VLC 2.2.1 on MacOSX 10.10.3 don't play .MOD

[looke]

After long time I was try play old format .MOD with VLC. In MilkyTracker plays OK, but in VLC only sounds little CLICK and this is all... Have you any idea, why?

Thank you very much

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Can you test them on Windows with VLC 2.2.1?

[looke]

Yes,with Windows 7 and VLC 2.2.1 .MOD plays correctly... :/

[Dhk Dragon]

Hello everyone,
I have a MacBookPro (13", end 2011, 2,4 GHz Intel Core i5, 4GB RAM, Intel HD Graphics 3000) with Yosemite 10.10.3.
I had VLC 2.1.5 and yesterday I updated to version 2.2.1.
Then I noticed a problem. I'm pretty sure that is due to this update.

I use Final Cut Pro X to edit some videos with .mod extension, recorded with a JVC Everio.
I never had problems to play these kind of videos with VLC (both Windows and Mac).
Even with VLC 2.2.1, mod video files are displayed correctly.

However, something happened. Finder now tells me that .mod "kind" is "MOD audio file", but a while ago it used to tell me something different: I found a footage showing that kind was something like "Docu...VLC". Consider that my OS is in Italian, and that unfortunately I didn't adjust the width of the column to show the full name (just because, at that time, I didn't know that column existed in the first place).
Even the icon changed, from the VLC one to a musical note.

The problem here is that I have plenty of Final Cut Pro X full of .mod files, that now are shown like they were black, so the simple solution to "convert" .mod files into .mp4 or similar with third party applications would be suitable only for future projects.

I passed the night searching Google. I discovered that file "kind" and icon are related in someway, and they are managed by some info.plist file.
As far as I can understand, every program or app we use generates his own info.plist files to manage many things including icons and kinds. That's why I think that the problem was generated by the update.

I searched for ways to manually change the kind editing the info.plist, but I find only the way to change the "wording" of a kind, but I read that to change the "behaviour" you should use some 4 digits code which represents the kind.
Furthermore, I am very scared to mess up everything.

So I decided to downgrade and revert to previous 2.1.5 version of VLC. But with no luck. I deleted the App, then I searched for hints and I redeleted with AppCleaner. But Finder keeps telling me that .mod are just audio files, and FCPX keeps telling me that they are completely black. I also tried an older version (the first originally installed on my Mac: 2.0.3), with the same outcome.

I apologize for the length and for my bad written English.
I hope you could find the time to help me.

Thank you in advance.

Dhk Dragon

[Dhk Dragon]

Update:
I reinstalled VLC 2.2.1 with the automatic upgrade, then I opened the VLC.App with "show content".
I copied the info.plist file to my Desktop, then i converted it in xml with Terminal, using plutil -convert xml1 info.plist.

As far as I can understand, the info.plist is split in two main parts: the first part handles the extensions, the second part handles the conformities.
I searched the file for MOD and I found "MOD Audio File".
So, in the extension part, I changed the <string> and the <icon> copying the wording from mpeg.
In the conformities part, I changed from public.audio to public.video, keeping org.videolan.mod intact.

Then I rebooted, however my Mac keeps telling me that mod files are MOD Audio Files.

I'm sorry to bother you. I really need help. I'm wondering whether I posted in the wrong discussion and I should have created a brand new thread.
Thank you very much.

Dhk Dragon

[dfuhrmann]

Sorry, but what is your problem exactly? A changed icon for mod? Changed "file type description" for mod? How was it before, how is it now?

And apart from any appearance issues, it should not influence the capability of just opening the file in any program, by using drag and drop or file-->open.

[Dhk Dragon]

Hello, thank you for your reply.

My problem is that I have plenty of Final Cut Pro X 10.1.3 projects full of .mod files, that now are shown like they were black, and it happened after the update of VLC from 2.1.5 to 2.2.1.

I worked on my projects almost immediately before and immediately after the VLC update, and did pretty nothing else, so I linked the problem to the update.

I don't care about the icon or the "kind", but since they changed, I think that the change is linked with my problem. So maybe if we can revert the "kind" back to what it was, we solve the problem.

The "kind" was something like "Doc...VLC". I can tell this because I have an old ScreenFlow video that shows it. Now is "MOD Audio File".

I'm New to the OSX mechanics. In Yosemite I can change the default program (e.g. VLC, that keeps displaying .mod video Files perfectly), but the icon and the kind stay the same.
I believe that FCPX "asks" the Mac "what's this file? How can I use it?", and Mac looks through its info.plist and answers "it's an audio file!", so FCPX sees the .mod Files as they were black.
I tried to repair disk permissions with Disk Utility, and somehow the icon changed: now is the VLC cone with 2 audio waves. But the kind is still "MOD Audio File", and the FCPX clips are still black.

I apologize if something was unclear. I hope I explained it better now.

[dfuhrmann]

My problem is that I have plenty of Final Cut Pro X 10.1.3 projects full of .mod files, that now are shown like they were black, and it happened after the update of VLC from 2.1.5 to 2.2.1.

