PotPlayer seems a good choice,
but has a steep learning curve, and I found no documentation on it, so
learn it through experimentation, and drilling through many levels of cascaded menues.
Problems with VideoLAN VLC:
- With repeat mode enabled, there is a lag from when the last frame of a
video is displayed to looping back to play the first frame. The
result is a momentary black screen. Doesn't happen with all videos,
but with many of them.
- Time to load VLC has severely increased. Used to be a second, or two.
Now it takes half a minute, or sometimes 2 minutes. The user thinks
VLC won't load, so they double-click the video file again, waits, and
tries to open the video file again. Of course, when VLC eventually
get around to loading, multiple instances of VLC get loaded playing
the same video. After the first long lag, subsequent loads are quick
until sometime later (don't know how long, if a Windows session exit
and restart is needed, or what). This lag to load did not happen in
the past, but noticed it started over the last couple months.
This is on Windows. On Linux, users notice even worse problems,
like exiting VLC, trying to open another video file, and another,
and another, but VLC never shows up. They have to kill all hung
instances of vlc.exe whereupon a subsequent load will work. I don't
use Linux at home, but I'd like to keep abreast of problems with my
Windows software that could run under Linux.
I could try going back to a prior version of VLC, but I'm not
degrading a product to overcome a side-effect of some update. I could
either tolerate the load lag, or, more likely, switch to a different
media player without the load lag.
I've grown weary of defects in VideoLan's VLC. The momentary black
screen going from last frame to show first frame is a many-year-old
problem, but started happening after some codec or program update a few
years ago. The severely long lag to load VLC is, to me, a more recent problem a couple months old, but Linux users have reported VLC hanging
for a long time.
I changed filetype associations to point at MPC-BE. I also have XnView Classic installed since MPC won't show GIF files. I've uninstalled VLC.
Just not going to bother with it anymore. Another "defect" (unwanted
trait) of VLC is it uses its own private codec store inside of lib*.dll files. To get new codec versions requires waiting until there is a new version of VLC. Newly installed global codecs in the OS, like when
using K-Lite Codec Pack, has no effect on the codecs that VLC uses. I
don't know where MPC-BE and PotPlayer find the codecs. Might be the
global ones installed into the OS, or a private store as with VLC.
While MPC-BE has both a repeat mode (repeat entire video, and without
any black screen when looping back to the start) and an A->B loop mode
(using [ and ] hotkeys to set the A start and B end play points), XnView
has not A->B loop mode that I could find. I only kept XnView Classic
for it to play GIF files since MPC-BE does not. I've uninstalled VLC,
and may look at alternatives for it; however, MPC-BE pretty much gives
me everything I need for a media player. PotPlayer seems a good choice,
but has a steep learning curve, and I found no documentation on it, so
learn it through experimentation, and drilling through many levels of cascaded menues.
As I recall, XnView has a feature to play videos streams by specifying a
URL, like to a Youtube video, but it never worked for me. Got some
error about video stream not found. I've seen YT videos showing
PotPlayer will play video streams via URL. However, MPC-BE also has its
File -> Open File/URL option that can play video streams via URL, like
URLs pointing to Youtube videos. So, for now, I don't need PotPlayer
for this, and can use MPC-BE. I couldn't get it to work in VLC.
Besides MPC-BE, XnView, and PotPlayer, any suggestions of another media players that have no lag on load, no hang on loading multiple instances,
has both a repeat mode (for whole video), A->B loop mode, play video
streams via URL, and uses the global codecs defined in the OS instead of
a private codec store or hidden inside .dll files?
*From:* VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH>
*Date:* Mon, 23 Mar 2026 02:09:28 -0500
Problems with VideoLAN VLC:
MPC-HC hasn't been updated for approaching 10 years now but still
works fine although some more recent file formats may not be
supported.
VanguardLH wrote:
PotPlayer seems a good choice, but has a steep learning curve, and I
found no documentation on it, so learn it through experimentation,
and drilling through many levels of cascaded menues.
I use the portable version of PotPlayer since 20 years (at that time
it was called KM-Player). My current version is 10 years old and
when I get a new PC I just copy the PotPlayer folder to the new PC,
no installation needed and I also didn't need a newer version (still
runs on the current version of Win11). Even without a printed user
manual it is easy to use and most you need can be accessed by a single
key click. I even us it for music streaming because of the built-in equalizer.
The only thing it can't do, is to read the video data from stdin.
VLC is the only player I found which can do this. By reading the
video from stdin you can play encrypted videos without the need
to first storing an unencrypted version on the disk (which could be
a security problem).
Problems with VideoLAN VLC:
- With repeat mode enabled, there is a lag from when the last frame of a
video is displayed to looping back to play the first frame. The
result is a momentary black screen. Doesn't happen with all videos,
but with many of them.
- Time to load VLC has severely increased. Used to be a second, or two.
