flv playback no longer working

[vast]

Hi there!
i usually use VLC media player for watching just about everything, but since i upgraded to the latest version i can no longer playback flv/swf videos (ones that i previously had no problem opening).
any suggestions as to why this could be?
anyone else having a similar problem?


cheers in advance,

vast.

[DJ]

There have been a few users that have made similar statements, but all the files suggested have played without problems in 0.8.5-final, except for the problem of searching which existed in 0.8.4 So nothing has been confirmed at this point.

There has been some work on this module, but The DJ would know more about this than I do.

[youalleverybody]

vast, I have the same problem as you do.
I've never used VLC before, but according to various websites
it was supposed to play flv format. However, the videos
I downloaded from youtube (which are in .flv format) aren't
playing in VLC.

I hope this problem will be fixed.

[DJ]

Yup! All the samples have been from youtube. Have watched several that people say won't play in VLC 0.8.5, but can't find anything wrong. So I gotta ask the stupid question, how do you fix something that ain't broke?

If I wrote a trouble report what would it say? Some people are having problems with .FLV files, but when I check the sample files, messages or logs are free of any errors and the files play normally except for the seeking problem? Is this logical?

Not me, I'm not going to do it. Talk to The DJ, may be he will write the report.

[Guest]

I upgraded from 0.8.4a today and am having the same problem. Guess I have to go back. Bummer.

[TheTank]

Could it be an installation issue?
I was trying to link the flv files to vcl and it would not work until I installed the app and then I got the vids running.

[Guest]

It ain't installation issue.
Even if you associate flv to notepad and try to open with VLC it should work.

[Guest]

I can confirm this.
Just tried 8.5, I tried to open a .flv (saved off of youtube) both through the Windows association and through VLC's interface (quick open file) and neither way would get it to play the file.

Uninstalled 8.5, installed 8.4a, opened the same file through quick open and it played the file immediately.

[kindredspirit]

I'm also using the latest version of vlc player 0.8.5..but my flv files i d/led off of youtube start to play in the player, but don't finish playing completely.

my message error is :
access_file error: seeking too far
main error: picture 00D25948 refcount is -1
access_file error: seeking too far

any help would be greatly appreciated

[B-Cuz]

I'm having a similar problem.
The video plays, but VLC ignores the length of the video (saying it's 0, as if it's a streaming file) and the progress bar is fixed to the right.

Any ways to fix this?
Thanks - using 0.8.5 on XP Pro.

[DJ]

If you can play the file be happy! The seeking problem as mentioned also existed in 0.8.4

Perhaps this will be addressed in the next revision.

[smiffy]

Having the same problem. 0.8.5 has changed something because 0.8.4a handles every flv video I have, whereas 0.8.5 seems to choke on a handful. In general as a new user I'm impressed overall, just a few niggles such as:

No subtitles displayed on a few DVDs which appear correctly in other players.

Deinterlaced modes causes always on top mode to be ineffective.

Show interface with mouse doesn't work when watching letterboxed videos fullscreen in cropped mode.

Anyone else have the same issues?

[DJ]

What version or Windows?

I can honestly say, I don't experience any of your issues. Including the .flv issue discussed here and I am using 0.8.5-final.

[Guest]

For me, neither 0.8.4a nor 0.8.5 play FLV files, irrespective of whether they are from Youtube or from Google Video. I'm running Windows XP Professional 64 Edition.

[comrade]

latest Flash player might be using newer version of FLV, which VLC cannot support

[DJ]

You are correct! VLC is not a dshow player and does not use the flash plug-in. But I am not aware of a change in the specifications for making the files. So this should not effect VLC.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.html
Supported Formats

If anyone would bother to go to this link, you would see that FLV is not officially supported. Experimental support for a format does not say that it will work for you or if it does that it won't have problems.

[Mead]

Can I help? I have 2 computers, one XP Home SP2, the other win 2000 SP4.

The same flv (from YouTube) will play on XP, but not on 2000. Both running VLC 0.8.5.

[Guest]

View -> Messages
then open file.

Do you get same messages on both machines?

[Mead]

