[The DJ]

Dear VLC users,

The VideoLAN team is happy to announce the second beta version of VLC media player 0.8.2

Many, many things have changed, but i'll outline the most important Mac OS X ones.
* Menu's functioning again on Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger
* The OpenGL video output is back
* New playlist
* A new audio module that should work more reliable for analog audio output in various configurations. It supports multichannel discrete analog output. Digital audio output requires you to change a preference setting because it is not yet available in the new module. Please read the README.MacOSX.rtf file for more information.

You can get a complete list by reading the release notes: http://developers.videolan.org/vlc/NEWS

You can download here: http://download2.videolan.org/pub/vi...c-0.8.2-test2/

Localization teams should start the translation process as soon as possible. The current up to date files can be found here: http://download.videolan.org/pub/vid...o-files.tar.gz . More information on localization can be found at: http://developers.videolan.org/i18n/vlc.html

Remember that this is a beta version. Please test it heavily and report bugs. Known bugs are registered in the trac database: http://trac.videolan.org/vlc/
Report any issues and crashes in http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=9757

For the VideoLAN team,
Derk-Jan Hartman

P.S. This is a beta release, so please do not post on MacUpdate or Versiontracker. It is not yet ready for everyone to use. That said. if you have been having issues on Tiger, or with soundoutput, then this is still the thing to download, until the final build arrives (2weeks)

[MindFad]

You guys rock! Thanks.

[mdc]

much thanks

[MaxPower2k3]

Used one of the last couple of nightlies (June 3rd, maybe?) that had most of these improvements already. Works great. Useful for AVIs encoded with H.264 video and AC3 audio from Handbrake, which QuickTime won't play.

edit: it does seem like the H.264 playback needs some tweaking. Although CPU usage never goes above 55% on a DVD encoded with Handbrake, during any kind of pan or fast motion (and possibly all the time, but it's less noticeable), the framerate drops and the video stutters. Or could it possibly be because the video is 24fps and VLC doesn't do 3:2 pulldown?

edit2: i should say that this is on a new 20" 2GHz iMac G5 with 1.5GB RAM

[The DJ]

Originally Posted by MaxPower2k3

it does seem like the H.264 playback needs some tweaking. Although CPU usage never goes above 55% on a DVD encoded with Handbrake, during any kind of pan or fast motion (and possibly all the time, but it's less noticeable), the framerate drops and the video stutters.

The H.264 codec is brand new. The implementation that vlc uses for it, is not finished by a long shot. It will take the developers of ffmpeg quite a while to get on par with Apple's implementation.

[analogika]

Still no way to set outputs to channels 1-2 of my 18-channel Firewire interface.

It will only let me select a single channel.

[The DJ]

I'm getting the feeling you are still using the older CoreAudio module. Try resetiing your preferences.

Audio Midi Setup utitlity is responsible for doing Speaker assignment. If a speaker assignment is not set, then VLC will simply take the first 2 channels of the set that is presented to it. If this doesn't correspond to your first 2 channels, then the speaker configuration has not properly been set, and there is no way for VLC to know which two channels it SHOULD use.

Basically it comes down to the fact that apple has really screwed up in Analog multichannel audio output. Now you have a bunch of drivers/applications and people not knowning what should and should not be done. It's all one big mess. And i do BLAME apple.

[analogika]

I've reset the VLC preferences and restarted VLC, have multi-track audio in Audio/MIDI Config set up to use Channels 1+2 of my interface for stereo and channels 1+2 for front left and right in multi-channel use.

I've selected the stereo audio channel.

The audio interface is still showing up in VLC as 18 individual mono PCM devices.

Works fine in every other application, including Live, Logic, Finder, and QuickTime.

It works fine with the Tascam US-428 (did too in Panther), but the Metric Halo Mobile I/O hasn't ever been seen properly by VLC.


?

[demograph68]

Thank you team VLC.

