VLC 2.4.1 AC3 playback error

[tpsflipper]

First I want to say thank you to the developers of VLC and VLC for IOS, it is a opensource donated time program that is one of the best players around.

While it is disappointing that something that worked so well for a long time is now broken, it is not really Apple or VLC's fault that there is a legal matter stopping it from working. I think it all rests on Dolby being strict with its patents. It is not only for VLC, but dolby is making all media players on the app store remove AC3 with out paying a licensing fee. See article here : http://preview.tinyurl.com/cwc52ug

That being said it would be great if there would be a solution for this besides waiting 2 years or so for the patent to expire. Has anyone considered an in app purchase that would enable VLC to pay licensing to dolby for AC3, while still keeping the app free for non dolby (ac3) files? Its not the best solution, but unless we can petition dolby to drop the issue it seems the only way.

I'm lucky that I still had a copy of 2.3 that I was able to restore, but i would like to see the continued development of the IOS version of VLC, and know that there are other people not able to obtain a copy of 2.3.

[Turribeach]

Again, complain to dolby and apple. This is not our fault at all.

I get why Dolby wants money for their patent. I get why Apple pushed VLC out of the App Store. And I get why the VideoLAN team had to remove the codec to allow the app to be back and move forward. All that is good despite the moaners which will always complain no matter what's the reasoning behind a change. What I don't really get is why the iOS VLC team had to be sneaky about this change. The iOS 2.4.1 release notes say nothing about this change (see below). If they would have warned users then I would have sided with. But this major oversight is too big to be forgiven even if it was an honest mistake, which I highly doubt. The App is going to get a lot of 1 star reviews and mine is just one of them. If you make a difficult decision you got to be honest and open about it. Just saying "complain to dolby and apple" is not good enough. Even if you make a free product.

For my part I am lucky I got a backup copy of VLC in my iTunes folder so I have downgraded and I back to a functioning app despite the occasional crashes.
My 2 cents

From the iOS App Store:
What's New in Version 2.4.1
∙ UI improvements
∙ Reliability improvements for UPnP and WiFi Sharing
∙ Updated decoders

Changes in 2.4.0:
∙ Support for iPhone 6 and 6+
∙ Native support for plex media servers
∙ Streaming and folder support for GDrive
∙ Search within the media library
∙ Table view mode for library on iPad
∙ Support for on-the-fly synchronization of subtitles and audio with video
∙ Custom URL scheme based on x-callback-url
∙ Various improvements and bugfixes
∙ New translation to Traditional Chinese

[fkuehne]

Sorry for the miscommunication in the release notes. This is resolved now.

I fear that lots of people won't read them or will read them when it's too late because of the automatic app updates, but now it's there.

Regarding the IPP, this one option we are checking at that moment, but is strongly against the usual way of doing things. But then again, we have absolutely no way to give $1 per download away to a patent holder without additional income.

[Turribeach]

Hi Felix,

Thanks for that, I can see the new release notes in the App Store now. I for one have disabled automatic updates and always read the release notes. I do agree that most people don't do that. But that's their decision so they can't complain about deciding to not read release notes or letting iOS apply an automatic update they may not like.

Not sure why In App Purchase may not work, only people that pay for the in app purchase should incur a license fee for the patent holder, assuming the patent holder is happy with that arrangement. I would also imagine that In App Purchases could be a way to give you guys something back for the development of VLC although I am not sure if Apple allows donations as In App Purchases. I will be happy to donate $ 5 as I use VLC every day. Another way to get around this is to allow VLC to read the codec from a user uploaded file (aka plug-in model). Lots of products have taken this sort of approach to avoid legal threats when using patented software. Linux and DVD decoding drivers is a good sample.

[Harlemite]

Hi Felix,

Thanks for that, I can see the new release notes in the App Store now. I for one have disabled automatic updates and always read the release notes. I do agree that most people don't do that. But that's their decision so they can't complain about deciding to not read release notes or letting iOS apply an automatic update they may not like.

Not sure why In App Purchase may not work, only people that pay for the in app purchase should incur a license fee for the patent holder, assuming the patent holder is happy with that arrangement. I would also imagine that In App Purchases could be a way to give you guys something back for the development of VLC although I am not sure if Apple allows donations as In App Purchases. I will be happy to donate $ 5 as I use VLC every day. Another way to get around this is to allow VLC to read the codec from a user uploaded file (aka plug-in model). Lots of products have taken this sort of approach to avoid legal threats when using patented software. Linux and DVD decoding drivers is a good sample.

