Bug 21636 - VLC fails to render to (or find) the video output device
Summary: VLC fails to render to (or find) the video output device
Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME
Alias: None
Product: Mageia
Classification: Unclassified
Component: RPM Packages (show other bugs)
Version: 6
Hardware: x86_64 Linux
Priority: Normal normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Shlomi Fish
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2017-08-30 06:53 CEST by John L. ten Wolde
Modified: 2017-08-31 10:00 CEST (History)
1 user (show)

See Also:
Source RPM: vlc-3.0.0-0.git.19.mga6.tainted
CVE:
Status comment:


Attachments

Description John L. ten Wolde 2017-08-30 06:53:39 CEST
I practically never use VLC because I'm far more accustomed to MPlayer, but with Mageia 6 I'm experiencing (yet another) bug with the latter so thought I'd compare its latest misbehaviour to that of the former (along with FFplay)... only to discover that my VLC output is a *complete* train wreck.

This is on a laptop with an nVidia GPU running the Nouveau driver.  My situation is like this: both MPlayer and VLC fail to render video.  FFplay never exhibits any problems whatsoever.  At first I thought the first two were suffering from the same underlying problem (be it X, KF5, compositing, or whatever) but that doesn't seem to be the case.  MPlayer's rendering problem comes and goes seemingly at random (and if I can figure out a way to reproduce it reliably I'll pester David about it in a separate report) but, as far as I can tell, VLC fails constantly and consistently.

After starting a video (regardless of format) all I see is the VLC traffic-cone logo jumping around in its window, presumably as it tries but fails to render the frames because pausing stops the cone from flickering.  Audio works without issue.  When started from the command line, the following output is generated:


[0000000001518198] core libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.
[00007f2aec001078] vdpau_display vout display error: output surface creation failure: A catch-all error, used when no other error code applies.
[00007f2aec0931a8] vdpau_chroma filter warning: can't get output picture
[00007f2aec001078] vdpau_display vout display error: output surface creation failure: A catch-all error, used when no other error code applies.
[00007f2aec0931a8] chain filter warning: can't get output picture
[00007f2aec08bbe8] vdpau_chroma filter warning: can't get output picture
[00007f2aec08bbe8] chain filter error: Too high level of recursion (2)
[00007f2aec0931a8] core filter error: Failed to create video converter
[00007f2aec090318] chain filter error: Too high level of recursion (2)
[00007f2aec0931a8] core filter error: Failed to create video converter
[00007f2aec08fd88] chain filter error: Too high level of recursion (2)
[00007f2aec0931a8] core filter error: Failed to create video converter
[00007f2aec080438] chain filter error: Too high level of recursion (2)
[00007f2aec0931a8] core filter error: Failed to create video converter
[00007f2aec06c918] chain filter error: Too high level of recursion (2)
[00007f2aec0931a8] core filter error: Failed to create video converter
[00007f2aec001078] core vout display error: Failed to create video converter
[00007f2aec001078] core vout display error: Failed to adapt decoder format to display
[00007f2af8000b58] core video output error: video output creation failed
[00007f2b00c1f8f8] core decoder error: failed to create video output
...
... <the above messages loop until the video ends> ...
...
QObject::~QObject: Timers cannot be stopped from another thread


A similar-sounding bug report I found online suggested one of the options under the Tools > Preferences > Input/Codecs >  Hardware-accelerated decoding drop-down might serve as a workaround but *none* of those settings appeared to make the slightest bit of difference.


Here's a list of all the VLC-related packages I have installed:

npapi-vlc-2.2.0-1.mga6
vlc-plugin-vdpau-3.0.0-0.git.19.mga6.tainted
vlc-plugin-common-3.0.0-0.git.19.mga6.tainted
vlc-plugin-theora-3.0.0-0.git.19.mga6.tainted
phonon4qt5-vlc-0.9.0-3.mga6
vlc-plugin-lua-3.0.0-0.git.19.mga6.tainted
vlc-3.0.0-0.git.19.mga6.tainted
vlc-plugin-flac-3.0.0-0.git.19.mga6.tainted
vlc-plugin-speex-3.0.0-0.git.19.mga6.tainted
vlc-plugin-pulse-3.0.0-0.git.19.mga6.tainted
lib64vlc5-3.0.0-0.git.19.mga6.tainted
lib64vlccore8-3.0.0-0.git.19.mga6.tainted


How reproducible:

Always.
John L. ten Wolde 2017-08-30 07:02:13 CEST

CC: (none) => johnltw

Comment 1 John L. ten Wolde 2017-08-30 07:22:20 CEST
Though I'm not sure if it's useful or relevant, I'll add the following since the above error messages mention vdpau a few times.  And if it is relevant those repeated occurrences of "--- not supported ---" sure seem ominous...


