MX 19.4 xfce - VLC alternative with V4L2 and ALSA support wanted

Snugbug · 09-02-2021, 10:34 AM

In order to use a USB video grabber, I used to have a VLC launcher like this:

Code:

/usr/bin/vlc --fullscreen --no-autoscale --aspect-ratio=16:9 --zoom 1.62 --deinterlace=-1 --deinterlace-mode=yadif2x v4l2:///dev/video2:v4l2-standard=PAL_B :input-slave=alsa://hw:3,0 :v4l2-vbidev= :v4l2-chroma= :v4l2-input=0 :v4l2-audio-input=-1 :v4l2-width=1920 :v4l2-height=1080 :v4l2-aspect-ratio=16:9 :v4l2-radio-dev=/dev/radio0 :v4l2-tuner-frequency=-1 :v4l2-tuner-audio-mode=3 :no-v4l2-controls-reset :v4l2-brightness=125 :v4l2-brightness-auto=-1 :v4l2-contrast=-1 :v4l2-saturation=-1 :v4l2-hue=-1 :v4l2-hue-auto=-1 :v4l2-white-balance-temperature=-1 :v4l2-auto-white-balance=-1 :v4l2-red-balance=-1 :v4l2-blue-balance=-1 :v4l2-gamma=100 :v4l2-autogain=-1 :v4l2-gain=-1 :v4l2-sharpness=5 :v4l2-chroma-gain=-1 :v4l2-chroma-gain-auto=-1 :v4l2-power-line-frequency=-1 :v4l2-backlight-compensation=-1 :v4l2-band-stop-filter=-1 :no-v4l2-hflip :no-v4l2-vflip :v4l2-rotate=-1 :v4l2-color-killer=-1 :v4l2-color-effect=-1 :v4l2-audio-volume=-1 :v4l2-audio-balance=-1 :no-v4l2-audio-mute :v4l2-audio-bass=-1 :v4l2-audio-treble=-1 :no-v4l2-audio-loudness :v4l2-set-ctrls= :live-caching=300

Because of the latest update of VLC to 3.0.16, there's no sound anymore.
This is caused by a bug introduced with 3.0.13 of VLC and because of tons of dependency issues I would run into, it seems impossible to roll back to VLC 3.0.12 where this bug is not present yet.

Now, I'm looking for an alternative to VLC with V4L2 support to be able to select a /dev/video device and where I can also select an alsa://hw device.

This issue btw. is not only related to MX. It is also happening on other distros, like Mint for example.

What other player can I use and what would the syntax be like to make it work in a way similar to VLC, but with video AND sound, please?

Phin666 · 09-02-2021, 11:21 AM

I am not too knowledgeable, but is it possible to install multiple versions of VLC at the same time? Perhaps with a Snap or Flatpak version that is completely self contained as to not interfere with dependencies?

Snugbug · 09-02-2021, 12:18 PM

In MX, packages are usually installed using the MX package installer, where there's only 3.0.16 available, in both the Stable and the Flatpack repo.
In the Test repo of this package installer, there's 3.0.15 available, but this also ends up in 3.0.16 and even if 3.0.15 would work, it wouldn't do anyways, because I need 3.0.12 to avoid the bug.

Installing 3.0.12 using a DEB doesn't work either, because of tons of dependency issues, where I would risk the entire system to be ruined.

Using Synaptic doesn't work either for the same reason as with the DEB.

The only chance regarding VLC is to wait for a fixed version of that player.

Until then, I need another player as a workaround.

ondoho · 09-02-2021, 12:40 PM

Quote:

VLC alternative with V4L2 and ALSA support wanted

I am pretty sure VLC still can do that, but mpv is a mature Linux media player that fulfils your requirements.

danbar · 09-02-2021, 12:50 PM

Have you tried SMplayer?

Snugbug · 09-02-2021, 03:36 PM

In fact, I tried both mvp and MPlayer, but I couldn't find out the right syntax to make it work. Same with mplayer.

@ ondoho
No, it can't, sorry.
According to a conversation with somebody from the VLC team, this issue is caused by a bug in libvlccore.so, introduced in VLC 3.0.13,
which is apparently still present in 3.0.16.

In case you want to see for yourself, here's what the VLC log looks like on an MX19.4 live system, where there's still VLC 3.0.12 in use, before any updates are done:

Code:

[00005560397fa570] main libvlc: VLC is being executed with the standard Interface. Use 'cvlc', to run VLC without interface.
[00007f81d056fd80] deinterlace filter error: unknown or incompatible deinterlace mode "yadif2x" for packed format
QObject::~QObject: Timers cannot be stopped from another thread

And here's the log of VLC 3.0.16, i.e. the version, which contains the bug already:

Code:

[000055a152f0b570] main libvlc: VLC is being executed with the standard Interface. Use 'cvlc', to run VLC without interface.
[00007fee80000c40] main input error: Invalid url passed to the "input-slave" option
[00007fee6409ccd0] deinterlace filter error: unknown or incompatible deinterlace mode "yadif2x" for packed format
QObject::~QObject: Timers cannot be stopped from another thread

For both of these logs I was using the very same code as in my opening post.

Are you, or anybody else here, by any chance, able to transfer the code from my opening post into something, one of your suggested players can handle?
Because sorry, I can't, unfortunately.

Crippled · 09-09-2021, 12:09 PM

Since the developers of VLC broke it, I have switched to using Celluloid. You can find Celluloid in the MX Package Installer.