[SOLVED] KDE logs me out when trying to use MPlayer, guvcview

AnnS · 2011-12-08 04:20:07

Hi! Anyway, since one of the latest upgrades (I can't really say which one, since I don't use this applications frequently), every time I tried to initiate guvcview, my computer crashed and it returned me to the login screen. But now, after I tried to use AUR's youtube-viewer, I realized it's happening with MPlayer and VLC, too. So I'm guessing it's related. SMplayer is working, though.

After I try to open one of these programs, it immediately shows me a black screen and logs me out. And every time that happens, I see this in everything.log:

Dec  7 23:28:09 localhost kdm[754]: X server for display :0 terminated unexpectedly

That's the only relevant thing I can find.

I'm thinking it's because one of the upgrades (since I could use those programs before), perhaps ffmpeg?

Do you think it can be that? Or maybe there's something else?

But I don't understand why SMPlayer works.
Oh, and if this is relevant to you, my graphics card is an ATI 6550M and I'm using the Catalyst driver.

Last edited by AnnS (2011-12-16 20:38:48)

paziul · 2011-12-08 13:29:25

look in the mplayer.conf file in ~/.mplayer/ and /etc/mplayer/ directories - if none exists, create one: /etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf and add the following line:

vo=xv

if you have multiple mplayer.conf files, temporarily rename one in ~/.mplayer/ directory - always keep backups of configuration files before making changes
if still crashes or misbehaves replace xv with x11 or xvidix or gl or gl2

for troubleshooting ( without editing the conf file ) you can execute mplayer from the command line and force the specific video output driver, it also adds verbosity level and helps troubleshooting: ( preferred )

# mplayer -v -vo xv [video_file]

to see all available video output devices your mplayer was compiled with:

# mplayer -vo help

if still no success I would look for a different ATI driver

Last edited by paziul (2011-12-08 13:42:51)

AnnS · 2011-12-08 23:14:07

Hi! Thank you for your help!

I tried opening the file with mplayer -v -vo xv [video_file], but as soon as the player opens, it crashes again (well, it logs me out of KDE), is there a way to search for the output? Since it didn't give me the time to read anything.

So far I have tried:

1) Downgrading ffmpeg to two different versions, no success here.
2) I tried downgrading both MPlayer and VLC. When I tried to play something with mplayer, it just didn't open and VLC didn't want to work either.

I tried many different combinations (downgrading ffmpeg and mplayer, just ffmeg, just mplayer...).

Now I'm thinking it might my graphics card... I hate Catalyst, I can't even watch a video from youtube in full screen for fear that it will crash (which it does). I think I'll try the open source one again in the next few days. Or maybe is another package and not ffmpeg...

I'll keep trying, but what I can't understand is why SMPlayer does work. Oh, and í'm using mplayer-vaapi, though I have tried mplayer also.

Thanks anyway!

Elemento Cero · 2011-12-09 22:24:35

Hi, I find myself in the exact same situation as AnnS, and I can say one thing: the guilty is the Catalyst driver. Strange, isn't it?

If I install Catalyst driver, everything works well except video players. If I try to play a video, then KDE crashes and throws me to the KDM. With xf86-video-ati (open source) everything runs smooth. So there is no doubt, this is the problem, but I have no clue to solve it. I tried changing options here and there, but with no results.

Hopefully, someone could help us.

Last edited by Elemento Cero (2011-12-10 18:03:39)

AnnS · 2011-12-16 20:36:59

Sorry, I didn't have the time before, but today I was testing and by checking the outputs (which before I didn't know you could save with "&>" ), I see the problem is the video output xv, I changed that to vaapi and problem solved. Of course, that's why I could use SMPlayer, because there I have in video output vaapi. I didn't have a configuration file for mplayer, so I guess it was using xv by default. But that wasn't a problem before, though, like I said. It probably was one of Catalyst upgrades.

This is my ~/.mplayer/config now (that I copied from /etc/mplayer/example.conf):

# default configuration that applies to every file
[default]
# use X11 for video output
vo=vaapi
# use also for audio output
ao=alsa
# ao=oss # Use OSS4
# prefer using six channels audio
channels = 6
# scale the subtitles to the 3% of the screen size
subfont-text-scale = 3
# never use font config
nofontconfig = 1
# add black borders so the movies have the same aspect ratio of the monitor
# for wide screen monitors
vf-add=expand=::::1:16/9:16
# for non wide screen traditional monitors
#vf-add=expand=::::1:4/3:16

#profile for up-mixing two channels audio to six channels
# use -profile 2chto6ch to activate
[2chto6ch]
af-add=pan=6:1:0:.4:0:.6:2:0:1:0:.4:.6:2

#profile to down-mixing six channels audio to two channels
# use -profile 6chto2ch to activate
[6chto2ch]
af-add=pan=2:0.7:0:0:0.7:0.5:0:0:0.5:0.6:0.6:0:0

I have to see how to change that in VLC and guvcview, but at least this is something. And now I can use youtube-viewer, which is what I wanted.

I hope this solves the issue for you, Elemento Cero.
And thanks again for your help, paziul!

I guess I should mark this as solved, then.
Cheers!

Last edited by AnnS (2011-12-16 20:37:38)

Arch Linux

#1 2011-12-08 04:20:07

[SOLVED] KDE logs me out when trying to use MPlayer, guvcview

#2 2011-12-08 13:29:25

Re: [SOLVED] KDE logs me out when trying to use MPlayer, guvcview

#3 2011-12-08 23:14:07

Re: [SOLVED] KDE logs me out when trying to use MPlayer, guvcview

#4 2011-12-09 22:24:35

Re: [SOLVED] KDE logs me out when trying to use MPlayer, guvcview

#5 2011-12-16 20:36:59

Re: [SOLVED] KDE logs me out when trying to use MPlayer, guvcview

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