[SOLVED] VLC playback mp4 green screen

[ticojohn]

Let me start by saying I wish dasein was here to give me the dickens.

This is on a Jessie i386 (pae 686) installation. When I try to play an mp4 video using VLC media player, I get sound but no video. Just a green screen. I tried turning off acceleration but that did not help. The video plays correctly with the Gnome Mplayer. As a side note, SOME videos will play fine but some give the green screen.

Here's where dasein would give me the dickens. I upgraded the kernel to 4.9 and STUPIDLY removed 3.16. DUMB. So I think the problem with the VLC player may be that the version of the player is 2.2.7 and I think there may be a compatibility issue with kernel 4.9 .

So, if I want to use the VLC media player I think I need to either upgrade the player to a version compatible with kernel 4.9 or I need to re-install kernel 3.16. I tried to install 3.16 and ended up with a kernel panic when trying to boot to that kernel. So obviously I don't know what the heck I'm doing.

One other thing. I also have Stretch amd64 installed on a different partition and the video plays correctly with VLC.

Any suggestions and help as related to the issue with Jessie would be appreciated. Also, if someone could play dasein and give me the dickens I would feel at home. LOL!

[Wheelerof4te]

It might be a driver problem or some dependency of original 3.16 kernel was removed. Having more than one kernel is very good practice, so you shouldn't have removed it. It's a miracle you're even able to boot into your desktop.

Your first priority should be establishing which drivers work, or if anything that needs to work is there. Install inxi and post the outputt of

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inxi -F

You can also clone it from it's github page and run the provided binary inside a terminal.
Also

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lspci -k

Post the

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apt-cache policy linux-image-686

too.

[ticojohn]

Here is inxi -F

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System:    Host: JohnBoy Kernel: 4.9.0-0.bpo.4-686-pae i686 (32 bit) 
           Desktop: N/A Distro: Debian GNU/Linux 8 
Machine:   Mobo: Gigabyte model: H81M-H v: x.x
           Bios: American Megatrends v: F2 date: 08/10/2015
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i5-4460 (-MCP-) cache: 6144 KB 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 3390 MHz 2: 3381 MHz 3: 3396 MHz 4: 3396 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller
           Display Server: X.org 1.16.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           tty size: 80x24 Advanced Data: N/A for root
Audio:     Card-1 Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio Controller 
           driver: snd_hda_intel 
           Card-2 Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor HD Audio Controller 
           driver: snd_hda_intel 
           Card-3 Syntek driver: USB Audio 
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.9.0-0.bpo.4-686-pae
Network:   Card: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169
           IF: eth1 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full 
           mac: 40:8d:5c:9f:7c:64
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 750.2GB (1.4% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sdb model: TOSHIBA_DT01ACA0 size: 500.1GB
           ID-2: /dev/sda model: Samsung_SSD_850 size: 250.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 226G used: 6.4G (3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 4.28GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 29.8C mobo: 27.8C 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 
Info:      Processes: 193 Uptime: 1:05 Memory: 426.9/7812.8MB 
           Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.1.28 

Here is lspci -k

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00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 4th Gen Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 06)
	Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device 5000
	Kernel driver in use: hsw_uncore
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 06)
	Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device d000
	Kernel driver in use: i915
00:03.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor HD Audio Controller (rev 06)
	Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 2010
	Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI (rev 05)
	Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device 5007
	Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
	Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device 1c3a
	Kernel driver in use: mei_me
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI #2 (rev 05)
	Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device 5006
	Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
	Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device a002
	Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev d5)
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #3 (rev d5)
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI #1 (rev 05)
	Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device 5006
	Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation C220 Series Chipset Family H81 Express LPC Controller (rev 05)
	Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device 5001
	Kernel driver in use: lpc_ich
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller 1 [AHCI mode] (rev 05)
	Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device b005
	Kernel driver in use: ahci
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
	Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device 5001
	Kernel driver in use: i801_smbus
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 0c)
	Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Motherboard
	Kernel driver in use: r8169

And apt-cache policy linux-image-686

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linux-image-686:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 4.9+80+deb9u4~bpo8+1
  Version table:
     4.9+80+deb9u4~bpo8+1 0
        100 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ jessie-backports/main i386 Packages

[ticojohn]

It might be a driver problem or some dependency of original 3.16 kernel was removed. Having more than one kernel is very good practice, so you shouldn't have removed it. It's a miracle you're even able to boot into your desktop

So, after reviewing items as requested, do you suggest that I re-install the original kernel (3.16) and if so how to without totally borking the system? By the way, I do have a complete backup of my current Jessie install, unfortunately it also does not have 3.16 . And, if all else fails perhaps it is time to upgrade to Stretch.

[Wheelerof4te]

First try to install the missing linux-image package:

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apt install linux-image-686

You can also simulate it, to see the outcome safely:

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apt install -s linux-image-686

You can install Synaptic and search for your original 3.16 kernel manually.

Drivers seem to be working. Have you tried using modesetting kernel built-in driver instead of intel's?
As root:

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apt remove xserver-xorg-video-intel && reboot

[Bulkley]

ticojohn, this is not the answer you want but I suggest you install MPV to use until your get a solution for VLC. At times VLC doesn't want to work and then I do an update/upgrade and it works again. The problem may or may not be the kernel.