Now it takes half a minute, or sometimes 2 minutes. The user thinks
VLC won't load, so they double-click the video file again, waits, and
tries to open the video file again. Of course, when VLC eventually
get around to loading, multiple instances of VLC get loaded playing
the same video. After the first long lag, subsequent loads are quick
I could try going back to a prior version of VLC, but I'm not
degrading a product to overcome a side-effect of some update. I could
either tolerate the load lag, or, more likely, switch to a different
media player without the load lag.
I changed filetype associations to point at MPC-BE. I also have XnView Classic installed since MPC won't show GIF files. I've uninstalled VLC.
Just not going to bother with it anymore. Another "defect" (unwanted
trait) of VLC is it uses its own private codec store inside of lib*.dll files. To get new codec versions requires waiting until there is a new
Problems with VideoLAN VLC:
- With repeat mode enabled, there is a lag from when the last frame of a
video is displayed to looping back to play the first frame. The
result is a momentary black screen. Doesn't happen with all videos,
but with many of them.
- Time to load VLC has severely increased. Used to be a second, or two.
Now it takes half a minute, or sometimes 2 minutes. T
On 3/23/2026 12:09 AM, VanguardLH wrote:
Problems with VideoLAN VLC:
- With repeat mode enabled, there is a lag from when the last frame of a
ÿÿ video is displayed to looping back to play the first frame.ÿ The
ÿÿ result is a momentary black screen.ÿ Doesn't happen with all videos,
ÿÿ but with many of them.
- Time to load VLC has severely increased.ÿ Used to be a second, or two.
ÿÿ Now it takes half a minute, or sometimes 2 minutes.ÿ T
Win11 Pro 25H2, 8th Gen i5 chip(4-core, 8 logical), 12 GB RAM with onboard GPUs(default Intel UHD 620, optional Geforce MX150 - the former uses device RAM, the latter includes 2 GB RAM on chip).
VLC 3.0.23
Time to load, almost instantly, less than 4 sec.
Tested with a cross section( 6 total) of MP4(4 GB) and MOV(14 GB) files(largest size of any as shown) - Mpeg4 and HEVC formats
Nothing unusual, no lag, no black screen.
VLC configured with defaults.
Not a large sample size, though.
Herbert Kleebauer <klee@unibwm.de> wrote:
Is there something wrong with later versions of PotPlayer as to why you
avoid them?
VLC
also says it will open video streams from a specified URL. Never got
that to work,
The only thing it can't do, is to read the video data from stdin.
VLC is the only player I found which can do this.
I might've played with that function a long time ago, but it was just
once, so I attributed failure trying to use it to my inexperience.
On Mon, 3/23/2026 4:07 PM, ...w¤?ñ?¤ wrote:
On 3/23/2026 12:09 AM, VanguardLH wrote:
Problems with VideoLAN VLC:
- With repeat mode enabled, there is a lag from when the last frame of a >>> ÿÿ video is displayed to looping back to play the first frame.ÿ The
ÿÿ result is a momentary black screen.ÿ Doesn't happen with all videos, >>> ÿÿ but with many of them.
- Time to load VLC has severely increased.ÿ Used to be a second, or two. >>> ÿÿ Now it takes half a minute, or sometimes 2 minutes.ÿ T
Win11 Pro 25H2, 8th Gen i5 chip(4-core, 8 logical), 12 GB RAM with onboard GPUs(default Intel UHD 620, optional Geforce MX150 - the former uses device RAM, the latter includes 2 GB RAM on chip).
VLC 3.0.23
Time to load, almost instantly, less than 4 sec.
Tested with a cross section( 6 total) of MP4(4 GB) and MOV(14 GB) files(largest size of any as shown) - Mpeg4 and HEVC formats
Nothing unusual, no lag, no black screen.
VLC configured with defaults.
Not a large sample size, though.
I want to start with a description of Van's equipment for this.
Just in case.
Paul
On 3/23/2026 7:34 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
Herbert Kleebauer <klee@unibwm.de> wrote:
Is there something wrong with later versions of PotPlayer as to why you
avoid them?
Never change a running system. I'm used to it and it does all I need.
VLC
also says it will open video streams from a specified URL.ÿ Never got
that to work,
In VLC type <CTRL>-D, in PotPlayer type <CTRL>-U and enter the URL,
for example https://onlib.de/pub/pfv/demo.mp4
especially when using URLs to Youtube videos.
There are no URLs to Youtube videos, only URLs to WWW pages with embedded videos. And even specializedÿ YouTube downloader have do adopt the
code ever few weeks to be able to extract the video from the WWW page
because YouTube tries to prevent this.
The only thing it can't do, is to read the video data from stdin.
VLC is the only player I found which can do this.
I might've played with that function a long time ago, but it was just
once, so I attributed failure trying to use it to my inexperience.
