Codec Problem with VLC and SMPlayer

English Multimedia
#1

I am running openSUSE 13.2 86x64 bit with KDE desktop. I have installed what I thought were the necessary codecs and libraries using the Multimedia in One Click link above but find I can no longer play downloaded video .m4a files using either VLC or SMPlayer. With VLC I get the following messages:-

  Codec not supported:

 VLC could not decode the format "h264" (H264 - MPEG-4 AVC (part 10))

 Codec not supported:

 VLC could not decode the format "mp4a" (MPEG AAC Audio)

With SMPlayer I just get a blank player window.

The files do however play with Kaffeine which is my least preferred player.
What have I forgotten to do please?
Budgie2

#2

VLC you must get both the player and the codecs from the same source. Packman.

Not surer about SMplayer I don’t use it. But you most likely have mixed the sources.

#3

got same problem and i use pacman package.

Codec not supported:
VLC could not decode the format “h264” (H264 - MPEG-4 AVC (part 10))
Codec not supported:
VLC could not decode the format "a52 " (A52 Audio (aka AC3))

Codec not supported:
VLC could not decode the format “mp4v” (MPEG-4 Video)
Codec not supported:

VLC could not decode the format "mp3 " (MPEG Audio layer 3)

#4

On 2015-09-15 03:46, collinm wrote:
>
> got same problem and i use pacman package.

Please, could you both run in a terminal:


zypper lr --details

and post it back here, inside a code tags block?

It is very important you use code tags. The ‘#’ button in the forum editor.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.

(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” (Minas Tirith))

#5

Still looks like you are using openSUSE packages not packman. openSUSE provides no proprietary software so those codecs must come from packman

In yast-Software Management search for vlc and at bottom right use the version tab and see where your stuff comes from and correct it as needed

#6

Many thanks and good point but VLC is from Packman as are all multimedia stuff here.

#7

Then don’t know works fine here. Maybe give us a URL were we can find the files that don’t work.

#8

Open a terminal window and do:


zypper inr
#9

And vlc-codecs?

Also, do a full vendor change update to Packman to make sure that there’s no related library from the standard repos installed.
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Vendor_change_update#Full_repository_Vendor_change

If that still doesn’t help, it’s likely a problem with hardware decoding, I’d guess.

#10 

1 | google-chrome       | google-chrome               | yes | (r ) yes | yes         |   99      | rpm-md | http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/rpm/stable/x86_64                            |         
2 | openSUSE-20150611-0 | openSUSE-20150611-0         | No  | ----     | No          |   99      | yast2  | hd:///?device=/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-36001b400caaa526e0000000000000000-part2     |         
3 | packman-essentials  | packman-essentials          | yes | (r ) yes | yes         |   99      | rpm-md | http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/misc/packman/suse/openSUSE_Tumbleweed/Essentials/ |         
4 | repo-debug          | openSUSE-Tumbleweed-Debug   | No  | ----     | yes         |   99      | NONE   | http://download.opensuse.org/debug/tumbleweed/repo/oss/                        |         
5 | repo-non-oss        | openSUSE-Tumbleweed-Non-Oss | yes | (r ) yes | yes         |   99      | yast2  | http://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/non-oss/                          |         
6 | repo-oss            | openSUSE-Tumbleweed-Oss     | yes | (r ) yes | yes         |   99      | yast2  | http://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/                              |         
7 | repo-source         | openSUSE-Tumbleweed-Source  | No  | ----     | yes         |   99      | NONE   | http://download.opensuse.org/source/tumbleweed/repo/oss/                       |         
8 | repo-update         | openSUSE-Tumbleweed-Update  | yes | (r ) yes | yes         |   99      | rpm-md | http://download.opensuse.org/update/tumbleweed/                                |
#11

i get video working… but for some i see only a black screen (sound ok), it’s for a mkv file.

#12

Hi and thanks for the replies. I am glad it is not just me that had a problem but I have just checked the installation and found that vlc-codecs had not been installed. Once installed things are back to normal so now I am OK. Many thanks for the hint. No idea why these went missing.
Budgie2

#13

As usual, posted too soon. VLC now fine but SMPlayer not. When I try and run SMPlayer on .m4a file the timer shows it is playing but screen remains black. The logs give info so I shall post that next but too late to continue now.
Budgie2

#14

You have all the mplayer files there are a bunch

#15

On 2015-09-15 22:26, collinm wrote:

> Code:
> --------------------
>
> 1 | google-chrome | google-chrome | yes | (r ) yes | yes | 99 | rpm-md | http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/rpm/stable/x86_64 |
> 2 | openSUSE-20150611-0 | openSUSE-20150611-0 | No | ---- | No | 99 | yast2 | hd:///?device=/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-36001b400caaa526e0000000000000000-part2 |
> 3 | packman-essentials | packman-essentials | yes | (r ) yes | yes | 99 | rpm-md | http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/misc/packman/suse/openSUSE_Tumbleweed/Essentials/ |
> 4 | repo-debug | openSUSE-Tumbleweed-Debug | No | ---- | yes | 99 | NONE | http://download.opensuse.org/debug/tumbleweed/repo/oss/ |
> 5 | repo-non-oss | openSUSE-Tumbleweed-Non-Oss | yes | (r ) yes | yes | 99 | yast2 | http://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/non-oss/ |
> 6 | repo-oss | openSUSE-Tumbleweed-Oss | yes | (r ) yes | yes | 99 | yast2 | http://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/ |
> 7 | repo-source | openSUSE-Tumbleweed-Source | No | ---- | yes | 99 | NONE | http://download.opensuse.org/source/tumbleweed/repo/oss/ |
> 8 | repo-update | openSUSE-Tumbleweed-Update | yes | (r ) yes | yes | 99 | rpm-md | http://download.opensuse.org/update/tumbleweed/ |
>
>
> --------------------

Well, your repository list seem correct.

Did you switch system packages to packman in YaST, or what did you do to
use packman?

Do this:


minas-tirith:~ # rpm -qa | grep -i vlc
npapi-vlc-2.2.0-1.1.x86_64
libvlc5-2.2.1-288.1.x86_64
vlc-2.2.1-288.1.x86_64
libvlccore7-2.1.5-239.2.x86_64
libvlccore8-2.2.1-288.1.x86_64
vlc-qt-2.2.1-288.1.x86_64
vlc-noX-lang-2.2.1-288.1.noarch
vlc-gnome-2.2.1-288.1.x86_64
vlc-codecs-2.2.1-288.8.x86_64
vlc-noX-2.2.1-288.1.x86_64
minas-tirith:~ #

Then do for each one:


minas-tirith:~ # rpm -qi vlc | grep Packager
Packager    : packman@links2linux.de
minas-tirith:~ #

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.

(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” (Minas Tirith))

#16

Contrary to VLC, SMPlayer is just a frontend, it may use either mplayer ou mpv. AFAIK mplayer is deprecated, if you’re using it try switching to mpv.

#17

SMPlayer is shown as “complete front end” for mpv on Packman repo. No mention of mplayer.
Strange thing is that MPV is working but SMPlayer is not.

Budgie2

#18

SMPlayer originally was a frontend for MPlayer only (hence the name), but it supports mpv too meanwhile and that’s the default.
See also http://smplayer.sourceforge.net/ :

SMPlayer uses the award-winning MPlayer as playback engine, which is one of the best players in the world. Learn more
Now SMPlayer supports mpv as well. Learn more

Strange thing is that MPV is working but SMPlayer is not.

Have a look into the SMPlayer settings whether you even use MPV.

If yes, then there must be some difference in the settings in SMPlayer and MPV obviously.

You could also try to switch to MPlayer though, but you might have to install it first.
Btw, there is only one MPlayer package, not “a bunch”.

PS:

.m4a is MPEG4 Audio, so it’s actually to be expected that there is no video showing… :wink:

But I suppose you have this problem with video files too, right?

#19

Hi Wolfii,
Again please forgive my mis-posting on other thread and yes you are correct I am on 13.2 with KDE desktop.

I was trying SMPlayer on .mp4 files not .m4a. Again my mistake.

MPV works on its own but I cannot find any settings tabs or ways to see what is going on.

On the same .mp4 file I have tried to check what is happening with with SMPlayer but it tends to misbehave and freeze after a bit of snooping.

When I start I get a brief message that filters are disabled when using vdpau but I am not aware of having elected to use vdpau. I have an Nvidia card so that may require some additional driver/library. Out of my depth here. I did install vdpau-video and tried SMPlayer again and it behaved differently and eventually crashed. What was odd was that the Ooops message stated that MPlayer had crashed whereas I thought SMPlayer was using MPV.

This confusion may be the cause of the problem. Will go and look at sourceforge stuff on smplayer.
Thanks again.
Budgie2

#20

Following on from last post having missed the 10 minute edit time, this is the log from the SMPlayer crash when I have vdpau-video installed:-

  Album_Artist: BBC TV

  Comment: Dr Amanda Foreman looks at the women behind some powerful Middle Age empires.
  Composer: BBC iPlayer

  Genre: Factual
  Title: Power
  Track: 3
 libva info: VA-API version 0.34.0
 libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
 libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib64/dri/nvidia_drv_video.so
 libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_0_34

Although I have Mplayer installed (as well as mpv,) I cannot get it to run.
Many thanks for your help once more.
Budgie2

I have checked the wiki on vdpau and va-api with reference to Nvidia card and once again I am lost. Seems like a driver issue but have no idea how to fix.