VLC on Windows 2000 (this fails):
main debug: adding playlist item `M:\kevin smith on prince 2.flv' ( M:\kevin smith on prince 2.flv )
main debug: creating new input thread
main debug: waiting for thread completion
main debug: thread 3840 (input) created at priority 1 (input/input.c:261)
main debug: creating statistics handler
main warning: drive letter M: found in source
main debug: `M:\kevin smith on prince 2.flv' gives access `' demux `' path `M:\kevin smith on prince 2.flv'
main debug: creating demux: access='' demux='' path='M:\kevin smith on prince 2.flv'
main debug: looking for access_demux module: 1 candidate
main debug: creating access '' path='M:\kevin smith on prince 2.flv'
main debug: looking for access2 module: 5 candidates
vcd debug: trying .cue file: M:\kevin smith on prince 2.cue
access_file debug: opening file `M:\kevin smith on prince 2.flv'
main debug: using access2 module "access_file"
main debug: pre-buffering...
main debug: received first data for our buffer
main debug: pre-buffering done 1408981 bytes in 0s - 85992 kbytes/s
main debug: creating demux: access='' demux='' path='M:\kevin smith on prince 2.flv'
main debug: looking for demux2 module: 44 candidates
ts warning: TS module discarded (lost sync)
ffmpeg debug: detected format: flv
access_file error: seeking too far
access_file error: seeking too early
access_file error: seeking too far
access_file error: seeking too far
access_file error: seeking too far
ffmpeg debug: AVFormat supported stream
ffmpeg debug: - format = flv (flv format)
ffmpeg debug: - start time = -1
ffmpeg debug: - duration = -1
main debug: using demux2 module "ffmpeg"
main debug: looking for a subtitle file in M:\
main debug: `M:\kevin smith on prince 2.flv' successfully opened
access_file error: seeking too far
main debug: EOF reached
main debug: closing input
main debug: removing module "ffmpeg"
main debug: removing module "access_file"
main debug: thread times: real 0m0.234375s, kernel 0m0.062500s, user 0m0.062500s
main debug: thread 3840 joined (input/input.c:399)
main warning: refcount is 1, delaying before deletion (id=291,type=-7)
main warning: unable to find parent!
main: nothing to play