You have to use a "-" as a parameter to vlc.exe:
C:\path_to_vlc\vlc.exe -
If you download the above demo.mp4, with PotPlayer (and most other
players) you can only play the first video in demo.mp4. But with
"vlc.exe -" you can also view the other, encrypted videos contained
in demo.mp4 without first extracting and decrypting them.
Problems with VideoLAN VLC:
- With repeat mode enabled, there is a lag from when the last frame of a
video is displayed to looping back to play the first frame. The
result is a momentary black screen. Doesn't happen with all videos,
but with many of them.
- Time to load VLC has severely increased. Used to be a second, or two.
Now it takes half a minute, or sometimes 2 minutes. The user thinks
VLC won't load, so they double-click the video file again, waits, and
tries to open the video file again. Of course, when VLC eventually
get around to loading, multiple instances of VLC get loaded playing
the same video. After the first long lag, subsequent loads are quick
until sometime later (don't know how long, if a Windows session exit
and restart is needed, or what). This lag to load did not happen in
the past, but noticed it started over the last couple months.
This is on Windows. On Linux, users notice even worse problems,
like exiting VLC, trying to open another video file, and another,
and another, but VLC never shows up. They have to kill all hung
instances of vlc.exe whereupon a subsequent load will work. I don't
use Linux at home, but I'd like to keep abreast of problems with my
Windows software that could run under Linux.
I could try going back to a prior version of VLC, but I'm not
degrading a product to overcome a side-effect of some update. I could
either tolerate the load lag, or, more likely, switch to a different
media player without the load lag.
vlc https://onlib.de/pub/pfv/demo.mp4
plays a video of almost a minute, of a cat on a roof. I do not see any
second video.
The latest version of K-Lite is MPC-HC 2.6.4 released 4 days ago,
not 10
years ago.
https://github.com/clsid2/mpc-hc/releases
Microsoft provides two apps: 'Media Player' and 'Films & TV'. These
should be your first port of call. There's no point ignoring the
features that come with the operating system, whether it's Microsoft,
Google or Ubuntu/Linux.
You can also open MP4/Mp3 files in any browser because they have all the necessary codecs supplied.
On 23/03/2026 07:09, VanguardLH wrote:
Problems with VideoLAN VLC:
- With repeat mode enabled, there is a lag from when the last frame of a
video is displayed to looping back to play the first frame. The
result is a momentary black screen. Doesn't happen with all videos,
but with many of them.
- Time to load VLC has severely increased. Used to be a second, or two.
Now it takes half a minute, or sometimes 2 minutes. The user thinks
VLC won't load, so they double-click the video file again, waits, and
tries to open the video file again. Of course, when VLC eventually
get around to loading, multiple instances of VLC get loaded playing
the same video. After the first long lag, subsequent loads are quick
until sometime later (don't know how long, if a Windows session exit
and restart is needed, or what). This lag to load did not happen in
the past, but noticed it started over the last couple months.
This is on Windows. On Linux, users notice even worse problems,
like exiting VLC, trying to open another video file, and another,
and another, but VLC never shows up. They have to kill all hung
instances of vlc.exe whereupon a subsequent load will work. I don't
use Linux at home, but I'd like to keep abreast of problems with my
Windows software that could run under Linux.
I could try going back to a prior version of VLC, but I'm not
degrading a product to overcome a side-effect of some update. I could
either tolerate the load lag, or, more likely, switch to a different
media player without the load lag.
I've grown weary of defects in VideoLan's VLC. The momentary black
screen going from last frame to show first frame is a many-year-old
problem, but started happening after some codec or program update a few
years ago. The severely long lag to load VLC is, to me, a more recent
problem a couple months old, but Linux users have reported VLC hanging
for a long time.
I changed filetype associations to point at MPC-BE. I also have XnView
Classic installed since MPC won't show GIF files. I've uninstalled VLC.
Just not going to bother with it anymore. Another "defect" (unwanted
trait) of VLC is it uses its own private codec store inside of lib*.dll
files. To get new codec versions requires waiting until there is a new
version of VLC. Newly installed global codecs in the OS, like when
using K-Lite Codec Pack, has no effect on the codecs that VLC uses. I
don't know where MPC-BE and PotPlayer find the codecs. Might be the
global ones installed into the OS, or a private store as with VLC.
While MPC-BE has both a repeat mode (repeat entire video, and without
any black screen when looping back to the start) and an A->B loop mode
(using [ and ] hotkeys to set the A start and B end play points), XnView
has not A->B loop mode that I could find. I only kept XnView Classic
for it to play GIF files since MPC-BE does not. I've uninstalled VLC,
and may look at alternatives for it; however, MPC-BE pretty much gives
me everything I need for a media player. PotPlayer seems a good choice,
but has a steep learning curve, and I found no documentation on it, so
learn it through experimentation, and drilling through many levels of
cascaded menues.
