Let the computer sleep when nothing is playing

[ssp]

First of all, thanks for the great work. I'm really enjoying VLC a lot. It's doing a much better job than QT player.

This is a small peculiar issue.

VLC has the feature to not let the computer go to sleep or dim the screen while it's running. That's pretty cool (and much more reliable than QT Player's attempts at the same).

It does seem, though, that a consequence of this is that the system will never dim the screen at all while VLC has a video window open. Occasionally I quite like to keep a file open in VLC because I had to stop watching it and want to continue watching at the same position later on. Then I just pause playback and hide the app. But it seems to prevent the computer from going to sleep and dimming the screen.

So my suggestion would be to refine the current behaviour a bit. For example by only preventing sleep while a video window is actually playing.

I don't have the time to try this out myself right now (and don't know much about VLC either), but to me it looks like this can be quite easily achieved by wrapping the UpdateSystemActivity() line in vout's -manage method into a if (playing) ... line.

ssp-web@earthlingsoft.net

[carey]

Yes! I want this too. I don't see any point in stopping a computer from using its' power saving features when a video file is _paused_. If someone (strangely) wants a paused video to stay there then they could just modify their power settings.

This is causing a waste of many killowatts a day all around the globe . My housemate always forgets to close VLC and leaves stuff paused when he gets distracted, could be for a day or more and the computer just sits there running. Usually we have 15 minute suspend setting on our PCs to save power

If I could code I would do it myself

Apart from this not much annoys me abouts VLC good work guys

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

This is a misconception in VLC now, that's all.

[rjupiter]

This is a misconception in VLC now, that's all.

how is this a misconception if it doesn't work? my monitors will never turn off as along as VLC is running, even paused or stopped. very annoying.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

This is a misconception in VLC now, that's all.

how is this a misconception if it doesn't work? my monitors will never turn off as along as VLC is running, even paused or stopped. very annoying.

Pause and stopped are not the same.

[user8337]

This is a misconception in VLC now, that's all.

how is this a misconception if it doesn't work? my monitors will never turn off as along as VLC is running, even paused or stopped. very annoying.

Pause and stopped are not the same.

You did not listen to (read) his question. He said that it would not sleep as-long as VLC is running weather or not it is paused or turned off. He did not ask you what the difference between the two where, just that it doesn't work with either.

To put it bluntly, we want you to change the feature (not remove it) that stops the computer from going into sleep mode. So if the movie is paused or stopped or the playlist has finished, VLC will then stop blocking the computer from entering sleep mode.

If the pc is sitting on a static screen with no movie or music playing and the user has not touched the mouse/keyboard, I cannot see why anyone would not want the pc to enter sleep mode.

Atleast install an option into the settings section of VLC for this please

[user8337]

bump

[digitalhen]

Did this go anywhere?

At least on a Mac, when paused, this is holding a connect to the sound device. Verified as follows. With VLC running and paused:-

Code: Select all

pmset -g assertions --removed for clarity-- Listed by owning process: pid 156: [0x0000012c0000009c] PreventUserIdleSystemSleep named: "com.apple.audio.'AppleHDAEngineOutput:1B,0,1,4:1'.noidlesleep"

VLC not running / video window closed:- Not listed.

[collinsp]

I see a clear need for computer to 'sleep' even while paused. Seems obvious, why would I want the computer to stay awake long after I have paused and left -- I have computers on many nights because of this problem. Please fix.

[andrewdhokie]

I would also love to see this feature added.

At least an option to "allow sleep if player paused" for xx minutes.

Thanks,

[spambin1111]

It would be great if this could be implemented. Even a crude version would be a great improvement (if windows is configured to sleep after X, and the video has been paused for X, tell windows to sleep now). That logic breaks some other stuff, but it should be straightforward to implement, and I think it'd be much better than nothing. I know it'd save me a lot on my power bill every month. :p

Edit: Maybe this could be achieved more simply (and better) by having an option for VLC to stop rendering video and release audio handles after x minutes of pause; shouldn't that allow windows to take it from there?

[mredamon]

BUMP

[zsoltt]

Hi, I am using a Mac, is there any hope that this will be fixed? It's a major drawback.

[AkshayL]

I registered just to second this request. Please allow system to sleep when video is paused. Great video player otherwise. Thanks a lot!