[ticojohn]

First try to install the missing linux-image package:

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apt install linux-image-686

You can also simulate it, to see the outcome safely:

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apt install -s linux-image-686

You can install Synaptic and search for your original 3.16 kernel manually.

Drivers seem to be working. Have you tried using modesetting kernel built-in driver instead of intel's?
As root:

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apt remove xserver-xorg-video-intel && reboot

I tried to install 3.16 kernel, headers, and all the associated packages that I thought were required using Synaptic. Ended up with a kernel panic when I tried to boot into 3.16. So I obviously did something wrong. I did NOT try apt install linux-image-686. Will that install 3.16 by default?

UPDATE: Since I have a working duplicate of Jessie on another drive perhaps if apt install -s linux-image-686 looks okay I could try installing there instead of my primary installation. I have Jessie i386 on sda, Stretch amd64 and Jessie i386 on sdb.

[ticojohn]

ticojohn, this is not the answer you want but I suggest you install MPV to use until your get a solution for VLC. At times VLC doesn't want to work and then I do an update/upgrade and it works again. The problem may or may not be the kernel.

I have the Gnome Mplayer installed and it works fine, so I really don't have to have VLC. It's just that I prefer VLC. WHY, I don't know. But thanks for that feedback.

[ticojohn]

Okay. I am currently logged on to my backup copy of Jessie. I did this

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root@JohnBoy:/home/john# apt install -s linux-image-686-pae
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  linux-image-3.16.0-6-686-pae
Suggested packages:
  linux-doc-3.16 debian-kernel-handbook
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  linux-image-3.16.0-6-686-pae linux-image-686-pae
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Inst linux-image-3.16.0-6-686-pae (3.16.56-1+deb8u1 Debian:8.11/oldstable, Debian-Security:8/oldstable [i386])
Inst linux-image-686-pae (3.16+63+deb8u2 Debian:8.11/oldstable, Debian-Security:8/oldstable [i386])
Conf linux-image-3.16.0-6-686-pae (3.16.56-1+deb8u1 Debian:8.11/oldstable, Debian-Security:8/oldstable [i386])
Conf linux-image-686-pae (3.16+63+deb8u2 Debian:8.11/oldstable, Debian-Security:8/oldstable [i386])

Does this look sane to you all? It looks okay to me but I am not really expert.

[ticojohn]

Well, assuming that it all looked okay I went ahead and did the install on my backup system. Got a kernel panic when I tried to boot into 3.16 so obviously something borked. I am not going to mess with it further. As everything except VLC seems to work fine, and I don't really need VLC, unless I can get a definitive solution it's better to leave it alone. Thanks for all the help.

[stevepusser]

Ahh, good old VLC. It can do so much, and cause so much head-scratching...Dasein would scold you for running inxi as root when nobody said anything about doing that.

The Intel driver you're using is actually two parts: one is built into the kernel, and the other is xserver-xorg-video-intel. I seem to remember that the newer version of that xorg driver in jessie-backports works better with the backports kernel. So I'd try an update of that to see if that helps.

Also make sure you don't have any parts of deb-multimedia's ffmpeg or libav libraries installed. Since VLC is built against Debian's ffmpeg libraries, slotting in dmo's instead has caused similar issues in the past.

If you don't mind using more CPU cycles, you can also try setting VLC's video output to X11 instead of the XV that the 2.2.X releases try to use by default. Not updating the xorg driver may have broken the xv output, but x11 works almost all of the time at the cost of more CPU use...this is the least elegant solution, though.

Ideally, with your Intel GPU, you would like to get va-api hardware acceleration working--this would switch h.264 video decoding to the GPU instead of the CPU, so you can play really high-def 4K video and your CPU use hardly budges. This is kind of a mystic art, but so far, I have it working with mpv-0.28.2, QMPlay2 18.07.03, and VLC 3.0.3 on my Coffee Lake GPU, which also supports h.265 hardware decoding. Those newer apps are available in my own OBS Jessie/Stretch multimedia backports repo. Va-api seems to require that the program be set to use the openGL video output, too, and of course you need va-driver-all installed. QMPlay2 and mpv seem to be the easiest to get va-api working with.

[debiman]

ticojohn, this is not the answer you want but I suggest you install MPV to use until your get a solution for VLC. At times VLC doesn't want to work and then I do an update/upgrade and it works again. The problem may or may not be the kernel.

correct answer.
except on jessie, i'd rather recommend mplayer (the mpv version provided by jessie might be a tad old and buggy, unless you use the one from backports).
since op is already using mplayer, the problem is now solved.
seriously, VLC is not the first choice for media player on linux.

[None1975]

VLC is not the first choice for media player on linux.

Quite right. I have never understood this epitome of this program's interference with many distributions. I've always used Smplayer or mplayer.

[debiman]

I have never understood this epitome of this program's interference with many distributions.

i think on Windows, it is considered the go-to solution for all media issues, and i guess most people take that with them when they make the switch to Linux. and distro maintainers want to make the switch more attaractive by providing VLC ootb...

that said, VLC is very, very good software with a long history and sheer endless versatility. :hattip:

[ticojohn]

Thanks for all the responses. Will mark as [solved]

And today it started working again. Go figure.