As I recall, XnView has a feature to play videos streams by specifying a
URL, like to a Youtube video, but it never worked for me. Got some
error about video stream not found. I've seen YT videos showing
PotPlayer will play video streams via URL. However, MPC-BE also has its
File -> Open File/URL option that can play video streams via URL, like
URLs pointing to Youtube videos. So, for now, I don't need PotPlayer
for this, and can use MPC-BE. I couldn't get it to work in VLC.
Besides MPC-BE, XnView, and PotPlayer, any suggestions of another media
players that have no lag on load, no hang on loading multiple instances,
has both a repeat mode (for whole video), A->B loop mode, play video
streams via URL, and uses the global codecs defined in the OS instead of
a private codec store or hidden inside .dll files?
Microsoft provides two apps: 'Media Player' and 'Films & TV'. These
should be your first port of call. There's no point ignoring the
features that come with the operating system, whether it's Microsoft,
Google or Ubuntu/Linux.
You can also open MP4/Mp3 files in any browser because they have all the necessary codecs supplied.
:-) The cupboard, she is bare. Who wants to play additive-whack-a-mole ?
This reads like they scanned my video card DXVA SIP and listed the
formats my video card has for acceleration.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/windows/codecs-in-media-player-d5c2cdcd-83a2-4805-abb0-c6888138e456
For the other one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Movies_%26_TV
"The Movies & TV service shut down in 2025 as part of Microsoft's
continuing distancing from consumer entertainment services."
Let's try a strawman that will make us cry, shall we ?
This has been sitting on disk for some years now, not created
especially for this post.
concattest2.avi 22,104,170,386 bytes a transcode from KEY01.mp4 6,570,687,638 bytes
Media Player is the one that cannot play it.
Even though, historically, Microsoft had the CODEC for this (inbox).
[Picture] (Open a Cinepak AVI with Media Player -- "No CODEC")
https://i.postimg.cc/YSX5wZrj/Win11-Media-Player-Test.jpg
https://imgur.com/a/3jJrdFA
Paul
On 3/23/2026 9:01 PM, Paul wrote:
:-)ÿÿ The cupboard, she is bare. Who wants to play additive-whack-a-mole ? >> ÿÿÿÿÿÿ This reads like they scanned my video card DXVA SIP and listed the
ÿÿÿÿÿÿ formats my video card has for acceleration.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/windows/codecs-in-media-player-d5c2cdcd-83a2-4805-abb0-c6888138e456
For the other one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Movies_%26_TV
ÿÿÿ "The Movies & TV service shut down in 2025 as part of Microsoft's
ÿÿÿÿ continuing distancing from consumer entertainment services."
The online service, not the app.
Let's try a strawman that will make us cry, shall we ?
This has been sitting on disk for some years now, not created
especially for this post.
ÿÿÿ concattest2.aviÿÿÿ 22,104,170,386 bytesÿÿÿ a transcode from KEY01.mp4ÿ 6,570,687,638 bytes
Media Player is the one that cannot play it.
Even though, historically, Microsoft had the CODEC for this (inbox).
ÿÿÿ [Picture]ÿ (Open a Cinepak AVI with Media Player -- "No CODEC")
ÿÿÿÿ https://i.postimg.cc/YSX5wZrj/Win11-Media-Player-Test.jpg
ÿÿÿÿ https://imgur.com/a/3jJrdFA
ÿÿ Paul
Might not be a good example.
If it's a Cinepak AVI, its been sitting for some time and then some more.
ÿ- old 1990's era lossy video wrapped in avi form, reasonably known as obsolete, codec-limited, and for sometime(more than 20 yrs) recommended to convert the Avi to a more modern format(mp4 or mov) for play-ability on anything after WinXP.
Problems with VideoLAN VLC:
- With repeat mode enabled, there is a lag from when the last frame of a
video is displayed to looping back to play the first frame. The
result is a momentary black screen. Doesn't happen with all videos,
but with many of them.
On 23/03/2026 07:09, VanguardLH wrote:
Problems with VideoLAN VLC:
- With repeat mode enabled, there is a lag from when the last frame of a
ÿÿ video is displayed to looping back to play the first frame.ÿ The
ÿÿ result is a momentary black screen.ÿ Doesn't happen with all videos,
ÿÿ but with many of them.
VLC used to be good but they broke it somewhere after V2.1.5 (the last
good version that I downloaded an installation for). V3.0.23 (latest) certainly has the bug.
I can reliably get into a state where the video freezes but the sound continues, and it seems to happen if I pause/resume a couple of times. Sometimes if I leave it playing, the video suddenly resumes and plays perfectly - until the next time I pause/single-step/resume.
It seems to happen most commonly with off-air SD or HD recordings in .ts format from UK TV - ie MPEG1 or H264 compression. I've not seen it
happen with recordings in .mpg format (though still with MPEG1
compression).
It's annoying if it happens when I pause the credits to transcribe them
into IMDB and then resume for the next screenful.
I'm tempted to go back to V2.1.5 which is bombproof - but can't play
some newer codecs (some downloads from Youtube).
