Mac OS X on x86 Hardware 2008–2024 Technical Archive
InfiniteMac OSx86 › Software, Drivers & Kexts › VLC or Mplayer crashes with Snow Leopard
9,422 reads · 2009-10-30 – 2009-11-25

VLC or Mplayer crashes with Snow Leopard

I just recently installed Snow Leopard, and everytime I try to play a mkv file with VLC, it crashes. The result is the same with 32bit or 64bit version of it. According to VLC, they just say to use the 32bit version, but that doesn't help…

Primary Author
@Pibbman Published 2009-10-30
Collection
Software, Drivers & Kexts
Archival Footprint
9,422 historical reads · 4 curated field notes (from 7 dispatches) · 2009-10-30 – 2009-11-25
Credited Voices (5)
@Pibbman (3)@thorazine74@daclothe@spalek83@be11o

I just recently installed Snow Leopard, and everytime I try to play a mkv file with VLC, it crashes. The result is the same with 32bit or 64bit version of it. According to VLC, they just say to use the 32bit version, but that doesn't help me.

Mplayer OS X Extended won't even load. I do a lot of watching of videos with subtitles, does anyone know of another software or maybe even a workaround to fix the above problems?

Author Updates & Technical Revisions

Follow-up dispatches by @Pibbman

Author Update #1 @Pibbman 2009-10-30 ↳ Re: @thorazine74
@thorazine74VLC works fine here, do you have hardware accelerated QE/CI graphics?

Yes, they are turned on and working fine. Can watch other videos and stuff just fine. Mplayer OS X just doesn't load period. VLC crashes when it comes to playing .MKV files.

It's a known issue over at VLC, but they yet to do anything about it even their nightly build 1.0.3 doesn't attempt to fix it. They say to use the 32bit version while playing mkv containers, yet even when I try using the 32bit version it still crashes.

EDIT: It seems the 32bit version does work, it's just that I have to wait about 1-2 minutes for the file to start. Strange.

Here is what it says in the LOGs for it.

libass debug: Setting libass fontdir: /Users/cole/Library/Preferences/VLC main debug: Creating an input for 'hvideo.mkv' main debug: no fetch required for (null) (art currently (null)) main debug: using decoder module "libass" main debug: TIMER module_need : 41675.402 ms - Total 41675.402 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 41675.398 ms) main debug:…

I wonder if it has to do with the TIMER module and the fact that it takes nearly a minute to load? Unfortunately this goes beyond my knowledge.

Author Update #2 @Pibbman 2009-11-01

Really? Other than VLC taking forever to load mkv files, the other media types including flash it has run extremely well.

Synthesized Community Field Notes

4 technical responses curated from 7 original dispatches

Field Note #1 @thorazine74 2009-10-30

VLC works fine here, do you have hardware accelerated QE/CI graphics?

Field Note #2 @daclothe 2009-10-31

between vlc sucking so badly and flash being horrendous, it makes me so glad i didn't bother upgrading my HTMac to 10.6.

What a nightmare!

Field Note #3 @spalek83 2009-11-01

per ian.org/

Perian enables QuickTime application support for additional media:

  • File formats: AVI, DIVX, FLV, MKV, GVI, VP6, and VFW
  • Video types: MS-MPEG4 v1 & v2, DivX, 3ivx, H.264, Sorenson H.263, FLV/Sorenson Spark, FSV1, VP6, H263i, VP3, HuffYUV, FFVHuff, MPEG1 & MPEG2 Video, Fraps, Snow, NuppelVideo, Techsmith Screen Capture, DosBox Capture
  • Audio types: Windows Media Audio v1 & v2, Flash ADPCM, Xiph Vorbis (in Matroska), and MPEG Layer I & II Audio, True Audio, DTS Coherent Acoustics, Nellymoser ASAO
  • AVI support for: AAC, AC3 Audio, H.264, MPEG4, and VBR MP3
  • Subtitle support for SSA/ASS and SRT

Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.7 or higher because 10.3 makes the iceweasel cower in fear.

Download Perian 1.1.4 (perian.cach efly.net/Perian_1.1.4.dmg)

Installation: Open the disk image and double click the Perian.prefPane icon.

  • Perian can be used with all QuickTime-supporting apps, including QuickTime Player (www.apple.com/au/quicktime/), NicePlayer (niceplayer.ind yjt.com/), and QTAmateur (mik eash.com/software/qtamateur/).
  • The Flip4Mac (micro soft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/wmcomponents.mspx) (Windows Media) and XiphQT (xi ph.org/quicktime/) (Ogg) components add support for some formats not included in Perian.
  • The internet TV platform Miro (get miro.com/) and Airport Express streaming app Airfoil (rogue amoeba.com/airfoil/) include Perian.

How do I remove Perian? Open the System Preferences. Select the Perian pane and 'Remove.' Now 'Show All' preference panes, control-click the Perian pane and 'Remove "Perian" Preference Pane.'

Field Note #4 @be11o 2009-11-25

best things that happend to mac lately is XMBC and Plex quicktime hd decoding lol its sux badly, just give a xmbc a try and ull love it Plex got issues in sl but xmbc works great, its not a promotion or commercial =) is free xb mc.org/

btw forgot to say u dont need any perian vlc etc this player plays everything

Sources & Contributor Provenance (5 credited usernames · Thread #4565)
UsernameDossier ContributionDispatchesActive Window
@PibbmanPrimary Author32009-10-30 → 2009-11-01
@thorazine74Contributor12009-10-30
@daclotheContributor12009-10-31
@spalek83Contributor12009-11-01
@be11oContributor12009-11-25