MediaPlayer/VLC won't play .AVI from NAS

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lazarus

MediaPlayer/VLC won't play .AVI from NAS

Post by lazarus »

LM19 x64 Cinnamon.

This is pretty much a fresh install on a lappy purely to stream multimedia from the NAS thru HDMI on a big screen TV.

The connection's via Samba, all media files on the NAS can be seen, copied, moved and edited by the Lappy.

.MKV & .MPG play well in both VLC and MediaPlayer but for some reason when it comes time to play .AVIs... MediaPlayer simply spits out an error msg along the lines of "GStreamer has encountered a general stream error" and that's end of story.

VLC (which has the VLC-Samba plugin, BTW) reports "Broken or missing index" and offers to rebuild a temporary one in memory, which is still end of story

Copying the files locally, both VLC and MediaPlayer will play them alright... although after 30-40 minutes MediaPlayer starts displaying bad time lags and artifacting. (I suspect that's another issue, though.)

At first I suspected NAS settings but as all these .AVIs play perfectly OK when streamed through the NAS onto my LM 18.3 systems I'm now grasping at straws.

Codec-wise, mint-meta-codecs is installed and in puzzlement (I'll remove this soon as I see no point in it) I added ubuntu-restricted-extras

A while ago I did have an issue with an auto-update failing to go through but as subsequent updates worked fine I didn't give it a second thought. My bad. Unfortunately the logs have now rolled over so I can't check to see what that issue was.

Any suggestions on where I should start looking for the cause of all this?

Edited becoz I can't spiel.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
lazarus

Re: MediaPlayer/VLC won't play .AVI from NAS

Post by lazarus »

Nobody?

OK, I'm not particularly happy with LM19 Cinnamon on it anyway, I had unrealistic expectations, so I'll probably downgrade it back to LM18.3 Mate.

Would've been nice to have some idea on what went aglay, though.
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trytip
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Re: MediaPlayer/VLC won't play .AVI from NAS

Post by trytip »

try mpv or smplayer. i know i had issues with vlc in windows trying to play my videos stored on my linux drives which smplayer had no problem with. i never tried to figure it out it's some network protocol issue. it's not a codec issue
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phd21
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Re: MediaPlayer/VLC won't play .AVI from NAS

Post by phd21 »

HI lazarus,

Make sure ffmpeg, x264 and x265, h264, mencoder, and mplayer (mplayer2) are installed in your Linux Mint 19.x system. You can also try searching for "avi" in the "Synaptic Package Manager SPM" and install any relevant packages, then retry.

As for streaming multimedia, you might consider using a simple but very effective multimedia server like "UMS (Ultimate Media Server)" or "PS3 Media server".

Media Server - What to use? - Linux Mint Forums
- see my one reply on easy installation steps
viewtopic.php?f=48&t=273165&hilit=ultimate+media+server

There are other multimedia players other than the great VLC like the superb "SMplayer" (with MPV), Totem and its plug-ins (and its recommended and suggested packages).
SMPlayer Sees New Release With MPV Support, Install via PPA

You can use the excellent "SMplayer" to view videos, Blu-ray & DVD discs
Unlike other players SMplayer doesn't require you to install codecs to play something because it carries its own, all required codecs within itself. This release which now supports MPV and some other features such as MPRIS v2 Support, new theme, 3D stereo filter and more. I recommend reading both web links below.

Noobslab - another excellent Linux website - This article on SMplayer and MPV 2017
http://www.noobslab.com/2017/01/install ... -1710.html

To install these using the PPA method, open a console terminal, type in, or copy & paste, each line below one by one:

Code: Select all

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rvm/smplayer

Code: Select all

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mc3man/mpv-tests

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get update

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install mpv smplayer smtube  youtube-dl
or for added smplayer themes and skins

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install mpv smplayer smtube smplayer-themes smplayer-skins youtube-dl

Hope this helps ...
Phd21: Mint 20 Cinnamon & xKDE (Mint Xfce + Kubuntu KDE) & KDE Neon 64-bit (new based on Ubuntu 20.04) Awesome OS's, Dell Inspiron I5 7000 (7573) 2 in 1 touch screen, Dell OptiPlex 780 Core2Duo E8400 3GHz,4gb Ram, Intel 4 Graphics.
frostw

Re: MediaPlayer/VLC won't play .AVI from NAS

Post by frostw »

Hi lazarus,

Did you find a solution to this? I have the EXACT same problem playing AVIs from my Synology NAS. The files play fine when downloaded to the desktop.

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phd21
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Re: MediaPlayer/VLC won't play .AVI from NAS

Post by phd21 »

Hi frostw, lazarus, etc...

You can search the "Synaptic Package Manager (SPM)" to see if there are any "avi" related packages (libavi, divx, ffmpeg, x264, x265, etc..), you can install that may help.

Most media server applications like UMS, Plex, Kodi, etc... can play (stream) most video and audio formats whether they are connected using NAS or not.

Problem viewing video files [SOLVED!] - Synology Forum
https://forum.synology.com/enu/viewtopic.php?t=100372

DS Video AVI Support - Complete Lack Of..... : synology
https://www.reddit.com/r/synology/comme ... e_lack_of/

Not playing .avi files - Plex Players / Streaming Devices - Plex Forum
https://forums.plex.tv/t/not-playing-avi-files/135431


Hope this helps ...
.
avi_SynapticPackageManager.jpg
Last edited by phd21 on Sat Nov 03, 2018 11:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
Phd21: Mint 20 Cinnamon & xKDE (Mint Xfce + Kubuntu KDE) & KDE Neon 64-bit (new based on Ubuntu 20.04) Awesome OS's, Dell Inspiron I5 7000 (7573) 2 in 1 touch screen, Dell OptiPlex 780 Core2Duo E8400 3GHz,4gb Ram, Intel 4 Graphics.
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trytip
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Re: MediaPlayer/VLC won't play .AVI from NAS

Post by trytip »

it's not a codec issue. vlc can't play files if you are in windows and try to open a video from a linux partition. windows media player and smplayer have no issues with that. it's a vlc network protocol.
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fairlane

Re: MediaPlayer/VLC won't play .AVI from NAS

Post by fairlane »

Better late than never...

Modify the Synology SMB settings. (Max protocoll version: SMB1).
This help to me.
tjampman

Re: MediaPlayer/VLC won't play .AVI from NAS

Post by tjampman »

Thank you so much, that Max protocoll version: SMB1 setting solved my problem that I have had ever since updating from ubuntu 16.04 and deriatives

Have a happy new year all
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