VLC used to be good but they broke it somewhere after V2.1.5 (the last
good version that I downloaded an installation for). V3.0.23 (latest) certainly has the bug.
I can reliably get into a state where the video freezes but the sound continues, and it seems to happen if I pause/resume a couple of times.
Sometimes if I leave it playing, the video suddenly resumes and plays
perfectly - until the next time I pause/single-step/resume.
It seems to happen most commonly with off-air SD or HD recordings in .ts format from UK TV - ie MPEG1 or H264 compression. I've not seen it
happen with recordings in .mpg format (though still with MPEG1 compression).
It's annoying if it happens when I pause the credits to transcribe them
into IMDB and then resume for the next screenful.
I'm tempted to go back to V2.1.5 which is bombproof - but can't play
some newer codecs (some downloads from Youtube).
On 2026-03-27 11:47, NY wrote:
On 23/03/2026 07:09, VanguardLH wrote:
Problems with VideoLAN VLC:
- With repeat mode enabled, there is a lag from when the last frame of a >>> ÿÿ video is displayed to looping back to play the first frame.ÿ The
ÿÿ result is a momentary black screen.ÿ Doesn't happen with all videos,
ÿÿ but with many of them.
VLC used to be good but they broke it somewhere after V2.1.5 (the last
good version that I downloaded an installation for). V3.0.23 (latest)
certainly has the bug.
I can reliably get into a state where the video freezes but the sound
continues, and it seems to happen if I pause/resume a couple of times.
Sometimes if I leave it playing, the video suddenly resumes and plays
perfectly - until the next time I pause/single-step/resume.
It seems to happen most commonly with off-air SD or HD recordings in .ts
format from UK TV - ie MPEG1 or H264 compression. I've not seen it
happen with recordings in .mpg format (though still with MPEG1
compression).
It's annoying if it happens when I pause the credits to transcribe them
into IMDB and then resume for the next screenful.
I'm tempted to go back to V2.1.5 which is bombproof - but can't play
some newer codecs (some downloads from Youtube).
I have a weird trouble with VLC, that it can not play some 4K videos in
my old machines, but plays them fine in my new machines. However, they
play fine using Kodi instead.
Kodi has a problem of its own, that I can not call
kodi moviename with spaces.some
so I have to rename them in advance. All this in Linux, my Windows is a virtual machine, so I do not use it to play videos.
On 2026/3/27 12:30:27, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Can you enclose the moviename in quotes or something similar?
I have a weird trouble with VLC, that it can not play some 4K videos in
my old machines, but plays them fine in my new machines. However, they
play fine using Kodi instead.
Kodi has a problem of its own, that I can not call
kodi moviename with spaces.some
so I have to rename them in advance. All this in Linux, my Windows is a
virtual machine, so I do not use it to play videos.
Problems with VideoLAN VLC:
....
On 2026-03-27 11:47, NY wrote:
On 23/03/2026 07:09, VanguardLH wrote:
Problems with VideoLAN VLC:
- With repeat mode enabled, there is a lag from when the last frame of a >>> ÿÿ video is displayed to looping back to play the first frame.ÿ The
ÿÿ result is a momentary black screen.ÿ Doesn't happen with all videos,
ÿÿ but with many of them.
VLC used to be good but they broke it somewhere after V2.1.5 (the last good version that I downloaded an installation for). V3.0.23 (latest) certainly has the bug.
I can reliably get into a state where the video freezes but the sound continues, and it seems to happen if I pause/resume a couple of times. Sometimes if I leave it playing, the video suddenly resumes and plays perfectly - until the next time I pause/single-step/resume.
It seems to happen most commonly with off-air SD or HD recordings in .ts format from UK TV - ie MPEG1 or H264 compression. I've not seen it happen with recordings in .mpg format (though still with MPEG1 compression).
It's annoying if it happens when I pause the credits to transcribe them into IMDB and then resume for the next screenful.
I'm tempted to go back to V2.1.5 which is bombproof - but can't play some newer codecs (some downloads from Youtube).
I have a weird trouble with VLC, that it can not play some 4K videos in my old machines, but plays them fine in my new machines. However, they play fine using Kodi instead.
Kodi has a problem of its own, that I can not call
kodi moviename with spaces.some
so I have to rename them in advance. All this in Linux, my Windows is a virtual machine, so I do not use it to play videos.
I can reliably get into a state where the video freezes but the sound continues, and it seems to happen if I pause/resume a couple of times. Sometimes if I leave it playing, the video suddenly resumes and plays perfectly - until the next time I pause/single-step/resume.
VLC is possibly the best video player for Linux users... :)
On 2026/3/27 10:47:19, NY wrote:
[]
VLC used to be good but they broke it somewhere after V2.1.5 (the last
good version that I downloaded an installation for). V3.0.23 (latest)
certainly has the bug.