[Akusho]

I also registered just to ask to fix this issue. It's been what, 3 years? I like this player very much, but this issue is getting annoying. For example a scenario: I paused a video, I left the computer, I expect it to turn off the screen in 3 minutes. I come back hours later and the screen is on, why? Because I forgot VLC. It's really inconvenient and forces me to search for other solutions for watching video. It's not like it is a very complicated coding issue. If it's coded as "never let PC sleep" just add a "unless paused", or "never let PC sleep while playing".

[ahrs]

Any plans on fixing this most serious problem wth VLC player? Just to reiterate the issue, VLC should allow computer to sleep if playback is paused or stopped.

[Jh1986]

Let's not be narrow minded about this... I set VLC to receive a stream from my raspberry pi and then record the stream for archiving. Doing this, means the Mac is unable to sleep. Even if you enabled sleep on pause/stop, this would not help this situation. What would help is an option in preferences to tun off sleep inhibit.

[Cyan]

I'm a fan of this concept!
I wish it was as easy to contribute to the source as it is to brush my teeth.

[TigerMoth]

Bump++

Please let the computer sleep when VLC is paused/stopped.

pmset -g assertions
2015-04-01 00:17:02 +0100
Assertion status system-wide:
BackgroundTask 0
ApplePushServiceTask 0
UserIsActive 0
PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep 1
PreventSystemSleep 0
ExternalMedia 0
PreventUserIdleSystemSleep 1
NetworkClientActive 0
Listed by owning process:
pid 1659(VLC): [0x00006d000005046b] 00:09:47 NoDisplaySleepAssertion named: "VLC media playback"
pid 269(coreaudiod): [0x00005b66000102fb] 01:24:54 PreventUserIdleSystemSleep named: "com.apple.audio.context419.preventuseridlesleep"
Created for PID: 1659.
Kernel Assertions: 0xc=USB,BT-HID
id=500 level=255 0x4=USB mod=31/03/2015 16:13 description=EHCI owner=AppleUSBEHCI
id=504 level=255 0x4=USB mod=31/03/2015 16:15 description=UHC1 owner=AppleUSBUHCI
id=506 level=255 0x8=BT-HID mod=01/01/1970 01:00 description=com.apple.driver.IOBluetoothHIDDriver owner=BNBTrackpadDevice

[iHerky]

I also registered specifically for this issue. This is no doubt the worst part of the player, has anyone gotten any sort of resolution for this? It would be nice to be able to leave vlc open on my computer all the time.

[hobbes]

There is a workaround these days: when you open a file that has been played before, VLC asks if you want to resume playback at the place where you stopped last time. So it's no longer necessary to leave a file open and paused.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Stop it and will not not sleep.

[Jonathan42]

It seems there is a lot of input on this and while I don't want my screensaver to engage during video playback, I also don't want to wake up in the morning (or middle of the night) to a bright white playlist.

If there was a simple video option that could toggle a screen off feature a certain number of minutes after playback is paused / stopped and any user input or video stream input would automatically re-engage the player. There is a good amount of demand for it and it simply makes sense

Sidenote:
Programmers dream up such wonderful programs like VLC and then make it into reality which is such a wonder! With simple changes between editions adding things that users really want, like this and click/pause, etc, you will garner much more widespread support for VLC as the ONLY player people need. I know that Videolan is a group of volunteers. A few years ago I posted in the forums requesting an Android app and got a very snooty response from a developer who explained very condescendingly that he was an Apple guy and had zero interest in developing anything for Android. Since then Android has vastly overtaken ios and I'm happy to see other people are now on the project who see things in more than one way and I'm glad to see more diversity. Coders love linux, Graphics love apples, average people love PC's and everyone either loves their iphone and tablet or Android version of the same. The beginning of most conflicts starts with the creation of an "Us" and a "Them"...

Jonathan
San Antonio, Texas (Remember the Alamo!)

[darthpilsner]

First post is from 2005.

They've had over 10 years to fix this issue, they obviously don't care

[nrsrymj]

VLC PROGRAMMERS

You must fix this issue immediately. It is beyond absurd that you would let a decade go by without a fix for this. If it is not resolved soon, I will have no choice but to leave HARSH NEGATIVE reviews of your product and your responsiveness everywhere I can. Part of being a good program is responding to user feedback, and as the people in the thread make clear, your program is stellar, except for this one issue, which you have inexplicably ignored. Fix this. Or not. The choice is yours.