The VideoLAN Forums

Greetings to All!

Yesterday, I upgraded to the Windows 64-bit version 3.0.1 of VLC, from version 2.2.6. I did this because the time counter would hang and stop updating at some point before the file actually ended. This problem first occurred with the 720p YIFY release of "Schindler's List", where it would hang/stick at 3:11:46 hours. This problem was resolved upon upgrading to version 3.0.1 of VLC.

Alas, after the upgrade to 3.0.1, I encountered a much worse problem, and today, I downgraded VLC back to 2.2.6. The problem with v3.0.1 was essentially one of poor video display quality. When allowing VLC to select the window size itself, there was little (if any) disturbance of quality, but when I reduced the size of the window, there was a lot of "artifacts" or "interference patterns" or what you choose to call it. It was as if the downscaling of the video was broken, afflicted with corruption so severe that it was intolerable to me -- hence the revert to v2.2.6.

Of relevance to the above is, that I am forced to use the "Standard VGA Graphics Adapter" due to hardware problems; the system will hang upon booting Windows (Windows 7 Professional) if I use the hardware specific driver; I believe some of the GPU memory is defective, and that the "Standard VGA" driver does not use this defective memory and therefore does not trigger the problem.

So, my screen resolution is 1152x864 True Colour. This does not match the native resolution of the screen/monitor (which is 1920x1080), and the aspect ratio is wrong, but I have got used to watching videos despite this problem, though I would be delighted to find a solution to it.

The constraints described above means that several video output options cannot be used at all. This includes "Direct3D", "OpenGL" (both types of it), "Video memory", and "YUV" outputs. "DirectX (DirectDraw)", and "Windows GDI" outputs can be used to an extent, in that there is actual video produced and displayed, but with poor quality, as described above. Only the "Direct2D" works well enough to allow me to watch videos.

However, in VLC 3.0.1, there is no "Direct2D" option! Therefore, there is no way to escape the corruption upon downscaling the window. This is problem is an absolute "show-stopper" for me as far as version 3.0.1 is concerned.

Interestingly, in v2.2.6, if choosing an output option other than "Direct2D", there is corruption despite allowing VLC to select the size of the window. This is unlike v3.0.1.

I may be able to upgrade from 2.2.6 to the last VLC version endowed with a "Direct2D" output option. Which version would this be?

A question: why does scaling work properly with "Direct2D" output, but not with other options?

Regards,
Albert Wik.

I found this thread, which seems to refer to the same problem I'm having (see OP above for details):

"Weird color artifacts".
That thread is from 31 Jan 2017.

-Albert.

I am forced to use the "Standard VGA Graphics Adapter" due to hardware problems

Here lies the problem.

I am forced to use the "Standard VGA Graphics Adapter" due to hardware problems

Here lies the problem.

I know it is an important factor in the problem, but it is not the only one. Despite the "Standard VGA", it worked fine in v2.2.6 with Direct2D, but not in 3.0.1.

I don't understand why such a basic (and important) matter as scaling is defective with most of the output options. And what is so special about Direct2D that makes scaling work with it?

-Albert.

Have there been any new developments pertaining to this matter?

I took out the defective graphics card (AMD/ATI) from my laptop, which allowed the integrated (Intel) graphics to work, and so, the problem is resolved as far as I'm concerned.

Still, I think it was a mistake to remove the Direct2D output option. Using the standard VGA driver is a valid configuration.

-Albert.

I think it was a mistake to remove the Direct2D output option. Using the standard VGA driver is a valid configuration.

I second that.
It was a useful feature especially for virtual machines.

VLC supports unaccelerated rendering with GDI. There are no plans to remove the GDI output.

With the GDI option, there is still corruption if you resize the window. Only Direct2D allowed scaling without artifacts/corruption.