Search in WMV files is broken in version 0.9.x-1.0.x

[VLC_help]

There are multiple tickets for this already but most likely there won't be a perfect fix since WMV/ASF isn't very popular format.

[rmhartman]

Fair enough. Thanks for your help.

[Chrisi22]

There are multiple tickets for this already but most likely there won't be a perfect fix since WMV/ASF isn't very popular format.

I was looking for info on VLC crashing when seeking in WMV files, when saw this post. How do you figure WMV isn't a popular format? Others may be becoming more popular, but there are TONS of WMV files still available.

Going back a couple yrs, I've never been able to drag the VLC seek slider w/o serious problems. Exact problem has varied depending on VLC version. But, for each VLC version, the problem(s) it had was consistent for ALL WMV files I tried.

I'm now on 1.1.11 for Windows. If a WMV file is playing at faster speed (say, 1.5x) & I pull the seek slider more than a very few min of play time, there's about 99% chance VLC will crash. It doesn't happen on any other format. Even at normal play speed, it still crashes often, but I don't see it for other formats. As far back as I can remember, VLC has had some problem or another w/ WMV files. Numerous VLC releases have mentioned something about a fix for seeking issues in WMV files.

I think I need 2 players. I believe if they were going to (or could) fix WMV seeking - for good - they'd have done it before now.

[VLC_help]

There are multiple tickets for this already but most likely there won't be a perfect fix since WMV/ASF isn't very popular format.

I was looking for info on VLC crashing when seeking in WMV files, when saw this post. How do you figure WMV isn't a popular format? Others may be becoming more popular, but there are TONS of WMV files still available.

By popular I mean that scene doesn't use, most developers aren't interested about these, and there really aren't any video services anymore that would share DRM free WMV videos.

E.g. MKV demuxer has received about 20 patches during last few months.

[Chrisi22]

I appreciate the reply. I'm not sure about the overall logic.

Even if "there really aren't any video services anymore that would share DRM free WMV videos," what does that have to do w/ millions of people having WMV files stored & wanting a player for them? Nothing.

What does it have to do w/ the fact that VLC has had ongoing problems playing WMV files? Nothing. I guess you're probably correct in that, if they never got VLC to play WMV in its heyday w/o some problems, they probably aren't going to now. That may reinforce the idea that if you have a lot of WMV files & want to play w/o any problems what so ever, may need something besides VLC.

WMV may not be as "popular" now, compared to more recently made videos, but I still come across them all the time - that are legitimately free. Sometimes, they are info type videos, that companies have had for a while. Just a few yrs ago, they were EVERYwhere, so there are still plenty around.

Document formats .rtf & Word 95 .doc (or even later doc formats) have been replaced, but the better, up to date word processors still include code to open & save in these formats.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Popular files are .avi .flv and .mkv
Then .mp4 and mpeg ps and ts.
WMV comes far after that in terms of popularity.

Anyway, this is a volunteers project. So if noone fixes it, it does not get fixed. That is as simple as that.