I agree with Turribeach. I'd spare the $5 in a blink for an In App Purchase, for THIS particular product. And that's saying something because I really don't like In App Purchase(s) on the whole.

[mattack]

As I said in the other thread:
I use(d) VLC very often to play recordings downloaded from my Tivo. I used VLC because it would play the raw recordings AND I could play them faster than realtime (which I like for things like news & reality shows -- the non-competition part of the reality show I play faster than realtime)..

Since the new version, I can't play ANYTHING because of this issue.. Making the new version (which I know fixed several bugs I reported in previous versions) COMPLETELY useless for me. (I also can't convert them with Quicktime player, that takes FOREVER.) I also was looking forward to the streaming from Google Drive, since that would have worked around my almost-full iPad issue (low capacity orig mini).

Are there any other iOS apps that will play 'raw' MPEG2 files, faster than realtime?

again, I'd be willing to pay a small amount for this to be restored to VLC.

OK, so then how about a $1.99 VLC Pro version? or $1.49, or whatever (to cover the Apple cut too)?

[fkuehne]

We are looking for a solution at the moment, please stay tuned and sorry for any inconvinience.

[DudeSwiftCocoa]

Thank you guys for the huge work done to VLC iOS !

As other people said, i'd also be ready to purchase in-app for AC3 feature if there is no other workaround.

Some things still need to be fixed like the message we get returning on the app prompting to send crash report

[mattack]

Some things still need to be fixed like the message we get returning on the app prompting to send crash report

As for this, I suggest writing an actual bug report at
https://trac.videolan.org/vlc/

(You need a separate login, which is a pain, but it's the official way to write up bugs.)

[kelvinhox]

I cant believe people are complaining about a free app. These devs dont owe us anything.

Jean Baptiste - I do have a question....

If dolby and apple were the reason we dont have AC3 and you say it will be resolved in future release, why would apple and dolby relent for future release, if they held things up this time?

Thanks.

Because patents expire

When will have new version ?

[fkuehne]

We don't have a fixed date at this point.

[Lalaiandro]

We don't have a fixed date at this point.

My tip.Add custom codec secretly. file into the VLC iOS fold via iTunes. Unofficially!!

[fkuehne]

This is not feasible because you cannot load external libraries on iOS.

[Lalaiandro]

This is not feasible because you cannot load external libraries on iOS.

Why?? Designed VLC iOS for external libraries. 1 player in app store has this functions. Really good idea. Can try it yourself.

[fkuehne]

Which player would that be?

[Lalaiandro]

Which player would that be?

See pm message. And good player or.

[TommyLee]

please let us know if this works. I was using the last, AC3 compatible version for the past year, and loved it. Unfortunately my auto-update was on, and I discovered all my files no longer had sound.

VLC iOS was the best I've found for streaming from a NAS. Amazingly fast starting and smooth. I miss it!

Can anyone recommend a player that can stream files well, AND accepts AC3? TIA!

[Asrar99]

I've used infuse which seems to work. It was a paid for app I think I paid £5 (really needed something while VLC was removed!)

[TommyLee]

I've used infuse which seems to work. It was a paid for app I think I paid £5 (really needed something while VLC was removed!)

Thanks- $10 here in the US. I'm guessing DTS/AC3 support for iOS VLC is unlikely

Just out of curiosity, I'd love to know how much Dolby charges app makers for a license.

[i3laze]

Good job you published the App back at last.
+1 for in-app purchase license fee.

[bfactor]

I can understand there is a licensing issue for AC3, but my
video has additional tracks that are encoded with AAC-Stereo (non Dolby) and they
won't play unless I encoded them as the first track.

I would have expected that I could choose the AAC stereo track (even if was last)
to hear the audio.

Appreciate your insights.

[lesmikesell]

Yes, what is the right way to encode to get a working ipad track? I thought the old way was to call it an m4v with aac tracks plus ac3 but those aren't playing now.

[pete314]

Exactly the same issue here. iPhone 5s.

[Bippy_b]

I personally would prefer a VLC Pro and VLC because this will present a much cleaner solution as well as make things easier for supporting people. It is sometimes difficult for non techies to understand if they have made the in-app purchase where of the names are different then that makes it clear. Especially for something where users support other users very often.

But that is just M2C.

[HoliemaN]

I would pay 5€ to fix this error NOW. Your product was great, please don't force us to use alternatives, it would be harder to convince us to come back.