work, and MRLs that work OK, and it is consistent 100% of the times.

Would there be any chance for the issue to be fixed for the next VLC release?
Thanks again for your help.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

I need logs to fix.

[da2424]

I need logs to fix.

I have already attached some logs to https://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/17097

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

they need to be URL-encoded, then.

[da2424]

they need to be URL-encoded, then.

These characters aren't in the real URL

Maybe it's random garbage from RAM?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

or wrong UTF conversions.

[coquiss]

Hi Jean-Baptiste and da2424,

Thanks so much for your work.
Is there any workaround that you may be think of to deal with the problem until it gets fixed? and would there be any chance to get the fix into the next VLC version?

I'm not a VLC developer, so I suppose I can't produce logs, but if there is anything I can help with, I would be very happy to.

Thanks again for your help. Highly appreciated.

[coquiss]

Hi da2424, Jean Bapstiste,

Would there be any chance to know if this problem could be fixed, so that the great VLC Web Plugin can be used again in Chrome 44 and any other Chrome based browsers?

Thanks so much for your work.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

It needs a lot of work to do that.