Windows XP (this works):
main debug: adding playlist item `C:\kevin smith on prince 2.flv' ( C:\kevin smith on prince 2.flv )
main debug: creating new input thread
main debug: waiting for thread completion
main debug: creating statistics handler
main warning: drive letter C: found in source
main debug: `C:\kevin smith on prince 2.flv' gives access `' demux `' path `C:\kevin smith on prince 2.flv'
main debug: creating demux: access='' demux='' path='C:\kevin smith on prince 2.flv'
main debug: looking for access_demux module: 1 candidate
main debug: creating access '' path='C:\kevin smith on prince 2.flv'
main debug: looking for access2 module: 5 candidates
vcd debug: trying .cue file: C:\kevin smith on prince 2.cue
access_file debug: opening file `C:\kevin smith on prince 2.flv'
main debug: using access2 module "access_file"
main debug: pre-buffering...
main debug: received first data for our buffer
main debug: pre-buffering done 1408981 bytes in 0s - 292135 kbytes/s
main debug: creating demux: access='' demux='' path='C:\kevin smith on prince 2.flv'
main debug: looking for demux2 module: 44 candidates
main debug: thread 3852 (input) created at priority 1 (input/input.c:261)
ts warning: TS module discarded (lost sync)
ffmpeg debug: detected format: flv
access_file error: seeking too far
access_file error: seeking too early
access_file error: seeking too far
main debug: selecting program id=0
ffmpeg debug: adding es: audio codec = mp3
ffmpeg debug: adding es: video codec = FLV1
ffmpeg debug: AVFormat supported stream
ffmpeg debug: - format = flv (flv format)
ffmpeg debug: - start time = -1
ffmpeg debug: - duration = -1
main debug: using demux2 module "ffmpeg"
main debug: looking for a subtitle file in C:\
main debug: looking for decoder module: 27 candidates
ffmpeg debug: libavcodec initialized (interface 3344640 )
ffmpeg debug: ffmpeg codec (MPEG Audio layer 1/2/3) started
main debug: using decoder module "ffmpeg"
main debug: thread 3928 (decoder) created at priority 2 (input/decoder.c:159)
main debug: looking for decoder module: 27 candidates
ffmpeg debug: libavcodec already initialized
ffmpeg debug: postprocessing disabled
ffmpeg debug: using direct rendering
ffmpeg debug: ffmpeg codec (Flash Video) started
main debug: using decoder module "ffmpeg"
main debug: thread 3952 (decoder) created at priority 0 (input/decoder.c:159)
main debug: `C:\kevin smith on prince 2.flv' successfully opened
main debug: no aout present, spawning one
main debug: looking for audio output module: 3 candidates
aout_directx debug: OpenAudio
main debug: no usable vout present, spawning one
main debug: Registering subpicture channel, ID: 2
main debug: Registering subpicture channel, ID: 3
main debug: Registering subpicture channel, ID: 4
main debug: Registering subpicture channel, ID: 5
main debug: window size: 320x240
main debug: looking for video output module: 5 candidates
vout_directx debug: creating DirectXEventThread
main debug: waiting for thread completion
vout_directx debug: DirectXCreateWindow
aout_directx debug: found device: Primary Sound Driver
aout_directx debug: found device: SoundMAX Digital Audio
vout_directx debug: created video sub-window
main debug: thread 4152 (DirectX Events Thread) created at priority 0 (directx.c:263)
vout_directx debug: DirectXEventThread running
vout_directx debug: DirectXInitDDraw
vout_directx debug: directx-device:
vout_directx debug: DirectXEnumCallback: Primary Display Driver, display
vout_directx debug: DirectXEnumCallback: Intel(R) 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controller, \\.\DISPLAY1
vout_directx debug: selecting Intel(R) 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controller, \\.\DISPLAY1
vout_directx debug: screen dimensions (0x0,1024x768)
vout_directx debug: DirectDraw Capabilities: overlay=1 yuvoverlay=1 can_deinterlace_overlay=1 colorkey=1 stretch=1 bltfourcc=1
vout_directx debug: End DirectXInitDDraw
vout_directx debug: DirectXCreateDisplay
vout_directx debug: DirectXCreateClipper
vout_directx debug: disabling screen saver
main debug: using video output module "vout_directx"
vout_directx debug: NewPictureVec overlay:yes chroma:YV12
main debug: waiting for thread completion
vout_directx debug: YUV overlay created successfully
vout_directx debug: End NewPictureVec (succeeded)
main debug: got 1 direct buffer(s)
main debug: picture in 320x240 (0,0,320x240), chroma I420, ar 4:3, sar 1:1
main debug: picture user 320x240 (0,0,320x240), chroma I420, ar 4:3, sar 1:1
main debug: picture out 320x240 (0,0,320x240), chroma I420, ar 4:3, sar 1:1
main debug: direct render, mapping render pictures 0-6 to system pictures 1-7
main debug: thread 4448 (video output) created at priority 1 (video_output/video_output.c:421)
aout_directx debug: device supports 2 channels
aout_directx debug: device supports 1 channel
main error: picture 0CE8D438 refcount is -1
aout_directx debug: creating DirectSoundThread
main debug: thread 4508 (DirectSound Notification Thread) created at priority 15 (directx.c:372)
aout_directx debug: DirectSoundThread ready
main debug: using audio output module "aout_directx"
main debug: output 's16l' 22050 Hz Stereo/Mono frame=1 samples/4 bytes
main debug: mixer 'fl32' 22050 Hz Stereo/Mono frame=1 samples/8 bytes
main debug: filter(s) 'fl32'->'s16l' 22050 Hz->22050 Hz Stereo/Mono->Stereo/Mono
main debug: looking for audio filter module: 24 candidates
main debug: using audio filter module "float32tos16"
main debug: found a filter for the whole conversion
main debug: looking for audio mixer module: 3 candidates
main debug: using audio mixer module "float32_mixer"
main debug: input 's16l' 22050 Hz Mono frame=1 samples/2 bytes
main debug: filter(s) 's16l'->'fl32' 22050 Hz->22050 Hz Mono->Stereo/Mono
main debug: looking for audio filter module: 24 candidates
main debug: looking for audio filter module: 24 candidates
main debug: using audio filter module "s16tofloat32"
main debug: looking for audio filter module: 24 candidates
main debug: using audio filter module "trivial_channel_mixer"
main debug: found 2 filters for the whole conversion
main debug: filter(s) 'fl32'->'fl32' 24255 Hz->22050 Hz Stereo/Mono->Stereo/Mono
main debug: looking for audio filter module: 24 candidates
main debug: using audio filter module "bandlimited_resampler"
main debug: found a filter for the whole conversion
main warning: PTS is out of range (1958), dropping buffer
main warning: PTS is out of range (-23797), dropping buffer

As it plays, a few more bits come up life so:
main warning: late picture skipped (7196)
main warning: late picture skipped (44388)
main warning: late picture skipped (11585)

(Note that on my Win 2000 box M drive is a local partition, not a network or USB drive)

[Guest]

This sounds stupid, but have you tried playing that file from C: in Windows 2000 ?

[mcgon1979a]

Hey Mead,

Good post, this should help the developers narrow the issue down. Im in the same boat as everyone else, using latest XP version and FLV files play in .8.4a but not in .8.5 fional version. No doubt something must have been changed in those two versions. I have not chnage dmy windows setup and can when I install .5 none work and when I install .4a they all work.

simple as that. Not a big gripe. VLC still rocks. I just use .8.4a as my standard player now as I use a lot of FLV stuff from youtube etc.

[Guest]

No notable difference when moved to C drive.

[yer welcome]

I can confirm this.
Just tried 8.5, I tried to open a .flv (saved off of youtube) both through the Windows association and through VLC's interface (quick open file) and neither way would get it to play the file.

Uninstalled 8.5, installed 8.4a, opened the same file through quick open and it played the file immediately.

Same here 8.5 wouldn't play a few .flv files from youtube went back to 8.4a played these with no problems......

[dionoea]

What if you try a nightly build from http://nightlies.videolan.org ?

[ShannonKnight]

Nightly from today has the same problem. Works with 0.84a though :-/