I find it on the whole good - and has a compromise between bloat,
features, and usability that suits me. It's pretty useless if I try to
play a very high-resolution video, but that's processor overload (I get
the same if I try that with other players), and I can see no point
anyway in trying to play anything above the resolution of my display, so (with ChatGPT's help) my download .bat (which uses yt-dlp) limits at
that's size. (Obviously, makes for much smaller files, too.)
I can reliably get into a state where the video freezes but the sound
continues, and it seems to happen if I pause/resume a couple of times.
I get that very occasionally, but not often. Actually, now you mention
it, I used to get it quite frequently - always, I think - after editing
the metadata (the edit succeeded [the file was modified] but after the
save, the video froze but the audio continued); that no longer seems to
be the case, so they must have fixed whatever was causing it.
Sometimes if I leave it playing, the video suddenly resumes and plays
Maybe when it has hit enough Iframes.
perfectly - until the next time I pause/single-step/resume.
It seems to happen most commonly with off-air SD or HD recordings in .ts
format from UK TV - ie MPEG1 or H264 compression. I've not seen it
happen with recordings in .mpg format (though still with MPEG1 compression).
Ah, I usually get mine from the iplayer rather than live. I admit that doesn't cover the non-BBC channels.
It's annoying if it happens when I pause the credits to transcribe them
into IMDB and then resume for the next screenful.
Ah, so you're one of those who do that; thank you! And yes, I can see
it'd be particularly irritating when you're doing that.
Not that it's a solution, but you do know VLC has a "go to specified
time" function? That could _help_ with the above.
I'm tempted to go back to V2.1.5 which is bombproof - but can't play
some newer codecs (some downloads from Youtube).
Is that easily available (sounds like a thing that could be useful to
have), or is it just that you've kept the installer from then?
Could you have two versions installed?
With the latest FFMPEG, the FOSS side of the universe usuallyfffmpeg, ffprobe, and ffplay.
has prototype CODEC code for any new movie format, before it
becomes too popular. It will not have proprietary ones,
such as what a RED 8K camera outputs (RED offers a conversion tool).
ffplay some.hevc
FFMPEG has
I don't think the ffmpeg web site itself, offers binaries or
pre-built materials.
Paul
I've noticed over a long time that the ffmpeg process sometimes does not exit, or takes longer than expected. Somehow the process using ffmpeg's[]
CLI gets disconnected from ffmpeg, or ffmpeg isn't returning status to
the caller process to let the caller know when ffmpeg is done. For a
video streaming program (jaksta) that uses ffmpeg, I use a batch file to start that program, and to kill any remnant ffmpeg processes left behind
on exit from the program. However, sometimes disconnected ffmpeg
processes become unresponsive, the caller program keeps waiting, and I'm required to exit the program which runs the rest of the batch script to
kill any remnant ffmpeg processes. Then I reload the program which
On Tue, 3/24/2026 5:33 AM, ...w¤?ñ?¤ wrote:
On 3/23/2026 9:01 PM, Paul wrote:
:-)ÿÿ The cupboard, she is bare. Who wants to play additive-whack-a-mole ? >>> ÿÿÿÿÿÿ This reads like they scanned my video card DXVA SIP and listed the >>> ÿÿÿÿÿÿ formats my video card has for acceleration.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/windows/codecs-in-media-player-d5c2cdcd-83a2-4805-abb0-c6888138e456
For the other one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Movies_%26_TV
ÿÿÿ "The Movies & TV service shut down in 2025 as part of Microsoft's
ÿÿÿÿ continuing distancing from consumer entertainment services."
The online service, not the app.
Let's try a strawman that will make us cry, shall we ?
This has been sitting on disk for some years now, not created
especially for this post.
ÿÿÿ concattest2.aviÿÿÿ 22,104,170,386 bytesÿÿÿ a transcode from KEY01.mp4ÿ 6,570,687,638 bytes
Media Player is the one that cannot play it.
Even though, historically, Microsoft had the CODEC for this (inbox).
ÿÿÿ [Picture]ÿ (Open a Cinepak AVI with Media Player -- "No CODEC")
ÿÿÿÿ https://i.postimg.cc/YSX5wZrj/Win11-Media-Player-Test.jpg
ÿÿÿÿ https://imgur.com/a/3jJrdFA
ÿÿ Paul
Might not be a good example.
If it's a Cinepak AVI, its been sitting for some time and then some more.
ÿ- old 1990's era lossy video wrapped in avi form, reasonably known as obsolete, codec-limited, and for sometime(more than 20 yrs) recommended to convert the Avi to a more modern format(mp4 or mov) for play-ability on anything after WinXP.
I made it myself, using FFMPEG and the (new) Cinepak encoder.
I did this project a couple years ago. It was an attempt to see
if the fast-seek characteristics of Cinepak would make it good
for reviewing 3 hour videos and quickly finding quote-able materials.
I can jog and shuttle and the player does not lose sync.
