I am using VLC 2.2.0-pre2 on Ubuntu MATE 14.10, with NVIDIA driver 331.113 (for GeForce 640 GT), both from the Ubuntu repositories. When I use the VDPAU module (which seems to be selected automatically by default) and minimize VLC, any black surfaces such as icons, black text, or backgrounds show the video. Googling the symptoms led me to this thread:
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 3&p=126341 It helped me get around the problem (I selected OpenGL GLX video output (XCB)), but is this a problem in VLC, VDPAU, the NVIDIA driver, or something else?