I do not have Final Cut Pro, so I do not exactly know what you mean with "shown like they were black". Do you talk about Finder, or a preview window or file browser in Final Cut Pro?

[Dhk Dragon]

http://screenshot.it.sftcdn.net/it/scrn ... 00x437.jpg

This picture is the FCPX interface. You can split it in three main parts: topleft, topright, bottom.
Topleft: is where you browse your media
Topright: is the preview of what is selected
Bottom: you have the timeline, where you put your media and edit your clips.

As you can see, every media or clip displays a screenshot of a frame inside it, to represent the content.
Also, you can notice that under those screenshots, the clips show a waveform, that represents the audio track within.

This was exactly my usual view of my projects.

But now, the screenshots are shown as full black frames, and the same happens if I press play and watch the preview at the topright: it shows only a black screen.
Someone could argue that it's simple that the original media is missing, but that's not the case: infact if I right-click and select "reveal in Finder", FCPX opens the right path like a charm.

If you want I can produce a screenshot of my very FCPX, but it wouldn't be much different than the one I linked, except for the black frames and black preview.

Thank you for helping, I appreciate that very much.

[dfuhrmann]

I do not see how VLC should influence this view - its up to Final Cut pro how the stuff is rendered. Maybe you just need to refresh the thumbails by some means.

One test, but I think you already did that: Just delete VLC completely, and restart your computer. If the problem is still there, it has nothing to do with VLC.

[Dhk Dragon]

Yes, I already did delete VLC completely (with AppCleaner too) with no luck.
And for sure it's not FCPX that needs to refresh the thumbnails. And I think it's not VLC's "direct" fault, but it has something to do with my configuration as a whole.

I say that because, I'm not sure how, but I just made it! It took me three days though..
Now I try to explain for future reference, but first of all I thank you for your help once again.
That worked for me, but I used paths that I don't completely understand, so I take no responsibility for any damage: use it at your own risk.
Consider that I don't remember in which exact order I did the following steps, I only know that at the end the problem was solved.
I hereby present them in a rebuilded chronologic order based on the likelihood of each step.

Well, I think that the hint that the linkage between the "MOD Audio File" and the fact that FCPX could not see my videos was correct.

So I read this guide about editing of info.plist and linking of icons, file types and programs
http://superuser.com/questions/178316/h ... ype-on-mac

In particular, the interesting part was:
"Now, close TextMate if it's running, move the application TextMate.app to a different folder, and open it again. Close it, and move it back, then open it yet again. This is done so Launch Services picks up the changes to Info.plist we just performed."
I did that, but I think nothing happened yet.

I read this guide: http://apple.stackexchange.com/question ... pening-the
to go deeper with the hint to reset Launch Services. Here they use lsregister command in Terminal.
I wanted to know more about the command (e.g. that I was not going to format everything), so I checked also:
http://ss64.com/osx/lsregister.html
http://www.tekrevue.com/tip/rebuild-lau ... open-menu/
I'm not very sure if that command has obscure collateral effects, but it seems simply something like cleaning a cache, so it should be safe.

I decided to use the command from the latter one:
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user
Then I think I rebooted, but I think that the problem was still there.

I read again the first guide, because someone commented:
"Just one thing after changing an application's (or any bundle/package's) Info.plist: you will likely need to touch the root level of the bundle to update its modification date. Then in the Finder, de-select and re-select the application/bundle/package and when it notices the modification date is later than that of the cached information in the Launch Services database, it will re-register it, thereby recognizing any changes you've made"
Infact I noticed that even if I did modify the info.plist, Vlc.App was telling me that was last modified on april, 15th 2015. I didn't know what they meant by "touching the root", but I guess I figured out copying one small file into it and then moving it away. The date was updated.
However, this was not the only change: I did one last change to the info.plist file before "touching the root": in the conformations part I changed "org.videolan.mod" into "org.videolan.mpg".

Then I rebooted and then FCPX was back to normal. .mod icon is still the VLC cone with 2 audio waves, but Finder tells me that it's a Mpeg2 Video.

So, resuming, I did:
- reset Launch Services
- changed the info.plist
- moved the Vlc.App from Applications to Desktop and back to Applications, opening it after every move
- touched the root of Vlc.App to update the date

One, or two, or all of them together did the trick. But I don't know which.

Consider that in another guide I read that playing within the .app structure of an App could cause the lost of the signature. I don't know, but it sounds like a bad thing.
That pretty much end my workaround. I hope I made myself as clear as possible.

PS
Thank you again, dfuhrmann, for your help.

PPS
Thank you very much for VLC!! It's really the best player in the world!! Keep going! You guys are great!!

[Dhk Dragon]

One last thing: reviewing my notes about what happened, I discovered that I did something else, beyond just updating VLC to version 2.2.1.
Infact, I also tried the Streaming/Export Assistant (don't know whether with the previous or the last version of VLC) to convert an .avi to an .mpg.
The resulting .mpg was without audio. I just wanted to add this ending note: maybe it was this experiment, and not the update, that caused my problem.
However, I'm afraid to try again that feature, so I will not go further in my investigation.
Thank you again.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Be careful! mod files can be Audio Tracker files or MPEG-2 video extensions!