I've wedged other stuff into the Microsoft player that emitted messages,
but I've given up on caring what the messages say. Not interested.
Paul
On 2026/3/27 16:42:3, Paul wrote:
[]
With the latest FFMPEG, the FOSS side of the universe usuallyfffmpeg, ffprobe, and ffplay.
has prototype CODEC code for any new movie format, before it
becomes too popular. It will not have proprietary ones,
such as what a RED 8K camera outputs (RED offers a conversion tool).
ffplay some.hevc
FFMPEG has
[]
I don't think the ffmpeg web site itself, offers binaries orFor we mere mortals (who are Windows 10 users), who know nothing of
pre-built materials.
Paul
building things, and don't even use .7z often (though I have an opener
for them):
1. will getting newer versions break anything?
2. if not, where _do_ we get them, in view of what you say above?
3. do we need to anyway?
I have:
ffmpeg.exe - 54,624 KB (yes, ~54 MB!) dated 2023 (that's when I would
have got it, not its date), in a folder (called ffs) under yt-dlp; 328
KB dated 2025-5 (under an audio extractor); and 391 KB dated 2025-7
(under DVDFab/BookFab, whatever that is).
ffprobe.exe - 64,524 KB dated 2023; 173 KB dated 2025-5; and 205 KB
dated 2025-7 (same places).
ffplay.exe - 54,492 KB 2023; 1,299 KB dated 2025-5; and 2,110 KB dated 2025-7.
I'm not sure which ones I use; I do use the audio extractor, and
specifically the big ffprobe one, but I also tell yt-dlp what folder
they're in (the big ones), so it may call all three of them. (I hadn't realised until creating this post the huge discrepancy in sizes.)
NY <me@privacy.net> wrote:
I can reliably get into a state where the video freezes but the sound
continues, and it seems to happen if I pause/resume a couple of times.
Sometimes if I leave it playing, the video suddenly resumes and plays
perfectly - until the next time I pause/single-step/resume.
I've experienced where I exit VLC, its window disappears, but the audio continues playing for a few seconds. Catches me off guard, and
wondering if VLC actually did exit (unload) or not.
I've noticed over a long time that the ffmpeg process sometimes does not exit, or takes longer than expected. Somehow the process using ffmpeg's
CLI gets disconnected from ffmpeg, or ffmpeg isn't returning status to
the caller process to let the caller know when ffmpeg is done. For a
video streaming program (jaksta) that uses ffmpeg, I use a batch file to start that program, and to kill any remnant ffmpeg processes left behind
on exit from the program. However, sometimes disconnected ffmpeg
processes become unresponsive, the caller program keeps waiting, and I'm required to exit the program which runs the rest of the batch script to
kill any remnant ffmpeg processes. Then I reload the program which
starts start new ffmpeg processes. While the program allows
concurrently capturing multiple video streams, I find more than 4 is
likely to result in unresponsive ffmpeg processes. Although not often,
I have seen orphaned ffmpeg processes left behind after exiting VLC.
MPC-HC also uses ffmpeg by using libavcodec.dll to expose ffmpeg's CLI. However, I've yet to get the momentary black screen when a video repeats (jumping from last to first frame), a long lag to load MPC-HC, or the disconnected or orphaned ffmpeg processes on exiting MPC-HC. While I've
had MPC-HC around for many years while bundled in the full pack of
K-Lite Codec, I haven't started using it regularly (by default) until
very recently, so I'll have to watch an add behavior with it handling
and communicating with ffmpeg.
Mr. Man-wai Chang <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> wrote:
VLC is possibly the best video player for Linux users... :)
Better than SMplayer and Celluloid (both are frontends to mpv, like many media players are frontends to ffmpeg, like VLC via libavcodec, a
library to expose ffmpeg's CLI)?
VLC bundles its own private codec store instead of using the global
codec store from the OS. If there is a problem with a codec, you won't
get a new and fixed one with VLC until some later update to VLC. For
media players using the OS registered codecs, you can update the codecs
when available, like use K-Lite. VideoLAN doesn't take long to get out
a new VLC version to update defective codecs hidden in their lib*.dll
files, but you do have to wait.
On Linux, I've seen articles of those users reporting VLC becomes unresponsive when loading multiple instances. A user loads VLC to play
a video, and then quickly loads other instances of VLC to play other
videos, but VLC goes unresponsive. Won't load and play the other
videos, won't exit, so its processes have to be killed, and VLC reloaded
to try again.
Under Windows, I could never get the File -> URL feature to play videos
by specifying a URL to the video. VLC always puked an error. However,
using the same URL, MPC-HC could play the video. Does File -> URL work
in VLC on Linux? Try it against URLs to Youtube videos where I got
MPC-HC to work without issue or contriving some workaround.
