Guide: If you have issues with new VLC on high end device

[InTheWings]

Users can experience issues on 3.0.x releases due to the switch to Hardware Decoding by default (which now triggers unwanted bugs related to driver/rendering or hardware) or when switching to new Ryzen CPU or like (lots of core/threads)

1 - Ensure your driver (especially nVidia, is up-to-date) or see point 8

2 - Sounds stupid, but ensure you're testing with latest release from https://www.videolan.org/vlc/

3 - If you have a large amount of Cores (> and stuttering, try to go in Preferences -> Advanced preferences -> avcodec -> and set number of threads to something lower (like 4)

4 - If you have a large amount of Cores (> and stuttering, try to go in Preferences -> Advanced preferences -> Input/Codec -> and increase disk caching (for local files) something higher (like 1000)

5 - You can try a developer build http://nightlies.videolan.org/build/

6 - If your content is 10bit, ensure your hardware is able to do it https://wiki.videolan.org/VSG:Video:Slow/ or see point 8

7 - If your content is 4K, ensure your hardware is able to do it https://wiki.videolan.org/VSG:Video:Slow/ or see point 8

8 - Try Preferences -> Input/Codec -> HW accelerated decoding to "None"

9 - On Windows, try Preferences -> Video -> Output to something different (dx11 or d3d)

If one of above points works for you, mention it with your configuration/symptom/VLC version !

[whose]

3 does not seem to be available in MacOS (Catalina, i9 2020 mbp)

Preferences
..advanced
...advanced settings

blank: Performance Options


4 Caching levels are non-numeric on MacOS. Low - high latency. Default is "custom". It is not clear where customizations live

below caching is Codec / Muxer. Therein an option "Hardware decoding" can be toggled.


Nightlies for MacOS are tagged intel. Will there be an M1 optimized build for 16" macbook pros?

[Razor512]

Edit: after trying clean installs of the nightly builds and not reusing the preferences from the previous build, the latest nightly of the 3.0 and 4.0 branch are playing back the content much more smoothly when it comes to the following codec, on a system using a Ryzen 7 5800X CPU.



Overall, it is smooth with only occasional late frames, and while CPU usage is still quite high compared to my core i5 4300Y based windows tablet, which plays it smoothly with no late frames at a much lower CPU usage, the latest nightly builds are an improvement.

Basically only needs 1 core at 4.6GHz and and around 60% usage on that core to maintain 24FPS, while with the non-nightly release, it needed 5GHz on 1 core at 100% usage to get 2-3 FPS.

[fassina2]

An easy fix for me while playing HEVC/H.265, was to change the output to direct3d9.

It works but it causes a different issue, when you open a different video with vlc already opened the image freezes on the last frame from the initial video while the audio keeps playing. It's annoying because it forces you to stop > play again. Other outputs have different issues. On the normal automatic direct3d11 this issue where the image freezes when starting a new video doesn't happen. But on that output I can't watch HEVC/H.265 videos.

It's inconvenient, I hope they fix it soon.

[frybyte]

I have a brand new machine win10 64bit 16Gb Ram/ Processor AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core Processor, 3600 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s)
When I line up more than 30 tracks (audio only usually wav files) after about 15 there's delay/echo and it gets worse if I leave it on. This does not happen in other software that I have; the concerns above do not seem to apply as I am not using VLC as video player in this instance. I changed no settings upon installation, this is a new as of 3-4 days ago so the version is up to date.
I looked or searched through the archives and it seems like this was a problem 6 years ago but again related to video and audio together.
j

[smbhax]

On my MSi GP60 2QF Leopard Pro laptop, where I hunt back and forth through recorded video files for frame capture purposes, on the default settings VLC would eventually get slow and seize up, with video playback becoming stuck on a single frame.

Performance using arrow keys + Shift/CTRL to scan through videos became significantly more sluggish under the latest VLC version, 3.0.14 Vetinari.

I found this thread and tried most of Preferences - Video - Output options. D3D11 behaved slugglishly, like the "Automatic" default, and probably was the default. D3D9 was faster, but could still seize up after some scanning. DirectDraw and OpenGL were slightly less fast than D3D9, perhaps. I'm currently using "OpenGL video output for Windows," which is pretty responsive, and seems to have less of a problem with seizing up after scanning through a video for a while (hasn't happened yet).

[DumbAss]

Hello,

I updated to the latest version of VLC: 3.0.14 Vetinari. When I would play videos, the video would be pixelated and when that would resolve at the top of the video image would be a purple bar. I changed the output to D3D9 and that seems to have corrected the issue. Thanks for the suggestion!

Update,

Ok, I started experiencing strange layer banding, where certain areas of the image seemed to be lagging during playback. I switch the output mode to "OpenGl video output for Windows". That appears to have corrected the issue. I'll report back if I have any other issues. Thanks!