$ vdpauinfo
display: :0   screen: 0
API version: 1
Information string: G3DVL VDPAU Driver Shared Library version 1.0

Video surface:

name   width height types
-------------------------------------------
420     8192  8192  NV12 YV12 
422     8192  8192  UYVY YUYV 
444     8192  8192  Y8U8V8A8 V8U8Y8A8 

Decoder capabilities:

name                        level macbs width height
----------------------------------------------------
MPEG1                          --- not supported ---
MPEG2_SIMPLE                   --- not supported ---
MPEG2_MAIN                     --- not supported ---
H264_BASELINE                  --- not supported ---
H264_MAIN                      --- not supported ---
H264_HIGH                      --- not supported ---
VC1_SIMPLE                     --- not supported ---
VC1_MAIN                       --- not supported ---
VC1_ADVANCED                   --- not supported ---
MPEG4_PART2_SP                 --- not supported ---
MPEG4_PART2_ASP                --- not supported ---
DIVX4_QMOBILE                  --- not supported ---
DIVX4_MOBILE                   --- not supported ---
DIVX4_HOME_THEATER             --- not supported ---
DIVX4_HD_1080P                 --- not supported ---
DIVX5_QMOBILE                  --- not supported ---
DIVX5_MOBILE                   --- not supported ---
DIVX5_HOME_THEATER             --- not supported ---
DIVX5_HD_1080P                 --- not supported ---
H264_CONSTRAINED_BASELINE      --- not supported ---
H264_EXTENDED                  --- not supported ---
H264_PROGRESSIVE_HIGH          --- not supported ---
H264_CONSTRAINED_HIGH          --- not supported ---
H264_HIGH_444_PREDICTIVE       --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN                      --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN_10                   --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN_STILL                --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN_12                   --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN_444                  --- not supported ---

Output surface:

name              width height nat types
----------------------------------------------------
B8G8R8A8          8192  8192    y  NV12 YV12 UYVY YUYV Y8U8V8A8 V8U8Y8A8 A4I4 I4A4 A8I8 I8A8 
R8G8B8A8          8192  8192    y  NV12 YV12 UYVY YUYV Y8U8V8A8 V8U8Y8A8 A4I4 I4A4 A8I8 I8A8 
R10G10B10A2       8192  8192    y  NV12 YV12 UYVY YUYV Y8U8V8A8 V8U8Y8A8 A4I4 I4A4 A8I8 I8A8 
B10G10R10A2       8192  8192    y  NV12 YV12 UYVY YUYV Y8U8V8A8 V8U8Y8A8 A4I4 I4A4 A8I8 I8A8 

Bitmap surface:

name              width height
------------------------------
B8G8R8A8          8192  8192
R8G8B8A8          8192  8192
R10G10B10A2       8192  8192
B10G10R10A2       8192  8192
A8                8192  8192

Video mixer:

feature name                    sup
------------------------------------
DEINTERLACE_TEMPORAL             y
DEINTERLACE_TEMPORAL_SPATIAL     -
INVERSE_TELECINE                 -
NOISE_REDUCTION                  y
SHARPNESS                        y
LUMA_KEY                         y
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L1        y
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L2        -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L3        -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L4        -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L5        -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L6        -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L7        -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L8        -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L9        -

parameter name                  sup      min      max
-----------------------------------------------------
VIDEO_SURFACE_WIDTH              y        48     2048
VIDEO_SURFACE_HEIGHT             y        48     2048
CHROMA_TYPE                      y  
LAYERS                           y         0        4

attribute name                  sup      min      max
-----------------------------------------------------
BACKGROUND_COLOR                 y  
CSC_MATRIX                       y  
NOISE_REDUCTION_LEVEL            y      0.00     1.00
SHARPNESS_LEVEL                  y     -1.00     1.00
LUMA_KEY_MIN_LUMA                y  
LUMA_KEY_MAX_LUMA                y
Comment 2 Shlomi Fish 2017-08-30 14:56:47 CEST
Hi John!

