VLC and Monty Python series DVDs problem

[muncrief]

First of all, I apologize for posting a bug report here but when I try to go to the VLC bug tracking system (https://trac.videolan.org/vlc/) I'm warned by both Firefox and IE8 that I may have been redirected to a malicious site, and I can't take the chance of having my machines infected.

In any case I just wanted to let the VLC developers know that there is a problem with Windows VLC version 1.0.3 and Linux version 1.0.2 (the latest released by Ubuntu Karmic) and all Monty Pyhton series DVDs. I also tested the latest Windows git version at the time (vlc-1.1.0-git-20100116-1803-win32.exe) with the same results. I'm assuming that the problem probably affects other DVDs also so I thought I'd report it. I tested VLC on Ubuntu Karmic, Windows XP Professional 32-bit, and Windows 7 Professional 64-bit with identical results. The problem does not occur with Nero 6 Showtime, Windows Media Player, Xine, or Kaffeine. However, it does occur with Totem.

The problem is in the way VLC handles the initial A&E title sequence. This is a short video that is supposed to be shown when the DVD is first started. However, VLC immediately jumps to the main title menu where you can select individual episodes or "Play then All". If you select the first episode or "Play them ALL" then VLC plays the A&E title sequence and then goes back to the main title menu. Subsequent presses on these buttons randomly either play the episode(s) or go back to the A&E sequence and jump back to the main title menu again.

Since these DVDs contain a MONTYPYTHONWEB.EXE program on them I thought this might be the problem so I created ISO files from the original DVD without this program or its affiliated autorun.inf and program directory but VLC operates the same way without it.

If this is not a problem that affects many DVDs then please ignore it, because of course people can play this series with many others players since they aren't Dolby Digital or DTS. However, it is a very popular DVD series and, especially if it affects other DVDs, it might prohibit people from adopting VLC, which is an awesome program that I love and support.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Patch is welcome.