Update #2

Ok, it seems changing videos within the same instance of VLC causes an issue with playback, I was playing one video and then I drag and drop another video onto the video playing and then I experienced the same banding lag as described above. Mind you, this did not occur with the prior version of VLC. The issue was corrected by restarting VLC. It seems I will need to avoid dragging and dropping a new video onto a video that is currently playing.

[Crayox]

On 16 core Threadripper I experience like a 10-15s delay if I use VLCs slow time feature. I slow a video to .25 (max) and if I click anywhere on the seek bar I have to wait for the video to start playing...like it slows down the thread itself.

Tried all the steps, except step 3, can't find where that is on the latest VLC. Any ideas? It has been like this on many builds, like a couple of years.

[vlp007]

I had issue only with specific encoded set of videos in 4K. They had bottom part of the screen from left to right or right side of the screen from top to the bottom a bit blurry (depends on the video).

I tried and it seems that fix was this point: 8 - Try Preferences -> Input/Codec -> HW accelerated decoding to "None"
But, I thought that HW acceleration to help decoding is the good thing. Instead of "none". Anyway, unchecking the checkbox fixed the playback issue.

May configuration is:

• macOS Big Sur
  version 11.6 (20G165)

• iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017)

• Processor: 4,2 GHz quadcore Intel Core i7

• Memory: 40 GB 2400 MHz DDR4

• GPU: Radeon Pro 575 4 GB

[Moldex]

Up until now, I have not been able to run VLC on my Windows 10 PC without stuttering when using NVIDIA hardware acceleration.

I tried all the suggestions I could find on the web, but nothing seemed to work. At least on my previous computer, I could run 4K videos smoothly by disabling hardware acceleration and running it on 3 CPU threads, but with my current rig, even that wouldn't work.

My hardware is as follows:

Intel i9-11900K CPU
NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ti GPU
32GB DDR4 RAM
1TB 970 Pro SSD -> Windows 10 Pro 21H2
2 x 6TB WD Black Caviar HDDs
Samsung 55" Q80R TV display 3840 x 2160 @ 60Hz

However, by trial and error, I finally found a solution that worked.

In VLC, I set the Video Output to Direct3d11, and then, what fixed the problem for me, was to select the VLC app in the NVIDIA Control Panel under Manage 3D Settings, and change the Vertical Sync setting from Use the 3D Application Setting, to Adaptive. And that made all video play-back super smooth with no more stuttering, including 4K @ 60FPS videos in MKV format.

I'm posting this in the hope that someone else finds this information useful. Although, this may not be of much use to people using dedicated multi-sync computer monitors.

[bostjanlaba]

I have tried all the suggested but my IP TV 4K stream just stutters.

My config:
Ryzen 9 5950x
128Gb RAM
Pcie 4.0 SSD 2tb
RTX 3090 24Gb
Windows 10 x64 latest build

Hardware acc must be disabled, or it's even worse (frozen video, fluent audio). But all other options I've tried won't help. I get dropped frames, so video is not fluent, audio seems ok.

Tried 2.2.6, 3.0.16, now running 3.0.17

Oh, just to add. The problem is when my source is UDP stream (multicast or unicast). Playing 4K video from a video file is just fine.

[alan sh]

I have a new HP laptop with an Windows 11 and an AMD Ryzen 7 5800U in it with 8Gb of memory.

Playing .mp3 files from my Synolgy NAS server and VLC pauses every 10-15 seconds or so while it appears to retrieve the next tranche of music. The green progress bar turns yellow for 1-2 seconds. This does not happen with Windows Media Player.

I have a very fast wifi connection (Wifi 6) to my new router and a 1Ghz/sec wired connection from my router to my NAS server.

I tried some of the options at the top of this post but couldn't find avcodec or any other way of reducing the number of CPUs used. I did try increasing the network time from 1000 to 5000 - that made it worse.

Any thoughts on this? I also have an HP with an AMD Ryzen 7 4700U in it and that seems to work OK (although I haven't tried with the latest build). I haven't tried the latest nightly build either as I don't seem to find any files when I click on the link above.

[edit] - disabling hardwere decoding (number 8 above) made it work for longer but it still stopped to get the next bit after about 20 seconds.
Setting latency (input codecs > network) to highest latency made it work for 48 seconds, then it stopped and got the next bit

[Edit 2] - found the latest nightly build. Installed V4 from June 11th 2022. It works fine. So whatever it is, you've cured it. Do I just keep using that?


Alan

[ElliottB]

How do I access the advance avcodec?

[hackDUDE2007]

What about Chrome OS?

[Bsiate]

I am on 2950x Threadripper and 6950xt. None of the points mentioned worked for me. The player always plays full audio, but only displays the first frame; If I get lucky, I get a second one after a while. Any Idea?

Same Video plays perfectly fine on my 5500U Laptop.

[Lotesdelere]

I am on 2950x Threadripper and 6950xt. None of the points mentioned worked for me. The player always plays full audio, but only displays the first frame; If I get lucky, I get a second one after a while. Any Idea?
Same Video plays perfectly fine on my 5500U Laptop.

