The VideoLAN Forums

I've been trying to figure out why my monitor won't go to sleep. As far as I can tell it's only when using VLC Player. I've got my monitor set to go to sleep after 2 hours (I've tried all kinds of different times) and it almost never does when VLC Player is in the foreground (even after it finishes playing).

I looked in this forum and found this suggestion to disable screensaver in advanced mode viewtopic.php?f=14&t=38999&p=121091 but I've already done that and it still doesn't work.

Any suggestions?

Your monitor won't sleep while you are using VLC.

When your done with VLC right click anywhere on your desktop and select Properties, then go to the Screen Saver Tab, now press Power and OK on each screen. Your Sleep mode should work again. This only seems to be an issue with Laptops.

It's not a laptop. Monitor is a Samsung 226BW LCD.

Problem is I run it while going to sleep. So it stays on all night and it's hard to sleep with a big bright monitor in the room.

So what you want is to hold off the power functions (sleep mode) while the video is playing, but when stopped or paused the the power functions go back to their normal state???

Try feature Requests!

it more looks like a bug on windows :/

Sing it a lullaby or download the Mp3 and play it back a few times. No but really I haven't had this problem with VLC so I can't say that this is it. Could you try setting it to just a few minutes and how it works with VLC off and on?

VLC temporarily suspend power management when video is playing and should restore it when video no longer plays, however if VLC crashes then it may be possible that power management is completely disabled. Usually, logging out and back in should fix the problem

VLC does suspend Power Management, it does NOT restore it. It only happens on Videos and has done it since 0.8.2 (or earlier) on every machine I have installed VLC on. It's also NOT the first time this issue has come up here or in TRAC.

I second this feature request, I like to set a video and watch it while I go to sleep. My monitor and speakers' power supplies are connected, so this would work well.

Unfortunately I have to get up and turn off the monitor before falling asleep, or I risk leaving my sleep cycles hostage to Skype callers from around the world.

ed: hmm, unfortunately this feature is totally unfeasible for DVDs, as they don't actually terminate, only recycle to the menu and loop repeatedly. Anyone with a better handle on the code want to say would it be possible to modify this behavior without upsetting too many applecarts?

The only thing that I can think of is this newer feature that's being added to VLC 0.9.0 that'll shut off VLC media player after all items in the playlist are played, at that point I guess since the player is off the monitor can go back to its normal function.

DVD simple plays the movie and stops at end. No Menus.

The only thing that I can think of is this newer feature that's being added to VLC 0.9.0 that'll shut off VLC media player after all items in the playlist are played, at that point I guess since the player is off the monitor can go back to its normal function.

erk, i dont think that would fix the prob. From my experience, once i play anything on VLC (once VLC is launched) the power management for the monitor is suspended, fine. But then, it doesnt matter what u do, exit VLC, whatever at all, the power management of the monitor wont come back.

VLC is a very nice player, i love it so much, but i dont wanna keep switching off my monitor manually.

I have this exact same problem on four different machines (three desktops, one laptop) all running Windows XP Home.

Currently, they're all updated to 0.86e, and the problem with Advanced Power Management in Windows is still there — if VLC Player plays anything, the monitor's sleep mode gets disabled, and after VLC player is closed, the monitor will never power-off. This is *extremely* annoying as it's a pain to restore the APM settings every time you play something...

IMO, the easiest way to fix this would be to update the "window-close" event-handler in VLC so that restoring the APM settings for the monitor is the very first thing that is done when you choose File>Close, click the close button on the window's title bar, or press ALT+F4. That way, even if VLC crashes during shutdown, at the very least your APM settings should be back to normal.

Noticed something new which may help nail down this bug...

If you switch VLC Player (0.86f) to use skin mode (Start>>All Programs>VideoLAN>Quick Settings>Interface>Set Main Interface Skinnable) the APM/monitor-sleep behaviour changes. If you play something in skinned mode, then close VLC Player, the monitor will actually try to sleep, but it will only go off for about 1 second, then come back on (this actually seems to loop at this point — if you have your APM set to turn the monitor off after 5 min, 5 minutes will pass and then the monitor will wink off for 1 second, then another 5 min will pass followed by another wink, and so on...)

i have the same problem, and it's extremely annoying, because i watch a movie to fall asleep to, but my monitor does not the same thing after movie is over

will there be a fix for this bug in the next version?

I had this problem on 2 different computers and fixed the problem. It was such an annoyance that I had to share the fix with everyone.

First, install newest VLC player (0.86f as of this post)

Second, go to "Control Panel" -> "Display" -> Go to the "Screen Saver" tab. Change your screensaver to "NONE". Remaining on the "Screen Saver" tab under "Monitor Power" near the bottom, click "Power" to adjust power settings. Under the "Power Schemes" tab, set "Turn off monitor" to "After 1 min".

Now open up VLC media player. Click "Settings" -> "Preferences". In the bottom right corner, check the box that says "Advanced options". Now on the left hand side under Preferences, choose "Video". The General Video Settings comes up. Scroll down and UNCHECK "Disable screensaver". Now click "SAVE", close VLC player, reboot computer.

Everything should work, and now the monitor will shut off a minute after a VLC video closes.

New information which may help to identify the bug :

As noted by DJ above, when the monitor fails to sleep, right-clicking the desktop and choosing properties>screensaver>power> then choosing OK and OK will restore the monitor's power-off / sleep functionality.

However... In trying to minimize the number of steps required to restore normal power-saving behaviour after running VLC 0.86i, I've discovered something. I went into the control panel, located the "Power Options" applet, right-clicked on it, and chose the "create shortcut" option. With this shortcut pinned to the Start Menu, I could go directly to the power options with a single click, avoiding the extra dialog boxes encountered when accessing the power management panel from the desktop.

This is where it gets interesting though... If I ran VLC Player, closed it, and then used my shortcut to adjust and save the power settings, the monitor WOULD NOT ENTER SLEEP MODE! There's something special about accessing the power settings via the desktop, as doing it that way DOES restore the monitor's sleep ability.

The only thing that I can think of is that it might have something to do with the fact that VLC Player ties itself into the desktop so that it can replace your desktop wallpaper with live video. Perhaps when it shuts down, it isn't releasing the desktop properly...? This would explain why adjusting the power settings via the desktop properties retores power-saving features to normal while adjusting the power-setting directly has no effect — the first method adjusts the desktop itself, while the second method doesn't.

Hey bugmenot!

Didn't notice that this thread had a "page 2" before I posted! Thanks for sharing that info — I'll give it a try!