[The DJ]

Originally Posted by analogika

I've reset the VLC preferences and restarted VLC, have multi-track audio in Audio/MIDI Config set up to use Channels 1+2 of my interface for stereo and channels 1+2 for front left and right in multi-channel use.

I've selected the stereo audio channel.

The audio interface is still showing up in VLC as 18 individual mono PCM devices.

Works fine in every other application, including Live, Logic, Finder, and QuickTime.

It works fine with the Tascam US-428 (did too in Panther), but the Metric Halo Mobile I/O hasn't ever been seen properly by VLC.


?

Can you please get the output from the messages window and put that online for me?
I detect devices now similar as to how other applications do this. If mutliple devices are listed, then there should also be multiple devices listed in Audio Midi Setup. Can you please create screenshots from how this device is reported in AMS ?

[Tyre MacAdmin]

Excallent to hear... your first release for Tiger was crashing all the time.. unusable on my G4 Digiatal Audio Dual 1.8.ghz. The old vlc player was working better however. Your application is the best!

Are you guys still worried about the legal issues?

[The DJ]

As long as the EU still is going forward with the ratification of the new EU patent law, YES, we are very worried. Actually we are just as worried about legal implications in the US, but it's already too late there. Luckily much of the Video and Audio FOSS projects are based in europe. It would be a shame if we had to hand all of this of to a Chinese or Brazilian base.

[olePigeon]

Cuz I'm too lazy to check the FAQ (so you don't have to answer) but what're the chances of seeing WMV3 (Windows Media 10) formats on VLC?

[The DJ]

It will still be a long while...
It will be there in the end, because the WMV3 codec is evolving into the VC-9 standard. however this standard isn't accepted by the governing parties yet. It will have to be a final standard before there is any chance at all that it will work.

[MindFad]

Interestingly, I had a kernel panic while resizing a window during a DVD (from an external FireWire drive, the LaCie d2). Other than that, it rocks.

[MindFad]

Yeesh, it did it again. Whatever you do, don't window resize for too long.

[Phil Sherry]

Originally Posted by MindFad

Yeesh, it did it again. Whatever you do, don't window resize for too long.

Stop breaking it.

[The DJ]

Originally Posted by MindFad

Yeesh, it did it again. Whatever you do, don't window resize for too long.

This is an issue in VLC of course, i have seen it happen once or twice. However it seems that some drivers are not well protected and cause KP. For most others this will just result in an crash of VLC.
Hopefully we can find the issue before the release.

BREAKING NEWS: We just fixed the Green line issue.

[analogika]

http://homepage.mac.com/spheric/MIO1.png
http://homepage.mac.com/spheric/MIO2.png

[The DJ]

Originally Posted by analogika

http://homepage.mac.com/spheric/MIO1.png
http://homepage.mac.com/spheric/MIO2.png

I will need VLCs debug output as well.

Please open Terminal.app
Drag VLC.app in there. This will result in something like

Code:
/Volumes/vlc-0.8.2-test2/VLC.app

Chang it to

Code:
/Volumes/vlc-0.8.2-test2/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC -vvv

Press enter. this will launch VLC.
Now playback an mp3.
Copy the output of the Terminal window and put it online somewhere.

[Tyre MacAdmin]

This release is great... no crashes at all!

[analogika]

I did the debugging with both an mp3 and an .avi file.
Looking through the logs, it seems that the audio-relevant messages are identical, but I'm including both for good measure.

http://homepage.mac.com/spheric/MIO_VLC_audio_debug.txt
http://homepage.mac.com/spheric/MIO_VLC_video_debug.txt

Thank you for your concern with this issue; I really hope we can get this worked out.



-chris.

[The DJ]

[00000305] coreaudio audio output debug: device [1] has name [Mobile I/O 2882+DSP [879]]
[00000305] coreaudio audio output debug: device [1] has [18] streams

You are still using the coreaudio module instead of auhal... otherwise it would say "auhal audio output debug"

[The DJ]

Oops, it would appear that the Reset function of the preferences isn't working properly
That kinda explains something. So either delete the prefs by hand, or switch the Audio Output module

[vasu]

I'm having an issue with playing back mkv files. They play just fine with MPlayer on my mac, and play fine on windows boxes as well...

