VLC does not display video from DVD or streaming video

[Glenn Brumfield]

VLC was installed originally from the hdhomerun_config_gui package as a dependency. VLC would not display video from HD Homerun Prime network tv tuner with latest firmware (tuner works on different PC). VLC also failed to display video from DVD. Audio worked for both tuner and DVD. Completely removed VLC using Synaptic including configuration files. Installed VLC from Ubuntu Software Center, which installed a SNAP version of VLC. The SNAP version of VLC would not run. Uninstalled VLC using Ubuntu Software Center, installed a different VLC version from Ubuntu Software Center (probably non-SNAP). This version of VLC again will only play audio, not the video from DVD or the hdhomerun_config_gui.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: vlc-nox 2.2.2-5ubuntu0.16.04.4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.10.0-35.39~16.04.1-generic 4.10.17
Uname: Linux 4.10.0-35-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.10
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Wed Oct 4 12:03:06 2017
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/vlc
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-10-02 (1 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20170801)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 LANGUAGE=en_US
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
SourcePackage: vlc
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Glenn Brumfield (brumfield-glenn)]

I checked VLC on my Ubuntu 16.04 notebook with all recent updates -it too will not display video from my HD Homerun tuner or video from a DVD. The DVD displays video using the 'Videos' application, just not using VLC. The only computer I have tried that VLC still displays videos on is one I have not updated for about a week, which leads me to think that a recent update must have borked something - if not VLC (same version is on all my PC's) then one of the dependencies.

I'll dig out my old 32-bit laptop to see if it is affected by this.

[Glenn Brumfield (brumfield-glenn)]

OK, VLC works properly on my old 32-bit Ubuntu 16.04 laptop (both for the HD Homerun tuner and for DVD's); it hasn't been updated in about a week and has about 20 updates available. There is a kernel update as well as a bunch of *.lib files to update - if anyone needs a list of my uninstalled updates, I'll copy it out.

[Glenn Brumfield (brumfield-glenn)]

I checked VLC on an antique 64-bit server running Ubuntu 16.04 desktop. It's been a week since this machine was updated; 42 updates are available, none of which is a kernel update. VLC (version 2.2.2, same as all my other PC's) works properly and displays video as it should. The 2 machines that I've updated this week cannot display video in VLC. The 2 machines that haven't been updated have no video problems with VLC. Seems there is an update or two that is doing this to VLC.

[Glenn Brumfield (brumfield-glenn)]

Just updated my 64-bit Ubuntu PC and my 32-bit Lubuntu PC with the latest updates. VLC works perfectly on 32-bit but still no video (audio still works) on 64-bit.

[Glenn Brumfield (brumfield-glenn)]

OK, I've figured out what's going on. My PC's have been using the Nouveau display driver (apparently one of my recent updates reset my active video driver(s) from the Nvidia proprietary driver to the default Nouveau open-source driver(s)). Once I downloaded, installed and activated the Nvidia proprietary driver(s) for my video card(s) VLC works as it should on my PC's. However, this means that there is still an incompatibility between VLC and the Nouveau open-source video driver.

[Sebastian Ramacher (s-ramacher)]

So, looks like a driver bug. Let's reassign to mesa, which provides the vdpau implementation for nouveau.