VLC works mostly fine here and on other people's mageia v6 systems. Some things to try:

* Does video work with other video output devices? (XCB/etc.)

* Does it work in mpv (= a more well-maintained fork of mplayer)?

* Does it work in a new Unix user account under icewm or JWM?

* Does it work with the proprietary nvidia driver?

* Can you try in the stable version of VLC built from source?

=======

have I mentioned I royally hate hang-vidia on Linux? I guess i have but I feel the need to mention it again. They suck.
Comment 3 John L. ten Wolde 2017-08-31 07:31:37 CEST
(In reply to Shlomi Fish from comment #2)
> have I mentioned I royally hate hang-vidia on Linux? I guess i have but I
> feel the need to mention it again. They suck.
Ha, "hang-vidia"!  I like that.  Nope, you've never mentioned it around me because I believe this is the first we've ever corresponded.  I hear you though, but I'm kinda stuck with what came in this rig.  Still, on the whole, I've always had a fairly happy user experience with the Nouveau drivers as opposed to nVidia's own proprietary bloatware (which has only ever proved useful on the rare occasion I've had to connect to a TV via HDMI).

Back to the matter at hand: at first I had no idea what you meant by the top item on your list, but that just shows my unfamiliarity with VLC.  After figuring it out the results are that both the X11 and XVideo XCB options work fine.  Half of the remaining ones fail with the flickering.  I can't even express how bummed I am that the ASCII-art filter failed...

Armed with something to search for, I gathered this machine's NV96 chip (GeForce 9400GT -- from 2008) probably didn't yet support PureVideo/VDPAU, (though Wikipedia has a chart claiming it should), so we can probably close this report as NOTABUG.

Thanks for your prompt reply and suggestions.  Oh, and incidentally (with regard to Bug 21485), though I only sampled a small number of video formats, when using those XCB outputs screenshots work without problem as well.
Comment 4 Shlomi Fish 2017-08-31 09:59:26 CEST
(In reply to John ten Wolde from comment #3)
> (In reply to Shlomi Fish from comment #2)
> > have I mentioned I royally hate hang-vidia on Linux? I guess i have but I
> > feel the need to mention it again. They suck.
> Ha, "hang-vidia"!  I like that.  

:-) I'm glad! The people on #ubuntu on freenode did not appreciate it too much and claimed I was spreading FUD (they have a weird kind of speech police there).

> Nope, you've never mentioned it around me
> because I believe this is the first we've ever corresponded.  I hear you
> though, but I'm kinda stuck with what came in this rig.  Still, on the
> whole, I've always had a fairly happy user experience with the Nouveau
> drivers as opposed to nVidia's own proprietary bloatware (which has only
> ever proved useful on the rare occasion I've had to connect to a TV via
> HDMI).
> 

ah.

> Back to the matter at hand: at first I had no idea what you meant by the top
> item on your list, but that just shows my unfamiliarity with VLC.  After
> figuring it out the results are that both the X11 and XVideo XCB options
> work fine.  Half of the remaining ones fail with the flickering.  I can't
> even express how bummed I am that the ASCII-art filter failed...
> 

I see. nice.

> Armed with something to search for, I gathered this machine's NV96 chip
> (GeForce 9400GT -- from 2008) probably didn't yet support PureVideo/VDPAU,
> (though Wikipedia has a chart claiming it should), so we can probably close
> this report as NOTABUG.
>

thanks, will do.
 
> Thanks for your prompt reply and suggestions.  Oh, and incidentally (with
> regard to Bug 21485), though I only sampled a small number of video formats,
> when using those XCB outputs screenshots work without problem as well.
Comment 5 Shlomi Fish 2017-08-31 10:00:23 CEST
closing now.

Status: NEW => RESOLVED
Resolution: (none) => WORKSFORME


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