The VideoLAN Forums

Hi. I recently downloaded vlc 1.1.11 to a 3 yr. old Toshiba laptop. My daughter is homeschooled and this year is using a curriculum that has classes recorded on dvds, so I needed something better than the Toshiba media player or window media player (they would periodically freeze, and we also needed better fast-forward and rewind, and playback speed controls). At first the VLC seemed to work wonderfully--we couldn't believe all the great features on a FREE download! However, after about a week or two of use, we noticed that the fan on the computer is now running on high whenever we use VLC to watch the dvds. I don't think it did that at first, though perhaps it did and we were just too busy figuring out how to use vlc and learning how to use its wonderful features, as well as paying attention to the teacher on the dvd, to notice. I tried the Toshiba media player and Windows media player again with the same dvds and they don't seem to cause the fan to make so much noise. Any suggestions on how we can get the fan not to be so loud when using VLC to watch these dvds? Thanks.

The fan noise is a function of the fan speed, which is generally dependent on the processor temperature as measured by a sensor built-in the computer. If the processors does heavy processing like decoding a video, then it heats up (Joule effect) and the fan accelerates.

There is no way to avoid this other than replace the hardware (more powerful processor or more silent fan), or to pause video playback until the processor temperature goes down again.

Thanks, Remi, for your reply. I will try the pause button as you suggest to get the temp. down and hopefully quiet the fan for a while. I am also wondering why the fan speed is not as high with the other media players we've tried--the Toshiba media player and the Windows media player. Could it be that they have some sort of fan speed control built in to them? Just curious. Thanks again.
I do appreciate the wonderful VLC player!

Other Players don't have a fan speed control. Like Rémi said the temperature is measured by sensors that are built in the computer.

It could be possible that VLC does stress the CPU more than other players so that it heats up more.
I don't know what kind of laptop you have. Maybe it already supports GPU-Acceleration. Try activating the GPU Acceleration. You can find it in the Settings -> Input & Codecs right at the top.

Thanks, slrzo. I'm not sure where to find the "settings" menu you are referring to. Is than on the VLC or on the computer? I checked both places and couldn't find it.
(You can tell I am not a computer wiz) thanks so much!

Ok, I switched the language in VLC (I'm from Germany).

You can find it in VLC if you click on Tools -> Preferences
In the next window click on "Input & Codecs" on the left side, then at the top you can find the option "Use GPU acceleration (experimental)"

As the text says it is experimental, maybe it doesn't work. But you can change it back at anytime.