With the current release 0.8.1, i get an error that says "Can't find kaxsegment" and now with 0.8.2-test2, the app just crashes.

Here's the debug info:

http://homepage.mac.com/vasu42/VLC-MKVcrash.txt

[juanvaldes]

Very pleased with this release, I can select languages again!

Keep up the great work.

[The DJ]

This is a crash in the matroska routines. Is this file perhaps larger then 2GB or 4GB ?

[vasu]

yes, it's 4.35GB .. anyway VLC can support larger files?

Originally Posted by The DJ

This is a crash in the matroska routines. Is this file perhaps larger then 2GB or 4GB ?

[The DJ]

VLC can, but the core routines for Matroska that deal with multifile mkv's apparently doesn't
(Matroska has this technology where you can chain multiple files into a single mkv file)

The issue is noted and will be fixed most likely before the next release (crossing fingers)

[MaxPower2k3]

With VLC's stream to file feature, i was trying to take an AVI with H.264 video and AC3 audio and stream it to an mp4 file with the same video and multi-channel AAC audio. I set it up (left the video codec box unchecked and changed the audio codec to 6-channel AAC), and it seemed to be working (took about 90 minutes to finish) but the resulting file is unplayable in both QuickTime and VLC (VLC shows the error "mp4: MP4 plugin discarded (no moov box)"). If you leave the video codec section unchecked in the streaming options, does it just pass through the video to the output file without touching it, or was there something else i should have done? or is this just not doable? (i know VLC isn't really an encoder, but it usually works pretty well as one)

[JKT]

Sorry if this has already been posted, but I don't seem to be able to drag and drop to rearrange items in the playlist. Is that a known issue?

[d.fine]

I still get some green lines around the image when playing a movie from a VIDEO_TS folder...
Otherwise no other problems encountered

[d.fine]

I got this :
" ffmpeg: more than 5 seconds of late video -> dropping frame (computer too slow ?)"

when trying to play the serenity 1080p trailer. I see a frame every 5-6 seconds, and then it starts to break up. Sounds is ok tough. through QT the movie plays fine on a Dual 2.0 G5 ...

[The DJ]

Originally Posted by JKT

Sorry if this has already been posted, but I don't seem to be able to drag and drop to rearrange items in the playlist. Is that a known issue?

This is not yet implemented in the new tree playlist. And there is no time to do it before a release either. So it will be fixed in the next version.

[The DJ]

Originally Posted by d.fine

I still get some green lines around the image when playing a movie from a VIDEO_TS folder...
Otherwise no other problems encountered

Fixed for the release

[The DJ]

Originally Posted by d.fine

I got this :
" ffmpeg: more than 5 seconds of late video -> dropping frame (computer too slow ?)"

when trying to play the serenity 1080p trailer. I see a frame every 5-6 seconds, and then it starts to break up. Sounds is ok tough. through QT the movie plays fine on a Dual 2.0 G5 ...

Like the message said. Your computer is too slow
Or rather in this case the ffmpeg H.264 decoder isn't optimized for PowerPC yet. Remember that H.264 is a brand new codec. It's a wonder at all that ffmpeg is already able to play this codec, don't expect too much performance from it just yet. Development on this specific codec is very active at the moment though. It will be improved a lot over the next year.

(NOTE: Apple has had about 2 years to develop their codec. ffmpeg only about 6 months so far)

[JKT]

Originally Posted by The DJ

This is not yet implemented in the new tree playlist. And there is no time to do it before a release either. So it will be fixed in the next version.

OK, just good to know it is a known known

[OwlBoy]

Holy ****, 5.1 works on my M-Audio 5.1!

Thanks a ton!

