Can't open multimedia apps

[Automat2]

Hello,

I have upgraded to Mantic and have noticed that for a while, am unable to open multimedia apps - VLC, videos, rhythmbox, Deepin movie, QM2 play, Audacity... the app doesn't open.

Or, if I try to open the file via Files, and try to select the app to open the audio or video from, I get the same result, the furthest I get is the app opening, but then immediately closing, without playing the file.

I tried removing

ffmepg

and

ubuntu-restricted-extras

and then reinstalling them both, but I get no joy. I have both now as the most recent version.

Incidentally, I can't open

Telegram-desktop

either.

I remember having issues with video files in the past, but never with audio files.

I would certainly post outputs but don't know where to begin with. Any ideas anyone?

[Holger_Gehrke]

First step should be opening the program from the command line. If you do that, the program has a place to send any warnings and errors (the terminal window). If you start programs from some kind of graphical starter these messages either get discarded or end up in a log file (probably ~/.xsession-errors if using X11 or something else for Wayland ...).

Holger

[Autodave]

I assume that you have tried rebooting the machine? Occasionally, I'll see something on the 'net and afterwards some programs are inop. Won't happen for weeks or months, but then a couple times in just a few days. Rebooting makes everything work again.

[Automat2]

Rebooting makes everything work again.

Really?

[Automat2]

I think I wanted to switch to flatpack instead of snap for some other app.
When I tried vlc help from terminal, I get:

j-jdesktop:~$ vlc ~/Downloads/IMG_0037.mp4
Command 'vlc' not found, but can be installed with:
sudo snap install vlc # version 3.0.19, or
sudo apt install vlc-bin # version 3.0.18-4
See 'snap info vlc' for additional versions.

And I'm playing an audio podcast at this very moment on VLC. But it still doesn't play videos.

[1fallen]

If it is a flatpak, run this then:

flatpak run org.videolan.VLC

That might help give us some clues.

[Autodave]

Really?

Really? I don't assume that anyone knows anything. Also, I have been doing this (fixing and building computers) for over 30 years. You would be surprised at some dumb things that I have "fixed" for others by either having them reboot the machine or remove the laptop battery for a few minutes. Sorry that my reply seemed stupid to you.

[Automat2]

I ran the command and got this:

flatpak run org.videolan.VLC
=== Begin org.videolan.VLC.Plugin.pause_click Usage Instructions ===
You have installed org.videolan.VLC.Plugin.pause_click.
This plugin must be enabled in order for it to work.

(Recommended) You can enable it by using the following steps after the VLC launches:
  1. Tick "Pause/Play video on mouse click" checkbox in Tools -> Preferences -> Show settings -> All -> Interface -> Control Interfaces. Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/m9yF5Px.png
  2. Tick "Pause/Play video on mouse click" checkbox in Tools -> Preferences -> Show settings -> All -> Video -> Filters. Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/OZLqmI6.png
  3. Restart VLC
Note that both checkboxes need to be ticked for the plugin to function!

(Alternative) You can pass:
  --control=pause_click --video-filter=pause_click
arguments when running VLC to enable the plugin.
This method enables the plugin only for this specific VLC run, i.e. it's not persistent.

Plugin settings are available under Tools -> Preferences -> Show settings -> All -> Video -> Filters -> Pause click. Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/Kdrekks.png . The settings changes apply right away, there is no need to restart VLC.
=== End org.videolan.VLC.Plugin.pause_click Usage Instructions ===
VLC media player 3.0.20 Vetinari (revision 3.0.20-0-g6f0d0ab126b)
[000055ea339c67e0] main libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.
Gtk-Message: 18:33:09.558: Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module"
Gtk-Message: 18:33:09.559: Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module"
qt.qpa.qgnomeplatform: Could not find color scheme  ""
Qt: Session management error: Could not open network socket
[000055ea33a5a900] main playlist: playlist is empty

I installed canberra-gtk via Synaptic (I still had canberra3 installed) and then ran the command to open VLC. I still get the message that canberra has not loaded up.

[1fallen]

That message is totally harmless " canberra-gtk".
We are running it through the terminal so "Warnings or Errors" is not uncommon.
Now will you do the same again, but open a Video file or URL and post that back here please.
ie:

 flatpak run org.videolan.VLC  
VLC media player 3.0.20 Vetinari (revision 3.0.20-0-g6f0d0ab126b)
[0000599c74957cd0] main libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.
Gtk-Message: 12:29:20.185: Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module"
Qt: Session management error: Could not open network socket
[0000599c74a0c960] main playlist: playlist is empty
libva info: VA-API version 1.19.0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/radeonsi_drv_video.so
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/intel-vaapi-driver/radeonsi_drv_video.so
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/GL/lib/dri/radeonsi_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_19
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
[00007f8370c21260] avcodec decoder: Using Mesa Gallium driver 24.0.1 for AMD Radeon Graphics (radeonsi, renoir, LLVM 17.0.6, DRM 3.57, 6.8.0-11-generic) for hardware decoding

[Automat2]

flatpak run org.videolan.VLC vid\ 5.mp4
=== Begin org.videolan.VLC.Plugin.pause_click Usage Instructions ===
You have installed org.videolan.VLC.Plugin.pause_click.
This plugin must be enabled in order for it to work.

(Recommended) You can enable it by using the following steps after the VLC launches:
  1. Tick "Pause/Play video on mouse click" checkbox in Tools -> Preferences -> Show settings -> All -> Interface -> Control Interfaces. Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/m9yF5Px.png
  2. Tick "Pause/Play video on mouse click" checkbox in Tools -> Preferences -> Show settings -> All -> Video -> Filters. Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/OZLqmI6.png
  3. Restart VLC
Note that both checkboxes need to be ticked for the plugin to function!

(Alternative) You can pass:
  --control=pause_click --video-filter=pause_click
arguments when running VLC to enable the plugin.
This method enables the plugin only for this specific VLC run, i.e. it's not persistent.

Plugin settings are available under Tools -> Preferences -> Show settings -> All -> Video -> Filters -> Pause click. Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/Kdrekks.png . The settings changes apply right away, there is no need to restart VLC.
=== End org.videolan.VLC.Plugin.pause_click Usage Instructions ===
VLC media player 3.0.20 Vetinari (revision 3.0.20-0-g6f0d0ab126b)
[000055c9c857b7e0] main libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.
Gtk-Message: 20:02:17.166: Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module"
Gtk-Message: 20:02:17.167: Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module"
qt.qpa.qgnomeplatform: Could not find color scheme  ""
Qt: Session management error: Could not open network socket
libva info: VA-API version 1.19.0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/r600_drv_video.so
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/intel-vaapi-driver/r600_drv_video.so
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/GL/lib/dri/r600_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_19
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
[00007f448009bb50] vaapi generic error: vaCreateContext: resolution not supported
Failed to open VDPAU backend libvdpau_nvidia.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Failed to open VDPAU backend libvdpau_nvidia.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

If I try to open a video file from GUI, I can hear some audio for about 1 sec, and then VLC shuts. But this output is from terminal.