On 2026/3/27 16:15:42, VanguardLH wrote:
[]
I've noticed over a long time that the ffmpeg process sometimes does not[]
exit, or takes longer than expected. Somehow the process using ffmpeg's
CLI gets disconnected from ffmpeg, or ffmpeg isn't returning status to
the caller process to let the caller know when ffmpeg is done. For a
video streaming program (jaksta) that uses ffmpeg, I use a batch file to
start that program, and to kill any remnant ffmpeg processes left behind
on exit from the program. However, sometimes disconnected ffmpeg
processes become unresponsive, the caller program keeps waiting, and I'm
required to exit the program which runs the rest of the batch script to
kill any remnant ffmpeg processes. Then I reload the program which
Sometimes my batch file to do downloads (which calls yt-dlp - which may
call the ff*.exe files - as well as ffprobe explicitly) locks up,
especially if I've left file explorer showing the folder where it makes
its temporary files.
Would you care to share the batch lines that kill ff* processes, so I
could put them into a batch file to call when this happens?
FFMPEG could be triggering a video card issue. Some of these could be
logged in Eventvwr.msc , or, they could be in the Reliability
Monitor.
I used to have tools that had the loop button in the interface,
but in the VLC I've got, there is no button there right now, and
I would guess somewhere in the preferences is a tick box for something
like that.
It's quite possible VLC has a problem, but I'm not seeing it
here at the moment. And we don't know too much about your
hardware, to comment on whether the hardware is a contributing
factor or not.
On Fri, 3/27/2026 1:41 PM, J. P. Gilliver wrote:[]
[]For we mere mortals (who are Windows 10 users), who know nothing of
building things, and don't even use .7z often (though I have an opener
for them):
1. will getting newer versions break anything?
2. if not, where _do_ we get them, in view of what you say above?
3. do we need to anyway?
When you build FFMPEG, you get to pick what it supports.
That is why someone made a smaller version (by selecting things
in the build), so they would have a smaller one to use as a helper
for other programs.
The version 8 statically compiled ones, should be a bit over 100MB
at a guess. That's if 99% of the available options are in there.
(Something like AsciiArt output, may not be a popular build option.
It could be struck off.)
If you're transcoding video on your media server, your media server[]
If you use FFMPEG, you will notice it burps out a "large chunk
The FFMPEG included in yt-dlp, the file could be smaller,
the chunk of text during startup could be shorter. And as
a user, I could figure out what should work or not work,
based on the configuration list it burps out.
"J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:[]
Would you care to share the batch lines that kill ff* processes, so I
could put them into a batch file to call when this happens?
The command in my batch file to kill remnant/orphaned ffmpeg processes:
taskkill.exe /im ffmpeg.exe /f 2> nul
The batch file does a lot more, like setup, run the program, killy
remnant processes (after exiting the program), and do cleanup. The onl
yt-dlp, on the other hand, does not run multiple stream captures. You[]
On Fri, 3/27/2026 8:30 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2026-03-27 11:47, NY wrote:
On 23/03/2026 07:09, VanguardLH wrote:
Kodi has a problem of its own, that I can not call
kodi moviename with spaces.some
so I have to rename them in advance. All this in Linux, my Windows is a virtual machine, so I do not use it to play videos.
Did you try:
kodi "moviename with spaces.some"
as that would be a diagnostic test of the command
line parsing used by the application.
Notice (now), that when Linux lists items in the file
system, it actually surrounds such file names in
the proper syntax for users to copy. You would see
"moviename with spaces.some"
complete with the double quotes, and you could paste
that whole thing into Terminal to make
kodi "moviename with spaces.some"
and that would work with both parsing styles that
a programmer could use.
*******
On Windows, a few things work with the assumption there
is only one argument after the command. For those,
you can throw caution to the wind, as it treats everything
after the commandname as a literal. And even for those,
you can put double-quotes around the string. After a
while, double-quoting space-polluted strings becomes
second nature (even for a Windows user).
cd Program Files # Normally would be doomed, works... anyway
When I save files, like from a web browser, I use hyphens
as my space filler, for the reasons of the above. Now
Linux does not put double quotes around my item when I list.
moviename-with-spaces.some
And then
kodi moviename-with-spaces.some
should work fine and you can test that.
For test directories here, if I'm making a little program
or script, throwing examples into the directory with
a space is all part of testing. You can test a whole
lot of parsing issues, in one filename. This is one
reason I told Micky the other day, that "searching
the file system is hard", because you could run
into the Hungarian Website Folder and your tool
will stop dead there. Some folders on my disk,
are too good at their job (test). Some of the tools
we use on computers, still aren't ready for this.
French ‡ ?.txt
and I could have stored that as
French-Cedilla-ROTFLOL.txt
| Sysop: | Tetrazocine |
|---|---|
| Location: | Melbourne, VIC, Australia |
| Users: | 13 |
| Nodes: | 8 (0 / 8) |
| Uptime: | 58:29:54 |
| Calls: | 211 |
| Files: | 21,502 |
| Messages: | 81,624 |
