The VideoLAN Forums

Dragon VLT
http://zorda75.deviantart.com/art/Drago ... r-25445166


I've tried contacting Zorda on deviant art, but no response so far. Somewhere around VLC 0.9.9
the videolan developers made some changes to the way skins2 interface handles skins. The result is
that since VLC 0.9.9 - present if the skin is selected audio/video playback no longer works.

I tried speaking to J-b and Erwan about it, but they didn't seem interested in correcting the issue
on the VLC side and suggested that the skin be updated to be compliant with the current VLC.
Sadly I don't have the expertise to make that possible. Can a skin dev take a look at this older skin
and see if they can make it compliant with the latest VLC?

Well, I would not say it doesn't work .... Audio works as it used to, and video is still available in fullscreen mode ('f' hotkey on the main skins window or right-click mouse).

For a windowed video, the only viable solution is to implement it at the skins level (reuse the playlist bitmaps to decorate a video window with a video tag in theme.xml). At the vlc level, there is no means to provide such a video window that fits the skins design.

Erwan10

Hi Erwan,

Based on the previous email communication I didn't realize that the issue was quite as drastic. I interpreted your email that whatever the issue was that was causing a compatibility issue could be easily remedied by a skin developer.

If I understand your forum response here correctly, you're essentially saying that VLC can no longer handle a separate video window independent of the controller? Therefore any skin which does not incorporate a video window as part of the skin itself would not function? No offense, but doesn't a change like that seem a bit short sighted? How could a change/restriction like that possibly be beneficial?

This change had to be made, as before that change skins that DID implement a video window did not work properly.

This change had to be made, as before that change skins that DID implement a video window did not work properly.

Since I'm not a programmer, I don't have experience to know if this is technically possible.

Shouldn't it be possible...
1.) to default skins2 behavior in vlc assuming that the skin includes a video window
2.) create a check to verify
3.) if the check fails, the skin does not support a video window as a part of the skin, then have vlc fallback that allows for external video window.

This way skins that include a video window operate correctly, and older skins wouldn't be relegated obsolete or non-functional. This would seem to be a better solution.

Well, if many of you do think it is important to support old skins with respect to video, one thing is possible, which is to add a --no-skinned-video parameter.

With this parameter, skins could simply deactivate video management, and fall back to the already existing vlc -I dummy behavior. Therefore, it could work as it used to work before vlc1.x (a system video window that cannot reparent, should you want to change skins).

Since it would clutter the skins code a bit more, it has to be agreed upon ( yes or no, which version, .... ) ?

Erwan10

Well, if many of you do think it is important to support old skins with respect to video, one thing is possible, which is to add a --no-skinned-video parameter.

With this parameter, skins could simply deactivate video management, and fall back to the already existing vlc -I dummy behavior. Therefore, it could work as it used to work before vlc1.x (a system video window that cannot reparent, should you want to change skins).

Since it would clutter the skins code a bit more, it has to be agreed upon ( yes or no, which version, .... ) ?

Erwan10

I'm not sure what the question is, but if it allows old skins to work as they did like in 0.8.6x without problems, I'm all for it.

Changing skins isn't an issue for me. I can do this via config, and restart manually. The main concern is keeping old skins functional with vlc. This may be isolated to the Ubuntu repository, but since 0.9.x problems have progressively appeared, like the no external video support (occurred around 1.0.0), drag & drop not working, .m3u playback not working when files in different directories (likely related to drag & drop issue). I emailed you about those issues too, they are only present when using skins.

Well, if many of you do think it is important to support old skins with respect to video, one thing is possible, which is to add a --no-skinned-video parameter.

With this parameter, skins could simply deactivate video management, and fall back to the already existing vlc -I dummy behavior. Therefore, it could work as it used to work before vlc1.x (a system video window that cannot reparent, should you want to change skins).

Since it would clutter the skins code a bit more, it has to be agreed upon ( yes or no, which version, .... ) ?

Erwan10

Erwan did this get fixed for VLC 1.0.3 ?

No, nothing is done so far

@jb and aLtgLasS ..... do you think it is something that should be included in vlc1.0.3 ? (not much work, just a "political" decision)

Erwan10

Yes, if this is possible.

Ok, changes committed tonight on both vlc1.0 and vlc11 branches (tested on Linux, but should work on Windows too.)

Nightly builds should be available as soon as tomorrow. Feel free to test and comment if needed.

Erwan10

I'd be willing to test unfortunately nightly builds for Ubuntu/Debian have not been maintained for a long time. I have some light experience compiling, but not for a package like VLC that has endless configuration options, flags, steps etc. If someone can lay out a clear path for compiling VLC with the appropriate flags on Ubuntu Jaunty, I'll test and report feedback. Otherwise I'll have to wait for the next official release when someone more experienced releases a PPA, or a backport is created...

Also, I would like to thank both of you again for taking into consideration this issue of maintaining older skin functionality.

Ok, changes committed tonight on both vlc1.0 and vlc11 branches (tested on Linux, but should work on Windows too.)

Nightly builds should be available as soon as tomorrow. Feel free to test and comment if needed.

Erwan10

Edit: doh, I figured it out

To enable this feature, locate the vlcrc config file then add the following line

skinned-video=0 --> sets variable to False

Actually, you can do :
- right click on any windows to get the popupmenu
- go to Interface/ preferences/ All / interface / Main Interfaces/ Skins
- uncheck "display skinned video if any"
- save
- restart vlc

But, I guess you chose a quicker way to getting to this parameter

Thank you again for implementing this compatibility feature, it works like a charm