Newer Versions Do Not Play DVD on Disk

[pintosal]

I am using a Dell Inspiron 6400 with Windows XP SP3.

On the laptop disk I have a DVD folder with the usual AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS sub folders. This contains a DVD menu and video clips.

When I try to play this with VLC 1.19 the video window does not appear. The slider bar moves, as if in normal playing, but no video is seen. I also tried with 1.16 and 1.17, but they show the same problem as 1.19. If I insert a DVD, they play OK.

However, in VLC 1.03 and earlier all works well.

Any ideas why this might be?

Also, in the earlier versions, when playing MP3, VLC shows a minimal interface, but with the newer versions MP3 fills the whole screen. Is this my configuration, or is it a general problem?

[VLC_help]

Any ideas why this might be?

You use Media -> Open Disc... for folder playback?

Also, in the earlier versions, when playing MP3, VLC shows a minimal interface, but with the newer versions MP3 fills the whole screen. Is this my configuration, or is it a general problem?

Resize VLC window and restart.

[pintosal]

I have tried Media -> Open Disc but this does not help, and gives the same problem I initially reported.

I think it is a bug introduced somewhere along the development.

Previous versions: I have now downloaded some older versions and 1.0.5 and earlier versions were fine, while 1.1.0 and later versions exhibit the bug.

Resizing the VLC window works - thanks

[VLC_help]

Could you open Tools -> Messages (set Verbosity to 2) and then try DVD playback? The messages should complain something.

[pintosal]

Could you open Tools -> Messages (set Verbosity to 2) and then try DVD playback? The messages should complain something.

I have done that but I don't know what to look for in the log file.

Here are 2 URLs of the log files from the 2 versions. The first one is from v1.1.9 which is not working for me, and the second is from 1.0.5 which is working.

http://www.epsguru.co.uk/VLC%201.1.9%20bug.log

http://www.epsguru.co.uk/VLC%201.0.5%20OK.log

The DVD has a menu and waits until the user clicks on a 'button'.

I tried on a different computer, which is a generic desktop, and the results were the same; it works 1.0.5 and below, but it fails 1.1.0 and above.

[VLC_help]

It seems VLC 1.1.9 doesn't find video track from that input. So it is prolly a libdvdnav bug. Have you tried VLC 1.2.0 nightly builds?

[pintosal]

Hello, I just tried 1.2.0 and it has the same problem.

Back to 1.0.5

[pintosal]

I tried reporting a bug, and although I registered, it never sent me the confirmation e-mail.

So, it is un-reported as a bug.

[VLC_help]

I can open trac ticket for you, if you want that.

[cienega]

I tape my auto races with a smarty cam using AVI files and then use VLC as the media player. I have a dell laptop and want to transfer the video to a CD so I can also watch on my television. Do I need a special software program for this?'
On a scale of 1-10 my tech expertise understanding technical issues with software and computers is somewhere south of a 2.
Thanks
mike

[70decilon]

@pintosal

What is the source of your DVD files, and do they contain menus?

For me, v1.1.9 will play commercial DVDs copied to disk by DVDFab.
It will also play home video DVD files created using Pinnacle Studio 12 if I do not include a menu.
It will not play DVD files of home movies made with Pinnacle Studio 12 if the DVD contains a menu. All other players available to me will.

Perhaps there is some required setting which I/we are missing to handle "homemade" DVDs with menus.

70decilon

[VLC_help]

Perhaps there is some required setting which I/we are missing to handle "homemade" DVDs with menus.

There isn't. Structure wise home and commercial discs should be same if they are authored correctly.

cienega : that depends about your AV setup in your living room. If you have some nice player connected to your TV (like Boxee), it might play the video directly from USB memory stick. If you have just regular DVD player, you must create DVD Video disc from the AVI.

[cienega]

ok, thank you
cienega

[solazy]

cienega : that depends about your AV setup in your living room. If you have some nice player connected to your TV (like Boxee), it might play the video directly from USB memory stick. If you have just regular DVD player, you must create DVD Video disc from the AVI.

@ cienega
Vlc_help implicitly asks this : is your DVD player "divX compatible" or not ?
It should be written in its documentation (and on the outside box)
If you read "divx playback", then you don't need to create DVD video disc from your avi

I used to have a cheap DVD player (LG brand) that was "divX compatible"
Then I was able to see dozens of avi files, after burning them on DVD's (data DVD, not Video DVD)

Soon it became boring to burn DVD's so I bought an even cheaper DVD player (LG brand too) that had USB support and was of course "divX compatible" (or I won't have bought it)

So now, I just copy the avi file on the USB memory stick, then plug the USB stick directly in the DVD player attached to TV (though there are some limitations concerning the maximal resolution of your avi/divx file, as explained in the DVD player documentation)

As you see, it's very important for you to check first if your DVD player is "divX compatible" or not.
Because if it's not, then converting AVI to VOB (during the mandatory Video DVD creation) will take a long time, much longer than a simple copy of your avi file on a usb memory stick, directly readable on your "compatible divx" DVD player

Good luck