-Owl

[d.fine]

Originally Posted by The DJ

Like the message said. Your computer is too slow
Or rather in this case the ffmpeg H.264 decoder isn't optimized for PowerPC yet. Remember that H.264 is a brand new codec. It's a wonder at all that ffmpeg is already able to play this codec, don't expect too much performance from it just yet. Development on this specific codec is very active at the moment though. It will be improved a lot over the next year.

(NOTE: Apple has had about 2 years to develop their codec. ffmpeg only about 6 months so far)

Damn, I knew I had to go for the Dual 2.7, now I'm stuck with a 2.0 /JK
Thanks for the info

[The DJ]

Originally Posted by The DJ

VLC can, but the core routines for Matroska that deal with multifile mkv's apparently doesn't
(Matroska has this technology where you can chain multiple files into a single mkv file)

The issue is noted and will be fixed most likely before the next release (crossing fingers)

Am i right in assuming you have more than one mkv file in your directory? and that one of these files is also larger then 2GB?

If so, I have found the issue, and it will be fixed in the next nightly

[MindFad]

Had a classic freeze-up today. Hit Command-3 to fit to screen, and the application and video froze (spinning ball, but the audio continued). I had a small white box below the cursor, which seconds later also froze, along with the audio. I have no other machine to SSH in and kill whatever was screwing up, but that was that—had to hit the reset button.

Other than that and the two kernel panics, rock on! Hope you guys can get the bugs straightened out! Keep up the great work.

[Scooterboy]

Watching a DVD in real 5.1 Dolby EX! Finally! No more simulated surround and no more need to buy an external decoder! From now on it's VLC for DVDs and goodbye Apple DVD Player! Thank you, The DJ! Thanks a million to everyone working on VLC for OS X PPC!

I'm using OS X 10.3.9 on my 17" PowerBook G4 1.5 GHz, M-Audio Sonica Theater (with latest drivers), and Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 Ultra. It sounds brilliant! I thought SRS CircleSurround was good, and it is, but real Dolby 5.1 sounds just like the cinema. Outstanding!

[analogika]

Actually, 10.4 will let you VERY easily set up surround in Audio/MIDI Config.

[The DJ]

Originally Posted by analogika

Actually, 10.4 will let you VERY easily set up surround in Audio/MIDI Config.

Did you get your audio working yet?

[analogika]

I didn't get around to testing it again just now, and it's working like a charm.

the audio interface is showing up as a single device in the Audio menu.

Thank you for your attention, for asking, and for keeping on the ball. I am ingratiated.


One other question, though:

Can there be a way to change aspect ratio of video on the fly? I used to be able to do it via the Preferences, but I'd have to stop and re-start the video, and re-set the pref for the next video. Annoying. As it is, I tried that, and it locked up VLC for me.

And Audrey is looking short and fat. Can't have that.

[The DJ]

Originally Posted by MindFad

Had a classic freeze-up today. Hit Command-3 to fit to screen, and the application and video froze (spinning ball, but the audio continued). I had a small white box below the cursor, which seconds later also froze, along with the audio. I have no other machine to SSH in and kill whatever was screwing up, but that was that—had to hit the reset button.

Other than that and the two kernel panics, rock on! Hope you guys can get the bugs straightened out! Keep up the great work.

Could you stress test the upcoming nightly test build please?? (should be done in 3 hours from posting time)
I went beserk on the safety routines for OpenGL resize. Hopefully this will fix those resize issues.

Moving the bottom-right corner of the window around like a maniac for a minute, should be a good enough test.

[Russian Mac fan]

I can't find the place for nightlies - I found the June 7th .2 test 2 version

[The DJ]

The nightlies location is:
http://videolan.org/~videolan

[Scooterboy]

There is a one pixel wide, green line around the movie image when playing full screen. Is there any way to disable this?

[The DJ]

The nightly didn't build this night due to a server issue. I triggered the build this morning by hand. Should be available soon for testing.