What kind of video ?
Please upload a short sample of your original problematic file to WeTransfer.com or Disroot.org and then post the link to the file here.
https://wetransfer.com
https://upload.disroot.org

[MarkInOre]

I am trying to play MP4 H265 video recorded using a DJI Mini 3 Pro. Playing on an HPG7 8GB of ram running Windows 10 with an AMD Radeon HD 7640G video card.
I get the 1st frame with audio playing fine same as Bsiate.
Anyone have any (simple) fixes for this or is there another player out there (on a budget) that will play these Videos of my Great grandsons over memorial day weekend? I am 69 and would like to view these before I die.... And yes I will change the format to a something VLC can play in the future. Oh, I can barely code my TV remote so please no coding. Sorry

[Lotesdelere]

I am trying to play MP4 H265 video recorded using a DJI Mini 3 Pro. Playing on an HPG7 8GB of ram running Windows 10 with an AMD Radeon HD 7640G video card.

Your system is a bit old for H.265/HEVC video, especially for 4k videos.
All of the available tips are in the first post of this thread.

[3Rton]

Not sure if it is really relevant to this but https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=155017 is still relevant and happens to me on brand new windows install with Ryzen 5900X, Windows 10 Pro
I also get wasapi in the errors on the message box unlike the person on the older post.
However, the fix is still the same. Additional commentary on that post would be that I have speakers hooked directly into mobo and UMC DAC. The issue only occurs with the UMC DAC. But considering literally every other app (games, OBS, windows media player, system audio, browsers..) properly detects how to playback audio from it I'm willing to bet this is a VLC issue. It isn't a big issue since it seems to work fine with the WaveOut Output Module but...
It's pretty hard to find the solution (didn't get to that forum post until I realized to copypaste the whole error sequence instead of trying line by line and describing the issue "VLC no audio with DAC" "VLC doesn't play audio through USB DAC" etc)

If someone knows how I could see what Output module other apps are using it'd be interesting to see are they using DirectX, or are they just not failing to automatically fallback to WaveOut when DirectX fails. (I feel like my direct audio should be in pretty good order, though, considering this windows install is less than two weeks old)

[mikeeve]

Surprise! Your tip to turn off Hardware Accelleration worked for me! I searched preferences for 'hardware' and disabled every occurence.

VLC has been crashing with 'oops' for me since forever on at least every third restart. Now, I"ve done several restarts with no problem. I've hesitated recommending VLC to my friends because of the crashes, but no longer. Well, I will wait a few days to be sure the problem is gone. I have an old Radeon HD 6900 with a Ryzen 2700X.

[Ducktailjiver]

3 - If you have a large amount of Cores (> and stuttering, try to go in Preferences -> Advanced preferences -> avcodec -> and set number of threads to something lower (like 4)


I can;t find this one????? where is avcodec?

[Lotesdelere]

3 - If you have a large amount of Cores (> and stuttering, try to go in Preferences -> Advanced preferences -> avcodec -> and set number of threads to something lower (like 4)
I can;t find this one????? where is avcodec?

On Windows go to the menu Tools -> Preferences (Show Settings = ALL) -> Input/Codecs -> Video Codecs -> FFmpeg
The Threads option is on the right panel.
After your change then click on the Save button, and exit and restart VLC for the change to take effect.

[NotMori]

3 - If you have a large amount of Cores (> and stuttering, try to go in Preferences -> Advanced preferences -> avcodec -> and set number of threads to something lower (like 4)
[...]
If one of above points works for you, mention it with your configuration/symptom/VLC version !

Configuration :

OS: Windows 11
CPU: Intel core i7-9750H (6c/12t) with UHD Graphics 630 iGPU
RAM: 16 GB (2x8, DDR4@2666Mhz)
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti max-Q
VLC: 3.0.21 Vetinari

Symptoms :

Affected files (afaik): MKV files encoded in HEVC (various profiles, not all of them) with one or more audio track and one or more subtitle track.
Video output : black screen, sometimes a rare, severely macroblocked frame
Audio output : no issue
Subtitles : follow the video output, so either nothing or, if a frame is displayed, its subtitles will be displayed as well

Errors on verbosity 2: main error: buffer deadlock prevented [Note: you need to log before starting the playback to see this one, and it's the important one]
avcodec warning: More than 11 late frames, dropping frame
avcodec error: more than 5 seconds of late video -> dropping frame (computer too slow ?)
main warning: picture is too late to be displayed (missing 971 ms)

Solution: Preferences → Show All → Input/Codec → Video Codecs → FFmpeg → Threads → Set to 4 instead of 0.

It is slightly different from the one listed, and I don't have a very large amount of cores. As far as I know, this issue is new to Windows 11, I never had that issue before, and this is a 5-year-old computer running Windows 11 since about 6 months.