What's the deal with VLC and playing Audio CD's?

[98Guy]

Basically, I think this will explain the issue:

=========
cdda error: could not read TOCHDR
cdda error: no audio tracks found
main debug: no access module matching "cdda" could be loaded
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 1256.000 ms - Total 1256.000 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 1256.000 ms)
main error: open of `cdda://g:\' failed: (null)
main debug: thread ended
main debug: dead input
main debug: changing item without a request (current 2/3)
main debug: nothing to play
qt4 debug: IM: Deleting the input
main debug: TIMER input launching for 'cdda://g' : 1586.000 ms - Total 1586.000 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 1586.000 ms)
=========

The system is running Windows 98se with KernelEx. The optical drive is Liteon DVD burner (GSA-4081B). VLC version 1.1.11. VLC can play .flac files burned to a DVD-r cd just fine, and VLC can play LOTS of other media files that I download (movies, DTS audio files, etc) just fine.

I'm listening to a music cd being played by "cdplayer.exe" (original win-98 program) and it plays just fine. So there's nothing wrong with the DVD drive.

When I do a web-search for /cdda error: could not read TOCHDR/ and /cdda error: no audio tracks found/ all I ever find is that people with linux seem to have this same issue - and NEVER do I see how or if it was resolved.

When I browse to the DVD drive using file explorer, I see a list of files (Track01.cda, Track02.cda, etc) and they are shown with the VLC icon. When I double-click any of them, vlc starts but just sits there. If I drag any of them to Classic Media Player (mediaplayerc.exe) it also can't play them (Cannot render the file).

Is there any known issues with VLC and this problem of playing commercial audio CD's?

Does this get any better with VLC version 2?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

No, the issue is that win98 is too old.

[98Guy]

> No, the issue is that win98 is too old.

Win-98 is a win32 OS and I can run Opera 11.6 and the latest Java JRE and Flash player.

Using VLC I have no problems playing any mp3, flac, avi, mkv, dts, (etc) movie or music file.

PC's were playing CD-audio music since windows 3. Clearly this is a VLC problem. And as I already stated, many linux people have seen this same situation when trying to play CD-audio discs with vlc.

Now, do you want to try again and put forward a coherent explanation of the error I'm seeing?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

We do not support win98. Use 0.8.6c or please provide a patch.

[98Guy]

Why can't this simple error message be explained:

cdda error: could not read TOCHDR

?????

[VLC_help]

CD reading fails. TOCHDR is same as cdrom_tochdr structure which contains few data fields about the CD.

[98Guy]

> CD reading fails.

Then why can VLC play other content from the drive, such as files burned onto a dvd?

> TOCHDR is same as cdrom_tochdr structure which contains few data fields about the CD.

cdrom_tochdr is a unix / linux object or identifier. Does it also exist under Windoze OS?

[VLC_help]

It is most likely a code issue, not a hardware one. And cdrom_tochdr is used in VLC since roots of VLC are in Unix systems.