Frequentely Asked Questions for VideoLAN Client $Id: FAQ,v 1.1 2001/10/26 16:23:06 massiot Exp $ 1. Using VLC 1.1 How do I read a DVD ? ----------------------- Just launch vlc and use the "open disc" command from the graphical interface. In case of trouble, you may want to use the command line interface : vlc dvd:/dev/dvd 1.2 How do I read an encrypted DVD ? ---------------------------------- It's exactly the same as for a normal DVD. You will need write access to /dev/dvd, because of the key negociation process. 1.3 How do I switch to full screen display ? ------------------------------------------ Press 'f' to toggle fullscreen mode. Note that not all video output devices support full screen. 1.4 How do I hide the mouse cursor ? ---------------------------------- It should disappear after a few seconds if you stop moving the mouse. 1.5 How do I use vlc if I don't want to install Gnome and all this #@!£% *$@&§% !@# bloat ? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can run : vlc -I dummy myfile.mpg Most commands are available from the command line, see vlc --help for more information. 2. Troubleshooting 2.1 When I start vlc, I don't have any interface coming... ------------------------------------------------------- If you installed a binary package, make sure you also installed an interface package such as vlc-gtk or vlc-qt. If you installed from source, make sure the development package for gtk or qt is correctly installed (often gtk-dev or gtk-devel) and recompile. 2.2 Clicking on "disc" in the interface doesn't do anything ----------------------------------------------------------- Wait a few seconds. Key cracking can take much time on some discs. If it still doesn't work, you can have a more verbose output using "vlc -vvvvv". Here are a few things to check for : * Did you install the libdvdcss package ? * Do you have write access to your DVD device ? For instance : chmod 666 /dev/hdc * Does your kernel log contain line about your DVD device ? * Do you have a link from /dev/dvd to your real DVD device ? For instance ln -s hdc /dev/dvd 2.3 Running vlc pussycat.mpg doesn't do anything... ------------------------------------------------ Probably your MPEG-1 file doesn't have any system layer. This is common for MPEG-1 streams without any audio track. Currently VLC doesn't automatically detect this format, so you have to manually select it : vlc --input es pussycat.mpg 2.4 The video runs but the picture is distorted... ----------------------------------------------- There is probably a problem with the output layer. There are several ways of troubleshooting it. First, try with another output plug-in, for instance : vlc -V sdl vlc -V x11 Second, try with an unoptimized YUV transform : vlc --yuv yuv Third, change your screen depth and/or definition. It quite often helps. Lastly, have a look at your XFree86 video driver (nVidia for instance releases optimized drivers for its boards). 2.5 Video is choppy... ------------------- Your system is too slow to decode all pictures. It might be that your CPU basically isn't fast enough. It can also be that the subsystem is misconfigured/misdriven. Here are some elements to improve speed : * Turn on DMA on your DVD device, for instance : hdparm -X34 -d1 /dev/dvd * Upgrade to the latest XFree86 version and the latest driver for your video board ; check that the xvideo plug-in is effectively used with vlc -vvvv * Kill other applications running... 2.6 Audio is choppy... ------------------- This is not normal ; it is a known problem and is being investigated. 2.7 Audio and video are out of sync ----------------------------------- This is not normal. Try using another output plug-in (for instance -A dsp), kill esd or artsd if they are running... This is a known problem and is being investigated. 2.8 On some DVDs the subtitles are unreadable --------------------------------------------- This is a known bug and is being investigated. 2.9 When I try to compile VLC, it breaks on unknown instructions in idctaltivec.c --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unset your CFLAGS environment variable. For instance type export CFLAGS= ; ./configure Don't try to be cleverer than us :-). 2.10 Sound volume is too low ---------------------------- This is a known problem. 3. Ports and features 3.1 MacOS X port 3.1.1 Does VLC support the ATI DVD hardware acceleration cards ? -------------------------------------------------------------- Currently it doesn't. We'd be glad to support them, but we lack technical information on them.